How long has this public dock been closed for repairs? 10 years and counting
The last time kayakers, paddleboarders or boaters could use Miami’s Upper East Side public dock to launch into beautiful Biscayne Bay, Barack Obama was serving his inaugural term as president, bankrupt casino owner Donald Trump sent his very first tweet, the Octomom gave birth to eight babies and the world mourned Michael Jackson.
That was in 2009. Ten years later, the dock damaged by hurricane storm surge is still broken.
Who will live in the White House by the time it gets fixed? People from the surrounding neighborhood are tired of wondering and waiting. Signs on the ugly chain-link fences that prevent entry into one of Miami’s few publicly accessible waterfront spots pronounce it closed for repairs.
But that’s not accurate, say neighbors who have seen no workers at the site in the decade that has passed. They say they could have rebuilt the dock with their own tools, or hired a handyman or enlisted the aid of Boy Scouts.
“How hard can it be to get this done?” said Bill Mathisen, who lives nearby at the Palm Bay Club. “It’s sad and laughable at the same time.”
Residents blame the city of Miami for abandoning the dock, boat ramp and parking lot at the eastern end of Northeast 64th Street adjacent to Legion Park, letting it pile up with rotting seaweed and soggy trash. A fisherman who had snuck around the locked fence was the only person enjoying the picturesque view on a recent Saturday.
The 12-foot dock, which collapses into the water like a stairway to the bay bottom, is indicative not only of inefficient and nonresponsive government but of neglect of the city’s northernmost neighborhoods, Mathisen said.
“This waterfront should be an asset but instead it detracts,” he said. “We pay the same tax rate as people in Coconut Grove, Brickell and downtown Miami, and we should receive the same services. We feel like a fringe community, frozen out and forgotten. The farther you get from City Hall, the less attention you receive.”
Neighbors who live in the MiMo district, which has undergone a metamorphosis since its seedy days in the 1980s, have met with the city’s parks and recreation department several times but report no progress.
“Shame on the parks department,” said Shane Graber, president of the Bayside Residents Association and former president of the MiMo/Biscayne Association. “I’ve lived here 20 years and for half that time, despite our persistent questions, it’s been unusable.”
The city, through its capital improvements office, said it must follow proper environmental and safety procedures.
“The Legion Park Boat Ramp Project is a current project under the Office of Capital Improvements, going through the permitting process,” the city said in a statement. “The permitting process is being reviewed at the moment by the Department of Environmental Resources Management (DERM), and they will send it directly to the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners.
“Funds for the repair and reopening of the ramp have been secured. This is a very important project and a priority for the city. Once the permit is secured, we will proceed to advertise it for [construction bids] through the city’s Procurement Department.”
Mathisen scoffs. At a meeting nine months ago, they were told the county DERM permit was on its way.
“When you run out of excuses, blame DERM,” said Mathisen, co-founder of the Biscayne Neighborhoods Association. “They say it’s complicated. I say it’s ineptitude. They should make an effort to expedite this project like it’s in their own backyard. Ten years is way beyond reasonable.”
The dock was first damaged by Hurricane Wilma in 2005. Then in 2009, a woman from the neighborhood, who does not want to be identified by name, was injured when she fell through a missing section of the dock while trying to maneuver her boat onto a trailer. She sued the city and won $54,000 in damages. The dock was closed.
The unmaintained and unmonitored boat ramp then became a nuisance, Graber said.
“People would show up and launch noisy jet skis and motorboats and leave their trailers all over the street. People were sleeping in their cars and trucks overnight,” he said. “This is not a marina. The city provided no oversight.”
Neighbors want the site to be cleaned up and designed as a soft launch.
“Only non-motorized boats because there’s not enough space here,” Graber said. “Make the cul-de-sac less of a parking lot and more of an environmentally friendly park that adjoins Legion Park.”
Tenants in the new five-story MiMo Bay apartment building under construction on the former site of American Legion Post 29 will be staring at an unkempt parking lot, deserted boat ramp and three wan pilings disconnected from the sinking dock.
“It’s the ideal place to put in your kayak, canoe, paddleboard where you’ve got protected, shallow waters,” Mathisen said. “Instead, it’s wasted space, an eyesore for 10 years. And counting.”
This story was originally published March 11, 2019 at 6:30 AM.
