Biscayne Park is a Very Charming Neighborhood. Or it Should Be. Or it Could Be. Or it Will Be? Part 2.

Recently, some of us have experienced another charm-related crisis.  We have had definitive renovations and new construction, and the new properties have been almost grand.  Styling is in some cases contemporary.  Homes have been large or two-story.  Some Village residents have complained, and their complaint has always focused on charm.  They felt these structures were not charming, as the complainers envisioned the rest of the neighborhood, or perhaps the houses that gave way to new construction, to be.  The term "McMansion," in its unmitigated derogatory sense, was used.  It should be noted, of course, that the Park is a very heterogeneous place, as far as home design is concerned.

"The hacienda" is on 117th Street, just east of 6th Avenue and on the south side of the street.  This home was originally two houses on adjacent lots.  The lots were owned by the same person, and at some point, he or she connected the facades, making a sprawling home on two lots.  It is no doubt only the typical and delightful Spanish style that saves this house from being the subject of complaint.  Inside the property, the effect is extensive and breathtaking.  The house has often been used for filming and advertisements.

The contemporary just north of 113th Street on 8th Avenue is now old enough not to attract derision.  By its design, it is not at all in keeping with the other houses nearby, but it is a very nice piece of architecture.

The old "Larry King" house at 119th and Griffing gave way to a stunning contemporary.  Although this house is on our most upscale street, it is very different in look from anything else in the Park.

An abandoned and fully deteriorated house on 119th between 8th and 9th, on the south side of the street, has been replaced by an exquisite-looking new construction.  This large, two-story CBS project is super energy-efficient.  The house appears finished, but the landscaping has not yet been set.  Although there is another two-story house two houses east of this one, and another catercorner from that one, and another one just east of that one, and two others further east on that same block, across the street from each other, the new house is unquestionably grand.  It will, for better or worse, stand out on the street.

A property on Griffing at about 116th, on the east side, still looks like a Spanish style from the front, but it has undergone very substantial extension in the back, and the front and grounds have been completely redone.

These properties, other than the last mentioned, are new or recent.  Other than the one on 8th and 113th, they feature or have planned very beautiful landscaping.  (The latter is spare.)  A new house on Griffing at about 115th on the east side of the street is not complete, and it does not have landscaping in place.

Do projects like these impact "charm" in any way?  Do they increase it, because they look so nice, or do they decrease it, because they depart from the much more unassuming character of many others of our homes?

One older house, on 11th Place at 117th, on the east side, has undergone substantial renovation, much of which is not visible from the street.  But the homeowners are planning also to reconfigure the driveway arrangement.  The house will look essentially the same, but the overall property will look more modernized.  The duplex just south of that replaced parking on the grass with a turfblock installation that occupies a considerable part of the front yard, but also includes new and very lovely landscaping.  Same house, different effect.  Previously bleak, now distinctly charming.

Biscayne Park is a Very Charming Neighborhood. Or it Should Be. Or it Could Be. Or it Will Be? Part 1.

Arthur Griffing probably didn't care whether or not we were charming.  He was a developer, and he bought, divided, and sold property in our area in the 1920s.  He brought in Australian pines and other dessicators, so he'd have more dry land to sell, he carved house lots to be compact, and he didn't waste precious square feet with sidewalks.

The City of Miami swallowed us in 1925, and they spit us back out in 1931.  We incorporated in 1933.  We started incorporated life with few houses and residents.

How charming were we?  Pretty charming.  Maybe almost caricaturishly charming.  We had some log cabin houses (two remain on 121st Street, just east of 6th Avenue), and we erected a log cabin Village Hall.  That's beyond charming.  It might be downright cute.  Over time, more houses were constructed, and they were Spanish style, wood frame ("Key West style"), and regular old CBS.  For decades, there was a garden club for the "ladies."  If Ann Harper didn't throw them all away, you can probably find some of the old photographs of our garden club ladies at the new Village Hall.  Dresses and hats?  Of course!

