The Mystery of the Missing Books

On a sunny September afternoon, I took my two kids to the playground at Biscayne Park.

Though they love the tire swing and zooming down the big purple slide, the real draw for them is the park’s recreation center, which is named after Ed Burke, who served as the Village’s mayor from 1964 to 1989.

Inside of the rec center’s library, which consisted of hundreds of donated books for all ages, my 8-year old would thumb through the pages of “The Magic Treehouse” series, while my 3-year old would dart straight to the snack vending machine and eventually settle on the foam floor mat with a picture-filled book.

I would often read books from the “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” series as my toddler listened as much as his attention-span allowed. He would point at his favorite story characters while playing with toys in the toddler area.

On that afternoon, my mouth dropped when we stepped inside.

There were less than 20 books on the shelves.

There were no kids huddled in corners engrossed in reading, no parents or nannies carefully sounding out words on pages to curious toddlers nestled in their laps, and there were no adults reading quietly on the chairs near the large windows.

“What happened to all of the books, Mom?” my older son asked.

I didn’t know but I was determined to find out.

I asked the park’s employee. He didn’t know.

I emailed the village manager, who at the time was Chris Truitt, and asked what happened. He forwarded my email to Commissioner Mac Kennedy.

Kennedy asked me to call him.  

He explained that members of the Biscayne Park Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit, either threw away or donated all the books months earlier during their ongoing renovation project of the rec center.

“Months earlier…” I thought. That was either before or during summer break when the rec center was filled with kids for summer camp. I thought about the campers being greeted with empty bookshelves every day.

There was not a clear answer as to why the books were cleared out or who from the Foundation made the decision.

Though several months had passed since I had last been inside the rec center, I remember that the majority of the 300 to 400 books there looked as if they were in good condition.

When I asked Kennedy why the books that were in good condition were not kept, he replied:

“The Village was not part of that decision. The Foundation acted unilaterally.”

It took me some time to process that a group could decide, upon themselves, to throw out or donate hundreds of books, mostly children’s books, without any input, consent, or permission from Parks and Rec staff or from Village officials.

Kennedy said that he had emailed Truitt to ask for an update about getting the books back.

“I know the answer,” he said, “but I asked anyway.”

After I followed up again, Kennedy said that Truitt had not responded and had resigned on Sept. 26, unrelated to this issue.

I called and emailed the closest libraries to Biscayne Park to see if the books had been donated there. The directors of both the North Miami Public Library and the Brockway Memorial Library in Miami Shores said no.

PARENTS’ OPINIONS ON THE BOOKS AND REVAMP

In December, I spoke with parent Hector Ortiz, 42, of North Miami, inside of the Ed Burke Recreation Center. He takes his 7 year-old son to the playground and rec center almost every weekend.

“I showed up here one day and they were gone,” he said of the books.

He recalled how he and his son used to read children’s books together, as well as National Geographic, and look at atlases.

“There was a coin collecting book that he really enjoyed,” he said of his son. “He got into coin collecting because of it.”

Ortiz would donate and borrow books. The library has always run by an honor code system. There’s no inventory of book titles and there’s no formal check-out process of books.

“I found it strange that they purged everything and they’re starting fresh again,” he said.

Kennedy had mentioned that the Foundation set up an Amazon Wishlist for new books. A search on Amazon did not yield results, but perhaps that’s because all the books on the list had already been purchased. This begs the question, why get rid of all the books only to buy new ones?

“I’m glad they’re trying to replenish it,” said Ortiz, “but compared to what they had last time, it’s sad what has happened.”

The shelves are slowly being restocked, thanks to donations from residents and from Village commissioners. There were at least 70 books for children and teens on the shelves in December and about 30 books for adults. The children’s books are separated from the adult books.

Ortiz thinks the Foundation got rid of books for political reasons.

“I don’t see a lot of variety anymore,” he said.

He believes that they might be censoring the books.

“More than likely for political reasons,” he thinks. “They want to be as unbiased as possible.”

