Four years ago, The Firefly opened, providing an alternative space for art, bicycles and out-of-bounds social action and intellectual inquiry. There really is no place like it in Miami – and soon, thanks to Braman Miami AutoWorld – there will be no Firefly at all.
Braman has bought out all the owners of residences in that block to demolish the old homes and apartments and make way for an expanded private parking lot.
We hope so.
What is a car dealer of such massive proportions doing in the heart of Miami’s urban core? How does Zoning allow for this kind of project? It is clear that Smart Growth is not allowing a monolith to expand across public right-of-ways with acres of flat parking lots, destroying homes and small but thriving neighborhood streets in its wake. Developments like this do nothing but increase traffic congestion in our urban core and further discourage pedestrian activity and the local businesses that thrive off of that activity. What does our neighborhood get? More of this:
"Like a cancer that grows, cutting off circulation of urbanism's vitals" This isn't even all of Braman Miami as it stands today.
This property crosses several blocks by Northeast 18th Street, from Biscayne Boulevard (1.5 blocks from Biscayne Bay) west to the train tracks. It fills what could be a successful transitional area between the Wynwood Arts District, the Downtown Arts District and residential/business (mixed-use) Biscayne Blvd Corridor.
Many people will lose their homes and all of Miami will lose yet another (and one of the last remaining) independent venues. Locally-based enterprises and creative projects are what give cities their character – and characters. It roots people, something that is critical to expanding the role of social entrepreneurship and civic engagement in a place that is slowly moving away from a transient, service-only-based economy.
A Transit Miami Shout Out to the all-volunteer Firefly – not for what you tried to do, but what you did and will keep doing until you are officially booted in February. We’ll be there with you to celebrate the end of an era over the weekend of January 29th. For those of you who never experienced the Firefly, this will be your last chance. Learn more about this “venue for creative breathing and imperfection” at www.thefirefly.info
From the Firefly Farewell: “Here I sit, sober and perhaps even lucid, on the kind of winter’s day that makes you realize a New Year is just around the corner and you’ve got very little to show for it, but if you are going to get anything done on this planet, you better pick it up with both hands and DO IT YOURSELF.” -Peter Laughner
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4 Responses to Sad News for Urbanism as Braman Expands Downtown
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Clearly Braman believes the car market will “recover”. Of course, they have to believe that: their business depends on it. I don’t share their optimism.
I am fairly confident that there will continue to a market for the extreme/exotic/elite cars that Braman sells and I don’t begrudge his success. However, he succeeds over the lost opportunity of a sweet, unique neighborhood. Many, many people commute through his dealership daily (as NE 2nd Ave cuts through it) and they have to deal with the added traffic congestion of his business and the employees moving cars from one side to the other. Such a dealership business would make much better sense outside of the urban core; clearly the concerns of Braman are not the neighborhood but the giant money-making box and lots they keep paving for. A sad day for so many.
Did Braman get the city to eminent domain the property where the Firefly is located? If not, then you should be complaining about the owners who sold to Braman and I guess should have turned down a lucrative offfer to sell their property.
Where’s Miami 21?