Over the years, we've developed something of a reputation for our charm.  We're not considered uninspired and run down, as are many parts of North Miami, and we're not considered stuffy or snooty, as are parts of Miami Shores.  We're just considered charming.  And we don't mind one bit.  We encourage that kind of characterization.

Our charm has become a topic of debate in recent years.  The first time I heard it prosecuted was when we had the idea to move our Village election from odd-numbered years, when BP Commission elections were the only thing on the ballot, to even numbered years, when we would piggy-back onto the general election.  Those opposed to changing the election schedule complained that we would lose or surrender an important part of the "charm" of Biscayne Park.  We wouldn't be unique that way any more.  It cost us more to run our own elections, and the turnout was much lower than it is for the general elections, but some felt it was worth the losses in exchange for claiming the extra manifestation of charm.

In more recent years, we considered annexing tracts east of the train tracks, from 121st Street to 118th Street.  Again, the loudest criticism of that proposal was that having those blocks, which are commercial, industrial, and feature some large apartment buildings, would dilute or even disqualify the charm of BP.  It wasn't as if we could pick up and move real estate, and we couldn't even see those acres from here (they're literally across the track), but even the municipal inclusion of this area in the corporate entity known as Biscayne Park was considered a ruinous defiling of us.

We have an image, we have a style, and for some, we have an aura.  It's all about charm.  Our self-image has something to do with modesty, although not a modesty that doesn't include self-respect and tidiness.  For many years, it was not only traditional, but actually a matter of our Code, that houses were painted white.  Or slightly off-white, for the adventurous.  It took a long time for generations of BP populations to agree that the neighborhood would still look nice and fully respectable, even if houses were painted in a significantly wider array of colors.  So now, some of them are.

Another part of our charm, at least as some of us experience it, is a theme of "openness" of the look of properties here.  No one is allowed to have a wall or fence in his or her front yard.  So where did the front yard walls and fences come from?  I'm told that one of our illustrious former Mayors, Ed Burke, was imperious in a variety of ways, and one of them included his personal permission for some of his neighbors (friends?) to do whatever they wanted.  Burke reportedly placed himself between his neighbors and the Codes, and if you got to him in the right way, you didn't have to deal with the Codes.

But fence or no fence, some of the BP old-timers say that proud landscaping was de rigueur.  It didn't have to be extravagant, but it had to be neat.  And those old-timers will say that attention to the condition of personal property here was also part of the charm of the Village.

"Don't Be Cruel." Or Masochistic.

It's 2016, and that's suddenly special in Biscayne Park.  For the first time perhaps ever here, we're holding elections for Village Commission in an even-numbered year.  Until this year, we held elections in odd-numbered years.  We had thought we would capture the undivided attention of Village residents by avoiding elections where there were other races and voting issues, and it seemed worth it to us to pay a premium to do that.  But we didn't capture anything.  Voter turnout was invariably shamefully low-- lower than for any other election of any kind in the even-numbered years-- and we did no more than waste our money.  We paid more to get less.

The contested Commission seats this year are mine, Bob Anderson's, and Barbara Watts'.  I'm not running for re-election.  I have no idea what Anderson's and Watts' plans are.

But the real question is what your plans are.  I have come to understand that there are some Village residents who are uniquely qualified to be Commissioners.  They are smart, they don't miss anything, they do careful and unerring research, and they appear to have perfect judgment.  They're also vigilant, and they never fail to discern the mistakes made by other people, especially whoever is on the Commission.  Or part of the Village Administration.

What's weird, though, is that these people, at least some of the most prominent of them, are not themselves on the Commission.  And it's not that anyone doesn't want them to be.  It's that they don't run for Commission.  I've approached some of them, to plead with them to run, and they refuse!

The least of the problem is that I, as a current Commissioner, and my colleagues are left to make decisions that these people then inform us are faulty.  Hey, if I can't take the heat, I should get out of the kitchen.  Oh, wait a minute, I am getting out of the kitchen.

