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After nearly 13 years of bringing cutting-edge multicultural contemporary dance productions to North Miami, the Peter London Global Dance Company is unsure whether it will be able to go on. It isn’t just a result of regular old “show biz,” either. Artistic director and founder Peter London is used to that. This is something different. “It’s typical in small companies for the leaders to take on more when the money doesn’t show up,” said London, “but when you get a big hit like this, that really knocks you off of the boat into deep waters.”
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Primary elections are upon us on August 20th and mail-in voting has started. This guide is intended to help you make sense of things. In January, Biscayne Times raised the curtain on 2024 with the headline: “Welcome to a High-Stakes Election Year.” That puts things mildly in this unprecedented year when Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt, and President Biden exited the race to make way for Kamala Harris to run in his stead. Such events only further invite a cold-eyed approach...
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Miami Shores' interim planning and zoning director, Joseph Corradino, says the village is in the middle of a six-month long overhaul of the residential zoning code. Property owners looking to build a house in Miami Shores Village have a new set of regulations to follow now that council members have taken steps to curb big homes...
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“If an institution has not made it after 10 years, it shouldn’t be around anymore,” said auto dealership magnate and art collector Norman Braman in a 2014 interview with The New York Times. Ten years later, the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami (ICA) is still standing. More than that, it’s thriving. After receiving a reported 1 million visitors and organizing 94 exhibitions, this museum of contemporary art remains open to the public for free. And “free is a big deal … It’s a great way to get people in,” said sculptor Mark Handforth in an interview with the Biscayne Times...
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What was thought to be a victory for the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) and the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in a monthslong digital billboard debate has since turned into something quite different. Rather, the real battle has only just begun. In a recent reversal by the Miami City Commission at its May 23 meeting, the body voted to completely repeal an ordinance that allowed 1,800-square-foot LED billboards in downtown Miami. The rug was pulled out from under PAMM and the Arsht’s feet when it was revealed that the final vote would not include exceptions for the two entities, despite those exceptions having been proffered and preliminarily accepted at a previous meeting in April...
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The LGBTQ+ community has become Florida’s political battleground over the past two years.
In 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis waged a heavily publicized war against drag queens performing in Wynwood. Last year, he signed a slew of anti-LGBTQ+ bills from the Florida Legislature. Most recently, the governor expressed a clear intent to challenge federal protections for transgender students against sex-based discrimination.
“We are living in a political moment where a vocal minority – just like during the fight for marriage equality – think that they should decide who has rights and who doesn’t,” said Todd Delmay, executive director of SAVE, Florida’s longest-serving LGBTQ+ political advocacy organization...
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When Luis Cabrera assumed the position of police chief in the Village of Biscayne Park following a former chief’s arrest over corruption charges, he told the community that it was his mission to repair the village’s reputation.
Six years later, it’s clear that he has only made it worse.
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Belle Meade is at a turning point in its long-winding history, but as is the case with most evolutions, it’s being preceded by a war. There are two camps developing in the Upper East Side neighborhood: those who want to preserve the eclectic character of the community, and those who want to preserve their rights as property owners to remodel and rebuild as they wish. Surely, there is some overlap between the two competing parties; not all residents believe that either goal is mutually exclusive. The real battleground lies within the debate on whether Belle Meade should become a neighborhood conservation district.
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City of Miami commissioners voted 3-2 April 25 to ban future construction of oversized, digital billboards in the municipality. But to be clear, residents will still stumble upon these very structures during their downtown walks or drives. The vote puts the city one step closer to rescinding an ordinance passed in 2023 that allows 100-foot LED billboards spanning 1,800 square feet, which allowed the city to circumvent state-mandated size limits, but it also ends a monthslong debate at which the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) and the Adrienne Arsht Center of the Performing Arts have been center stage.
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The best thing about baseball is the legends that build up around the game. There’s always a story, and it always has a whiff of the unreal, whether it’s Yogi Berra’s leaps in logic, Dock Ellis’ psychedelic-fueled no-hitter, Bo Jackson’s left-handed homer or the Curse of the Billy Goat on the Cubs (the bad vibes only being broken by a goat-eating contest at Chicago’s Taco in a Bag restaurant). Football is a game that mimics a medieval battle, but baseball is a carnival: Players don’t blitz and drive to conquer new land like helmeted knights, they run around a while, touch base with different people and then go home – hopefully driving a few other buddies home, too.
