The Times

THE TIMES

the local community newspaper for all South Dade John T. Watters, President & Publisher William von Maurer, Editor Robert M. Slane, Advertising Manager Subscription: $3.00 year by mail anywhere

Less Than A Legend

When it comes to praising Coral Gables as one of America's best planned cities, please place us high on the list of believers. However, every once in a while we get the uncomfortable feeling that even our venerable early planners were subject to human fraility. A news story which you will find on the front page of this newspaper gave us quite a twinge in this respect. LeJeune Rd. has proved to be a traffic engineering problem which has reduced the theories of bright young men at drawing boards to a shambles. Their neat blueprints recently outlined a transformation of LeJeune from bottleneck to ideal traffic artery, a metamorphosis warmly desired by all of us. But, alas. When the time came to put these plans into effect, our engineering friends found themselves confronted by the reality that LeJeune Road won't yield to blueprints. Our early planners, bless 'em, didn't take into account the growing popularity of the automobile. Just how they achieved this considerable oversight is a little puzzling in view of the fact that the automobile had pretty well caught on by the mid 20's. Nevertheless, our Founding Fathers crisscrossed LeJeune Rd. with intersections that don't match, thus eliminating the present plan for left turn lanes which are considered an important safety factor today. The early founders also proved to be downright skrimping when alloting width for LeJeune, although they were more than generous in providing space for other streets, particularly the upper reaches of Ponce de Leon Blvd. These pennywise but pound foolish decisions now add up, 35 later, to the bad news that LeJeune Road will not safely accomodate four lanes of traffic and the 5-foot sidewalks envisioned by today's engineers. "Planners with vision" is a phrase which we can still apply proudly to our pioneers. But when it comes to the automobile and the great flood of traffic it was about to unleash on this community in only a few short years, the vision of our forefathers was just a little blurred. But that makes them more human and less of a legend, we suppose.

Letters To The Editor 'Puny' Thinking Pointed Out

Editor, The Times I wish to call your attention to some "puny" thinking on the part of someone in the traffic division of the City of Coral Gables, who was responsible for the decision to place parking meters on Valencia Avenue adjacent to the Coral Gables Post Office. Several hundreds of dollars have been spent to defer people who would come to Coral Gables for the purpose of shopping and would go to the Post Office as a matter of conveniene. Won't Patronize If these people who now have to pay to park to pick up their mail or purchase postage stamps, feel as I do, they will as I will, go elsewhere, possibly not do business in Coral Gables. I have had a post office box in Coral Gables for the past seven years, but have decided that if I have to take a chance on paying a $2 parking ticket for the sake of picking up my mail, then I'll get a post office box loser to my home in the SW section. Empty Stores I wonder if the person responsible has ever counted the empty stores in Coral Gables, felt the impact of the store-owner's now in business in Coral Gables who are trying to hold their customers with a great amount of advertising, then thought of the few pennies a day that may be garnered by the placing of these meters, or is this another scheme of "soaking the motorist." If they wanted to do something constructive, why don't they synchronize the traffic lights in Coral Gables, something that has been lacking for quite some time. Many motorists do not come to Coral Gables for that very reason, and if such proedures as placing meters in front of such a necessary convenience to all the public as the Post Office continues, then I feel that the person in charge should realize that he is doing Coral Gables a great deal of harm, and should corret this situation immediately. Philip Cantor P.O. Box 34162

I've Got It! We Can Relocate Coral Gables!

Remember The Times

25 Years Ago The aged at the Kendall Home for the Poor were in the Coral Gables spotlight. Businessman Sam Weissel argued that the city bus making the trip from the poor house into town made its return trip too soon. The aged did not have enough time in town to enjoy themselves . . . Arguing that the cost of repairing the trolley lines was "prohibitive," Coral Gables City Manager Gene Williams advocated switching to buses on a full-time basis . . . Times and the people are caught up in change, but world conditions weren't. An Army major addressed a Gables club; his topic was "Preparation for War." 10 Years Ago Coral Gables bus drivers were preparing to ask the city for a raise in salaries . . . The first motel to be built in Coral Gables was approved by he Zoning Board of Appeals. Its site is at Tamiami Trail and Cortez St. . . . Gables' motorists got a Thanksgiving "turkey" from the city of steel girders and cement. City officials told residents the $15,000 bridge crossing the canal at Ponce de Leon Blvd. and Riviera Dr. would be open by that holiday . . . The Coral Gables City Commission drew its purse, strings tight and would not underwrite a free Christmas concert proposed by the Philharmonic Society of Greater Miami. Expected cost would have been $700. One Year Ago Exmoor School, a Gables' landmark for 33 years, shut its doors due to lack of money . . . The door was slammed in the faces of Christmas shoppers who hoped to gift-browse in South Miami without having to plunk coins into parking meters. South Miami Council, under pressure from city merchants, rescinded an earlier decision which O.K.'d free parking for shoppers.

