Is Bicentennial really the best place for Museum Park?

[kevinkagy]

They have been planting a lot of new trees around the Dolphin Expressway and Palmetto Exwy interchanges. Shade trees too, it looks a lot nicer. Then they're going to add more trees to Bicentennial and Biscayne Blvd.

[FIDEL CASTRO]

Waitttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

What do you mean by shade trees? Do you mean this?



or The ones like in coral Gables?:



or the tropical trees like the one in the OLD PARROT JUNGLE?

Seriously, I really don't wanto to see more palm trees. They don't offer shadows.

[AddictedToSpace]

We definitely need more shade trees. Now, keep a couple of things in mind. The tree canopy did not become what it is overnight. Also, palm trees are mainly found in tropical, hurricane susceptible areas because they naturally are flexible enough to survice the brutal winds of a tropical storm.

[Hia-leah JDM]

Here in Hialeah where there are neighborhoods that are completely treeless the city has been putting actual trees not just palm trees in medians and the space between the sidewalk and road in streets they repave which seems to be always. Ive too noticed the missing canopy alot of South Florida has, it look like for too many years they just planted Palm trees like it was nobodies buisness and forgot about heavy canopy, but it looks like they have started to do something about it. And by the way you can add Miami Springs to the list of green cities, its like day and night when you enter Miami Springs coming from Hialeah and Miami Lakes to the north too.

[BornInTheGrove]

here's a pdf of the updated park proposal...

http://www.miamigov.com/Planning/pag...3-08-FINAL.pdf

the only thing that bothers me... that open lawn space became juuust a bit smaller.

[theDirector]

It is really nice in my opinion and still looks great. I only wish they could hurry this up a little bit.

[dave8721]

On Museum Park funding:

http://www.miamisunpost.com/archives...ntymuseums.htm

Miami-Dade County
Paid Out

County releases $275 million to build museums

By Cynthia Archbold

An agreement to release $275 million in county funds to build the new Miami Art Museum and the Miami Science Museum at Bicentennial Park was finally approved Tuesday by the Miami Dade County Commission.

Funding to go forward with both museums had been in limbo for months, after District 10 Commissioner Javier Souto put the process “on hold” to question terms of the county and city’s global agreement, which calls for using Community Redevelopment Agency money to overhaul Bicentennial Park.

On Tuesday, several commissioners strongly criticized the city’s plan to use $68 million in CRA funds to transform Bicentennial Park and said they don’t agree with extending the community redevelopment boundary to include the park, located in the center of a multimillion-dollar condo boom on Biscayne Boulevard.

Commissioners wanted reassurance that CRA funds would not be used to build the museums.

“So, you can tell me that no CRA funds are going to be used?” District 6 Commissioner Rebecca Sosa asked County Manager George Burgess. “The right thing to do is to let the process go forward,” Burgess answered.

“Now that I hear you, I get concerned,” Sosa responded. “I don’t want the museums to face lawsuits and the problems we have seen in the past.”

Auto dealer Norman Braman is suing the county and city over the $3 billion global agreement, which would use CRA funds to rebuild downtown, including Museum Park, the new Marlins ballpark and the Port of Miami tunnel.

Burgess told commissioners the $68 million would be used only to build a new park — the 20 acres surrounding the museums — rather than the buildings themselves. He said the city and county commissions will have a chance later to vote whether the rest of Bicentennial Park qualifies for use of the CRA funds, which requires conditions of “slum and blight.”

“I don’t want all of that CRA money going to a park,” said District 3 Commissioner Audrey Edmonson.

District 9 Commissioner Dennis Moss added that he supports the museums, but has “concerns about the CRAs — they need to provide affordable housing.”

“This is not a blighted area — it’s an area that everyone’s trying to build up,” said District 13 Commissioner Natasha Seijas.

Souto was the first to attack the global agreement when he said in January that without solid evidence of “slum and blight,” the global agreement would be “just another scandal” … “defrauding the African-American community out of dollars meant to tackle poverty and create opportunities.”

