SANTA, PLEASE BRING BACK THE CLASSIC TOWER THEATER MARQUEE

ALL WE WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A DIALOGUE WITH MIAMI DADE COLLEGE THAT RESTORES THE LANDMARK HAND-LETTERED SIGN TO THE HISTORIC LANDMARK

Bill Fuller, responsible developer and guardian of the essence of Little Havana, recently posted this update to the online petition he launched to get the classic marquee restored at the landmark Tower Theater in the core of Calle Ocho.

He, like us, embraces all the great things MDC does for the community. But he is encouraging a dialogue that can result in restoration of the signature marquee while also meeting the Tower's modern marketing needs.

Here's the post:

Thanks to everyone who has visited this site to learn about the crown jewel that is Little Havana’s Tower Theater and to sign a petition in favor of restoring its classic marquee. We are pleased to report that a representative of Miami-Dade College, the theater operator that put up an LED panel in place of the marquee, attended today’s Viernes Culturales board meeting. Juan Mendieta, Director of Communications for MDC, opened the dialogue that can lead to a positive resolution of this issue.

We state for the record that Miami Dade College is one of the greatest assets that greater Miami has. The inclusive college has educated tens of thousands of young people – including many who grew up to be revered leaders in our community. MDC has restored and programmed the Freedom Tower and Koubek Center and produced globally-renown cultural events such as the Miami International Film Festival and Miami Book Fair International.

MDC, under the leadership of President Eduardo Padron, also has turned the underutilized Tower Theater into a multicultural art film palace that is the pride of Calle Ocho. We truly believe the effort to replace an aging hand-lettered marquee with a flashy LED panel was well-intended. However -- the countless members of the community who are working to return prosperity to Little Havana through historic preservation, adaptive reuse and fiercely guarding the authenticity that produces four million visitors each year -- should have been consulted.

We are confident that this oversight can be corrected. We welcome MDC’s visionary leadership to the table and look forward to a collaborative effort that can enhance both the Tower Theater’s landmark look and the need to market the venue to a larger audience.

We will contribute our resource toward the restoration of the classic, old-fashioned, hand-lettered marquee. We look forward to sitting at the table with MDC and turning this misstep into a learning experience that can be used to protect the architecture and character of the incomparable Calle Ocho corridor.   -- Bill Fuller, Dec 18, 2015.

The petition, originally seeking a humble 100 supporters, is now 50 shy of 500 signatures.
Some of Miami's most prominent historians and leaders have signed the petition and left their thoughtful words of wisdom about preservation in the comments section.

This avalanche of support for the classic marquee comes at a time when almost all of us are doing last minute shopping, on the road for the holidays, or already home and disengaged from civic activity.

If this were another time of year, we are confident that more than 1,000 would have signed the petition.

Here's your chance to sign the petition and encourage MDC to resolve this issue