PROUD TO HAVE PLAYED A ROLE IN MAKING

LITTLE HAVANA’S CALLE OCHO

THE CROWN JEWEL OF AUTHENTIC MIAMI

It was an honor to work as the senior urban policy advisor for Miami District 3 City Commissioner Joe Sanchez.

Two decades ago, Calle Ocho was sleepy.

We worked to strengthen arts and culture.

Now millions visit annually.

Good Morning America broadcast from the Ball & Chain World Famous Bar and Lounge on Calle Ocho in the heart of Miami's Little Havana this week.

I was there to meet GMA Weather Anchor Sam Champion and to see the success story that has made the Ball & Chain Miami’s best location for live music, crafted drinks and elevated bar food.

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/video/124408344

THANK YOU TO MAYOR FRANCIS SUAREZ AND HIS TEAM

GIVING CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

Where I grew up, you went out of your way to thank a person for helping you.

Recently, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and his professional team – in this case led by Director of Constituent Affairs Lazaro Quintero – addressed a problem that threatened the health, safety, mobility and civil rights of my wife of 33 years.

I will not go into much detail -- because if the person who illegally targeted Heidi Johnson-Wright ever attempts to hurt her again, a half dozen lawyers will litigate them into oblivion. Suffice to say, picture a super-sturdy and costly wheelchair ramp -- in place for 20 years at a 100-year-old home – coming under attack without cause or justification.

At the brink of launching an exhaustive legal recourse and unrelenting media campaign to underscore an unjust situation bordering on a hate crime, we reached out to Mayor Suarez.

Years ago, when he was our District Commissioner in the City of Miami, he resolved a longstanding battle over the future of the small green space we live on. Historic William Jennings Bryan Park was slated to become two acres of asphalt for a noisy traffic and parking nightmare that would trade tranquil open space for a grossly out-of-scale tournament tennis center.

A compromise was drafted. Basically, the eastern acre of the park became active space – three outstanding tennis courts, a restroom/park manager building the size of a small house, a barrier-free play area plus preserved trees and benches. The western acre remained as one of the few islands of green grass – where folks 8 to 80 could play dozens of games, from kite flying to soccer.

Long known as a free-thinker who speaks his mind, I think my praise for Mayor Suarez and his team means more because I have had no issue sharing problems with the city. This blog and all of my social media has called out the mayor, city manager, commissioners plus city departments and organizations.

Usually, it is about lack of wheelchair access. Dockless scooters blocking curb ramps, sidewalks and bus stops are a frequent target of my speaking truth to power. I also shine light on new or renovated buildings that illegally lack wheelchair access.

I’ve also been known to criticize development deals, especially those that encroach on precious park land.

While I don’t back every policy decision Mayor Suarez makes, but I appreciate him deeply for sincerely caring about people with disabilities.

We praise his actions while stressing that he DID NOT do us a favor. We did the city a favor, by alerting it to a civil rights-denying action against people with disabilities.

Recognizing this and protecting the interests of all who have physical, visual, hearing and cognitive disabilities, is what earns our praise.

 

 

PROUD TO BE A LITTLE HAVANA RESIDENT

FOR NEARLY TWO DECADES

Love the historic preservation, curated tenants and human-scaled revitalization by the Barlington Group.

Great assets such as Ball &Chain, Futurama and soon to open Tower Hotel.

Proud to be a part of the ongoing evolution of Miami’s most-authentic neighborhood.

We have great housing stock, restaurants with emerging chefs and diverse people.

Bill Fuller (Barlington) helped ignite the revitalization of Little Havana, reopening the Ball & Chain nightclub that was a fixture in the neighborhood in the early part of the 20th century but was closed for decades. He keeps his office a block away and owns and operates many of the commercial properties in the neighborhood.

Though he calls himself an avowed free-market capitalist, he said other developers in the region know to keep their skyscrapers out of Little Havana.

"I know some of the developers that have built some of the stuff around us … and I've told them, 'Listen, you can build where you want, and I'm not going to put up the public battle, but if you come into these three blocks, you're going to hear from me,' " he said.