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The Miami City Commission has voted unanimously to approve increased height limits in the MiMo Biscayne Boulevard Historic District under certain conditions. The final language adopted last month through the approved ordinance allows 20 feet of additional height for a project on a one-acre lot or larger, if that project includes a public benefit by a public agency “including but not limited to public parking, sustainability measures, streetscape improvements and alternative transportation services” with a value of at least $6 million.
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Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced a $2.5 billion bond proposal at her State of the County address Jan. 24, 2023. A little more than two months after Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava floated a $2.5 billion general obligation bond (GOB) referendum during her State of the County address to pay for a series of expansive projects, she’s had a change of heart. The mayor recently announced her decision to postpone those ambitious plans after running into too much opposition in a year when she’s seeking reelection...
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Conservationists have been trying to incentivize environmental preservation for more than a century in Florida. If history has made one thing clear, however, it’s that it’s not an easy feat. Indeed, not everyone sees – or cares about – nature’s intrinsic value, focusing rather on how it extrinsically serves our needs. Even then, amid high-rises, office spaces and condominiums, it’s difficult to grasp just how much we rely on our natural ecosystem to survive...
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Arch Creek Park is in trouble – dirty trouble – and local activists are organizing once again to save a historic landmark in North Miami they began fighting for more than 40 years ago. In 1972, environmental lawyer Maureen Harwitz read in a newspaper that Chrysler Automobile Corporation sought to convert historic Arch Creek Park into a used auto lot. She knew she had to get involved to stop those plans and teamed up with local activists like Alice Cohen to do so...
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The city of North Miami Beach’s special mayoral race is in high gear. Now that the qualifying period has officially closed, residents have one month to weigh out potential candidates before the Dec. 5 election. Although pickings are slim in quantity, residents may find that both names on the ballot hold some weight. Evan Scott Piper and Paule Villard, both former commissioners with decades of community involvement behind them, are the only two candidates running. A third candidate, David Zapen, whose platform included building a basic income for North Miami Beach residents, pulled his name from the race before the qualifying period closed Oct. 21.
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As flames spread through Miami-Dade’s massive North Dade Landfill trash incinerator earlier this year in February, destroying the heart of the county’s waste-management system while spreading chemicals through the air, residents could smell, taste and see the results of decades of failed leadership. For years, successive mayors and commissions punted on finding long-term solutions to the county’s garbage woes. New residents and tax dollars poured in, but as development surged so did the amount of trash produced, along with the size of sprawling, pungently odorous landfills.
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“It will be blue for the Miami sky and for the sea, but also blue for the frames of Emtiti,” said Stéphane Denève enthusiastically, making a gesture around his face.
Emtiti. Is that … something Egyptian? “No, no,” he laughed. “M.T.T. You know, Michael Tilson Thomas! He wears those blue glasses!” Denève was discussing some of the themes he plans to explore in his first season leading the New World Symphony as artistic director. His enthusiasm was infectious. Blue is for the city, he said, but also for his predecessor and collaborator, who co-founded the symphony 35 years ago and who will be presenting several works this season as artistic director laureate.
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The city of Miami has big plans for Edgewater’s Margaret Pace Park, and it’s asking the community what it thinks. District 2 Commissioner Sabina Covo and Chris Evans, the city’s parks and recreation director, came together Aug. 10, 2023, to unveil the park’s master plan at the park itself. Located on approximately eight acres of waterfront land along Biscayne Boulevard, it’s slated for a multiphased renovation that the city promises will deliver something for everyone...
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With Miami’s hotel revenue soaring to 24% higher than pre-pandemic levels last year, networking coalition Commercial Real Estate Women Miami (CREW) gathered some of the industry’s top women leaders last month to home in on what’s working for the city’s tourism business – and what’s not. Moderated by Mabelle Perez, director of hotels and hospitality for commercial mortgage lender Berkadia, CREWs “Miami’s Hospitality Market: No Reservations About It” took place at the Mayfair House Hotel & Garden in Coconut Grove Aug. 16, 2023. More than 65 enthusiasts and professionals attended the luncheon and forum. Here’s the lowdown on what was covered...
