Calling All Writers! Well, Maybe Not All Writers
We here at Biscayne Times World Headquarters are looking for some new correspondents to supplement our stellar cast. If you live in a condo in downtown Miami (between the river and I-395), and you’d like to chronicle life in that particular frontier, we want to hear from you. Ditto for these areas: Edgewater, North Bay Village, Bay Harbor Islands, and North Miami. Warning: This is not a path to riches.

Please send contact information and writing samples (if you have them) to editor Jim Mullin: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

North Miami Is Missing Something Most Cities Have in Abundance: Parking Meters
I’d like to add another positive point to Karen-Janine Cohen’s November cover story about 125th Street in North Miami (“125: Strive to Survive”). It’s something that is often overlooked but is an extremely valuable feature for a destination.

North Miami has free parking!

Dan Lundberg

North Miami

Guardhouse Alternative #1: Automatic Garage-Door Opener
Christian Cipriani’s article about the armed robbery of Jeff and Yasmin Davis in the driveway of their Miami Shores home (“Guns Can Change Everything,” November 2009) revealed an irony. The Davis couple bought a bayfront house at a price that was surely well beyond most people’s means. The house was gutted and rebuilt to their specifications, again well beyond most people’s means.

Ironically, they were able to spend thousands of dollars on the rebuilding, but apparently forgot to include an automatic garage-door opener, which would have rendered it unnecessary for the wife to get out of their vehicle to open the garage door, which is when the robbery occurred.

Now they want a guardhouse built on NE 96th Street at NE 10th Avenue -- and have other residents pay for it.

Get real.

Ellen Willis

Miami Shores

Guardhouse Alternative #2: Police Officer in Squad Car
A guardhouse in the Shores that photographs the license plate of every car that passes through? Yes! Brilliant!

This idea probably sounded better in Jeff Davis’s head. It’s about as effective as those red-light cameras, which enforce the law after the crime has been committed. This certainly does not help with prevention or with the consequences of the crime.

How can we feel safer? Most police departments increase their presence in areas where the crime rate has gone up. Police departments generally do this automatically, but when they don’t, any resident can request it. You simply have to ask.

Miami Shores has its own police department, so there should be no excuses. Police are here to serve and protect, or so I’ve been told, and we give them about one-third of our municipal budget to do so.

The armed robbery the Davis family went through is appalling, but it shouldn’t be used as a way to keep track of law-abiding citizens. Furthermore, the information collected by a guardhouse camera is a liability in itself. The added cost is an unnecessary burden, and it is simply redundant. One squad car making rounds can be more beneficial.

Besides, any plate you do identify from a getaway vehicle is probably going to be that of a stolen car. Possibly your neighbor’s car.

Angel Correa

Miami Shores

When Is a Tree Not a Tree? When It’s a Lollipop
I want to thank Jeff Shimonski for highlighting the many reasons why topping and hat-racking trees should be illegal (“Miami’s Chainsaw Massacre,” November 2009). I was astonished to read about all the hazards. Because these practices can harm the health of the tree, I was under the mistaken impression that they were outlawed.

I suggest that Jeff next write article about what I believe is another aberration of nature present in South Florida yards: Trees shaped to look like lollipops.

Nature is the best architect and designer. We should try to let trees look like trees.

Laura Santamaria

Miami

Chronicle of a Disaster Foretold
I would like to respond to Frank Rollason’s column about statewide Amendment 4 (“Revolutionary Concept: Put Urban Sprawl to a Vote,” November 2009). In 2006 my hometown of St. Pete Beach became the first community to adopt a local version of Amendment 4, a proposal that will appear before all Florida voters next year.

Our town put its faith in the empty promises of this amendment’s supporters. We were told that they just wanted to “give the people a say” on growth. But that is not what they wanted to do, and that is not what happened. Since this measure was passed, the residents of St. Pete Beach have seen endless lawsuits, higher costs, and little progress. Even die-hard disciples of Amendment 4 have since reverted back to common sense.

In St. Pete Beach, any proposed change to our town’s comprehensive plan was thrust onto the ballot. Public planning was replaced with political infighting. A parade of unintended consequences quickly followed. After adopting our local version of Amendment 4, it wasn’t long before we realized that telephone-book-size comprehensive plans were not easily condensed into 75-word ballot questions. The elections were confusing, chaotic, and expensive for taxpayers.

Many local businesses became victims of this impossible process. Not surprisingly, our tourism-based economy began to wither, and too many families felt the effects. Once a beacon of prosperity, St. Pete Beach is now known for its chaotic business climate.

Over time, many voters became frustrated by the lack of common-sense progress. As a result, they supported a plan to reinvigorate our ailing economy. In a 2008 election, the voters of St. Pete Beach approved a series of changes to our local comprehensive plan.

Within 24 hours of the election, the same interest group that first proposed our local version of Amendment 4 had filed a lawsuit to overturn the entire election! To date, Amendment 4 supporters have filed nearly a dozen lawsuits and administrative challenges -- all aimed at invalidating the will of the people. All told, litigation has cost our taxpayers roughly $500,000. And there is no end in sight.

We do not need to look to California or anywhere else for an Amendment 4 example. We have our very own disaster right here in Florida -- it’s called the cautionary tale of St. Pete Beach.

Ward Friszolowski

St. Pete Beach

Editor’s note: Ward Friszolowski, an architect, was elected to the St. Peter Beach City Commission in 1994. He served as mayor from 2000 to 2008.

I Once Thought You Were Informative, Interesting, and Smart -- and I Still Think You’re Informative and Interesting
Jenni Person’s “Mixing It Up in Miami” really threw me off (November 2009). The aforementioned column was about children, reading, and the Miami Book Fair International. It had a subheadline that said, “In a town this diverse, interracial couples are no big deal,” yet it didn’t include one word about interracial couples. I was surprised to read on and notice that the article was about a completely different subject. Although I did enjoy reading it, I must ask: How did this get into print?

Just as I was getting settled on the idea that Biscayne Times is a well-edited, informative, and interesting publication, this happens. It was disappointing.

However, I still think the BT is informative and interesting, so thank you for that.
Donnamarie Baptiste

Upper Eastside

Editor’s note: Ouch! As a result of a production error, the headline from Jenni’s October column was repeated in the November issue. It should have read: “Kids + Books = Success: Get your kids hooked on reading, and have some fun at Miami Book Fair International.” Our apologies.

Informative, Interesting, Smart -- and Latinate!
The Biscayne Times has got both the big bad daily and its weekly rivals beat by a mile with interesting stuff to read. Any paper can print run-of-the-mill news, like the regular hit-and-runs or dumb-ass-decision-making governmental bodies. But where else can you read in a single issue (October 2009) hopeful stories about tree huggers who actually make a difference (“The 41st Street Oaks Live to See Another Day”). Or how the recession forced the Miami Shore Country Club to open their doors to the public (“Once Exclusive, Now Inclusive”). Or how a couple turned their second home in Morningside into an artist’s retreat (“Miami to Art World: Come on Down!”).

Now, what would make the BT a keeper is to get the garden columnist, Jeff Shimonski, a guy with a jones for Latin, to tell us where we can buy a Hylocereus undatus. The high and mighty Sunday Miami Herald consistently hypes local native plants, but invariably fails to tell us where you can buy them.

DC Copeland

Hibiscus Island

Editor’s note: Jeff Shimonski suggests this: “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum.”

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