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/nation/2020/01/31/miamis-little-havana-no-longer-majority-cuban-but-roots-remain/4587792002/

Our 100 year old house is just stone's throw SW of the "SW 8th St" label just to the right of the bold Calle Ocho marker

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

MY SOULMATE HEIDI HAS BEEN BY MY SIDE FOR 34 YEARS

We have dashed across the jet airplane runway that separates southern Spain from Gibraltar.

We have balanced the neighborhood delights of the 11th arrondissement with the legends and landmarks of Central Paris for our 30th wedding anniversary.

I watched proudly while Heidi delivered a key presentation at the American Institute of Architects' National meeting just after Michelle Obama gave her first post-White House public speech.

Heidi rooted for me while I was an award-winning reporter at the Columbus Dispatch Newspaper in Ohio and when I served as the senior policy advisor to the Chair of the Miami City Commission in our adopted hometown.

We took an all but condemned house in Little Havana and turned it into a showplace of both wheelchair access and preservation of a nearly 100-year-old home just footsteps south of famous Calle Ocho.

We discussed policy with Filipe, then the newly-married Prince of Spain and now King.

We have explored wheelchair access in Monument Valley, Moab, Zion, Bryce Canyon and other treasures of Utah.

We enjoyed the natural beauty of both Hawaii's Big Island and Costa Rica.

We often spend the Christmas week either in Mexico City or New Orleans.

We have documented universal design from London to Barcelona.

We have spent cumulative months exploring inclusive mobility in Los Angeles and New York.

We have sharpened our Spanish speaking skills from Santo Domingo DR to Andalucia.

We have a lot more on our plate.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

WE DON'T REALLY GIVE GIFTS ANYMORE -- WE DONATE TO PET CHARITIES

Okay, we give some small gifts to friends, family and colleagues.

But 90% of our gift giving is to animal welfare.

We make a donation each Christmas to Siamese Cat Rescue, on behalf of family members.

We make a monthly donation to the ASPCA in honor of family member’s birthdays.

This year, our anniversary gift to each other was a combination of contributions to cat cafes in Miami Beach and Paris.

Our birthday gift to each other was sponsoring a Siamese rescue cat at the Largo di Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary.

Our Valentine's Day, celebrating an accomplishment/milestone and other annual gifts are spent on food, shelter and medicine for dozens of Little Havana outdoor cats that congregate on our small urban lot just south of Calle Ocho.

We encourage our friends to make donations to animal welfare non-profits, rather than buying gifts for us.

Please. Instead of one more gadget, one more electronic toy, or another outfit to take up space in the closet – think of donating your time and money to protecting stray cats and other animals.

THANK HEAVEN FOR

CATS, OUR FUR BABIES

Honeybear has been with us for 5 years.

We guess that she’s about 8.

It turns out a neighbor down the street had her when she was a kitten and responsibly got her treated so she couldn’t have more kittens.

HB did give birth once, to a litter of 3.

The only baby of hers that we know of is a very skittish Tortie that dubbed Cocoa Kitty.

When Honeybear went out in daylight and nighttime, mother and daughter would hunt together, sand bathe together, hug and fight (as HB the queen would smack her grown kitten – just to make it clear who the king of the hill was, is and always will be).

We tried to get Cocoa Kitty to be an indoor cat, but it’s not for her. So we bought a used dogloo and set her up with food and water in the back of our house.

Before long, many cats were visiting. We bought a used small tent and used it for shelter, with a food bowl in it.

We bought cushions and built shelter out of some old benches left behind by the previous owner of our house.

When one of our most beloved visitor couples – a Maine Coon dubbed Big Boy and his lady Squirt – a tiny ginger cat – had 4 kittens, we went into action.

We worked with Miami-Dade County Animal Services (perhaps the best department in the County) to work with the Trap-Neuter-Release program.

A wonderful, soulful worker named Octavio came by long before dawn and set up a half dozen traps.

Repeating this routine over the years, we have helped far more than a dozen cats to be spared from giving birth. You can tell by their clipped single ear.