The real problem is that without these people on the Commission, the neighborhood suffers.  And these people themselves suffer.  They know the right answer, and it doesn't get enacted.

Obviously, there's a solution that does not involve these people being Commissioners (although why wouldn't they want to be?).  All that has to happen is that they tell everyone, at least the Commissioners, what the right answer is, and the Commissioners opine and vote accordingly.  But apparently, this approach doesn't work.  I've experienced it.  Even though the insights provided make clear that there is a right way to do things, and nothing is merely a matter of anyone's opinion, Commissioners-- people like me-- are not themselves smart enough to think of that right way.  And worse, either we don't understand from these neighbors what this right way is, and what's right about it, or we don't just do what they tell us anyway.  We should.  These neighbors very clearly identify themselves, and make inescapable what the right answers are.  All we have to do is not overthink it-- or perhaps even think at all-- and just do what they say.

I don't know how to respond.  Obviously, I don't understand that which is crystal clear.  And I somehow think my own researches are valid.  Occasionally, I mistake an issue as resting on opinion or taste or some other variable, when there is really only the simple matter of right and wrong.  I seem to have a knack for choosing what is wrong.  Or so I'm told by some of my neighbors.  And they're always right, so...

If you're one of these people, I'm talking to you.  I'm pleading with you.  Please become a Commissioner.  You've made painfully clear who you are, and I promise to campaign vigorously for you.  I want you in office.  It's the only way the Village can really succeed.

If you're not a Commissioner, you allow the Village to fumble and fail.  This is not good.  It's not fair.  Your neighbors will not have the best Village they could, they won't be happy, and things will be done poorly and inefficiently. And you'll complain to and about others of us-- the ones who keep making the mistakes-- which will result in our being frustrated and unhappy.  You'll show us up for being the idiots we are, and we're obviously too stupid to understand that we should just obey what you tell us.

Worst of all, from your perspective, you will leave yourselves unhappy.  You know what's right, and what's the right way to do things.  You try so hard to warn us, and then you're stuck having to tell us you told us so, after we get it wrong.  And you, more than most, suffer from the faulty results of faulty decision-making.  Everyone else simply gets a bad result.  You get a result you knew from the start was bad, and that you tried to warn us to avoid.  How frankly infuriating that must be for you.

So please run for Commission this year.  I will do everything I can to help you win.  You should win.  No one is more capable than you are.  And here's another inducement for you.  You know how you criticize the Commissioners for getting paid to do the bad job they/we do?  When you're a Commissioner, you can get the pay.  Sweet, huh?

This year, the "qualifying period" (when you can declare your candidacy) is August 15-30.  You can go to www.biscayneparkfl.gov to find the relevant information and documents you must complete.  You'll then have over two months to campaign, and the election is on Tuesday, November 8.  You must have been a Village resident for at least one year before the day you declare.  You do not have to be at least 35, and you don't even have to own your own home here.

FREE "SURVIVING AN ACTIVE SHOOTER" WORKHOP

Active shooter incidents in the United States continue to rise in frequency, with new FBI statistics showing the highest average of incidents ever in a two-year period.

The FBI’s latest review of active shooter incidents came just three days after the worst mass shooting in American history, when a 29-year-old Florida man, identified by authorities as Omar Mateen, opened fire in an Orlando nightclub frequented by members of the gay community, killing 49 and wounding more than 50.

According to the FBI, 2014 and 2015 each saw 20 active shooter incidents. That’s more than any two-year average in the past 16 years, and nearly six times as many as the period between 2000 and 2001, the starting point for the FBI’s review.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, an "active shooter" situation describes a shooting in progress, "an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area." Unlike a murder or mass killing, the "active" aspect implies that both law enforcement and civilians have the potential to impact the outcome of the event.

Mass shootings are a largely American phenomenon. From 1966 to 2012, nearly a third of the world's mass shootings took place in the U.S. This is according to a 2016 study that used the FBI definition of 'mass shooting' below. It surveyed 292 incidents and found 90 of them occurred in America. Put another way: While the U.S. has 5% of the world's population, it had 31% of all public mass shootings.