PROFILE of the week

"I fell in love with Florida when I first visited here in 1947, and I'm still in love with it," said Don Mullen, owner of a woman's specialty shop. He came to Florida 13 years ago to visit an uncle who had retired here. "I was in the Navy at the time," he said, "and I hadn't seen my uncle for a long time. So I decide to take a leave to see him. The climate was beautiful, and there was great opportunity here, so I decided to return later." In the Navy, he commanded an LCT (Landing Craft Tanks). In 1956, he opened Don Mullen, Inc., at 232 Miracle Mile, where it is now located. His previous training and experience in retail merchandising prompted the beginning of the specialty shop. He attended Brown University, and was graduated with a BS in business administration from Bryant College in Providence, R. I. He was employed in the merchandising department of Allied Stores, Inc., in New York, before coming to Florida. He has been in this line of business for 20 years. "I enjoy fishing, and it is the only diversion that I have time for," he said. He belongs to the Coral Gables Country Club and is a director of the Retail Merchants Division of the Chamber of Commerce. He is also a great music lover. He attends symphony concerts when he can afford the time, and has reserved a table at the summer pops concerts. He has a record collection consisting of symphony music and swing of the late 30's and early 40's. He is originally from Springfield, Mass., and now lives at 5740 SW 51st St., where he made his first home after coming to Florida. Bn. Springfield, Mass. Ed. Bryant College Bus. Don Mullen, Inc.

South Miami Roundup

By EDWIN KNIGHT WE ARE CLOSING THE FILE now. We have taken the last clipping from the periodicals, placed it neatly on the top of the file and written finis to the story of South Dade's g[?] beautiful modern, majestic and urgently needed Baptist Hospital. YES, WE WERE THERE at the beginning — but so were thousands of others, too. The Baptist Hospital is finished now. There is little more to be written about it. The construction is completed. The dedication was held last Sunday with Governor Leroy Collins doing the honors. The medical institution will begin admitting patients within a week or two. AND SO, OUR WORK is done. But in front of me is the true story of the building of an institution — the file of cou[?] less stories our paper and others have used on one of Dade's and South Miami's most noble and truly unselfish community efforts. THE FILE IS THREE inches thick — a big file considering that we were writing about one building. But of course the file includes a four-year period during which there were presentations of hospital ideas, a three-phase fund-raising drive, plans for the hospital, the ground breaking and the hospital completion. It answers many questions. Why was the hospital construction of Italian Renaissance motif? Why was it constructed at that location? Why were community leaders so demanding that this institution be constructed? THE ANSWERS, WE FEEL, lie with one man — Arthur Vining Davis, a 93-year-old multimillionaire who gave the hospital the push it needed. It was he who gave the land for the hospital (53 acres between 87th and 92nd Aves. on North Kendal Dr.), the $11⁄2 million toward construction of the building, the funds to pay for lie architectural firm and land clearing. IN TURN, DAVIS WANTED the hospital of Italian Renaissance architecture and to include a cardiac wing memory of the late Elizabeth Hawkins Davis, Arvida's wife. He got his wish. Today, Baptist Hospital, five stories high, resembles a structure that was completed during the boom days. There is a cardiac wing off to the side of the hospital. THE COMMUNITY LEADERS realized that with the help from Davis, the hospital must be constructed. There was too much offered for the medical institution not to be completed. So the leaders originated a three-phase fund-raising drive to gather up approximately $4 million. The drive was divided into a Baptist Churches division, a Greater Miami Commur[?] Division and a Doctors' Division. Later there were Cooperating Churches, Temples and Synagogues division and a Big Gifts division. THE ENTIRE CAMPAIGN, from beginning to end was well organized. The campaigners knew what they wanted. They were out to get it at any cost. There were highlights and climaxes during the four-year span. One of the highlights came with announcement that the hospital had enough cash to begin building. Another came with viewings of the model hospital. Still another came when the contract was awarded i[?] construction began. The building took two years in construction. SO WE ARE CLOSING the file now. The Baptist Hospital job is finished. * * * CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI is in another of its tantrums against Metro. Ever since Metro turned down he city's plea for the annexation of some six parcels surrounding the city, South Miami and Metro's relations have been strained. T[?] became even more strained this week when news reached City Hall that the Metro Traffic Control Division had reset the city's South Dixie Highway traffic signals giving more time to South Dixie Highway traffic than to north-bound traffic through the city. IT WASN'T LONG AGO, if you'll remember, that Metro and South Miami traded nasty letters over a county proposal to make South Dixie Highway six lane from SW 32nd Road to the end of South Miami. This would have eliminated parking on the highway through the city and ruined some mer[?] ants. This latest caper by Metro, some city officials feel[?] anything but beneficial to the public feeling toward Metro. AND THIS BRINGS UP another question — why hasn't Metro, with all the good it is supposed to create and all the waste it is supposed to eliminate, trying to create better relations with the municipalities instead of trying to ram these bitter pills down their throats? AS COUNTY MANAGER O. W. Campbell has said in speeches many times before civic groups, city manager conventions and municipal bodies, that "no one wants metropolitan government but the people." This has been true up to this ti[?] Mr. Campbell, but Metro's welcome mat will run a little thin if the municipalities are pushed around too much. IN EVERY TEST OF METRO'S strength, the county government has won a vote of confidence of the people. But the `majority of Metro's citizens reside in municipalities. And you push your luck too far with the municipalities and you run smack dab into its citizens. You get Metro's citizens too mad and you won't have anymore metropolitan government. METRO ALREADY IS HEARING succession talk f[?] n three of the municipalities — Miami Beach, Hialeah and Homestead — why is it straining its relations with those municipalities still lukewarm toward Metro?