Letter to the editor: Residents frustrated with lack of progress on White House Inn issue

It was almost 7:00 pm on August 30, I was sitting in North Miami City Hall in front of a group of investors dressed in blue suits. The residents of the surroundings of Keystone Point, Sans Souci, and those of 123rd Street were entering one after the other. The hall was so full that people were standing outside too.

From the beginning the atmosphere was tense. The four city counselors and the mayor had to vote for or against the construction of a building almost 184 feet high with a capacity of 20 floors, compared to the 35 feet that were allowed. 

The mayor gave the floor to one of the investors dressed in blue suits to defend the project. He portrayed himself as an angel, introducing us to the construction of "modest apartments of almost $4 million each" indicating that it was the salvation of the city's problems. With his sermon and perfect rhetoric, the financial problems of North Miami would end. The $45 million in taxes would be used for years to come to fix schools, increase police personnel, build parks, create a lot of jobs, and finally affirmed that the already convulsed traffic on 123 towards Bay Harbor would not be affected at all.

The outrage was growing and amid laughter, cautious looks, and anger, we waited for that sermon to end.

Senior residents, architects, civil engineers, lawyers, representatives of Keystone Point, and students exposed the lies of the speech. Some participants even took the trouble to present models and photos of the monstrous construction that would become visual contamination of our beautiful, traditional, and peculiar neighborhood. Others explained the issue of the change in "zoning" and how they would begin to buy our properties to raise tall buildings next to the canal, creating a great wall towards 123rd Street and its surroundings.

We also spoke about the problem of water pressure and the old pipes that would have to reach the twentieth floor of that building; the 45 million was a drop of what it would cost to renew them. A third person also spoke about the huge obstruction of the new owners' yachts that would be anchored at the outlet of the Little Arch Creek channel. 

The mayor and the four counselors noticed our desperation; some of the participants were losing patience in the face of so much deceit on the part of the men in blue suits. The mayor tried to mediate.

We do not know the reason why one of the counselors withdrew, this has happened before. When one of the counselors withdraws, the vote cannot be done. We were all exhausted and had to leave.   

The "White House inn" property, the one that would be replaced by this huge building, has to be turned into a useful place. It is important for North Miami to develop new and economically stable properties, but not congest and exhaust our water, and plumbing system and pollute the city.

Livia Cleary

North Miami