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The town of Surfside will have a special election Nov. 7, 2023, that could change future elections in the municipality. Residents will vote on five charter amendments, one that would extend the terms of both the mayor and commissioners from two to four years and another that would require a mayoral candidate to receive a majority vote before being elected. If approved, those changes would affect the outcome of the town’s next general election March 19, 2024. As it stands now, all Surfside commissioners are elected at-large every two years. The first charter amendment would change that to elect only two new commissioners for four-year terms at any given election...
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There will come a time, perhaps in the next two years as planned, when Inter Miami will move into its beautiful new soccer stadium at Miami Freedom Park near Miami International Airport. Until then, Fort Lauderdale civic officials want the world to know their city is the current home of Lionel Messi – not Miami. What good is having a living legend in your community if you can’t use his presence to promote your city?
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The job of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau may be to attract tourism business to Miami-Dade County, but it’s well aware that fine dining isn’t just for tourists. So when the snowbirds start to fly north that’s our cue to enjoy three-course specialty menus at restaurants all around town, because Miami Spice is back.
If you haven’t started sampling all of the great deals this annual August to September initiative has to offer, don’t worry – there’s still plenty of time to indulge.
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Poor water quality in Biscayne Bay and its effects on underwater sea animals have been hot topics since the 2020 fish kill, which made headlines statewide and has occurred again every year since. Lesser known, however, are the impacts such conditions have on those found higher up, both in the food chain and in the ecosystem itself. Resting on tree canopies rather than tidal waves, our winged friends, too, rely heavily on the bay for their survival.
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The Gibson Room, as we realized, is never what you expect it to be. It’s better. Let the incurious and their patient Prestons insist on sorting experiences into narrow, limited categories. For the Biscayne Tippler, the gates to paradise open in the unlikeliest places as long as you have eyes to see them...
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It’s a tale as old as time, with several chapters unfolding in recent months in the Biscayne Times. February 2023’s “$46 Million Condo Shock” cover story and “Palm Bay’s Triple Trouble” in March have collectively told the story of three Palm Bay condominium buildings that have become battlegrounds over high repair costs or disagreements in management choices. We now bring you “Condo Wars,” with an update on the seemingly never-ending saga that we’ve discovered is not so unusual – and likely to repeat itself with equal fervor...
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Residents at Palm Bay Towers have been paying off high assessment fees as they wait for litigation against their condo association to conclude. Litigation against the Palm Bay Yacht Club’s $46 million assessment is well underway, with final testimonies, closing arguments and a judge’s ruling expected within the next week or so...
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It would be difficult to imagine that a small eight-block town on the coast of South Florida could produce so much controversy within its borders, but Surfside has found a way. In just two months, a concealed meeting with wealthy developers, sudden resignations, a parody email and an underfunded, high-stake investigation have all plagued the small municipality of 6,000 residents. Just as it seems that an issue is about to be put to rest – settled or not – another one rises out of thin air...
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The Palm Bay Yacht Club stands 27 stories high at 780 NE 69th St., and real estate listings for its residences – with price tags between $338,000-$600,000 – boast of Biscayne Bay views, luxury amenities and an idyllic South Florida lifestyle. What’s not included in those effusive property descriptions is that current owners are being told they must agree to cough up more than $175,000 each to bring the building up to snuff to pass its 40-year recertification – repairs the condominium association says will cost $46 million...
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The racial divide in North Miami Beach city government is coming to a head, with white commissioners “standing by their man,” Mayor Anthony DeFillipo, regardless of growing evidence that he has moved to Davie in violation of the city charter.
Meanwhile, the city’s Black commissioners are making themselves scarce until the mayor is forced out, although McKenzie Fleurimond is the only one who admitted as much to The Biscayne Times...
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The future is clear for Aventura politics as the races to fill all but one of its open commission seats have been over for months now. Mayor-elect Howard Weinberg and future Commissioners Michael Stern and Paul Kruss were automatically elected when they each stood unopposed by the qualifying deadline in August. Weinberg and Stern are back after having served on the commission before, while Kruss, a longtime resident and business owner, has been entrenched in the city’s political fabric in his own way.
Joe Cole is a bartender.