On Tuesday, commissioners also questioned the feasibility of the museum’s plans to raise money for construction and operating expenses, saying they fear that county taxpayers would be stuck with the whole bill if the museums can’t raise the funds. But Burgess assured them that the museums are responsible for raising the funds — $112 million for MAM and $120 million for the Miami Science Museum.

“Without funds being raised, they can’t get a contract,” Burgess said, adding that the museums would need more than just pledges for donations, rather “funding that can become liquid very quickly” before a lending institution would support the projects.

Commission Chair Bruno Barreiro said the museums will add value to the entire community, and after much debate the other commissioners agreed with the staff recommendation and voted to release the first installment of $275 million in county general obligation bonds approved by voters in 2004. MAM will receive $235,000, and the Miami Science Museum and the Historical Museum of Southern Florida will receive $3.3 million.

[theDirector]

Nice.

[DOWNTOWNER]

So what happens when the museums get built and the city decides to not grant funds to build the actual park.....????? This would not be good.

[Roark]

Originally Posted by DOWNTOWNER

So what happens when the museums get built and the city decides to not grant funds to build the actual park.....????? This would not be good.

Not as bad as you might think. Millwaukee for example has a privately funded park near their museum. The park right now is pretty cool except there is not a damn reason to go there. Plunk down two great museums and just leave the grass (worst case scenario) and it's much better than it's been for the last decade.

But that WON"T happen. The museums have great support and it can all be done with private funds Of course, the museums won't complain if they get a little money for nothin' but I spoke with the Director of MAM and he is confident that they are going full steam ahead and that the whole complex will be fantastic with or without the city/county's money.

[kevinkagy]

Good news, but they need to build the park up too. The park's remodeling is crucial for Downtown.

[Desiderata]

Lets hope they speed it up a bit.

You know....A couple of wide pedestrian bridges over Biscayne blvd would be great...especially closer to the park area.

Maybe something cool looking like Seattle’s Amgen Helix Bridge (smaller scale of course):



Are bridges being considered? Have they ever?

[theDirector]

Yeah they need some stylish pedestrian bridges going across Biscayne BLVD. No body wants to play frogger, well except for the video game, but not in real life.

[kevinkagy]

I don't really think pedestrian bridges are necessary for Biscayne Blvd. It's not THAT wide. In Buenos Aires they have Avenida 9 de julio, Paris has the Champs-Elysées and Mexico City has Paseo de la Reforma- all very wide avenues that thousands of people cross. Biscayne Blvd is not that wide compared to these and others.

[Desiderata]

Originally Posted by kevinkagy

I don't really think pedestrian bridges are necessary for Biscayne Blvd. It's not THAT wide. In Buenos Aires they have Avenida 9 de julio, Paris has the Champs-Elysées and Mexico City has Paseo de la Reforma- all very wide avenues that thousands of people cross. Biscayne Blvd is not that wide compared to these and others.

Perhaps. It gets a little trickier the closer you get to the park though. But it could make things safer for folks to cross...and make traffic smoother (less need for traffic lights)....and if done right would add to the character of the BLVD. Getting to the park should be easy for the folks living in the scrapers...not stressful but calm.

[AddictedToSpace]

It will not be that tricky once the tunnel is built and all that semi and big rig traffic is off non-highway streets.

[Vitruvius09]

it is the best place for a museum but i wouldnt mind seeing this tower there also!

[kevinkagy]

Wow, where did that come from?

[kevinkagy]

From Miami Today:

LANDLORD: The Miami Sports and Exhibition Authority could be landlord to new art and science museums in Bicentennial Park should Miami commissioners agree today (5/22) to lease the land to the authority, which would in turn sublease it to the museums. Some county and city commissioners have resisted the arrangement. The authority is landlord already to the Miami Children's Museum on Watson Island.

[spellbound]

Is it too soon to start asking WHEN they are going to start actually building museums on that site? This has been going on for years.

Miami is just so weird and dysfunctional with this stuff. I don't mean that as necessarily critical (I'm sure it's the same elsewhere) but cripes...shit or get off the pot, y'know?

Maybe they could at least start clearing land by selling the plot slated for the asinine "Bay of Pigs" Museum. That would be a start.

C'MON Miami....cripes.