Coconut Grove Sailing Club

Coconut Grove is a quirky, diverse community on Biscayne Bay.

But any ``quirkiness'' we enjoy heads out the door a little more every time another chain store moves in.

You also can't see the bay -- or enjoy it very much -- because our often-

dysfunctional city government has made it so.

And we have all kinds of other issues.

Last week a friend asked, ``Why don't you write about keeping Grove bars open until 5 a.m?''

I told him, ``You've got the wrong guy. I barely drink, go to bed early and know nothing about the bar business. More informed people can deal with that.''

I'm not much of a sailor either, but I know the Coconut Grove Sailing Club has been an outstanding part of our community for more than 60 years. We have several yacht clubs, but this is the only public one. Anyone can take up sailing and enjoy the wind-blown camaraderie there.

I also know that Miami is doing what it can to put the Coconut Grove Sailing Club out of business. It has refused to extend its multiyear lease and plans to take away the club's ``mooring field'' (parking lot for boats offshore). These tactics will kill the club.

Corruption in Miami City Hall?

I don't know how to stop it. I used to think it would end if we paid our leaders reasonable salaries. Five years ago we gave our commissions $86,000 raises and still many get led away in handcuffs.

Commissioner Marc Sarnoff's recent suggestion that we require them to receive ethics training is a great idea.

MORE ISSUES

The Coconut Grove Convention Center obviously should be torn down. This aging hulk on public land is long past its useful life.

Allowing a film company to park its trucks, cameras and actors there is a sign of a city unraveled.

Nearby is Peacock Park, dumped on for 30 years. I have worked on improving it for a long time.

Two weeks ago, for instance, dozens of happy people gathered there for the Great Grove Picnic. Anyone attending could see Groveites making friends and enjoying the much-neglected seaside park.

The city knows how to improve Peacock Park and even in these tough times could afford to turn it around.

When they begin to make improvements I will be letting you know.

Meanwhile, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas House is a national treasure hidden in South Grove. Our state government keeps it unshared and unseen.

It's now a lonely dorm for a park employee. I am familiar with its sad plight and mention it regularly.

A cardboard version of the house was in the King Mango Strut parade three years ago, a part of the gleeful ``Marching Marjorys.''

I love the Grove and do what I can to improve it. My part-time position as a Neighbors columnist allows me to do only so much.

That's where you come in.

Please use your skills to help solve a community problem. You could even write about it in the ``Sound Off'' part of Neighbors.

Everyone living in 33133 is a potential Grove Guy or Gal. I share what I know -- and you can too.

Remember: There's strength in numbers.

Glenn Terry is an educator, attorney and activist who lives in Coconut Grove.