We don’t want to turn a sweet tale into a lecture.

But people really do need to be responsible and get their cats fixed – and even work with Animal Services to get in the TNR program. It doesn’t cost a penny and at the most, you will move your car out of the driveway to create room for some humane traps.

Cats, after surgery and recovery, are returned to your lot 48 to 72 hours later.

Our all-time beloved baby from TNR is Dusty.

THANK GOODNESS FOR HONEYBEAR

OUR MEEZER MEMBER OF THE FAMILY

Before we knew it, our Siamese cat visitor had a name – we called her Honeybear.

She launched a months-long plan for getting us to fall in love with her.

It worked.

At first, she was going out when we went to bed and when we left the house.

We were still so new to cats, we feared she would soil our beds, furniture, etc.

We were too dumb to buy a litter box.

Heidi started DVRing Jackson Galaxy shows and reading things online.

Soon, Amazon was delivering cat books.

And Honeybear was only going out at night.

Soon, we loved her so much, we were afraid she might get hurt outside.

Multiple test litterboxes arrived.

She hated the covered one.

She was too big for the one labeled large.

She had a favorite dry cat food.

She had multiple water bowls.

Before we knew it, HB (as we call her when shortening her name) was inside 24-7.

When we traveled, we hired a trusted person to come in twice a day to look after Honeybear.

Mom Heidi bought air prey and other speciality toys, when we realized our Meezer’s health depended on play and exercise.

Daddy Steve welcome Honeybear into his bed.

She curled up right next to him, often snoring, frequently walking over his body and sweetly coming up to smooch him.

(part 4 tomorrow)

WE PAUSE TO GIVE THANKS FOR

OUR FELINE FRIENDS

In early fall 2013, I was on FMLA leave from a miserable job – gladly taking unpaid leave to care for Heidi, my companion of one third of a century.

She was having a hip revision and would be recovering for up to two weeks in a great hospital’s rehab ward after her daylong, brutal procedure.

I would sleep at our house and I would run home to do chores and all – allowing Heidi to rest and get crucial physical therapy.

One day, I was taking a medical device out of a ton of shipping cardboard.

A cat jumped on it and sprawled out.

She had been darting around on and under the wheelchair ramp that leads to our century old house.

We called her the mottled kitty.

Now, in the sun, I could see a beautiful Siamese cat.

She wanted to be petted.

I took some pictures and shared them with Heidi during my long visit.

She said our mottled kitty was at least 75% apple head seal point Siamese.

Not long after Heidi came home, we were out enjoying the break in the weather and doing some yard work.

The Siamese cat came over and let me pet her.

Then she took some milk.

And some kibbles – as we had bought a small bag of cat snacks.

Soon, she was visiting us inside the house for 30, 60, 90 minute periods.

(part 3 tomorrow)

I GIVE THANKSGIVING FOR

DISCOVERING THE LOVE OF CATS 

We were a dog family growing up in exurban Ohio.

Cats were thought of as a nuisance.

They caused allergic reactions and dug up plants.

At best, something an old spinster would keep as a pet, because they were low maintenance and could be virtually ignored for weeks.

I never hated cats, but I really didn’t get them.

It’s like cats have the worst public relations firm on earth.

Every negative stereotype gets repeated in movies, TV shows, even cartoons.

Little Havana, sadly, is a dumping ground for cats.

Moving into an apartment that doesn’t allow pets, turn your poor kitty out to the streets in Little Havana.

Kids lost interest in that kitten you got for Christmas – dump it around Calle Ocho.

Didn’t get your cat fixed and have a litter bigger than you are ready to take on – cast the poor critters off to fend for themselves in the blue collar neighborhood of Shenandoah.

So we were used to cats.

We talked to them.

We had a few run in the house.

We were never mean or anything, but we just didn’t take much interest in having any kind of pet – because we travel a lot and we’re always on the go.

(see part 2 tomorrow)

I GIVE THANKS EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY

FOR THE LOVE, COMPANIONSHIP AND
CAT GUARDIAN EXPERTISE OF MY WIFE HEIDI

That’s our Siamese Rescue Cat Honeybear in the picture.

