The Coral Gables Times

THE Coral Gables Times

Vol. 36, No. 25 20 Pages Thursday, August 3, 1961 Phone HI 3-1661 Price 10c

TEACHING A LITTLE girl from Cuba how to swing a bat, not easy. Gary Davidson, 310 Alesio Ave., gives pointers to 4-year-old Maria Ilena Bravo although we can't vouch for what instruction requires a whisper. (Photo by Raymond Lang)

Parking Tickets Cut To $1 on Off Street

City to Try Man Instead of Meter The City is readying a parking lot experiment designed to eliminate the troublesome overtime violations. This would be done by having an attendant on a lot instead of using meters. The 161-space lot on Andalusia Avenue, behind Rosal, Razook's, Allan Abess and other Miracle Mile stores, will be the scene of the experiment. The City Commission gave the okay Tuesday. The city manager said the plan should be in operation by Sept. 1. A driver would take a parking ticket from an automatic dispenser as he enters the lot and pay the attendant on leaving. Rates would be 15 cents the first hour and 10 cents for additional hours. Also being explored is a park and shop plan whereby participating merchants absorb part of the cost of parking. Shoppers frequently complain of being ticketed for overtime parking violations. Merchants have protested it hurts business. The City has said that it is a matter of law enforcement and auto storage. Meanwhile, interested men have sought to come up with a new plan which would satisfy the needs of all parties. Land Study Will Begin; Due in Fall Rader and Company Engineering's $12,000 contract to review city planning and zoning was given final approval by the City Commission Tuesday. The survey, which is to begin immediately, is expected to be completed within 90 days. The review is being made with an eye to future high-rise building among other things. The contract was tentatively approved by the commission some weeks ago. Delay on final approval was due to disagreement over terms of the contract. But $2 Still For Street Overtime By BECKY DOYLE-QUINN Times Reporter It's 50 per cent cheaper to violate the law in Coral Gables parking lots today. The City announced this week it will begin handing out $1 instead of $2 tickets on the off-street lots it controls. Because of a Metro ordinance, on-street overtime violations will continue to cost $2. For the Gables, the reduction in the parking fine is the realization of an oft-expressed desire within the City Commission. Various commissioners have opined that shopping would be enhanced here if visitors could relax and not worry about a $2 ticket. Vigorous enforcement in the downtown area has led to a large number of traffic tickets being given. City Attorney Ted Semple has been looking into his law books. He told the commissioners Tuesday that the City can set its own rates on off-street lots. The Gables' most immediate shopping competitor, South Miami, recently took its meters off the streets. Reports there have been favorable, according to H. W. MacDonald, executive secretary of the South Miami Chamber of Commerce. South Miami still issues tickets, however, to motorists who spend more than two hours in a two-hour zone. But the autoist is freed of feeding meters while parked.

We'll Know Shortly What Metro Offers for Buses

Within the next 60 to 90 days Coral Gables should know what terms Metro proposes for taking over our City-operated bus line. Al Jacobson, chairman of the Gables committee to talk about the transfer, said this week he has been told by the Metro Transit Authority that it is working up a proposal. Jacobson's group has no authority to act on a proposal. Its job is to sound out the authority and then make a recommendation to the Coral Gables City Commission. The Gables operates its own bus line and subsidizes it. The current year's deficit is about $60,000. Metro wants to create a countywide transportation system. It already has purchased four major lines, from operator William Pawley. Three others, including this city's, remain to be acquired. Whether the Gables will agree to being taken over has not been established.

Canal Zoning Snafu Baby No. 5 Coming, Ready or Not

Dr. John F. Gibby's case of the unbuilt rooms vs. the undug canal was postponed a second time Tuesday by the City Commission. The Commission held off action pending a meeting of homeowners in the affected area. The meeting will be held Sept. 18 at 8 p.m. The Gibby home is at 806 Parma St., located between Orduna Drive and Granada Boulevard and a block south of Blue Road. For the Gibbys—he's a pediatrician and she's a psychologist at Veterans Hospital—it was a heartbreaking postponement. They have been involved in a paperwork snafu while the room they've needed for their fifth child—expected momentarily—remains unbuilt. What's upsetting to the family is that they bought their home last August only after being assured by the four involved City of Coral Gables departments that they could build their Florida room and extra bedrooms. This spring when they got ready for the addition, the Zoning Board said no. The board insisted that any addition set back some distance from an imaginary canal that runs through the backyards of the Gibbys and their neighbors. The canal is dedicated but undug. In the past the Zoning Board has granted variances to several homes backing up to the canal but lately decided no more variances should be granted. Another thing which bothers the Gibbys is that on Sept. 22, 1960, they and other property owners were advised by letter that the City was going to give them the undug canal land. The City apparently later changed its mind although the Gibbys maintain they were never notified. Now, the City Commission plans to present alternate plans to the homeowners in September. It will show the cost of selling the land to the homeowners or digging a canal. Commissioner George Wilson wanted to override the Zoning Board's refusal but Commissioner Joe Murphy countered with a suggestion that the matter be deferred pending the homeowners' conference.

Speeder Stopped

A 17-year-old Coral Gables youth learned last week police frown on playing hide and seek with speeders. Bruce Lancaster, of 4116 Pinta Ct., was fined $100 and court costs and lost his right to drive for six months July 25 in Metro Court by Senior Metro Judge Jack Turner. Officer Thomas Quirk told the court Lancaster attempted to get away and hid in a garage to avoid arrest for speeding.

It Says Here Le Jeune's Ahead of Time

It may not look it — but Le Jeune Road construction is over the hump and ahead of schedule. "We're still running slightly ahead of schedule," said J. O. Murray, general manager for Troup Bros. Inc., which has the $723,278 contract for the widening and improvement job. Murray estimated that the widening and repaving of LeJeune from Tamiami Trail to South Dixie Highway is running approximately two weeks ahead of schedule and should be completed in December. The project, although it appears to be dragging, Murray said, is proceeding according to plan despite some unexpected problems which have cropped up, such as the County's insistence that a 66 or 72-inch pipe be used rather than a covered drainage ditch behind Coral Gables High School. The County is expected to reimburse Troup for the use of 100 feet of pipe, Murray said. His optimism about the progress, Murray indicated, was based on the fact that virtually all the huge drainage ditch has been completed, a major part of the project. When construction moves over to the east side of LeJeune, Murray said, no east-west blocking of traffic will occur as on the west side, except for a short time when the pavement is laid. The section between Bird Road and South Dixie High- (See Le Jeune, page 2)

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