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

Better Grades, Safety

"He has one, why can't I?" That sentence, spoken by a teenager, has probably caused more trouble for parents than any argument we can think of off hand. Most parents, when confronted by the apeal that they should grant a privilege to their teenagers because other teenagers enjoy the same privilege find themselves almost incapable of refusing. We suspect that this appeal has a great deal to do with the fact that our very youngest teenagers, 14 years old, are the source of considerable concern to a local PTA group. The Ponce Junior High School PTA is seeking a sensible solution to problems which have arisen because parents have granted a privilege to young teenagers which they are not mature enough to appreciate. That privilege is the right to operate motor scooters at the age of 14 and to drive automobiles at 16. The consequences of this leniency towards young teenagers are serious ones. Ponce PTA has discovered that there is a direct correlation between poor grades and the ownership of motor scooters. They have also unearthed figures that reveal the number of accidents caused by reckless teenage driving. Their solution to the problem is simple. Raise the age limit for learner's permits to 16 and for driver's licenses to 17. Another solution, of course, would be the exercise of parental authority to deny the use of motorized vehicles until the age of 17. However, with the law and the use of motor vehicles by other teenagers working against the parents, it is not difficult to see why Ponce PTA is looking toward a change in the law to aid parents. Despite the sophistication of modern teenage life, our young men and women are still inexperienced in the ways of this world. Early introduction to cosmetics, adult dress, scooters and motor cars may give these young people a patina of adulthood. But underneath it all, they are still children who need parental guidance. Prosperity and the natural desire of parents to make their children happy have brought with them many privileges which appear as benefits but which in truth are injurious to teenagers. The growing use of motorized transportation by teenagers is just one example of these injurious privileges disguised as benefits. We are with the Ponce PTA in its campaign to hike the age limit for operating motor vehicles. But until the change becomes a reality, reform on the domestic front is in order. The next time Junior asks for a motor scooter because his best friend has one, say "no." Better grades and safer streets could be the reward now without waiting for the law.

The Hitchhikers

Remember The Times

25 Years Ago Take down those "For Sale" and "For Rent" signs from in front of your homes. That was the official word passed on to Gables homeowners as Mayor Roscoe Brunstetter and the Coral Gables Real Estate Board joined forces to outlaw the distasteful signs. . . . With the first cold winds of winter sweeping in, the PTA at Coral Gables Elementary School voted to finance a heating system for the building so the children would be warm as they sat in their classrooms. . . . Gov. David Sholtz paid a visit to Coral Gables as he spoke before the Century Club. . . With the foundation laid, workmen began laying down coral "key stone" from the Keys for the Coral Gables Community House. 10 Years Ago Bus passengers no longer needed tokens to ride on the Gables' vehicles . . . Municipal Judge Clement L. Theed handed in his resignation to the South Miami council, but charged that the body, in" a political move," had already chosen his successor . . . A new Baptist congregation of about 100 was formed in Coral Gables and tentatively named the "Coral Gables Baptist Church" . . . Public works employes began estimates on how much it would cost to beautify a four-block strip on Miracle Mile . . . City Manager William T. McIlwain soon expected to have in his hands the completed plans and specifications for the proposed, $200,00 bus terminal. One Year Ago The "beautified" Ponce de Leon Blvd., was dedicated as Mayor John Montgomery cut the ribbon . . . Consumers Water Co. of Coral Gables asked the city to permit it to hike its rates to 17 per cent . . . A. Louis Brown Jr. and Ray T. Mayer, prominent in banking circles, were named to the Board of Governors of the South Miami Hospital . . . More than 200 members and guests attended the mortgage burning ceremony of Alianza InterAmericana . . . Paulette Peyton was crowned Miss West Miami and competed in the Junior Orange Bowl finals for title of Queen.

