Talk of Downtown
Park West Neighborhood
West of the Maurice Ferré Park, also known as Museum Park, five residential towers rise, representing one of the poshest Downtown enclaves that add a distinctive touch to the ever-changing Downtown skyline. Amid it all, shines One Thousand Museum, Zaha Hadid’s final masterpiece.
North of the emblematic Freedom Tower and the emerging Miami Worldcenter, and south of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Park West gets the name from it location west of Maurice Ferré Park, home to Frost Science Museum and Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). Further east flows beautiful Biscayne Bay. “Any given moment one can enjoy a family of dolphins staging a show or manatees cruising along the shore. It’s like nature cohabiting with the exquisitely built environment,” said a resident.
A Little History
The Park West residential enclave came on the heels of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, according to Downtown Miami History. Built in 2004, The Arsht Center was meant to be the catalyst for urban and economic development — culture driving Downtown’s renaissance. Studies suggest that by 2017, the Arsht Center had unleashed unprecedented development in the area. The-then Executive Director of the Downtown Development Authority (DDA), Alyce Robertson, pointed to data demonstrating a rise in total taxable property from $9.8 billion in 2010 to $16.7 in 2016. “It’s hard to say how much of that increase is owing to the Arsht, but I think anyone would admit that a lot of it is.”
The 63-stories Marquis was built in 2006, the 50-story 10 Museum Park in 2007, while 900 Biscayne, at 60 floors, in 2008, and the nautical inspired 58-stories Marina Blue dates back also to 2008. In 2019, the jewel of Miami’s architecture, One Thousand Museum, was completed.
Maurice Ferré Park
Built where the original Port of Miami stood in 1978, it was first named Bicentennial Park, after the bicentennial of the American Independence. When the Art Museum moved from the Spanish-fort inspired Cultural Plaza, adjacent to Government Center, followed by the Frost Science Museum, it was renamed Museum Park. Finally, in 2018, the park’s name was once more changed to honor 6-term mayor Maurice Ferré.
The Club District
Locals and club enthusiasts from all over flock to the world-famous downtown clubs. Club Space is a staple of the dance scene, attracting any given night an Italian clientele, and the next Brazilians will pack the place.
As one might expect, noise coming from clubs is bound to antagonize residents in neighboring towers. Downtown News would get letters from neighbors going crazy by the loud and repetitive bass sound, but the good offices of the DNA and the willingness of new club owners to be good neighbors changed that dynamic.
Reaching compromises is never easy, it often requires more than dialogue, it requires a hefty monetary investment, as David Sinopoli explained. He is one of the Club Space owners, a young entrepreneur with vision not only for the venue but its place within the community. We chatted over Zoom.
Downtown News: How did the noise issue disappear?
David, with a smile: “The noise is still there, but we are attenuating it carefully. We took many measures inside the building to attenuate it… We wanted to be true neighbors. We started by listening to residents. When we came aboard, the former owners had the attitude that they had the law on their side, and the DNA and residents were nothing to worry about. When we came we were young, and Club Heart spoke on our behalf. At one point, we talked to our lawyers and sent a message to the DNA that we wanted to speak for ourselves. Residents simply wanted their concerns heard. No one was listening. Subsequently, ELEVEN closed its rooftop, and Heart is gone.
Downtown News: What measures did you guys take?
David: We started meeting with the DNA and residents frequently, and in 2016 and 2017, when we started earning some money, we spent a quarter million dollars on a directional sound system. Our engineering studies, and the DNA’s, found that subatomic frequencies were escaping the clubs and traveling to the highest apartments, the most expensive units, and unlike music, this repetitive boom boom was beyond irritating. It can run anyone insane.
Downtown News: And have serious health repercussions, like hearing loss, even cardiac issues…
David: Yes, or they want to move out of their homes. So, we continued to discuss measures. Subatomic sound is omni-directional, and just goes every where... Once bass goes, it goes all over the room and finds areas to catch, humans, structures, and if it compresses enough and there is a hole, it shoots out of the building with all its velocity. So, we had to invest in a state-of-the-art sound system from Germany that actually allows you to direct subatomic frequencies. We built traps along the club and configured the sound system in such a way that it shoots the subatomic frequencies of our music through the crowd, so the crowd feels it, but once it finishes with the crowd, whatever dissipates goes into these traps and they beat each other up and they die there, so less is coming out of the club. That was step 1, and it had a big effect. Then we put DV readers, where we can read the decibels inside our club, which allowed me to communicate with 10 Museum and the Marquis, and if they can still hear us at any frequency, we asked what was the acceptable level? If they can hear us 101, then we needed to be at 100 or 99.
