This Is Ridiculous. Do Not Let It Get Away From You.

I've written before about musimelange.  It is a series of magical evenings at the M Building in upper Wynwood (30th St and NW 2nd Avenue), and the content is gourmet food, excellent wine, and an intimate chamber concert.  There are four such events per year, and the first usually occurs in January.  Events are always on Monday evenings at 7:30.

The cost of a musimelange evening is $65 at the door (well worth it), $60 in advance, and $50 if you subscribe to the season of four.  Considering what these events are, the quality of every part of them, and the uniqueness of the experience, getting this for $60 or $50 per evening is an exceptional bargain.

Well... musimelange is now making you an offer you can't, or shouldn't, refuse.  You can have all four evenings, complete with the food, the wine, the music, and the desserts, for $150.  And you'll meet really cool people, including the chefs and the performers.  This is insane.  You couldn't duplicate the experience, unless you had loads of money and you wanted to host it yourself in your home, and there's no way you could do it for $37.50 per person.

And let me tell you what the program is for the coming season.  On January 28, the title of the evening is "Amour."  The trio is Konstantin Soukhovetski (a bit outrageous, loaded with style, and a magnificent pianist), Anne Chicheportiche (the founder of musimelange, and a wonderful violinist), and Ashley Garritson (a cellist Anne typically uses, very well-known and accomplished in classical music around town, and a delightful person).  On February 25, the program is called Musijazz.  Anne has done this before (although she tries to stick to classical chamber programs), and it works very well.  I'm guessing she'll use Jim Gasior, who is a highly acclaimed local jazz pianist, and probably someone else.  The last time Anne did Musijazz, she also had Wendy Peterson, who is a wonderful singer and has a nice history of duets with Jim Gasior.  The title of the program on March 11 is Farinelli.  If you know of Farinelli, or the movie about him, you know he was a castrato.  The performer is countertenor Max Emanuel Cencic, and the program is baroque.  The countertenor voice is a male alto/soprano.  It is a magnificent voice.  I don't know Cencic, but I have total confidence in Anne Chicheportiche.  She would not have engaged him if he wasn't a great singer.  April 22 is called "Tutti," and it is described simply as a "showcase."  I don't ask questions.  I know that whatever is presented at musimelange is top notch.  That's just the way Anne does things.

So, what you do is go to musimelange.com, buy tickets, and use the promotional code MUSI-CYBER19.  You really don't want to overthink this.

Where Are We Going With This?

I suspect many Biscayne Parkers would either refer to the Park as "quaint," or they'd agree it's a good description of what and who we are.  It's what many of us want us to be, and to continue to be.  Some of us cling tightly to this thematic description.

There's a contingent who don't like two-story houses here.  (They're within the Code, but some people persist in not liking them.)  I hear complaints about the contemporary-style houses, even the older ones.  Some don't like the creeping SoBe effect, with two-story additions on the backs of one-story houses.

A few years or so back, there was a battle, of sorts, regarding metal roofs.  Not charming.  Too industrial.  Ruination to the Village.  Imagine, some fretted, if X percent of BP houses eventually converted to metal roofs.  No, no, no!  And then, we changed the Code to allow them, and now, we have a few more than we did.

And it's not just the style of newer homes, but also the mass of them.  P&Z won't approve a design that doesn't respect setbacks, but even at that, some of the newer projects seem imposing.  There were complaints about what Max Deitermann did with the old "Larry King" property.  And there's the modern, two-story, energy-efficient house in the block just west of mine.  Some BPers don't like these projects, because the new construction seems too dominant for the lot and for the surrounding houses.

It's worth the reminder here that among the factors P&Z can take into account is "harmony" with the Village, and even with the section or block in question.  So, when P&Z have accepted an architectural proposal, we are to assume they have looked at the Code requirements overall, the setbacks, and even the "sense" of the project being proposed.  They have agreed that it will look in some sense nice, or at least that it won't look bad, or disproportionate, or provocative.  That even includes things like colors.