He’s not a mixologist, not an apothecary, and not an artisanal cocktail crafter. He has a warm smile framed by a flowing white wizard’s beard. Somehow, he manages to be everywhere at once, making all the folks who walk into his establishment a little bit happier for having found their way there. He’s not the owner of Lost Boy Dry Goods, but this downtown Miami bar, located at 157 E Flagler St., feels like his place.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, images of the widespread devastation of homes in southwest Florida caused by a relentless storm surge has political leaders and insurance industry advocates clamoring for a major overhaul of the state’s property insurance market to deal with the catastrophic impact of flooding. In Miami-Dade County, the situation is more dire as climate change, sea-level rise and runaway development has exacerbated the dangers of coastal and inland flooding, even in the absence of a hurricane threat, say experts.
What could be missing from a $4 billion master-planned community whose blueprint already includes luxury housing, retail shops, green spaces and even a 7-acre artificial lagoon? For SoLé Mia developers LeFrak and Turnberry, the answer was rather straightforward: health care. The idea fell into their laps when University of Miami Health System – UHealth for short – went searching for a site to accommodate its new world-class medical center three years ago. After a COVID-induced hiatus, the trio started the ball rolling on their plan early last month.
The reconfigured Senate District 34 seat, formerly District 35, has three opponents on the Aug. 23 primary ballot, fighting for a fair shot at representing its constituents. Incumbent Sen. Shevrin “Shev” Jones, Florida’s first openly gay senator, has served in the seat for two years since the 2020 election and is now seeking another term. Before that, he served in the Florida House of Representatives for eight years.
There’s no doubt Audrey Edmonson is itching to get back into the political arena. The former Miami-Dade County commissioner appeared ready to shake up the status quo by taking on U.S. Rep Frederica S. Wilson in the upcoming Democratic primary in August. Now that Edmonson’s backed off that seismic political slugfest by not qualifying for the District 24 congressional race, political observers believe she still has the clout to win an elected office that doesn’t feature a strong, entrenched incumbent. However, history shows that former county commissioners often take a long time to claim another Election Day victory.
After six years in the red, North Miami is at last in the black. From one end of the city to another, signs of life are visible everywhere – from Solé Mia in the northeast and downtown to uninviting stretches of NW Seventh Avenue. More than a dozen significant developments will likely alter North Miami’s landscape significantly by 2030, including long-delayed work that’s scheduled to begin in September at Cagni Park. Still, it’s a bit early to break out the punch bowl. The city has turned a corner but has many left to navigate, and needs another three to five years to ensure the turnaround sticks.
Residents living in District 4 of Miami-Dade County will have one less box to check on their ballot come Election Day, and with a new commissioner already decided, constituents of Miami Beach can expect a familiar face. Former Miami Beach Commissioner Micky Steinberg automatically won the race for the fourth seat on the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) when she was left standing unopposed by the filing deadline on June 14. Five seats remain up for grabs this year, with Steinberg set to replace current and termed-out Commissioner Sally Heyman.
A group of environmentalists has been advocating for more organic pest control in Miami Shores for three years now. But when multiple kids went home May 5 with green spots on their skin and clothing after playing in a local field, parents marshaled around the village’s integrated pest management policy (IPM)...
With a goal of lowering greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 in mind and an effort to electrify its public transportation fleet already underway, Miami-Dade County is now taking another stand against climate change, by encouraging property owners to go solar. The county recently launched its 2022 solar co-op in partnership with Solar United Neighbors (SUN), a national nonprofit whose philosophy might well be that there’s strength in numbers. SUN helps communities harness their bulk-purchasing power in order to save money on solar panel installations.
For two years, local food banks have been dealing with increased demand for assistance from those greatly affected by the pandemic. Now, these food banks face even more pressure as the cost of everyday goods continues to increase amid supply chain shortages worsened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – leading families to seek help putting food on the table. Curley’s House of Style, Inc. – Hope Relief Food Bank in Liberty City has witnessed a jump in clients in the last few months. From serving 200 people on the organization’s busiest days, Tuesdays and Thursdays, it now sees close to 400, says founder and executive director Lavern Spicer.
Ask condo lawyer Eric Glazer about the biggest problem with the Florida condo mindset, and he gives this answer: “Picture getting together with a group of friends at a restaurant and each one lives in a different condominium. The ‘winner’ at the table has the cheapest condo assessment – $100 cheaper than the runner-up. But the winner is living a lie, and the Florida Legislature has given condo owners and associations enough rope to hang themselves.”
That has changed...
The iconic Raleigh Hotel, with its traditional, clean and elegant art deco lines, has sat empty for five years, damage from Hurricane Irma sealing its murky fate. Before then and as far back as 2013, there were projects approved for the property that never came to fruition. It’s also been sold twice since, according to Deborah Tackett, historic preservation and architecture officer for the city of Miami Beach.