Communication is a big part of diplomacy, and sometimes more effective than lawyering. As the saying goes, once lawyers get involved, things escalate pretty fast. Unfortunately, sometimes legal action is necessary. Claudia Roussel, chair of the DNA Noise Abatement Committee concurs. “If any given night, an issue comes up with noise, we call and they are very receptive.”
Residents
Neighborhoods are not made up of buildings. Residents make neighborhoods. One hot afternoon, two Park West residents, Michael Feuling, 900 Biscayne, and DNA’s Claudia Roussel met with Downtown News at a neighborhood restaurant, a terrace across 1000 Museum Park. It coincided with Tuesday Tacos. A delightful sea-breeze unexpectedly caressed us, a reminder of why Miami is becoming so popular. Sure, there is the tax issue, but that cool sea breeze is the deal maker. We ordered fish and pork tacos, and sangria.
Downtown News: So, what are some of the pressing issues the neighborhood faces?
Michael: Since the Miami Worldcenter hasn’t kicked in yet, some of our life revolves around the park. It’s a shame the way it’s managed. It’s managed by a hand-picked board and one commissioner who does whatever he wants, without accountability. The City of Miami is run by five commissioners, and none lives in Downtown, which translates to neglect.
Downtown News: Let’s talk about the Park…
Michael: It should be like Central Park in New York, this park should be the Central Park of Miami, and be run by a conservancy, not politicians. Mayor Suarez should get more involved.
Claudia: I have seen the original design for the Park. It’s very nice. But I think the attitude here is, spend money in getting a great design, and then archive it somewhere, and do something different. We have no landscaping. It’s all improvisation. Like, we got a bunch of new palm trees. I joked, I bet they fell out of a truck or something. And then I read in a newspaper that they were meant for somewhere else but they didn’t want them, so they brought them over to Maurice Ferré Park…. Beautiful, healthy palm trees, but useless to provide shade. Maybe they should have planted them to replace the palms that withered near the Art Museum.
Michael: When you see those palms from above, from my apartment, they do look nice. From the ground, they don’t seem to add much. But the frustration is what the vision of the park was, and what it is today. They are talking now about aluminum mass-produced cats and dogs. What we should have is a designated area for real dogs. Plenty of them in the neighborhood.
Clarification: As of late September, a dog-park has been going up, occupying a good chunk of the park, and the aluminum mass-produced cats and dogs will occupy another good chunk on the other end of the park.
Claudia, asks rhetorically: Going back to the essential question, is there a way to change the system, of having one commissioner running two of the most important parks in Downtown without any oversight, and really, without any input from Downtown residents?
Michael: The reality is that we have the agency behind economic development, the Downtown Development Authority chaired by a Commissioner representing a District that does not include Downtown, we have Bayfront Park and Maurice Ferré Park run by a Commissioner who does not represent Downtown, and the Commissioner representing District 2, which does include Downtown, seems interested only on his Coconut Grove backyard, and advancing his political career. (Commissioner Ken Russell is running for the US Senate.) It doesn’t make sense.
Claudia: I think Downtown Miami needs its own District, its own commissioner. We have one fourth of the population of the entire city of Miami, and no real representation.
Clarification, to be fair: Commissioner Joe Carollo has been a strong ally of Downtown residents in dealing with the issue of homelessness. An important issue that affects our streets, our parks, our quality of life and safety. While many politicians seem to be more preoccupied with the rights of the homeless — many sent by municipalities from as far away as Chicago and New York — Commissioner Carollo introduced ordinances geared to protect the rights of residents, tax-paying residents. “Downtown is increasingly becoming a place that attracts families,” said James Torres, the DNA President, “and we have to think of their rights as well!”
Tacos arrive. The fish ones are delicious. The Sangria, said Claudia, is good if a bit too sweet. Both agree the pork and fish tacos are excellent. For the Taco Tuesday happy hour all tacos are $5. And a cool ocean breeze blows over the park, over the Boulevard, and over the controversies attenuating the lingering heat, and that, well, that is free and priceless. Cheers!
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