The Coral Gables Times

Thursday, November 9, 1961, page 4 (of 20)

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Coral Gables TIMES

Established Jan. 15, 1926 Published Weekly at 364 Seville Ave., Coral Gables, Fla. | Second Class Postage Paid at Miami, Fla. ROLFE NEILL ................................ Editor & Publisher JOHN T. WATTERS .................................... President Subscription: $4.20 year by mail anywhere

We're Getting Our Money's Worth

We find reason to disagree with the City Commission of Coral Gables, either in part or in substance, on some of the issues of the day. When we do, we say so, which is our function. However, we much more frequently find ourselves in agreement. We think the city is getting good government from the men it elected last spring. Particularly have we been impressed with the conscientious attitude the commission has shown in the amount of time its members devote to tending to the town's business. The Times is convinced that two of the hallmarks of the current administration will be the decision to go ahead with a new library, a fact we have previously applauded, and the more recent decision about reassessment. The commission directed Tax Assessor T. C. Blount to come up with a realistic appraisal of property after it was learned that approximately one of five homeowners in the Gables pays little taxes. There are two decades of inequities written into the valuations on the City's books. This move by the commission will bring fairness to our taxes. It most likely will bring in more money. And finally, it shows that the commission is unafraid to take on the meaningful but politically touchy subject of property valuations.

Postscript to Sunday

The best of the wags' suggestions we've heard about the Sunday opening of stores on Miracle Mile we picked up this week. Said one man: "The merchants should parade in front of Jackson's-Byrons with picket signs, singing, 'Never on Sunday.'"

In Defeat, Victory; Next Item: the Gibbys

Robert Davidson, president of the Gables Board of Realtors, defined the matter when he said last week: "It takes a big man to realize he's made a mistake." It was his way of complimenting the City Commission for changing its mind about increasing the cost of doing business for 18 categories of firms here. The commission rescinded some $30,000 worth of increases a year. Davidson is right although we're not so sure that the reversal would have occurred had not the heaviest artillery around (real estate interests, former mayors et al) been united in the gripe. But whatever the reason, the Times is happy to see an ill-conceived plan abandoned. Now that the commissioners have accommodated in less than eight weeks a group of many dozens' proportions, may we ask that they stop dilly dallying on a single, harrassed citizen's request to get his land problems straightened out. We're talking about the inexcusable delays in the Gibby undug canal case where the City's indifference — even childishness at one point — has caused this family undue hardship. Days have become weeks — many weeks — and weeks have gone into months while the city fiddles. Is it unreasonable to ask the City Commission to forget its peevishness with the Gibbys and now that it's doing what it had to do anyhow, show good faith and speed matters along?

Remember The Times

25 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK The Country Club of Coral Gables will be host this evening to the Dade County Bar Association at an informal dinner dance to be held in honor of Florida Bar Association President Lewis W. Twyman, U.S. District Attorney Herbert S. Phillips and U.S. Judge John W. Holland. Visual examples of the type and advance of the work being done at Ponce de Leon High School were presented to the Coral Gables Kiwanis Club Tuesday by Harry N. Rath, principal. 10 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK Six former Coral Gables Senior High School students who are attending the University of Miami on a music scholarship are in the UM band. They are Barbara J. Bush, Caye Yneck, Peter Hunter, Kathy McLaughlin, Allene Bushong and Joyce A. Ford.

MAILBOX

EDITOR: I agree with your recent editorial one hundred per cent about the greater majority of the people of Coral Gables being opposed to stores being kept open on Sunday. However, I do not agree with your suggested method of overcoming this affront to the community — by writing letters to the owners of such stores. I believe that if there is not now an old unenforced ordinance on the books then the City Commission should take immediate steps to put one in effect. If they doubt the feelings of the people on this issue then it should be voted on at the next election. If Food Fair is allowed to keep open on Sundays, then why not Jackson's-Byrons, and any others that feel they too must keep open to get their fair share of the trade? Let's get an ordinance on the books that will apply to everyone, excepting perhaps drug stores on an alternating basis. C. F. ROWLAND 251 Alesia Ave. (Editor's note: The City is awaiting advice from its attorney about what, if anything, it can do. Readers may recall that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a series of blue laws in several states in recent decisions. The Times' editorial position is that we are opposed to blue laws but we are opposed more to Sunday selling. If the force of community opinion won't close merchants' doors, then it may be necessary to resort to law.)