For the survivors and families of the 98 fallen victims of the Surfside condo collapse, the past year has seen a flurry of mourning, litigation and effort to honor or recover all that has been lost. Now, as the one-year anniversary of the tragedy approaches, those affected are beginning to see some results...
If Related Group gets its way, North Miami’s Biscayne Bay frontage is in for a seismic change. Related has submitted plans for Icon Residences, a 15-story, $150-million project on the one-acre plot of land at 2305 NE 123 St., now occupied by the two-story White House Inn, built in 1969, closed in 2014, and now shuttered and fenced.
Overtown’s newest luxury residential tower, Soleste Grand Central, stands 18 stories high and sports modern suites, and a resort-style pool, spa, rooftop deck, club room and fitness center. Its Class A rental units are branded as mixed-use, but just over 20% only are reserved for affordably priced workforce housing. With big changes coming to Miami’s historic Black neighborhood, does breathing new life into Overtown mean that longtime residents will be left behind or are local leaders making sure that gentrification does not take over?
For Aaron DeMayo, the first shock came when he saw the water overlapping the sea wall on Tatum Waterway on Miami Beach. “Wow, this is happening,” he told himself. DeMayo’s been following the water ever since. He was once trapped in a cab after crossing the Venetian Bridge to the mainland because floodwaters had closed down North Bayshore Drive. When he finally got to his high-rise building near Margaret Pace Park, water had shut down the elevators. He walked up 15 flights of stairs.
The stunning fall of former Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo reveals a lot about the best way to select a police chief, and how not to do it. Experts in policing and good government say it’s crucial for the process to be a public one that seeks the opinions of all the city’s communities. The kind of plan that Miami leaders started – and then abandoned – in selecting Acevedo.
This was going to be the year of “What can I do to help?” The year when Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, through his YouTube Cafecito Talks and Twitter interactions with global business leaders, was going to publicize the Magic City as the friendly alternative to high-tax regions like New York and California.
It was a match made in heaven – a group of friends with a dream, and a neighborhood hungry for their business. Bianca Sanon, Brian Wright, Audrey Wright, Ben Yen and Sef Chesson are the founders and owners of Paradis Books & Bread in North Miami, where they’ve established a wine club, maintain an enviable library of thought-provoking and politically charged books, bake fresh bread and other goods, and offer a carefully curated selection of bites.
It's as if Ken Russell can't wait to leave Miami City Hall. For the second time in six years, Russell is aiming for federal office with time left on his tenure as a Miami city commissioner. On this go-round, he wants to be the Florida Democrat who gets a shot at dethroning U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio in the 2022 midterm election, which is a full year before Russell’s current and final city commission term expires.
If you’re hosting visitors from out of town, you want to make sure they have a great time. And one way to do that is to eat – a lot. Whether your guests are here for the first time or the fifth time, there are some restaurants that are always a must in Miami.
At this moment of peril teetering on opportunity, the City of North Miami is the town on the flying trapeze. On the peril side, the city is scrambling to get out of big money trouble. Yet opportunity awaits, with an unprecedented wave of development under construction, on the books or in plans this year, as big money recognizes this city’s bull’s-eye location between Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, while interest rates and construction costs rise.
Last year, like most everything else that required dense crowds to gather, Book Fair canceled all live events and went completely virtual. "Miami Book Fair online was very successful last year, and we were very happy with what happened and how it rolled out – the mix of authors, the conversations, the feedback. And we knew that having had the experience of how to produce a fully online book fair and be successful at it, we could come back and do the same thing all over again," said Lissette Mendez, director of programs for the Miami Book Fair at Miami Dade College. “We had that in our back pocket.”
Miami-Dade is still the most populous county in Florida, but according to the results of the 2020 Census, its population isn’t growing as fast as most of its neighbors. And the places where the population is increasing the most are miles away from Miami’s urban core or densely developed coastline.
Steven Rosenthal was asleep in his bed when he was woken by a very loud bang. “I thought it was the loudest thunderclap I heard in my life, times 100,” he recalled. Thinking it was just a storm, Rosenthal fell back to sleep. Then the bed started shaking and dust fell from the ceiling. That’s when he thought Florida was being hit by a rare earthquake.
