Thursday November 8, 2007
Hey, wouldn’t the Freedom Tower be a perfect spot for the Bay of Pigs museum? (From Suzy’s comment #9, here)
Monday June 27, 2005
Freedom for my People, part 2
The whole fiasco around Freedom Tower has been postponed. Meanwhile, our elected officials have wishy-washy compromises in mind. Blah.
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Sunday June 12, 2005
Freedom for My People
The latest in crazy downtown buildup seems to be that developers now have their eye on the freedom tower property.
Well, nevermind “have their eye on.” Actually, they’ve bought the damned thing, and are on the cusp of getting the city commission to approve a plan to tear off the large building that surrounds the tower, and build a huge condo with a little sliver cut out of it for the tower to sit in. If you squint at the picture you’ll see the little tower, with the building looming over and around it. CM is a little apprehensive about the massive buildup of Miami, but this really does seem to be going too far. The Freedom Tower is one of the few actual historical landmarks this city has.
The Miami Planning Advisory Board will be getting together at 6 pm Wednesday at Miami City Hall (3500 Pan American Dr.), to consider the Freedom Tower condo proposal, among other projects. They’ll be taking public comments, so if you’re in the neighborhood you just might want to stop by and share your thoughts on this project.
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Wednesday July 20, 2005
Freedom Tower Fate, Tonight!
Freedom tower, previously discussed here and here, is being voted on tonight, at 7 pm. This would be a public hearing, where citizen input will be heard and taken into consideration. If you’re not sure you want to go and speak, consider the developer’s recent attitude.
Update: The Dade Heritage Trust is fighting this permit. They suggest you contact your commissioners (the site has contact information) and let ‘em know how you feel.
Update (7/21): When the board is split evenly, the issue is unresolved, and goes to the City Commission.
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Sunday July 2, 2006
A discussion and some great photos of Miami’s skyline over the years on Skyscraper City. The Freedom Tower was the tallest building in Miami from 1925 to 1928, when the Dade County Courthouse was completed. Obviously, the conversation is going to have to be updated very soon . . .
Monday September 24, 2007
Francisco Goya’s etchings, on view at the Freedom Tower (!) through November 9th (12 – 7 pm every day except Sunday and Monday). I saw these the last time I was in Prague; they’re exquisite.
Tuesday December 6, 2005
Back to regular Tuesday links
- While taking the above picture on Sunday, I got yelled at for not getting the permission of the people in the photo. Does anyone seriously think i’m exploiting them? For the love of God, it’s the saddest bus station (the signs read “Greyhound / Miami Downtown”) in the world, doesn’t it deserve to be photographed?
- An update on the Urban Development Boundary in today’s Herald editorial.
- Robert is right – we heard about the Freedom Tower deal on the radio, but didn’t have much time to think, much less blog, about it. Pedro Martín gave the tower to Miami Dade College, and in return gets to do whatever he wants with the rest of the land. How will the tower look when it’s dwarfed by a huge condo? Answer: it’ll be just fine. Nice little old buildings next to ugly new buildings is the way of the world.
- The Sun Post has a story about legal struggles between shippers along the Miami River and developers. The Post is also redesigned. The print edition looks great, while the site (which shoots for the same look as the print redesign) still needs work. Plus the article links are still such that if you link to a current story (as we just did) the link expires after a week. Not so good!
- Stuck on the Palmetto suspects Miamist might be ripping him off. Even more importantly, though, he’s blogging up a storm.
- The Miami Art Museum is having no luck finding a replacement for Suzanne Delehanty, who’s last day is Dec. 31.
- Tomorrow, a little about our architecture at Books & Books.
- Little carnivals are cropping up all over town, and we’re staying the hell away from them.
- A few Wynwood homeowners are not happy about all the development in their neighborhood.
- Local hero Kyle Amber was inducted into the Caring Hall of Fame.
- Check out the lineup of the Langerado Music Festival. It comes in March, but tickets go on sale Friday.
- The Creationism Disaster Steve reported last week hit the Herald Monday.
- Miamista is blogging up local politics in excruciating detail. Perfect.
Update:
- In Artinfo, an interview with Ella Fontanals Cisneros. (Via Tyler’s MAN.)
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Wednesday May 30, 2007
Miami Gmaps street views
This is more interesting/cool then useful, but a Google truck with a 360° camera mounted to the top spent some time driving around Miami last year, and now we see the results: you can click on many of the streets in Miami in Gmaps and get a panable photo-view every few feet. In other words, they photographed everything from every spot along the roads deemed interesting enough, to wit: Downtown, central Coral Gables, and Miami Beach south of 5th, as well as all major streets for a couple dozen miles. Not only does this point in the direction of of how reality and the internet will continue to merge in the future, it’s a lot of fun to play with. Here are some spots I’ve stumbled on (click the little dude-figure icon in each case to get the panorama; you may need to download a new version of flash):
- Museum park, with the four big condo buildings going up, freedom tower, American Airlines Arena, downtown, and some sort of sewage truck cruising northbound.
- Snitzer’s street, replete with a hipster art dude in a black suit and a vintage Allwall truck. Snap!
- No causeway love: here’s the farthest point along the Tuttle, and nothing for the MacArthur (aka the photogenicest 3 miles of road in the world).
- The corner where James Jackson’s office stands.
- Coral Gables corner of original location of Books&Books;, and I think CG records department.
- Smackdab the middle of Carnival Center.
- A great spot along Collins Avenue, with some of those space-age hotels, cabs, and the intercostal.
- Broward. Yikes!
- Homestead. Hey, they forgot to put houses here!
- DJ Hottpants’ Metro rolls by Mr. Leif’s house?
- S&S; Diner and Biscayne Park Cemetary.
OK enough. Anybody else spot anything interesting? (via Kottke)
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