THE HISTORIC BRYAN PARK NEIGHBORHOOD HAS A PROBLEM

WILL THE CITY OF MIAMI EVER FIX IT?

We have lived in the Shenandoah section of Miami for more than 15 years.

We have restored, with permits, a nearly 100-year-old house that was on the verge of condemnation when we bought it.

We had squatters in the house behind us and the beautiful park out front got a giant steel gate around it.

At first we thought it looked like a prison yard – but soon found out so many kids misbehaved after dark, that the short-staffed city had to find a way of closing down the park and locking out trouble makers till dawn.

We knew of some drug arrests and dealt with loud neighbors.

Slowly, the area rebounded.

We even had to fight the city, which I worked for at the time, when it wanted to turn virtually every inch of historic William Jennings Bryan Park into a tennis center.

This would turn a 2-acre oasis, in the city with the least amount of park space of any major American city according to the Trust for Public Land, into a virtually privatized tennis tournament revenue-maker.

It would create noise, traffic, parking, quality of life and other negative issues while chasing hundreds of families out of the park and its green grasses.

Finally, that battle won, we watched carved up illegal units being restored to single-family houses. Dilapidated small apartment buildings were lovingly renovated.

Property values started to reward the hard work both urban pioneers and longtime residents who suffered through decades of neglect from police, parks, public works and elected officials.

But a few years ago, we noticed a man squatting on his own property at SW 12^th Street and SW 22^nd Avenue.

He is so mentally ill, he allowed his family home to fall apart and get demolished by the Unsafe Structures Board.

Rather than moving to a subsidized apartment, he camps out.

He has no toilet or shower, so he does all bodily functions out in the open on the trash-strewn lot.

We have complained for more than 3 years.

Nothing is done.

When I tried to take pictures to post -- maybe even to send to media to shame city into action – the crazed man ran out with his big dog and told me he was going to attack me for spying on him.

I was in public right of way in broad daylight -- had every right to do what I was doing.

I have no idea if he really had a knife, guns, trained attack dog.

I guess it will take an adult getting severely injured or kid mauled by his dog...before anyone at City, County or other agency lifts a finger.

While we fear him, this kind of life also is dangerous to this man.

How he survives bugs and heat of hot weather I'll never know.

His unsanitary conditions are dangerous to this community.

How anyone on his block could sell a house, for anything above half the true value, is beyond me.

It is dragging down the whole of Bryan Park area.

Crap like this encourages illegal units, illegal parking, loud parties, vandalism, theft and everything else that drags down a neighborhood of quality homes and good people on the rebound.

Commissioner Manolo Reyes campaigned on a platform of constituent service.

Our current mayor, who we like very much, was the district commissioner for our area.

One would think a new mayor, commissioner and city manager could come up with a good solution to this problem in all of about 10 minutes.

So far, we continue to suffer.

Not a thing is done.