There was a stack of household items in the corner of Miami City Commissioner Jeffrey Watson’s office, objects like a cooler, bottled water, bug spray, a portable fan, bleach, paper towels, masks, wipes and other items. They were part of a presentation by Communities United. To continue running the nonprofit organization’s Senior First Disaster Preparedness program in District 5, executive director Hattie Willis needed $30,000...
“Teens get a bad rap,” my son’s doctor said to me recently during a routine appointment.
Varisa Perlman of Miami Beach Pediatrics should know. She’s been a pediatrician for decades and has recently sent one of her kids to college and is ushering another through their latter high school years. “My kids are my residency,” she said. She applies those lessons learned to the dozens of teenagers, and their parents, that she sees every week.
The creation of the Independent Civilian Panel (ICP) was Commissioner Barbara Jordan’s last major legislative victory before leaving office. Tasked with investigating complaints and grievances filed against officers of the Miami-Dade Police Department, and reviewing policies within the MDPD, the ICP’s passage was an uphill battle that was only won in late August 2020 when Jordan agreed to give up the oversight board’s ability to subpoena county employees...
The ground is shifting fast in North Miami and particularly in North Miami Beach, and the September budget month proves it. Taxpayers and residents can expect water, sewer and garbage rates – and property taxes – to inch up as fall turns to winter.
Sid Hoeltzell has witnessed a lot of things from the view of his Wynwood loft. Cars blasting their stereo bass so loud that the windows rattled. Children playing among tractor trailers. Art gallery warehouses replaced with mixed-use apartment high-rises and offices. And gun battles...
The Seafair mega yacht is a 222-foot-long vessel docked by the Hotel Intercontinental that can be rented out for weddings, bar mitzvahs, quinceañeras, corporate conferences and special events. On July 31, it was chartered for a Bitcoin Rodney “Mastermind” cryptocurrency conference. The event was attended by hundreds of cryptocurrency entrepreneurs who paid as much as $3,500 each to mingle over food and drinks while listening to speakers discuss trading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and gaining what was described in marketing materials as the “millionaire mindset.”
It’s easy to turn on the tap and take things for granted. Our drinking water is pumped, aerated, chemically processed, filtered and piped in the Biscayne Aquifer, a shallow layer of permeable limestone roughly 100 feet underground. Approximately 4,000 square miles beneath Biscayne Bay, the Atlantic Ocean and Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, it supplies almost all of southeast Florida’s drinking water.
Have you ever seen two squirrels fight?
I know – it’s such odd imagery, but as a landlocked kid from Texas, these little animals were at times my entertainment.
Think about it. Their little twitchy tails do a dance-like tussle until one of them prevails in getting away, preferably with the prize of an acorn.
Sometimes, this is what parenting feels like. Sometimes, this is what our spouse or partner relationships look like. Sometimes, this is just what good old conflict feels like. Two people with different but comparable approaches to conflict feels like an even tussle.
It’s September, and Miami Spice is halfway done. Have you had a chance to check out any specials? The two-months-long event runs through Sept. 30, giving savvy foodies an opportunity to eat well and save big. As part of this annual promotion, participating restaurants across the city are offering discounted multicourse lunch and dinner menus. With time running out, we’ve rounded up a few eateries that are definitely worth squeezing in...
Some mixed drinks started out as medicines and magic potions –as digestives (like an Aperol spritz), aphrodisiacs or something to warm the bones on a cold winter’s journey (like a hot gin sling). The daiquiri has always been about sweet, refreshing relief from the heat...
For the past five months, Henry Baiz has been living next-door to a short-term rental, and he isn’t happy about it. Baiz complains that he hears raised voices and loud music almost 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And not just from the house next door, but from other short-term rentals, too.
Large scuba tanks on the divers’ backs didn’t weigh them down as they emerged from the ocean with clear containers holding striped maroon-and-white fish. Plopping their catch onto a table lined with measurements in the center of the two-story dive boat, each one grabbed a fish by its mouth – being careful not to touch its venom-filled spines – and recorded its length.
Immersive van Gogh experiences in Miami are blowing up social media – and creating a bit of confusion. People with tickets to one show are showing up to the second one's location. Facebook is awash with people who post: “I've seen it, you should go.” Only to be corrected that what they’ve seen is van Gogh at the Ice Palace Studios adjacent to historic Overtown – which opened in April – and not a new and separate exhibition that opened at the Olympia Theater in downtown Miami in mid-June. Confused? You should be.