South Miami Roundup

By EDWIN KNIGHT "NEW YORK?" HE ASKED, "A good place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. Now take Coral Gables. It's a wonderful place to live, but I don't like to visit here." A man of few words this dining companion of mine. He has been to many cities and many states. He has held numerous positions and yearns to reside in South Florida. He is a visitor to Coral Gables now. And he decidedly doesn't like to play the role of visitor in Coral Gables. REVERSING THE age-old description of New York and applying it to Coral Gables was new to me. If Coral Gables is such a wonderful place to reside, why wouldn't it be held in the same esteem for those who visit "The City Beautiful?" His answer again was curt. "Very simple," he said, "Coral Gables has everything for the resident and little for the visitor." HE EXPLAINED HIS reasoning. "Coral Gables is the city of beautiful homes. And this is true. Visitors have little opportunity to enter these homes. So they are left with a frustration of having missed the biggest attraction of Coral Gables. The naming of Coral Gables streets makes it difficult for the visitor to find his way around. And even if he found his way around Coral Gables, what is there to do or see? Coral Gables has few, if any, outstanding dining establishments. There are no cocktail lounges where one may go to meet a friend and there are few after dinner attractions to whet the appetite of the cultured visitor." MY FRIEND WIPED HIS hand on a napkin now. But he continued his visitor's estimate of Coral Gables. "The business district, aside from being clogged with cars at all hours of the day or night, has no big department stores. The transportation system to the worth while attractions is poor and the visitor is left with the feeling of being in a beautiful city but definitely on the outside when it comes to any real life." THIS, THEN, is a visitor's opinion of Coral Gables. It is a bit caustic, but more true than we are willing to realize. Visitors come in many forms and descriptions. UM students can be counted as visitors. So could traveling salesmen, older couples passing through the city, college students here for the holidays with their Coral Gables friends and, yes, even the holiday shopper. THE TRUTH IS that Coral Gables apparently doesn't want visitors. It is a city of residents, with a quiet resideal atmosphere ruling over all other interests. Even though the visitor, whether a shopper from West Dade or a tourist from the north, is cajoled by the Chamber of Commerce and enticed by the merchants, the residents definitely have the upper hand in Coral Gables. Yes, my dining friend, Coral Gables is a nice place to live. But there is not much here to interest the visitor. * * * * * CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS—yes, the season is here, as if you didn't realize it by now. The stores begin putting on Christmas luster in November. The cities are a little later with their show of lights and tinsel and when the homeowner begins climbing ladders to hang his lights, you know St. Nick isn't far off. SOUTH MIAMI KNOWS the season is here when Holsum Baking Co., on South Dixie Highway just south of Red Road, puts up its display. There are few displays in South Florida like it. It has its own theme, its own music, Santa Claus and all the trimmings. People come from all around to see the display. And it's well worth the trip. SATURDAY, Dec. 10, is the day slated for the unveiling of Holsum's display, rated this year as the largest animated Christmas display in South Florida. Theme of the display is "A Medieval Christmas," a gigantic three-dimensional spectacular consisting of a realistic castle with stained-glass windows, battlements and turrets, all festooned by lavish Christmas decorations and Santa sitting on a throne. IN SIZE, THE display follows the Holsum tradition of bigness with a width of 50 feet and a depth of 20 feet. Portions of the display extend upward some 55 feet, with figures darted throughout the display. The Holsum scene will remain until Jan. 2, where an estimated 87,000 people will have an opportunity to see it. SOUTH MIAMI COUNCIL got the surprise of its life at a pre-council meeting Tuesday night. Mayor Paul U. Tevis read a letter from Metro Commissioner-elect Winston Wynne asking the Council if the South Miami body had any suggestions for Wynne's aiding the city during his coming ten of office. Wynne, now a Coral Gables City Commissioner, even sent so far as to ask the South Miamians to list the items they felt were most important to them. FOLLOWING THE CHUCKLES and acknowledgements of Wynne's apparent generosity towards the city, the South Miamians began thinking. Tax relief, sewage, roads and South Dixie Highway were the first items mentioned. And the list got longer as the meeting went on: South Miami Council wants first to meet with Commissioner-elect Wynne, if for nothing more than to shake his generous hand. But by the time the meeting is held, the list will be a long one. And Commissioner Wynne will know South Miami's ins and outs, past and present troubles with Metro and the city's future requests from Metro. And Mr. Wynne brought it all on himself.

- Letters To The Editor - Objects To 12-Story Apartment

Editor, The Times, The writer wishes to file objection to the proposed twelve-story "apartment" building to be located at Biltmore Way and Cardena St. As my protest, would you consider the following facts as perhaps being representative of the opinions of the women of the Biltmore and Granada Sections: 1. Statistics reveal an increase in crime (assault, robbery, etc.) in communities where cars crowd the streets at night. Laws in many towns require that all cars be off the streets after dark, and this is a proven deterrent to crime. 2. From the distaff standpoint, consider the increase in dirt and grime; the unpleasant odors from exhaust fumes from 150 apartments concentrated in one area and disseminating from the proposed monstrosity over the entire Biltmore and Granada Sections; the noise and hazard of the many trucks necessary to service this concrete pile. VA Hospital 3. Surveying the landscape in all directions from the center of Coral Gables, one sees no mass of comparable size. The Veterans Administration Hospital without its beautiful tower is not twelve stories high; nor does the new International Airport Building intrude itself into the sky to the height of twelve stories plus. Until one's eye reaches the far-distant horizon of Biscayne Bay, there is no such concentration of steel, concrete and humanity. 4. Surely the unhappiness and complaints created by conditions adjacent to the Veterans Administration Hospital should be sufficient warning to the Commission that there is no place in central Coral Gables' residential and apartment section for such huge buildings and concentration of population. Visitors here and residents alike are escaping from cities where these human anthills exist. Coral Gables' fame and prosperity do not rest upon the many facets of bustling business and tourism, but upon its enviable reputation as a quiet haven from the pressures of city life — a quiet community of beautiful homes, apartments, gardens and trees. Why Destroy? Why, then, should this concept be destroyed? Why should Mr. Sakolsky and his associates be granted the very special privilege of satisfying his ambition by being permitted to erect this human beehive which because of its incongruity would deface a large area of Coral Gables, downgrade the community, devaluate the properties of good citizens and taxpayers who were established here before him, and cause immeasurable unhappiness to the many permanent residents who take pride in their close-in homes and beautiful two-story apartment properties. Displeasure with our City Government grows more wide-spread. Why not do something to foster better feeling of our citizens toward our elected and appointed officials, rather than break trust further with them. Mrs. Alvin A. Vaughan 801 Valencia