UEL DINNER: A Conversation with Marty Margulies

About 60 people showed up to hear Martin Margulies speak at a dinner at the Rusty Pelican sponsored by the Urban Environment League. He told us, under questioning by Historian Gregory Bush, about his rise to success in the development arena. He also spoke of his philanthropy and his art collection and why he joined the recall effort of Mayor Alvarez. He said he believed in term limits for county commissioners and a decent salary to attract credible candidates.



Martin Margulies answers questions about his background, posed by Historian Gregory Bush who looks on.



A Frank Stella sculpture that Mr. Margulies donated to the Miami Beach Performing Arts Center.



The audience during the dinner at the Rusty Pelican.

Last Chance to Reserve for UEL Dinner!!!

Don't miss out on a great program and dinner! Hit on the invite to enlarge it.

Wynwood Walls

Goldman Properties has been reinventing neighborhoods for 40 years and is a presence in the Wynwood area.

We are going to Wynwood on our bus trip to see the revitalization in progress there. There are over 40 art galleries in the Wynwood Arts District. The new addition is a collection called Wynwood Walls. Goldman Properties has created an area with many decorated wall murals between the Wynwood Kitchen & Bar and Joey's Restaurant on NW 2nd Avenue. Our bus tour will include a tour of the Walls.

One of the elements that makes Wynwood unique are the wall murals all over the area. Some of you may remember an early example on the walls of the building housing the Margulies Collection which bordered I-95.



There are also Art Complexes in Wynwood such as: Artopia, Bakehouse, Inkub8, Mitrani Warehouse, Museo Vault and University of Miami Project Space. There are 6 art studios in the area belonging to A. Dale Nally, Daniela Wicki, Nahila Campos, Sid Hoeltzell and Whale & Star.

We will be stopping also at the prestigious Rubell Family Collection as well as the Wynwood Walls.

More of the Dolphin Stadium Funding

This letter appeared in the Miami Herald, it was written by Marty Margulies. The Urban Environment League has worked with Marty on issues over the years and we thought this letter worth a reprint:

Another stadium 'giveaway' looms
On the heels of the greatest giveaway in the history of baseball -- the Marlins stadium -- it's no wonder that the NFL is lining up to get its slice of the pie for another taxpayer giveaway.

The NFL and the Miami Dolphins ownership are trying to cash in on the hype of the Super Bowl by asking the citizens of Miami-Dade County to fund a roof and 3,000 additional seats for Dolphin Stadium, now Sun Life Stadium.

The roof is a cover-up, both literally and figuratively, for the real reason. It's not about a game that might or might not be given to South Florida every four or five years; it's that 3,000 more revenue-producing seats will be pure profit for the Dolphins and actually work against the taxpayers.

Fans may not even be able to view the games on television because if the seats are not sold out, the games will be blacked out.

Despite joblessness, home foreclosures, Jackson Memorial Hospital losing $14 million per month and severe government budget problems, you can bet that the Miami-Dade County Commission will not put this to a vote, and may even foolishly vote for this even with the constituency of the third-world conditions in the communities of Overtown, Liberty City, Little Haiti and Little Havana.

This would be -- plain and simple -- another giveaway to a private owner who is very capable of funding the improvements to his stadium.

MARTIN MARGULIES, Key Biscayne

Art Collector, Marty Margulies, on the Marlin's Ballpark

An Open Letter Sent June 11, 2009 to County Commissioners:

This is the ballpark deal that should have been. Finances for the San Francisco 49ers new stadium would go before the voters for final approval. The city will pay 8% of the $937 million development. The team owners pay 92% as well as any cost overruns. The city gets the revenue from naming rights and net revenue from concession sales and parking lots. The team pays roughly $1 million a year rent.

The Marlins situation is completely different. The owners of the Marlins and George Burgess are laughing at the stupidity of this huge giveaway to the detriment of the taxpayers. Forbes Magazine recently said Miami is in the top 10 of the country in corruption. You can also add stupidity to that. The commissioners that voted yes said they would not dip into the general fund. We now know that they will. We also know the county manager with his $180,000 a year lifetime pension plus hospitalization is the mastermind behind this, working in partnership with the Marlins attorneys.

We also know that the interest rate never mattered no matter how high it will be. They will get the bonds because of the general funds guarantee. The sad part is that the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce endorsed this taxpayer giveaway because they were not courageous enough to step forward and voice their objections to the one-sidedness of this deal. They sold out the community. The county would not even allow the residents they serve to vote and on top of it they voted for a no-bid contract which will approximate $500 million or better. No one even knows the financial status of the Marlins.

The public hearing was nothing but a charade with the two mayors, the Marlins owners and the county manager smirking because they knew the outcome “was in the bag” before the votes were cast. This is what happens when ignorant people get elected and have no concern for the residents. A community which ranks 49th in education despite a lottery, joblessness, homelessness, and huge healthcare deficits in favor of a privately owned baseball team shows where the priorities lie and the lack of leadership in this community.

(Hit above 49er document to enlarge it)