HomeMy WebLinkAboutRequest LetterJunrr22-05 07:OOP St VQ Wright.
3052884830 P.02
Joe Arriola, City Manager
City of Miami
3500 Pan American Drive
Miami, FL 33133
dear Mr. Arriola:
Heidi Johnson -Wright
2330 S.W. 13th Street
Miami, FL 33145
786-402-9297 (daytime)
305-285-7313 (home)
6/22/05
am a resident of the City of Miami. 1 live in the Shenandoah neighborhood across the
street from Bryan Park, I am writing to you requesting a personal appearance at the next
City Commission meeting in order to address an issue of grave and urgent concern.
The issue is a capital project that is planned for Bryan Park. I believe that this project is
extremely misguided and, if carried out, would destroy this beautiful, highly valuable city
asset.
Before writing to you, I inspected the Bryan Park project plans and they are worse than 1
ever dreamed, Three tennis courts, a two-story structure and a parking lot will take up
virtually all of the green space.
Destruction of the park's green space will undoubtedly have very deleterious effects on
the neighborhood and the city generally. One example concerns water drainage and run-
off On Monday, June 20, after a day of heavy rains not uncommon to Miami in the
summertime, two-thirds of the park was flooded. Southwest 13th Street had at least a
foot of standing water. Paving over more than an acre of existing open grass for an out -
of -scale tennis center will surely increase flooding.
As far as I can tell, this is a project that has never been discussed by the City
Commission, there have been no public hearings and it has not been heard by the Bond
Oversight Board. No resident input on this project has been solicited in any meaningful
way. That is government at its absolute worst. As a life-long public servant who currently
works in municipal government, i surely know the difference between good and load
gave rnme nt.
This park is so important to me. My husband Steve (Chairman Sanchez's policy advisor)
and I bought a run-down house and worked hard to make it part of a neighborhood en a
comeback.
But the park isn't about us; it's about scale, fresh air, drainage, open space and a legacy
of preserving a perfect urban park in a city that has a regrettable history of paving,
selling, neglecting and not expanding its parkland. Miami is a wonderful city, but a city
with some of the smallest amounts of parkland and green space of any large urban area.
Jury-22-Oh 07:O1P Stevie Wright 3052B54830 P_03
We cannot afford to pave over Bryan Park to create a competition -scale, regional tennis
center.
Please have someone contact me about appearing on the agenda at the next City
Commission meeting. I understand that construction on this project could begin in
August, so I must be heard before the August Commission break.
I can be reached via my cellular phone: 786-402-9297. Thank you for your
consideration.
Sincerely,
Held on -Wright, Esq.
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cc: Elvi Gallastegui-Alonso, Agenda Coordinator