During the past summer thru September, the Miami Foundation held a Facebook open
competition called "The Open Space Challenge," with hundreds of entries
submitted. Lee and I attended the kickoff celebration at the Design District,
where many attended and mingled for drinks at the open bar and nibbled on pulled
pork sandwiches and the likes from the nearby food trucks. During cocktails,
huge plasma screens displayed live Twitter feeds of ideas. Check out the write
up from The Miami New Times, ttp://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/cultist/2013/08/draft_our_miami_launch.php.
A panel of judges will soon decide which projects will be awarded a share of
the $120,000 for actual project implementation.
Submissions came from folks living in neighborhoods all over Miami wanting to
create a better sense of place for people to gather, and identifying places in
dire need of makeovers. Check out the map dotted with all kinds of suggestions!
Our public libraries have been on the news lately. Here is one idea for making
our downtown library better. This idea too can be transferred to our own SoMi
public library.http://ideas.ourmiami.org/place/45409
Closer to home in SoMi, we have heard many times before how our parks and trees
make our lives better. We are again a Tree City, we have committed to planting
trees in our streets, and even have a commissioner, Bob Welsh, volunteering to
plant trees at our homes. But what about the public patches of communal spaces
that can stand a makeover? Here is an idea for Paciencia Park, adjacent to our
--Others have creative ideas for public spaces along the M Path--check out this
idea for student start-up shops at the University of Miami (just minutes north
--Check out this idea for a park at the Downtown Dadeland area (just minutes
--And how about a unifying idea of a linear park along the M Path? Here's one:
The M Path, is our urban bike trail, but on a larger scale functions as an
important element along the East Coast Greenway, spanning from the Florida Keys
