Miss Dana birthday
The children of St. Christopher’s Montessori School helped Miss Dana Earle celebrate her third birthday. Watching Dana (center) blow out the candles on her pink cake are from Left: Ben Kennedy, Coe Paisley and Karl Stevens (Hidden camera) Paul Simoni, Keith Chapman, Toni Ellis, Billy Stover, Jennifer Nedbalek, Valerie Mitchell, Theron Fleming, Geoffrey Mesberg, Alan Moir, Pam Higgenbotham and Chris Economou.
Drainage decision deferred
The Metropolitan Dade County Commission delayed a decision on the petition to create a special taxing district for storm drainage and to call an election in the district until this week.
The postponement was caused by the request of the committee sponsoring the district to include the commercial property between Crandon Blvd. and Fernwood Road in the district. The report of the County engineers had left this property out of the district boundaries.
Metro Commissioners were at the hearing, and Dr. John Handwerker spoke first for the petitioners. He reviewed efforts of the committee to create the taxing district and reminded the Commission, that in one weekend, the committee members had collected signatures of 65% of resident homeowners on the petitions. Three requests were made in the Handwerker petitions. The first asked for the omission of Holiday Colony from the drainage district at the request of residents there. Second, he asked that the Crandon Blvd./Fernwood commercial strip be put back in since it was deleted from the originally proposed boundaries. Third, he urged all possible speed in holding the election, and if voted “yes,” in the construction.
Next to speak to the Commission was Donald A. Miller, a former resident and now a property owner. He felt that the proposal would be inadequate and ineffective.
The Commission called Public Works Director John McCue to the lectern on this point. McCue explained that the water would not be drained “instantly” but it would be effective in removing water from the streets within a few hours of the time it fell.
After a brief recess, Ross Robarts of 345 Caribbean rose to confirm that Holiday Colony homeowners wished to be excluded from the district.
Next to speak was Vicky Horne who asked why the same funds that drained and lighted Crandon Blvd. could not be used here. It was explained that these are State Road funds and that it must be a state road in front of your house in order to use them for work on it. Miller arose again to attack the validity of the original petitions. He introduced Elton Ball, of 285 Ridgewood Rd., who stated that he was President of the Taxpayers Association and presented petitions signed against the drainage district.
Commissioner Harold Green asked Ball if he was opposed to letting all the residents decide through an election. Commissioner Patten asked McCue if there was any reason to believe the original petitions contained invalid signatures. A long period of questions of McCue and debate by the Commission members followed. It was generally felt that, although the County code requires each property owner in that area to drain his land himself when it is developed, that this drainage is ineffective because of subsurface soil conditions and that inclusion in the district was desirable.
Rain! Rain!
The heaviest rainfall in many years fell on Key Biscayne last Thursday.
After a week of showers that left the ground saturated, the water rose in the streets and yards throughout the Key. Crandon Boulevard, the two new lanes, was relatively dry and a wall of water five feet high poured out of the Knollwood outfall. The Harbor Drive intersection was flooded by noon and inspection of the Harbor Drive outfall showed a high tide reducing its efficiency.
The problem there was compounded by water from the commercial area flowing into the street, and in one instance, being pumped out to nearby land. By Friday morning Crandon Blvd. was free of water along the paved lanes and rainwater was still standing along the side streets.
On Thursday the school area was worse than ever. The playground and surrounding streets were totally flooded. Drains installed two months ago were not open because the concrete sidewalks and gutters had not been built and opening the drains would only wash dirt and debris into them and leave them clogged.
After the rainfall, SRD engineers and the contractor inspected the situation. The drain outlets on the opposite side of the street from the school property, which are already complete with grates, were ordered opened. On the school side of McIntire and Ridgewood, the incomplete ones were left capped. The contractor worked over the weekend to flush the pipes leading to Crandon Blvd. that had partially clogged with debris. Grates near the Bank Building were also cleared.
Even longtime Key residents could not remember a time when the golf course and the zoo parking lot were just giant lakes. While adults fretted and cars stalled, the youngsters had a wonderful time “scurfing” on boards in the puddles and playing football in a sea of mud at the school.
Books in a bus
Apparently the view from the librarian’s desk is far different from the view one gets as a borrower. That long, narrow book trailer aisle is a crossroads of island social life on Thursdays from 1:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Minnie, from Gopher City, asks if Key Biscayne is really all that popular with visitors, you can inform her that more than 4,000 travelers come to the Key every week! Furthermore, after careful scrutiny by interested islanders, only the best are selected as bed, breakfast or beach companions, these being permitted to stay for as long as one month. Chances are that you have a few of these visitors in your home even now, because the books in the Metropolitan Dade County Traveling Library.
Miss Potts noted that the crowd changes perceptibly as the hours pass, and we could imagine full well just how the changes run. At 1:30 a handful of eager readers, awaiting the arrival of the big trailer-tractor leap in almost before it comes to a halt and crisply sweep from the walls the books they know.
Nixons Rel
President and Mrs. Nixon landed on their helicopter pad off Key Biscayne at 8 p.m. last for a weekend of relaxation and talks with Presidential advisers. Mr. Nixon and Bebe Rebozo flew to a private cay in the Bahamas on Saturday while back on Key Biscayne, a group of protesters marched by the compound. One was arrested for using profanity, but the march was generally quiet. Sunday was spent aboard the yacht Julie cruising Biscayne Bay just before the party left to return to Washington.
The Helicopter pad, in full use for the first time, has turned out to be huge – large enough for two of the giant helicopters to land at once. It is also noisier for Key Biscayne residents when they land so close. Also on view this weekend were some new Coast Guard Patrol boats, very fast V-hull fiberglass ones designed to catch up with the speediest outboards in the bay.
Bank requests variance
The Key Biscayne Bank is requesting a zoning variance from the present setback of twenty-five feet along Fernwood Rd. in order to enlarge their drive-in window facilities. The Dade County Zoning Board will hear the appeal at their 2 p.m, Nov. 12 meeting, at the South Miami City Hall. When the Bank was built a variance was granted in order to provide access to the drive-in facility from Fernwood Road.
For the last Islander Throwback, click here.