Murray Park Aquatic Center opens August 6!

The Murray Park Aquatic Center opens Wednesday, August 6, with a ribbon cutting celebration at 10am. Come see this wonderful new addition to our community!

The Public Space Challenge: Imagine SoMi as the best hometown along the M Path!

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!

http://ideas.ourmiami.org/place/48640.

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

South Miami Metrorail Station,  http://ideas.ourmiami.org/place/45387.

--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

of us along the M Path),http://ideas.ourmiami.org/place/46220.

--Check out this idea for a park at the Downtown Dadeland area (just minutes

south of us along the M Path),http://ideas.ourmiami.org/place/47187.

--And how about a unifying idea of a linear park along the M Path?  Here's one:

http://ideas.ourmiami.org/place/48640.

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

to Canada!  Check out,  http://www.greenway.org/about.aspx.

Join us in Planting Trees Along Miller Road

Please mark your calendars for our upcoming Tree planting project at 9 am on Saturday July 13. We will be planting 23 Cassia bakeriana trees (w/ beautiful pink flowers in spring) and 13 large Live Oak Trees along Miller Road between 58th and 59th Avenues.  The large trees will be installed by a contractor but we would appreciate your help to install the smaller trees. Even if you aren't healthy enough to dig holes we would love to have you there just to show your support.  This project is a collaboration between Miami Dade County, TREEmendous Miami, the South Miami Green Task Force and members of South Miami Neighbors. Hopefully this will be the first of many projects.  If you have any projects in mind where you would like to see more Trees, understory plants and the birds and butterflies that accompany them, please let us know and we can work on them together.  A reminder will be posted before the planting with any additional details.

High voltage power lines run into opposition

The city's efforts to have Florida Power and Light (FPL) reroute its proposed new high-voltage lines west of the city may have run into a snag, as Kendall officials are expressing resistance. [Miami Herald]