The number of 'mass shootings' changes depending on how you define it. The government has never defined "mass shooting" as a stand-alone category. So, depending on whichever informal definition you go with, the tally can drastically vary. According to the Gun Violence Archive, which compiles data from shooting incidents, a "mass shooting" is any incident where four or more people are wounded or killed. That number can include any gunmen as well. By that definition, we've seen 136 mass shootings in the first 164 days of this year.

The Orlando attack was by far the deadliest shooting in U.S. history (49 killed), and it is not even 10 years removed from the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre (32 killed), and the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting (27 killed). In fact, of the 30 deadliest shootings in the U.S. dating back to 1949, 16 have occurred in the last 10 years. People have a greater chance of dying in mass shootings if they're at school or work. According to data from 2013, incidents in schools and businesses represent 7 out of 10 active shootings. Some of the country's most high-profile mass shootings have occurred there: Sandy Hook, Columbine, Virginia Tech and San Bernardino. Overseas, these incidents typically happen near military installations.

In this age of terror, we struggle to figure out how to protect ourselves — especially, of late, from active shooters.

One suggestion, promoted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security, and now widely disseminated, is "Run-Hide-Fight."

The idea is:

• Run if you can




• Hide if you can’t run




• Fight if all else fails.

This three-step program appeals to common sense but is much hard to do than you would expect. The problem is that there are no one-size-fits-all answers for these questions. No one can tell us how we should or will act under these circumstances. The general concept of "Run-Hide-Fight." is a good one. The best thing to do, really, is to empower everyone to do what they feel most comfortable doing, without fear of subsequent repercussions or recriminations,"

Underlying the idea of "Run-Hide-Fight." is the presumption that volitional choices are readily available in situations of danger. But the fact is, when you are in danger, whether it is a bicyclist speeding at you or a shooter locked and loaded, you may well find yourself frozen, unable to act and think clearly.

Freezing is not a choice. It is a built-in impulse controlled by ancient circuits in the brain involving the amygdala and its neural partners, and is automatically set into motion by external threats. By contrast, the kinds of intentional actions implied by "Run-Hide-Fight." require newer circuits in the neocortex.

Contemporary science has refined the old "Run-Hide-Fight."" concept — the idea that those are the two hard-wired options when in mortal danger.

We at Modern Martial Arts & Fitness have an updated version called "Flee, Barricade, Fight" focusing more on Fleeing and Fighting than in hiding. We all remember playing hide and go seek as children and we got caught many times so hiding isn’t always the best option. If you are faced with an active shooter who has experience in tracking or hunting you will have very little chance of escaping with your life by simply hiding under your desk or in the closet.

Because of this we are holding a FREE Active Shooter Workshop on Saturday, July 9^th, 2016 from 2pm to 4pm. This workshop will consist of:

Viewing and discussing the "Surviving an Active Shooter" video



Go over information packets and



Learn Active Shooter self-defense techniques



Discuss possible scenarios



Participate in an Active Shooter Scenario using safe training weapons

There is limited space for this workshop so reserve your spot today by contacting us at ModernMartial@gmail.com or by visiting our WEBSITE at and clicking on the workshop image.

Until next time be safe.

Instructor Joe Chao

One of our residents needs some help

Good Evening Everyone, One of our Homeowner residents Gustavo has been diagnosed with a life altering diagnosis last month and suddenly has found himself unable to work to dedicate himself to getting cured and healthy again.  He has 3 very young boys he adores and is dedicated to.  He has a goFundMe page set up to  assist with his expenses- Please if you can contribute anything- he would appreciate it as would all those that care for him. Happy Fathers day.
https://www.gofundme.com/gustavoinzillo

Thanks for your help!!!

Bad News, Worse News. I Know, It's Political. But Localish, Too.