Well, there's a very interesting project most of the way to completion.  It's in 117th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues, on the south side of the street.  Mac Kennedy and I were trying to figure out how many lots this project occupies.  We weren't sure if the street frontage was one lot, or two.  The depth seems clearly to be two.  So the building occupies either two or four lots.  It's two-story, and it's a very modern style.  Just west of the front of the house is the "hacienda," a double front Spanish-style house.  To the east of the house in question is another Spanish-style one-story house.  It's a little unbelievable to walk around this part of the block, to see how vast is this new house.  As a frame of reference, and at risk of being provocative, no one on this block has any privacy any more.  The backs of all the other houses, and all of the back yards, are now fully visible from this structure.  Not to be crass about it, but if any of those neighbors are typically relaxed about their attire in the "privacy" of their homes, or if they like skinny-dipping, that party is about to be over, unless they're also exhibitionistic.

In "full disclosure," the builder of the house, who, as far as I know, intends to occupy it when it's done, is also a member of P&Z.  I would of course like to assume he recused himself from consideration of the plan that was proposed, and that his P&Z colleagues didn't grant him anything they wouldn't have granted anyone else, but I'm just stating the fact.

One of my friends, who more or less always stays "above the fray," recently sent me a text message, to ask if I had seen this house.  If I hadn't, he suggested I "take a look."  I said I had in fact seen it, that in my opinion, it was "massive," and also in my opinion, it seemed "too big for the lot."  He replied with "looks out of place to me."  "Me, too," I agreed.

These are the particulars: the evolution of permitted paint colors; roofing materials; increasing size of houses, changes of styles of houses.  But the bigger picture is whether the Village has, or should have, an architectural theme.  (In further disclosure, I will say that I don't think it has or should have.  I think we're very eclectic, and I'm good with us that way.  My larger concerns are landscaping and general maintenance.)  Some people who think it should think that theme should be old-timey, low key, low rise.  Hey, that's a philosophy.  But it might be a slippery slope that leads to some other BP home/property-owners who are also OK with low rent, little demanded of property-owners, and conditions and presentations that are frankly unkempt.  I suppose this isn't the time for me to remind us that we just elected an entire Commission of BP residents who have no personal ambition regarding property appearance, and who are extremely unlikely to make demands on the rest of us.  It's true, though.

But what do we think of our growing evolution to more modern styles, and increasing mass?  Interestingly, the builder of the new project in 117th St has preserved a little stand of small trees and shrubs in front of the house.  If this is indicative 1) that he intends to landscape, and 2) that his landscape theme will be more redolent, that's nice.  It won't distract much from the mass and dominance of the building, but it's the most we can get from him now.

Half Full, or Half Empty?

On my walk yesterday morning, the first guy I encountered was standing outside, in shorts and no shirt, putting air in his car tire.  He looked at me, smiled, and said "another day in paradise."

At the end of my walk, I encountered a couple walking their dogs.  The husband said that he heard that this week, the high temperature for the day will get as low as 80.  He said we should be thankful the high would finally get that "low."

My daughter visited for a few days last week.  She returned on Sunday to Boston, where the highs will likely be in the 40s.

A high of 80?  Or higher?  Yup, paradise.  And anyone who thinks that's too hot should remember this in January and February, when it isn't frigidly cold, or snowing, or icy, and we're not bundled up because it's painful to be outside, and we can manipulate our keys and mobile phones, and even think.

THANKS, ROXANNA ROSS!

Last night was the last regular BP commission meeting for Commissioner (and former mayor) Roxanna Ross. I joined other residents in taking to the podium during public comment to thank Rox for her service to this community and to commend her for her selfless work on behalf of this village for the past nine years. In an effort to keep the focus on Rox, I resisted the urge to bring up the raping of our medians that’s taking place at the direction of the village manager … or his dereliction of duty regarding code enforcement village-wide … or our mayor lying to residents about the perils of voter suppression in Biscayne Park.

The passion, time and energy that Rox has thrown into that position is worthy of some public comment here, as well. Words used to describe Rox last night also distinguish her from her undistinguished and indistinguishable colleagues on the dais: prepared, thoughtful, available, responsive, reliable, steady, strategic, visionary and accountable, even from residents (including me) who admitted that they may not have agreed with every decision and choice Rox made on our behalf.

Hats off to Roxanna Ross! She will be missed on the BP commission. She's the very kind of leader every community would want, and our other commissioners pale in comparison to her on the dais. To put it bluntly, she makes them look like a clown car spilling out of the Log Cabin.