The City of Miami is in the midst of a 10-years-plus development boom that’s bringing billions of dollars in foreign and domestic investment into the Magic City.
But while real estate developers and investors are raking in cash, activists and neighborhood advocates insist the rush of development is having an adverse impact on traffic, sanitation, parks and affordable housing, the latter a critical need.
Summer is finally here. Not that the new season means much in South Florida: It’s brutally hot all year long. But even if seasons don’t really exist around these parts, there’s just something about summer that makes us think about good company and good burgers. Thankfully, Miami restaurants have that second part covered.
Manny Gonzalez, executive director of the Wynwood Business Improvement District (BID), insists that Wynwood is the most popular destination in the City of Miami, attracting millions of tourists and locals every year. The main draw of these visitors, Gonzalez tells the Biscayne Times, is the art that decorates the walls.
Early summer in the Biscayne Corridor smolders. Not just because of the steadily rising heat index, but because there’s a steady aroma of burning embers in the evenings. Ribs are on the grill. Lechón is being roasted over coals. Fresh-caught mahi and wahoo are laid out in backyard smokers. Noon outdoors is uncomfortable this time of year – as it always is – but right around sunset there’s something super satisfying about sitting under the sky (or on a screened-in patio) and preparing a meal on an open flame or mini hibachi.
Long live summer! When the days are longer, the water is warmer and the air is thicker. Though summer may not be the most pleasant season here in South Florida with its relentless heat and threat of hurricanes, there are still some summer traditions that we can enjoy while sweating through the day.
Omar Jimenez remembers jumping from his dock into the canal next to Park View Island in North Beach every day after work. He’d invite his nephews, nieces and friends over to show them his “natural aquarium,” a colony of coral reefs by his dock that attracted puffer fish, rays and dolphins swimming by.
Nonetheless, I must say that the slices of my prime rib roast make any chicken shiver and any hog wane in comparison. So it's a struggle for me with beef on one shoulder sweetly whispering in my ear and chicken softly clucking in the other, “chirp, chirp … eat me.” This time the cow carried more weight.
After nine years of trying, the Havenick family, which owns Magic City Casino in Little Havana, has gained the right to seek city approval for a jai alai fronton, a poker room and maybe some sports betting at 3195 NE 2nd Ave. The proposed location, which spans two lots in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood, is an area where high-end high-rises are sprouting like kudzu.
At long last, North Miami is ready for its close-up. Before leaving office in 2019, former Mayor Smith Joseph called it the “city on the move,” but he was just a tad early. The big action was happening solely at the 184-acre, $4 billion Solé Mia project, which runs pretty much as a self-contained principality within North Miami’s boundaries.
Marcel Perdomo was just starting to make strides in his boat charter business when everything suddenly stopped. “I had 50 bookings and they all canceled,” Perdomo said, recalling March 2020, when the county headed into coronavirus shutdown. “I made all this effort,” he thought. “Now I don’t know if I’m going to make a living.”
New North Miami Beach City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey III has been hired without the full support of the city council. The final vote was 5-2. One of the dissenters was Mayor Anthony “Tony” DeFillipo, who said his opposition was not over Sorey's qualifications but over the contract length and high salary pushed by Commissioner McKenzie Fleurimond.
I went to Morningside Park to commune with nature. But it wasn’t going to be enough to just come to the edge and look. That day, I needed to go beyond the fringe of riprap and mangroves on the waterfront and be in it.
It’s May in Miami, which can mean a number of things depending on how you look at it, especially for wine lovers. For one, this is the last month before our dreaded hurricane season starts up, giving us an opportunity to enjoy a few more rain-free afternoons before the summer storms arrive. Let’s hear it for the last days of afternoon picnics!
If you ask Micky Wolfson what his favorite acquisition is in the more than 200,000 pieces of his collection – the majority of which make up his namesake museum, The Wolfsonian-FIU – he’s quick with an answer. He doesn’t have one.
Miami Shores was officially established in 1932 and today it is a modern, residential community of 10,000 people with a quaint and thriving downtown. According to the U.S. Census, it's 70% white. Due to redlining practices that prevented people of color from owning homes in the area until well into the 1980s, Miami Shores is only 14% Black, but you wouldn't know that from the changing face of leadership.