The bad news:  Some disturbed, angry homophobe decided to destroy a bunch of strangers at a nightclub, and he took advantage of the liberal availability of guns to do it.

The worse news:  Here in the land of the free, the home of the really brave, and the playground of gun-happy goofballs, who are given full permission to shoot up anyone they want, as long as they can concoct some story about how the person might have been threatening in some way, not one person prevented or intervened in this crime.  In fact, by 2:00 AM, the night club was advising people to leave, because mayhem was occurring, and it wasn’t until 5:00 AM that the police SWAT team got there.  Three hours for local heroes (OK, Zimmerman, NOW!) to show their stuff, in the State that gives them every possible excuse, and not one person came to anyone’s rescue.  There was no difference between Florida citizens having full permission to bear and use arms, and their being prohibited from doing so at all, except that in the latter instance, the assailant wouldn’t have had a gun, either, so the crime would never have happened.  That sounds like a really good deal.

Some people will misuse and corrupt this tragedy to suggest something wrong with Muslims.  (We’re led to think the assailant was Muslim.)  But he didn’t kill anyone because he was, if he was, Muslim. He killed a large number of people, because he was an angry homophobe who was undone by witnessing two men kissing each other.  In another city, in another county, on a different day.

There are crimes of this kind of passion: the passionate intolerance of the private lives of other people.  But in this country, those crimes are almost always committed by adolescents or angry 20-somethings, and more often than not, they seem proud to let the world know they’re Christian.

This was a crime of rage, immaturity, and intolerance, abetted by the ready availability here of a gun.  It’s an arduous and uphill battle to evolve citizens so that they’re not angry, not immature, and not intolerant.  The best we can do in the short run is to prevent them from making themselves lethal.

Sausages, Laws, and Developed Properties

According to Bismarck, "Laws are like sausages: It is better not to see them being made."  I can go Bismarck one more.

There has been considerable dissatisfaction expressed lately in the Village, and the problem is new construction and some improvements.

The first new project was the "Larry King house," at the corner of Griffing and 119th.  The old "Larry King house" was a mess.  Someone mercifully razed it and replaced it with a new and contemporary structure.

The early stages of the replacement were met with great concern.  The house, as it was being outlined, and the outer shell was constructed, appeared very imposing.  It seemed high and almost too close to the street.  Harvey Bilt pointed out that the house appeared to be an example of the Village's failure to make a statutory limit on the height of house stories.  I myself mistook the early appearance to suggest that the new building was two stories.  No, it was one.  And the tall chain link fence, right up to the property line, made the construction look even more threatening.

The house is finished now.  It is painted, and many aesthetic accents were applied.  Landscaping was installed, with the creation of a hill, planted with trees.

What's odd, and interesting, about what is now the end of this project is that the house no longer looks so massive.  It is no longer imposing.  It has a sedate, if stylish, appearance.  Although it was way too soon to have been able to tell, I had a feeling I might not like that house, when it was in a more raw state.  Now, I like it a lot.

Several blocks to the east on 119th Street, one block west of my house, there is another new structure.  This one is a real two story house.  I watched it evolve, from the ground up.  It had the obligatory covered chain link fence, too.  This house, like the other one, looks massive.  Various people have complained about it.  It was a central stimulus for the "McMansion" flap some months ago.

I've learned to withhold reaction to new houses, or perhaps other things, based on early appearance.  And lack of finishing and softening touches, like landscaping.  The house, although now painted, is still stark, in the sense that it is the only thing on the lot.  That's not a fair basis to judge what the finished project will look like.

The Village has articulated new parking requirements.  In an effort to keep people from parking on grass or dirt, and ideally even to avoid parking in the swale, the Code Review Committee proposed a requirement for "approved parking surfaces" on the actual property, and enough to allow parking for a specified number of cars, depending on the house (duplexes need more spaces than single-family houses do).  The Commission ratified that proposal.  One of our neighbors dutifully installed the required surface of turfblock in front of a duplex on the east side of 11th Place, at about 117th Street.