Not a Religious Question How to Destroy the Gables

By ELVA CHARLTON Correspondent Shades of George Merrick's ghost, Sunday shopping is now going on in the Gables. This is the last straw. Citizens of the Gables will protest, of course. But by the time action is taken to outlaw this abominable practice, I'm afraid that having nothing to do on a Sunday morning, a housewife can pile the kids in the car, and, armed with her husband and his bankroll, drive or walk to a store and outfit the family or complete Christmas shopping. Most Gables residents are familiar with the history and background of this beautiful place. Businessmen are happy to adhere to the rigid rules and regulations enforced on them to make the Gables the beautiful, quiet, city that it is. Why can't the city stop Sunday merchandising? Here are some of the things builders are faced with: No building is permitted on Sunday in the Gables. Even if a hard-working tile man has run out of tile the day before and wishes to do a quiet thing like set a few extra tiles, he has been stopped, not once, but many times by the police. The color of your sidewalk may not appeal to you or match the colors in your house, but you cannot change it. If a delivery truck break it up and it must be replaced, it is a terrific job and very expensive. Recently a builder told me that he had been informed at City Hall that sidewalk cement color could be bought at only one place already prepared to fit specifications. Building inspectors are treated with the greatest respect. Nothing escapes their eyes, I'm happy to say. No building operation can start before 8 a.m. weekdays and noise of construction must be kept at a minimum. If these and other restrictions are enforced by the City, why can't they also stop Sunday merchandising? This should not be considered a religious question at all. Everybody has their own ideas of what is right and wrong. I don't believe anybody is obliged to enforce their ideas on anyone else. Let's just tackle Sunday shopping in the Gables from the viewpoint of the people who would like to preserve gracious living. If we permit one store to remain open on Sunday, soon the whole structure of refinement will be destroyed. The very thing that caused us to choose Coral Gables for our city will be no more.

EVERYBODY'S Business

By Rolfe Neill The F. W. Woolworth Co. has a pre-printed sign it distributes to its stores announcing that it will be closed on Sunday and why. A man called on the store manager in the Gables last week to ask if he could copy the wording. The manager replied: "I hate to tell you this but I threw mine away. I thought this was the one town in which we'd never need it." * * * The New Yorker magazine has banned fallout shelter advertising from its sophisticated columns until reasonable standards of judgment are established about the authenticity of claims. That magazine, which reserves the right to change any advertising submitted to it, annually turns down thousands of dollars' worth of ads. And on the subject of printing: Grove Press, purveyors of that Henry Miller work on "Tropic of Cancer," says that its profits are being eaten up in lawsuits. I'll pay the legal fees if they'll turn over the ultimate profits which are assured on a censored book. Grove also published "Lady Chatterley's Lover." * * * On the subject of magazines I'm reminded each time I read one's letter to the editors column: Why is it that so few letters to national publications come from the South? Glance at the place names next time you're in your favorite magazine. * * * It's been nearly a week now since somebody told us, "I used to be a newspaper reporter." That's a record. * * * WVCG's George Thorpe is elated over the pioneering work the station is doing in stereophonic broadcasting. While he's pleased to be the first in Florida, I think he's happier over the data the station's gathering for the radio industry. Thorpe's station is on the New Fontiers of this field and will publish and make available its findings to others.

OFF BEAT BY MAURICE LABELLE

A common complaint among municipal governing bodies is that premature release of proposed plans creates an unfavorable atmosphere and often their abandonment through misunderstanding. This is the rationale fed the people when meetings are held behind closed doors and policies and decisions made without the spotlight of the press or the presence of interested persons. Maybeso. But let's examine an example of how the opposite can and usually happens when the public is not trusted to act intelligently. The recent fiasco over occupational license fees is a dramatic reminder to our legislative representatives that the people like to make up their own minds about what is good or bad for them. At least they like to have a voice in matters of direct concern to them, even if the final outcome is against their interests. In this particular case, there were no reports published informing the public that increases — some more than double — were in store for some businessmen. As a matter of fact, the story of the increases was not published until it had become a fact for some time. By then, some of the persons affected had already learned of the boost and the die was cast. Since then, the Commission has been forced to eat crow and rebuff its Budget Advisory Committee. The time to find out public reaction is before, not after the fact. The only way to do this is to let the people in on what's going on. This cannot be done by calling a few friends and asking for their opinion. Your friends might not tell you you have bad breath — and they could be wrong. Our Congressmen debate openly issues much more important than somebody's parking complaint or if a 100-room motel should be allowed to sell liquor. Their remarks are subject to be quoted, misquoted, misrepresented and misunderstood all over the world. They might even cost them the next election. But this is something these men accepted as the price of public service. Why should public matters at the grass roots level be conducted in a less open and democratic way than at the top?

"I Know my Putter's Here Somewhere!"

The Christian Science Monitor "I Know my Putter's Here Somewhere!"