He said that he’s noticed less people inside of the rec center and attributed that to the lack of books.

“I saw dozens of people always sitting around reading books,” he reminisced.

“I even saw teenagers reading here,” he said. “To see a teenager reading, it’s a miracle.”

“Where did the books go?” he asked.

Another father, Arian Rodriguez, who was relaxing on the couch in the rec center during Biscayne Park’s Winter Fest, said that he’s been taking his children there for three years.

As a behavioral analyst, he conducted therapy sessions in the rec center with his clients – kids with disabilities.

He said that in addition to bringing his own supplies, he utilized the books there before they were cleared out.

“I thought they were changing everything and that they were going bring new books,” he said, when he saw the empty shelves, month after month.  

He said it took a while to increase the number of books on the shelves.

“I like the space better, the way that it’s designed,” he said of the renovations in the rec center, “but I think they need more books,” he said. “There were really interesting books here.”

He said that he likes the new position of the books on a white wire rack, as they are the same height as toddlers and small kids.

“The visibility that they have now is better for the kids,” he said.

The books are more reachable for small hands in the toddler area, as the book covers face forward as opposed to the spines of the books being stacked one after the other on the shelves, which is how they’re arranged on the shelving area for bigger kids.

THE BISCAYNE PARK FOUNDATION

Formed in 2007, the Biscayne Park Foundation is “charged with raising, fostering and promoting community-wide interests and concerns for the preservation of the Village of Biscayne Park,” according to their website.

The Village of Biscayne Park’s website lists five members that make up the Biscayne Park Foundation, with the president being Jill Grucan, Esq., an immigration lawyer.

Grucan and I exchanged a few emails about the books.

“On many projects it undertakes, the Foundation works with the Village and Village Commission,” she wrote.

“We attend Commission meetings, give reports on our plans and projects, and discuss with Commissioners (again at public meetings) the details.” 

She added that Village commissioners also often attend Foundation meetings. 

“The Village and the Village Commission fully support all the Foundation projects I have worked on throughout the years,” she said.

Grucan said that the Foundation is governed by a board of directors, not her personally.

“The directors meet at publicly noticed meetings, discuss the issues reflected on the publicly posted agendas, and vote on matters before it,” she said of the board.

The Village of Biscayne Park’s website lists two board members, a vice president and a secretary/treasurer for the Foundation, in addition to Grucan as president.

I asked Grucan to provide answers about the books or let me know of someone who could.

She didn’t answer my questions as to what happened to the books, who made the decision to clear them out, or why.

When Village Commission meetings feature agenda items about the Biscayne Park Foundation, Grucan is the one who represents the non-profit and provides updates to commissioners on the status of the rec center’s upgrades, which includes new storage furniture, a leather couch, a new bookshelf for the adult books, donated televisions, a new foam floor mat for the toddler area, and an area rug and mirrors for the gym/work-out area that make up the other half of the rec center.

The Biscayne Park Foundation’s mission statement reads:

“We have an obligation to make things beautiful. Not to leave the world uglier than we found it, not to empty the oceans, not to leave our problems for the next generation. We have an obligation to clean up after ourselves, and not leave our children with a world we've shortsightedly messed up, shortchanged, and crippled.”

Some of the Foundation’s annual fundraising events include the Food & Tunes Festival, which raised funds for a portable stage and outdoor lighting for the rec center’s entrance. They also host Jazz in the Park and Mango Fest.

The Foundation also sponsors dog clean-up bag stations on Village medians, as well as butterfly gardens and mosaic benches throughout Biscayne Park, in collaboration with the Park and Parkways Advisory Board and the Arts & Culture Advisory Board.

I tried to attend the Foundation’s monthly meeting in December, which is supposed to happen on the second Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. but no one was there. I wanted answers from the source about what happened to the books.

Any member of the public can attend a commission meeting and/or a Biscayne Park Foundation meeting and can ask questions during public comments.