We bought her a sleep mask as a joke.

She didn’t like it.

But I snapped a picture.

And Heidi, my wife of 30 years, edited it and posted in on her Facebook page.

Barely a day goes by without a cat pic or video shared by my Heidi.

Barely a week goes by without a heartwarming animal clip comes in, often from the Dodo, courtesy of my beloved.

We’ll have about a week’s worth of cat parenting stories posted for the Thanksgiving week.

For now, I need to tell my bride how much I love her.

She bought us tickets to a special Jackson Galaxy appearance – which also funds the Cat Network.

My Heidi DVRs Jackson’s My Cat From Hell TV show – and watches it like a master’s class in cat behavior.

She has purchased books by Jackson and others, to learn about felines.

She found us a wonderful vet nearby in the Grove – a blog item will touch on that this week.

Heidi found cat toys and helped us assemble an emergency first aid kit, should our inside Meezer get hurt.

She scans all of our feline baby’s medical records.

We chose to never have kids.

With Honeybear our indoor baby – and dozens of outside cats that we care for on our small urban lot in the heart of Little Havana – we have become parents.

MIAMI’S LITTLE HAVANA: FROM WORKING CLASS NEIGHBORHOOD TO GLOBAL TOURIST HOT SPOT

PROUD TO LIVE IN SHENANDOAH/LITTLE HAVANA, TO WORK ON PLUSURBIA DESIGN TEAM PARTNERING WITH NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND TO HAVE WORKED WITH MIAMI CITY COMMISSIONER JOE SANCHEZ WHO CREATED VIERNES CULTURALES/CULTURAL FRIDAYS

by CARMEN SESIN and MARISSA ARMAS/NBC News

MIAMI - On a recent Friday afternoon, German tourists Laura Neufert and Johannes Fuehner strolled through Miami's famed Southwest 8th Street, often referred to as 'Calle Ocho.' They stopped at Maximo Gomez Park, also known as Domino Park, to gaze at the older gentlemen playing. You could hear the click clack of the dominoes being spread around the table as the players focused intently on the game and planned their next move.

"It's nice to see how people came from Cuba and brought their culture," said Fuehner.

The young couple is staying in downtown Miami, but they read about the neighborhood called Little Havana in a tour guide and decided to check it out.

"I find it astonishing how people speak more Spanish than English here," Fuehner said, as a red double-decker bus stopped and unloaded a stream of tourists who dispersed between the park and other parts of the neighborhood.

Little Havana, known to Miami residents as a working class, immigrant neighborhood, has been receiving a flood of tourists for over 5 years now.

They are attracted to the neighborhood because "travelers want local authentic organic experiences," according to Rolando Aedo, Vice President of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitor's Bureau.

"Little Havana has become one of the most unique experiences from a tourism perspective that Miami has to offer," he said.

When tourists began visiting the neighborhood years ago, tour buses would drop them off along Calle Ocho because they wanted to immerse themselves in the cultural experience. But there was no one to provide any guidance about the area and tourists would often resort to asking the businesses about the history. But that changed as demand grew and in 2015, the Little Havana Visitor Center opened. Last year, an estimated 3 million tourists visited Little Havana, according to the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau.

But when the area was founded in the early 20th century, it was starkly different from what it is today. Little Havana was once a deep south neighborhood, according to Paul George, Resident Historian at the HistoryMiami museum and an author of books, including one titled "Little Havana."

When the area was developed in the early 1900s, it was comprised of two different neighborhoods known as Riverside and Shenandoah. By the twenties Riverside and Shenandoah began to see a Jewish influx, which kept growing throughout the 30s and 40s.

But by the 1950s, the Jewish community began to move to newly established suburbs and Cubans fleeing the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship began to settle in. It was after the 1959 revolution in Cuba that the Cuban population in Miami exploded and they concentrated heavily in this area.

"By the late 60s you start to hear reference to Southwest 8th Street as 'Calle Ocho' and Riverside and Shenandoah as Little Havana," said George.