Before I-95 was completed in the early 1960s, Biscayne Boulevard – US-1 ranked as Miami’s north-to-south main street. It was also the focal point for the city’s glamorous midcentury lifestyle, which was exemplified by its iconic residential buildings. Sixty years ago the new condominium concept arrived in Miami via Puerto Rico, sparking major local development...
Will the bright neon lights of South Beach still attract tourists if you can't drink and dance until dawn? Absolutely, says Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber. The nightlife scene is not what lured Michel Hausmann to Miami. He used to have a theater in Caracas, until he ran afoul of the Chávez regime 11 years ago. So he left Venezuela, pursued a master’s degree in New York City, wrote a critically acclaimed musical and looked for a place to start a theater company...
The pandemic hit Miami-Dade public schools hard. Regardless of how well students and their families have adjusted to remote learning, the practice poses significant challenges. If they haven't lost a job, parents fortunate enough to be working from home have had to balance work with assisting their children through Zoom education. And teachers also continue to struggle.
Miami real estate rules when it comes to trend-setting luxury living. Residential and mixed-use buildings literally reach new heights enriched by essential conveniences and exceptional amenities. A recognizable brand name completes a property’s identity and draws people in to the condominium lifestyle...
Miami is blossoming with interactive art experiences this spring. Two are traveling pop-up immersive exhibitions, although both are making their debuts in Miami. In the Allapattah neighborhood, a 50,000-square-foot space across from the Rubell Museum will become a permanent center focused solely on experiential art...
In Brickell, Toscana Divino (900 S Miami Ave., 305.371.2767), has been one of the few long-term tenants at Mary Brickell Village. While businesses have come and gone at the shopping center, this Italian gem has withstood the test of time. The reason for its success is simple: a consistent dining experience that’s full of flavor and value. The expansive menu is packed with memorable dishes like a tortelli with buffalo ricotta and spinach, and a porcini mushroom and black truffle risotto...
One Sunday afternoon, I set out to take my three kids for a neighborhood bike ride. With my youngest in the bike seat, my 5-year-old son rode behind me. His 3-year-old sister, on training wheels, held up the end. As we slowly rounded a corner, I had everyone in single file. Needing to adjust my seat, I said, “Heads up, I’m going to stop my bike so let’s slow down.” I guess they didn’t hear, because my son proceeded to run right into me from behind and then my daughter hit him. As I twisted around to check on their well-being, I lost my balance and my bike started to tip as my 3-year-old started crying.
It’s halftime and the City of North Miami is at the 50-yard line as the May 11 municipal election looms. Team North Miami may be down on points, but don’t bet against it. The second half is beginning to look pretty good, particularly if the right candidates know how to navigate the next two years. The boom is starting...
In a city where the goal is usually “see and be seen,” it can be surprising to find hidden gems in Miami where the clientele prefer a quiet place to flex their exquisite tastes. But there are a few wine shops around town where the region’s top sommeliers and fine wine collectors can be found regularly perusing a selection of hard-to-find bottles and rare collectibles...
A year since arts groups across South Florida took a heavy hit due to the pandemic, performing and visual arts are starting to slowly emerge back into the spotlight. From outdoor theater and music performances to timed exhibition appointments, in-person activities have been exponentially growing since the new year.
Ryan Rea spent eight years of his life on the West Coast, working in the tech and marketing fields. But after he was laid off from his job in San Francisco in 2017, the rural Pennsylvania native decided to move to Miami. “I literally came here with a laptop and a suitcase,” he said. “My friends and family all asked me if I was insane.”
ver since Wynwood became a buzzy neighborhood, street artists have been transforming bare concrete walls on the facades or sides of buildings into colorful eye-catching murals.Now ceilings in mundane buildings are the chosen palettes for decoration...
Miami has gained a new “wine girl” with the arrival of beverage director and sommelier Victoria James, and her impressive wine list at the newly opened Cote Miami (3900 NE 2nd Ave.) The New York City Korean steakhouse concept by restaurateur Simon Kim earned a Michelin star under his direction, along with James’ extraordinary attention to vino-detail.
Popular North Miami Beach City Manager Esmond Scott was out of a job and it was no surprise. He and others had seen it coming for weeks, even months. Scott knew he didn’t have the votes to stay with the new 4-3 Haitian American-majority commission, who wanted a replacement more likely to do their bidding...