This was very disturbing to others of our neighbors, though.  Their impression was that now, the entire front yard was turfblocked, and they felt it looked terrible.  They saw flora replaced by turfblock (paradise was paved, and a parking lot put up, as Joni Mitchell would have complained).

I saw this project, too, in its early stage.  And I agree: my first impression was that the approach to the house looked ruined by what appeared to be an elevated massive platform of turfblock.  But again, I told myself to withhold judgment, and ideally even to withhold reaction.  The project was not completed, and no landscaping had been installed.  The fact is, I didn't even know if landscaping was planned.

Today, because of continued complaint from the neighbors, and their assertion that the project was completed three days ago, I drove by that property.  I see that the parking installation does in fact appear to be complete.  The holes in the turfblock have been filled, the border of the turfblock is now softened by an approach of dirt, and landscaping has been installed, or at least begun, at the border of the house.  I think it looks nice.  I didn't think so before, but I do now.

It's hard to withhold reaction, especially in an early stage of construction of a project.  It's not the business in which I'm an expert, and I don't have the eye, or the vision, to "see" what a project will look like when it's finished.  So I have trained myself simply to wait.

No one begins a project intending that it will look bad, or fail in some way.  It's presumptuous to come upon a beginning one, and declare it faulty or unworthy.  All of these projects-- the two new houses and the new parking surface-- were done to improve the neighborhood, and to be credits to the developers or owners.  Why would anyone assume that these goals would not be met?

Imagine walking up to a lonely ATM at your favorite bank in broad day light with nobody around you. As you take the money from the machine you hear from behind "Turn around slowly and hand me your money" 

What would you do? 

Let's take it a step further. It's early Sunday morning and you are late for church. You just left your car and are walking to the building when suddenly that car that was parked all the way on the other side of the parking lot rolls up behind you and a man jumps out with a gun demanding your purse. 

What do you do? 

These and many more situations can be answered at our Armed Robbery Defense Workshop. At this workshop we will be covering... 

• Gun defense drills from various angles and situations 
• Knife defense drills from various angles and situations 
• What to look for and how predators think 
• The workshop will be held: 

WHEN: SATURDAY JUNE 4TH, 2016 from 2PM - 4PM 

WHERE: Modern Martial Arts & Fitness, 9025 Biscayne Blvd. Miami Shores FL 33138 

HOW: Reserve you spot by emailing us at ModernMartial@gmail.com or call us at 305-542-5549 

Instructor Joe Chao

Modern Martial Arts & Fitness

9025 Biscayne Blvd.

Miami Shores, FL 33138

(305) 542-5549

 www.MiamiShoresKickboxing.com

www.mma-f.com

VERY Local Theater

Last weekend, I attended a flamenco performance at the Colony Theater on Miami Beach.  The venue is an old movie theater (I used to go to the movies there, when I was growing up on the Beach) now used as a stage as well as a screen.  Although the theater itself is not intimately local to us, the sponsoring organization-- Ballet Flamenco La Rosa-- is.  Ilisa Rosal founded the organization in 1985, and she continues to run it.  A flamenco school exists at their site, which is at 131st St on W Dixie Highway in North Miami.  I've seen notices for modest recitals there, but they use larger and more established venues for shows like the one I attended last weekend.

I have seen only a couple of performances sponsored by Ballet Flamenco La Rosa.  They have been uniformly excellent.

Interestingly, the part of the show's program that asks attendees to consider membership in Ballet Flamenco La Rosa states that the organization is "one of the only professional dance companies in the U.S. dedicated to the development, presentation and education in the art of flamenco."  If that's true, which it might be, another of the apparently rare such organizations is Siempre Flamenco, which is founded and operated by Paco and Celia Fonta, who have lived for many years in Surfside.  I have seen many of their shows, which always include Paco, who plays guitar and sings, and Celia, who dances and rarely plays guitar.

So we have some highly notable and very local flamenco talent.

