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Apparently this circa-1950s
ceiling mural did not fit with Macy’s design
plans. |
Miami Beach City Manager Jorge
Gonzalez has his work cut out for him. Thanks to the
mandated property tax cuts up in Tallahassee, Gonzalez
was forced to recommend more than $27 million in
cuts for the proposed budget. Many of those cuts have
been made, though Gonzalez is still struggling with how
to address a gap as high as $5.4 million that “will have
service impacts to a less or greater extent.” (Check out
this issue for a feature that details this struggle
written by Angie Hargot.)
However, there is one recommended slash that was made
right in the first round: the $4.9 million revenue
stream for the Homeowners Dividend Fund.
Proposed by Mayor David Dermer, the purpose of
the fund was to give homeowners who claim Miami Beach as
their homesteaded residence a chance to share in all the
prosperity of this multibillion-dollar sandbar. Two
years ago, 16,000 qualified homeowners received a check
for $200; last year they got a check for $300.
It was also a way of giving some relief from the high
property tax assessments. But Murmurs guesses that with
the Tallahassee measures giving Miami-Dade homeowners
$202 million in tax breaks and taking away about
$132 million from affected cities in this county
(according to state records), city officials figured
that money would be better used for other things — like
paying for services desired and needed by the Beach’s
residents, businesses and visitors.
Mural
Heck
There
will be a big shindig at Macy’s South Beach,
located on Meridian Avenue and 17th Street near Lincoln
Road, in celebration of the department store’s reopening
after months of renovations (as well as two fires that
were sparked as a result of said renovations) on
Saturday, Aug. 4. As part of the festivities for an
earlier invitation-only event on Aug. 2 (ha-ha,
Murmurs got one), complimentary food items prepared by
Govind Armstrong of Table 8 will be
distributed by tray-carrying butlers, informed Carrie
Hall, public relations coordinator of Macy’s
Florida.
But
there can’t be a proper celebration on South Beach
without the unveiling of a piece of art done by Romero
Britto, a Brazilian artist fond of creating happy
abstract works (be they paintings, mosaics,
sculptures or ties) with really bright colors.
“Romero Britto has created a beautiful, commemorative
painting titled ‘Macy's Celebration,’ which he will
personally present at a private in-store dedication
event…,” Hall’s release stated.
This
of course got Murmurs curious about the fate of another
mural in the Macy’s space that was painted on the
ceiling when the store originally opened (as
a Burdines) in 1953. Hearing that Macy’s
intended to get rid of the ceiling mural, the
Miami Design Preservation League launched an e-mail
campaign on its Web site,
www.mdpl.org,
urging people to tell Macy’s executives to leave it
alone. That message has since been removed from the
site, and Scott Timm, director of MDPL’s programs
and outreach, is pretty sure that mural has been
covered up. “It was very South Beach,
particularly in the ’50s,” he told Murmurs of the
artwork, adding that he’d miss having it there. (When
questioned by Murmurs, Hall was unaware of the old
mural’s existence, much less its fate.) When Murmurs
peered through the construction fence-obstructed front
door to Macy’s South Beach on deadline, the dancing
crabs, starfish and shell motif appearted to have been
covered by a coat of new beige paint.
Timm
says he tried to find out who had painted the
original mural, even going through old newspaper
articles about Burdines and a book detailing the store’s
history, to no avail. He speculates that someone
from Burdines’ own design department may have been
assigned the decorative task way back when. But even
though his research into the artist’s identity hit a “dead
end,” Timm is quite sure the mural was there from
the beginning.
Client
Corrections
Ahoy
there mateys! Smythe the Caricature Pirate here!
Recruited by the SunPost sales staff to shanghai
a corner of Murmurs to bring you landlubbers the, ahem,
a drumroll, please … SunPost Best of 2007:
Best of Our Clients’ Corrections!
Arrrrr!
With
the hundreds and thousands of awards given in this
year’s Best of, especially in the advertorial supplement
portion, there were bound to be a few mistakes made.
So I be called to take care of matters. I intended to
get the writers who made the dreadful blunders to
walk the plank into the shark-infested waters at the end
of Newport Fishing Pier, but then these scurvy dog
lawyers informed me this would be against the Geneva
Convention. Arrrr! Attorneys! Always be ruinin’ me fun.
But being a pirate, I kidnapped the freelancers
anyway, tying them up and throwing them in the back
of me van. But when I drove up I found out that Newport
Pier had been closed down by city building officials.
Building officials! Always be ruinin’ me fun. Arrr!
So I be
doin’ the next best thing: listin’ the corrections
below. So take a gander at these corrections and be sure
to check out the SunPost’s Best of 2007 list in
all its glory at miamisunpost.com. Just be
clickin’ the icon of the blonde wench with a parrot on
her shoulder and it will take you right to some of me
best work (I wrote the introductions).
Arrrrr!
City
Life: Best of Our Clients
The
correct award for Chop Shop Barbershop is Best
Urban Barber Shop in Miami.
The
correct award for American Friends of Magen David
Adom should have been Best Way to Support Israeli
Safety.
The
correct phone number for Larry’s Service Center,
recipient of Best Beach Auto Repair Shop, is
305-673-2770.
Shopping: Best of Our Clients
The
correct full name for the recipient of Best
International Beauty Brands is
GBS -
The Beauty Store, they have five South Florida locations
and can be reached at 1-800-565-3233
or online at www.gbsbeauty.com.
The
correct full name for the recipient of Best
Experience in Adult Entertainment is Déjà Vu Love
Boutique.
The
correct award for beau living is Best
Custom-Designed Furniture on Biscayne Corridor
The
correct award for Supermattress Warehouse is
Best Mattress Selection in Miami.
The
correct full name of the recipient of Best Place to
Buy Doors is Centeno Doors & More.
Dining:
Best of Our Clients
The
correct award for Jerry’s Deli is Best Deli.
Home &
Design: Best of Our Clients
The
award for Best Window Treatments should have gone
to Oceanview Shades and Drapery, which is owned
by Lynn Sampson. The correct Web site is
www.oceanviewshades.com. The address and phone number
originally listed are correct.
Jennifer Brilliant’s listing required several
corrections, so we are rerunning it in full with the
correct information:
Best
Surfside and Miami Beach Specialist
Jennifer Brilliant, Keller Williams Miami Beach Realty
Jennifer Brilliant believes in Surfside and Miami Beach.
She is known for providing outstanding customer service
and also for her local market knowledge and attention to
detail. Her goal in every transaction is to exceed the
expectations of her client. Jennifer also has access to
the latest technologies and market research to help her
find solutions tailored to her clients’ needs. Whether
you are looking to buy, sell, or rent, Jennifer can help
you achieve your real estate goals. Location:
1680 Meridian Ave., Miami Beach. Phone:
305-389-0220. E-mail: JenBrilliant@kw.com Web
site: www.BrilliantMiamiRealEstate.com.
Got murmurs? E-mail
editorial@miamisunpost.com. Comments?
E-mail
letters@miamisunpost.com.