And it's the quaint Cuban-owned businesses that for decades have lined the thoroughfare now known to many as Calle Ocho that are attracting the attention of tourists around the world.

Further placing Little Havana on the spotlight, the National Trust for Historic Preservation added the neighborhood to its list of 11 Most Endangered Places in 2015, to help protect the community while planning for the future. Earlier this year, the Trust declared it a national treasure.

Some pinpoint the beginning of tourism in the area to an art, musical and cultural event called Viernes Culturales/Cultural Fridays, which began in Little Havana in the year 2000. The event, organized by a nonprofit on the last Friday of every month, attracted 2,000 attendees at the first gathering. The idea was to promote and preserve the neighborhood's rich history. Eventually, tourists began to trickle in.

Aedo and George agree the past five years have been significant and they attribute it to the entrepreneurs. One of the main investors in the neighborhood is Bill Fuller and his partners, who have acquired a vast amount of properties in recent years. The group's most popular business is a bar and live music venue called Ball and Chain.

To read full story & view all images, click link

SAVE LITTLE HAVANA BEFORE TRAFFIC ENGINEERS DESTROY THE CALLE OCHO CORRIDOR

The FDOT study for the redesign of Miami’s Calle Ocho

corridor is reaching crisis proportions

Every time FDOT has a new meeting on the world-famous and historic Calle Ocho corridor, it introduces plans that run more counter to complete streets.

Iffy stats contribute to the feeling that the community is being ignored.

Dozens if not hundreds of American cities large and small have torn down highways, shrunk lanes, widened sidewalks, built Transit Oriented Development and introduced a host of design guidelines aimed at mobility equality for human beings -- on foot, on bike, in wheelchairs, on public transit.

Every measure of the future suggests mobility via individual car ownership will decline.

Yet FDOT seems hellbent on ignoring its own complete streets guidelines and turning existing "Highway Ocho" from bad to worse.

It couldn't come at a worse time.

Visionary developers, realtors and activists are doing everything they can to re-invigorate Little Havana with adaptive re-use, human-scaled infill and curated, mom and pop tenants.

An overwhelming majority of renters and home owners north and south of Calle Ocho want a safe street to cross and development oriented to humans, not cars.

Yet every indication, from very questionable analysis numbers to drawings, shows that FDOT is intent on making the beloved Calle8 corridor nothing more than a streamlined highway into and out of Brickell/downtown Miami.

Lots of urban advocates read this blog.

Please, get involved in advocating for complete streets and human scale.

If you are local, come to a meeting and call an elected official.

If you are national, share this with the lists you belong this, make this part of the agenda of your organization.

If you do not, you will forever be lamenting the passing of Calle Ocho and Little Havana -- just like we mourn the passing of the Original Penn Station decades later.

--I am posting this an individual, not as an affiliate of any for profit or non profit entity. My wife and I -- nearly 20 years ago -- bought and rehabbed an about to be razed 1920 house just blocks for Calle8. We love the corridor and want to preserve it.

DEATH OF A DICTATOR

CASTRO'S PASSING OBSERVED IN LITTLE HAVANA

PEOPLE TOOK TO THE STREETS OF CALLE OCHO

VERSAILLES RESTAURANT WAS THE EPICENTER 

ITS COFFEE WINDOW HAS LONG BEEN

 

LA CASA DEL EXILIO 

PLUSURBIA'S JUAN MULLERAT IS HONORED TO PRESENT

at 2016 APA Florida Conference

PlusUrbia's Juan Mullerat is honored to present "Affordable Pockets for Healthy Living: Little Havana USA" at the American Planning Association Florida statewide conference coming up in September in Tampa.

Inner city neighborhoods such as Miami’s Little Havana have good bones, but need urban interventions to increase healthy living.  

We’ll explore both assets (including high density to support public transit; affordable housing in close proximity to jobs) and challenges including lack of park space for healthy recreation, limited access to fresh food and a zoning code that prevents infill with small units and no parking.  

For a fraction of what exurbs or new towns cost, the inner city can be retrofitted in a more sustainable manner. 

Click here to read more