The Coral Gables Times

Damn Yankees & Tall Buildings!

(A two-story building addition is underway at Miracle Mile and Salzedo Street while across the way at Salzedo and Aragon Avenue a three-story structure is rising. Nobody's said so, but it looks like a race to us. We decided to ask Rodney Miller, one of the buildingest men in these parts, about how he got a job done in record time - 86 years ago.) Rodney Miller built-a $31⁄2 million dollar hotel in Coral Gables in record-breaking time of 10 months. How? He used psychology. He pitted man against man. "I decided to send up to Minneapolis and bring down a gang of Swedish carpenters and then I sent to New York to get some Italian laborers. I put them on one side," he said, telling how he built the Miami Biltmore Hotel in 1925. "On the other wing, I had Southern men from Georgia and points South. "They were put in competition. So that's why the building was completed in record time. "If the Southerners were lagging, I went over and said 'Hey! Are you going to let those damn Yankees beat you? I didn't have to say anything to the Yankees, they were pretty well keyed up on the issue." The Italians and Swedes numbered about 150 men. So did the Southerners. They finished their wings under fierce competition and then worked together on the tower. There was no bonus, but the men were paid nine dollars a day. Rodney Miller was then general foreman and general superintendent for Thompson-Starratt builders. Today he's at his Coral Gables Federal Savings and Loan Association. He's been a senior vice president there since retiring from the building business in 1955. "The Ku Klux Klan came to me," he recalled "and said, 'You'd better get rid of those Italians. We don't want them here.' "I told them I didn't think they (the Italians) were doing any harm. So I advised them (the Klan) to leave them alone. And they did." And so a hotel, now the Veteran's Hospital, was built in record time.

RODNEY MILLER

Chuck Wilcox Watches Helmit Wieck

Helmit Wieck Watches Chuck Wilcox

Junior OB Queen / Our Five Gals Eye The Crown

The five girls who will represent Coral Gables Saturday 2:30 a.m., at the Youth Center in the selection of a Queen for the Junior Orange Bowl possess both beauty and brains. The five who were chosen among 70 participants last Saturday are Luana McGhan, 13, 522 Malaga Ave.; Janet Nally, 13, 1025 Sunset Rd.; Diana Mondaunt, 12, 711 Camilo Ave.; Bonnie Burkhart, 12, 1041 Andalusia Ave.; and Barbara Emanuel, 13, 12298 Venetia Ave. Diane, a ninth grader at Ponce de Leon Junior High, hopes for a PH. D. in math. She's now an honor student in geometry and loves piano and swimming. Barbara, honor student in algebra, loves to read and carries a Junior Lifesaving certificate. Bonnie, who plays the clarinet in the band at Ponce de Leon Junior High, likes to dance and to go horseback riding. Luana is an honor student in algebra and likes to swim and fish. Janet, in the chorus at Ponce de Leon Junior High, lists dancing and singing at the top of her list. These girls will compete with about 110 girls from throughout South Florida. The girl chosen Queen will on Dec. 27, appear between the halves of the Junior Orange Bowl football game. The next day, she'll ride the Queen's float in the Junior Orange Bowl Parade in Coral Gables. That night, she'll reign at the Youthland Ball. And on New Year's Eve, she and her court will ride the City of Coral Gables float in the King Orange Jamboree Parade.

New Bus Route From CG to Baptist Hospital

Coral Gables buses will provide service from the Coral Gables Bus Terminal to the new Baptist Hospital, beginning Monday. The buses will run Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. There is no service on Sundays or holidays. Schedules and detail of the route may be obtained at the Bus Terminal. The fare is 25 cents from Coral Gables to points west of Ludlum Road; 20 cents east of that point.

Job Schedule Listed

"Storyland" - this is the theme of the Junior Orange Bowl festivities for 1961-62. A whirlwind of activities begins Saturday, Dec. 16, with the climax of the contest, the finals. Winners of the 23 preliminary contests will compete for the queen's crown at Coral Gables Youth Center, 2 p.m. On Wednesday, Dec. 27, the Service-to-Youth Award Luncheon will be held honoring Dr. James. W. Parrish, vice president of Stetson University, at Coral Gables Country Club, 12:15 p.m. The second event on the 27th is the Junior Orange Bowl Football Game, 7 p.m. at Coral Gables Stadium. The event is a doubleheader matching the winning 95-pound teams and 115-pound teams of the Inter-City Athletic Conference against corresponding winners in the Optimist Athletic Conference. Thursday, Dec. 28, has as highlight the annual Junior Orange Bowl Parade through the Gables at 2:30 p.m. This is the 13th annual parade of South Florida youth. The last event on the agenda, on the 28th, is the Annual Youth Ball.

Room Rent Ordinance Up Again

Continued from Page 1 ordinance passed on first reading Tuesday an owner of improved residential property in which he resides may rent as many as three rooms providing: The property, alterations or additions were made prior to June 27, 1944 (the date of the anti-room renting ordinance). Ownership must have been obtained prior to March 1, 1960. An agreement must be made with the City that heirs, successors and assigns will not be passed on the right to rent. Owners pay the City $10 per year per unit. No complaints were registered by neighbors within 300 feet. The ordinance also sets up a hearing board, sometimes called a hardship board, to hear complaints. A second reading is necessary for passage. Thirty days following that time are needed for the ordinance to go into effect.

Cool, Man, Yeah, But It's Noisy

Coral Gables became one of the few communities in the country to attempt to control air conditioner noise when it passed an amending ordinance Tuesday. The legislation had been recommended by Commissioner Joe Murphy over a year ago when complaints about noisy air conditioners began to mount in City Hall. The former commission attempted to handle the complaints by using the existing zoning ordinance on noise, but City Manager L. W. Robinson Jr. reported reaching a dead end with recalcitrant noisy air conditioner owners when they failed to make changes. Conditioners having a noise factor of more than 60 decibels will be considered too noisy. A decibel is a unit measurement of sound. A decibel measuring machine has been purchased by the City. Only air conditioning units having a rating of 12,000 BTUs per hour or one-ton capacity are affected. The ordinance also sets up the conditions for the measurement of sound. A second reading and a 30-day waiting period is necessary before the ordinance becomes law.

Permits For 39 Homes

Building permits for a total of 39 new homes costing $9,980 to $12,200 have been issued to F & R Homes Building Corp. in Southern Estates subdivision. Costs do not include land values. The homes were designed by R. J. Schneider and Milton C. Harry.

Goodbody Is Low Bidder On Bonds

Goodbody and Co. was selected by the City Commission Tuesday to handle its $1 million capital improvement bond issue. The money, $981,491 aft the $18,509 premium had been deducted, will help finance the new library, a new bridge on Blue Road, parkway improvements, expansion of recreational facilities, extension of sanitary sewer facilities and street improvements in the downtown commercial area. Goodbody was low bidder on the issue with an interest rate average of 3.87283 percent. "It is the best and most vantagous to the city," Finance Director Kenneth Allyn said of the firm's bid. A 3.4 percent interest rate will be paid between 1962 and 1975; 3.70 percent between 1976 and 1982; and 3.875 percent between 1983 and the 1986 maturity date. There were five other bidders on the million-dollar d E. J. Van Ingen and John Nuveen, 3.9497 percent; Robinson-Humphrey, 4.070689 percent. Ira Hauppe and Co., 3.98444 percent; Pierce-Carrison-W o lbern, 3.9793; and Merrill Lynch Fenner and Smith, 3.96627 percent. An emergency ordinance was passed by the City Commission to get the issue before the Circuit Court for validation as soon as possible.