PARKS & REC DIRECTOR WEIGHS IN

During public comments at the monthly Village Commission meeting, I asked what happened to the missing books.

Issa Thornell, the Parks and Recreation director at Biscayne Park who oversees the park, playground, and rec center, spoke shortly after me to address my question.

“Respectfully, if I could avoid pointing fingers, and just reassure you that I’m doing everything I can to replenish that library and get it back to those numbers that we had before,” he said.

“Let’s chop it up to a miscommunication,” he said of why the books were cleared out, without elaborating further.

He said they are accepting donations and that another commissioner recently brought in two boxes of children’s books.

He also mentioned that the rec center will soon be getting new shelving and will be restocked with more donated books.

“We’re getting rid of some of the older bookshelves and some of the older things,” he said.

The stocky wooden bookshelves that have been in the rec center don’t appear damaged. Outdated? Maybe, but not broken.

“The Foundation has done a great job in helping with the renovations and sprucing up the rec center,” said Thornell.

Back to the books. When I pressed him about what happened to the books that were there, he responded:

“It’s my understanding that some were donated. The ones that were in bad shape were gotten rid of.”

“In the future, we’ll hopefully have a better line of communication with the boards and the departments, so we don’t see things like that happen again,” he said.

Commissioner Veronica Amsler asked Thornell if there was a clear process of making sure he and the Foundation are on the same page about getting access to things moving forward.

Thornell said that in the future he, the village manager and the Foundation’s board members will sit down to discuss matters and “get back on track.”

“It got lost in the transition of changing managers,” he said.

Biscayne Park’s new village manager is Albert Childress, who served as the City Manager of Key West. His four-year contract in Key West was terminated early by a majority vote of city commissioners, amid public opposition not to fire him.

“Regarding the books, it’s a good reminder that for years you spearheaded that effort that stocked the library up in the first place,” said Biscayne Park’s mayor, Jonathan E. Groth, of Thornell.  

Groth suggested that Thornell send a message to residents through the Village of Biscayne Park’s mobile app to remind them that they could donate books to the rec center’s library, especially around the holiday season.

Thornell spearheads family friendly events that happen in Biscayne Park, from Winter Fest to the Spring Egg Hunt, Halloween Fun Zone and movie nights. Most events have a great turn out, with residents and families from neighboring areas joining the festivities.

Thornell said that every Monday, the Miami Dade County book mobile comes to the park from 3 to 4 p.m.

“You can get books from and return books to this location every Monday,” he says of the van.

He also said that people can request books and if they’re in stock, the books will be delivered the following Monday, if people have a library card.

“For me, it’s a moving forward thing. I’m trying to replenish the books,” said Thornell of the rec center’s library. “They’ve replenished some,” he said of the Foundation, “and I get donations.”

He said the original library came together through donations from residents and added that in the past, if a child really loved a book, he or she could keep it.

However, now that they’re trying to restock and build back their inventory, he asks that people return the books they borrow.

When people donate books to the rec center, members of the Foundation as well as Thornell sort through the books and decide which books to put on the shelves.

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

A source close to the rec center, who wishes to remain anonymous, said there used to be vast sections of books by esteemed authors like James Patterson, Heather Graham, and J.D. Robb.

“They want to control what you read. That’s what it looks like to me. How do you throw away books to buy books?” said the person. “Books shouldn’t be thrown away – ever. You don’t throw away books – not good books.”

“And you don’t ask the people that come here for their opinion?” said the person, offended that no input from the community was taken into consideration.

“That baffles me. I’m like, what did you do with the books?”

The person thinks that the only reason why new books were purchased was because people started questioning where the books were.

“That’s why they started buying those,” they said of the new books.

They thought the bookshelves would still be empty today if people didn’t complain.

“Some people were mad because they donated some of the books.”

The person said that before, several copies of the same book could be found, which was helpful, especially with more popular books if someone wanted to borrow a book that was already being borrowed. Now, there are no copies.

“I feel like they make you read what they want you to read,” they said.