Last night, Richard and Debbie Ederr and I attended a play at the Miami Theater Center's Mad Cat Theater.  Also an old movie house (Debbie says they have been around for 50 years), this theater has also given way to much more common use as a stage.  The theater is on the northwest corner of NE 98th Street and 2nd Avenue in Miami Shores.  It's half a block north of Proper Sausages and across the street from the post office.  It could not be more convenient for us.

A few years ago, I attended a play at this venue.  The play was called "We All Drink the Same Water," and I had/instigated company.  The play was awful, and I was embarrassed for having encouraged some of my friends to go.  I have resisted all other offers to attend shows at the Miami Theater Center, because I had no confidence they would do a good job.  Sometimes, I've been close to relenting, but I always held out.  Until now.

"The Flick," by Annie Baker, is reportedly acclaimed, and it and its author have won awards in 2013 and 2014.   And the flyer for it was forwarded to the group that included me by Joe Adler, the Director and head honcho of GableStage.  I have huge trust in Joe Adler.  And the tickets were dirt cheap.  For students and old people ("seniors," as people like the Ederrs and me are patronizingly, if courteously, called), the cost was only $15.  For unqualified and unexcused adults, it was still only $30.  The point is, I just couldn't resist this time.

"The Flick" is a weird play.  It's not a bad play-- not at all-- but it's weird.  There were several seats for the audience, and they were set up on the stage.  The action of the play occurred in the main part of the auditorium, where the audience normally sits.  The actors portrayed employees of an old-time movie theater.  Their jobs were to sweep up the debris after the movie audience left, and to run the projector.  And that's what they did.  The props were brooms, dustpans, a large garbage can, and a movie projector.  The actors worked, and they talked.

I wasn't sure, and neither were the Ederrs, what this play was really about.  It had a barely recognizable trajectory-- maybe ultimately not recognizable-- but it was very well acted, and it was well directed.  The other play I saw at Mad Cat had magnificent costumes, but the acting and directing were miserable.  So at least I see Mad Cat can do much better, and I won't be so reluctant about attending something there next time.

Speaking of very local offerings, tonight is the free jazz MOCA concert.  The featured performer is one of my favorites: Jean Caze.  This event occurs on the last Friday of every month, in the courtyard at MOCA, and it starts at 8:00.

Help. Really. I Need You to Help Me and Yourself.

As you know, we are in the process of choosing a new Village Manager.  As of three nights ago, we had 39 applicants.  There is a Village resident committee--12 residents-- already chosen to review all of the applications and whittle whatever number it is down to three.  Those three "finalists" will be referred to the Commission for examination and eventual selection as the new Manager.  I assume we will have a public session to interview the three finalists, as we did three years ago.  Everyone is welcome to attend that session.

As you might also know, this is our first year having Village (Commission) elections during the general election, which is the first Tuesday in November.  Candidates will be able to declare themselves about six weeks or so before that, so early to mid September.

We will have chosen a new Manager by the time Commission candidates declare themselves, and certainly well before new Commissioners are elected.

Although everyone in the Village can interact with the Manager, it is Commissioners who interact most with the Manager, and it is the Commissioners, and only the Commissioners, who control the employment of the Manager.

As the schedule of events is now, the current Commission will hire the new Manager, and the next Commission will have to work closely with him or her.  This is precisely, coincidentally enough, what happened the last time we hired a Manager.

As is always true, three Commission seats will be in play this year.  I am personally not running for re-election.  I have no idea, and no reason to know, if Bob Anderson or Barbara Watts is running.  As of early November, there will be anywhere from one to three new Commissioners.

You're not allowed yet to declare publicly that you want to run for Commission this year.  But if you plan to run, or even if you're thinking seriously about it, I would like to know.  I won't tell anyone you "declared" yourself to me.  I'm about to take a role in hiring the Manager with whom you will work, and I want you to have an inside track and as much influence as possible in the choice of that person.  I don't promise to hire whomever you say, but I'll give you as much weight as I can, and I'll discuss the matter with you.