Give 'Em an Inch...

I hope I have made clear how accessible is this blog.  It's "mine," in the sense that I started it, and blogspot licenses it to me (I'm the administrator), but I have been as open as the system makes possible to anyone who wants to participate in any way.  If you want to comment, feel free.  I don't touch anyone else's comments (although I have the power to delete them).  Anyone who wants to publish a post of his or her own is more than welcome.  I have anyone who wants that access receive from the blog an invitation to be a guest author.  They accept the invitation, and they publish whatever they want.  I don't touch other people's posts, either.  I comment, sure.  You can, too.  But that's it.  And the people who are guest authors have full and unrestricted access to any part of this blog.  They can do what I can do.  And they can do what I wouldn't do.

Two seemingly related things have happened.  One was probably a year or so ago.  I'm not sure when it happened.  There was an old draft I did, probably in 2014, and I never published it.  But I didn't delete it, either.  I just wanted to save it.  Well, it's gone.  It has apparently been deleted.  And not by me.  I have a strong suspicion as to who deleted it (someone with access, and who had strong feelings about that draft), but I never asked, and the person never volunteered.

The second thing happened probably in recent weeks.  Jared Susi, who is a guest author, published two posts in the service of his Commission campaign.  I read them.  I read every post.  I didn't remember finding any technical fault with them.  If I had, I would have told Jared, and encouraged him to fix whatever I thought wasn't right.  Well, someone made some changes, and the grammar they adopted wasn't right.  Two people brought this to Jared's attention.  Because of things that were said to Jared, and by whom, Jared has a suspicion as to who molested his posts.

No one here is allowed, by me, to touch anything anyone else does.  Comment?  Disagree?  Fine.  Edit or corrupt?  Absolutely not.

So I'm removing both of these people from the guest authors list.  I can't have this.  I won't have this done to me, and much more so, I won't have this done to a guest.  This is a public space.  We're all neighbors.  There is an honor system, and I certainly demand we honor each other, even if we disagree.

Tracy Truppman, 3. Village of Biscayne Park, 0.

Betsy Wise got the most votes.  Dan Samaria came in second.  Each has a four-year term.  Will Tudor came in third, and he gets a two-year term.  Jared Susi came in fourth.

The fact is, it wouldn't have mattered if Jared had come in third, or first.  Tracy "won" anyway.  She only needed one stooge to keep things going.  All three are a luxury, so she can enjoy 5-0s, and no one to embarrass her by making clear how uninformed, perspective-lacking, and self-involved she and her pets are.  Although now, she can afford to let Betsy get all independent without threatening the bottom line.  4-1 works just as well as 5-0, as Tracy quickly learned when she had to figure out how to marginalize Roxy Ross.

I was talking to someone about the results last night.  I wondered how Betsy got the most votes.  The person to whom I was talking, who is a woman, pointed out that in this "year of the woman," Betsy gets extra points for gender, and "no one knows anything bad about Betsy."  Well, it's true Betsy is a woman, but so what?  Roxy is a woman, and she got snubbed completely, by her recent male and female Commission "colleagues."  And Tracy and Jenny are women, and they're tragically bad Commissioners.  And as for not knowing anything bad about Betsy, that's the problem.  There's nothing bad or good to know about Betsy.  We take it on faith that she even lives here.  She has had no involvement with the Village at all, until she suddenly decided she should be on the Commission.  In my opinion, the fact that no one knows anything bad or good about Betsy should be held against her.  It shouldn't be a selling point. And of course the other reason no one knows anything about Betsy is that she refused to present herself in the time-honored way of participating in a candidates' forum.  So I still don't get it.

Dan Samaria has a number of pluses.  He's been around, he's been involved, and he comes to Commission meetings.  But I still don't understand what his platform was.  And he had Tracy working too hard for him. And he, too, refused to participate in a candidates' forum.

Will Tudor has spent two years showing us how little is there.  He rides Tracy's toy train, too.  And he wouldn't participate in a candidates' forum, either.  And despite all the help Tracy gave him, and being an incumbent, he only came in third?  To a total unknown, and a guy who's lost twice in the past?  Yuck!

No, I still say the Village scored zero points with these three.

She Takes 'Em Sort Of Like She Dishes 'Em Out.

