The Coconut Grove Grapevine, Tom Falco's daily blog on what's happening in the Grove, let us know two days ago that the City of Miami had ordered Scott Wessel to close his restaurant, "Scotty's Landing" in sixty days.Everyone in Miami knows the story, how our city commissioner, Marc Sarnoff, conspired with his developer friends to orchestrate this move, one that would turn "Scotty's" and the boat storage facility next to it, into a mall.
Rendering of the mallIt came to a vote two years ago. The people of Coconut Grove voted against it. Unfortunately, when the city-wide votes were counted Sarnoff & company came out ahead.
What a shock. We were losing Scotty's -a cherished Coconut Grove icon- and the boatyard next to it.
Yesterday, the Grapevine printed a bizarre retraction saying in effect, "We were wrong. Scotty's owner (Scott) is being ordered to leave so the mall owners can run his facility for a year. During that time they will build a Shula's Steakhouse next to Scotty's where the Charthouse is now". Scott Wessel The story continues. When Shula's-On-the Bay is completed, they will tear down Scotty's Landing and build some other glitzy restaurant (#2) on the water on Scotty's site (the left side of the rendering above).
When they've finished #2 they will build restaurant #3, a fish sandwich place away from the water where the boat racks now are. They will call this laughably, "Scotty's Landing".
But it won't be a "landing" (it's away from the water) and it won't be the Scotty's we've loved. It will be a spankin' new Shula's subsidiary fifty-feet west of the boat launch pit that's always filled with floating garbage.
It will be Mark Sarnoff and his wealthy friends throwing us a bone as they say, "Here. Chew this in the back ally. We've own the waterfront now".
If this makes you angry you should be. Coconut Grove is getting its own version of Bayside, downtown Miami's unpopular waterfront mall. It's the Sarnoff version of what the Grove should be.
Coconut Grove is losing an important part of its past. We will no longer have a casual, charming restaurant with an amazing view of Biscayne Bay.
A year from now you will won't be able to nurse a beer as you watch boats pass by. If you're at the "new Scotty's", you'll be watching tourists head for Shula's Steakhouse, that modern monstrosity between you and the bay.
_________________Coconut Grove is losing an important part of its past. We will no longer have a casual, charming restaurant with an amazing view of Biscayne Bay.
A year from now you will won't be able to nurse a beer as you watch boats pass by. If you're at the "new Scotty's", you'll be watching tourists head for Shula's Steakhouse, that modern monstrosity between you and the bay.
As soon as we heard we hurried over for dinner that night. Took photos and wandered. It is obscene what this heavy can pull off. For the love of G-D leave something with character and substance alone for a change.
ReplyDeleteNew Times writer Lain Doss has this take:
ReplyDeleteWith Scotty's now potentially being taken over by corporate businessmen, would it retain its charm of being a great place to grab a fish dip and a few beers, or will it turn into a soul-sucking replicant of its former rustic-yet-charming self? (Laine Doss, New Times)