"I Voted Today."  Yay.  I'm hoping for what I think is best, here and elsewhere around the country.

I like to vote on election day.  It feels different from early voting, or voting by absentee ballot.  Voting is a community (small or large) expression, and voting in person on election day has a community feeling you don't get the other ways.  Among other things, you interact with your neighbors, who are there in the same spirit as you are.

I got to the poll at 6:00 AM, an hour before it opened.  I was third in line.  Behind me was a couple I hadn't previously met.  Behind them was Tracy Truppman.  Someone told Tracy she looked very nice.  She said "I'll take all the lies I can get."  I thought it was very fair of her to be willing to accept being lied to the same way she lies to other people.  The difference is that Tracy can self-impose insight to decide if something someone tells her isn't true.  When she lies to other people, they often don't have a perspective to know they're not being told the truth.

A case in point was the husband of the couple behind me.  We were talking about a variety of things, and among them was the local election.  He happened to mention that Will Tudor is his next door neighbor, and he said he had suggested to Will years ago that Will run for Commission.  Presumably, Will gave his neighbor some version of "aw, shucks," and he didn't run until two years ago.  For whatever reason, the neighbor pointed out that Will's decision was at that point independent of the suggestion the neighbor made years before.

The neighbor then, unsolicited by me, went on to complain about how Village Commissions don't do anything.  He gave as an example that the streets are so bad.  He concluded "we ought to be ashamed of ourselves."  I told him I thought so, too.  He added that he had recently run into Harvey Bilt at Cafe Creme, and Harvey confirmed that he was not running for re-election.  According to our neighbor, Harvey gave what seemed to me to be a very curious explanation: the Commission doesn't accomplish anything.  If that was Harvey's complaint, why was he so much a part of the inertia and non-function?

I was thinking about our neighbor's confidence in Will Tudor, and his frustration that the Commission-- the current one, anyway-- doesn't do anything, and I told him he should come to Commission meetings.  I told him that sometimes, you can form an image of what someone would be like as a Commissioner, but that they might turn out to be very different than you imagined they would be.  I hope he decides to come watch some time.

Once we got into the polling room, the usual group of volunteers was there.  Among them was our Village clerk.  She saw Tracy, and she jokingly said "I don't recognize you."  Tracy responded with "you're fired," which she delivered with that nervous, self-conscious, and faintly paranoid laugh Tracy does.

Well, I did vote.

To hell with code and rules ...

Here's a little dose of what we're in store for with the incoming clown car of commissioners. Apparently, rules and code don't apply to candidates for commission, as evidenced by this sign on the front porch of Betsy Wise's home, directly across from the BP rec center polling place. This sign violates campaign rules, no question about that. I've reported it to the village, with no response ... no surprise there. But, several other residents also reported it and were told (hearsay, they may chime in) that the village attorney approves the sign even though it violates the rules. 

But, even more important to point out is the hypocrisy of these candidates. What, exactly, is "positive" about this sign ... or respectful or courteous or showing any integrity, to village rules or to neighbors or to the other candidate? Betsy, Will and Dan would be well-served to live by their own words.

And, as this sign clearly states, they are running as a "slate," even though one of them (Dan Samaria) told me to my face that they aren't and he never would. Dan Samaria lied to me on my front porch. I won't vote for a liar ... or for candidates who campaign in such a reprehensible style and avoid answering questions about real issues facing this community, as these sad choices have done this campaign season. 

This is what our liar of a president has done to our country: made this kind of campaigning normal and acceptable ... ditto the behavior of elected officials like Tracy and her email about voter suppression. To the likes of Trump, Truppman, Wise, Samaria and Tudor, winning for themselves is more important than winning for the constituents or for the community. A vote for any of them is a vote for everything that’s wrong with BP. What a shameful, sad and fearful time and place in which we live, both nationally and locally. Thank God we still have our vote to make our opinions heard. I am voting for JARED SUSI and Manny Espinoza: Jared because he deserves to sit on the commission and Manny because I'd love him to "beat" any of the other three candidates, even though he can't accept that seat now. Long shot in the case of Manny, I know, but I'm voting on principle: the principles those three candidates sorely lack, as evidenced by that ugly, ugly sign on the front porch of Betsy's house today. What a lesson in civics and civility for her kids.