More great Miami Marine Stadium News!

As a supporter of the effort to save the Miami Marine Stadium, I have posted a number of good news and events in the past. Here is the latest update from the Friends of Marine Stadium

learn more and support the effort at:

Friends of Marine Stadium
http://www.marinestadium.org/


Vilalge Green Man



We've got more good news to report. The Marine Stadium has been named to the 2010 Watch List of the World Monuments Fund.World Monuments Fund (website, wmf.org) is the foremost organization dedicated to the preservation of significant architectural and cultural heritage sites worldwide.
Every two years, they publish a list of significant sites that are considered to be endangered. The Marine Stadium made the list, which includes sites such as New Gourna Village in Luxor, Egypt, the Desert Castles of Ancient Khorzim in Uzbekistan, Taliesen and Taliesen West (Frank Lloyd Wright), the Historic City Center of Buenos Aires, and Antonio's Gaudi's Temple Expiatori De La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. You can go to the World Monuments Fund website to see the complete list.
Inclusion in this list brings the Marine Stadium extraordinary international recognition and it also continues and expands our involvement with the World Monuments Fund. In October, 2008, we received a letter of endorsement from the Fund. And in June, 2009, the World Monuments Fund helped finance and organize an independent engineering study of the Marine Stadium. The field work for the study was completed last week and we hope to have the results in the next several months.

Publicity:
The recent endorsements of the World Monuments Fund and Jimmy Buffett have presented us with a terrific press opportunity. Violette Sproul and Penny Lambeth are now developing a national PR campaign. We are seeing strong interest, and we have already been contacted by some major publications.
Press is significant because it generates valuable contacts, awareness, and credibility.

Virginia Key Master Plan
On October 8, the revised Virginia Key Master Plan was presented to the Miami City Commission. After many speakers and much discussion, the Commission decided to request more work be done on the plan and to have it come back to the Commission in May of 2010.
We are very pleased with the result. The most recent draft was much improved, but we believe more work is needed to be done. It will also provide an opportunity for the new Administration and Commission (Mayoral and Commission elections in early November) to continue moving the process forward.
We must caution, however, that given the current economic environment, there is no direct funding anticipated for any of portion of the plan-including the Marine Stadium.
Delay of the plan provides us with additional time to scope out the feasibility of the Marine Stadium-and to seek additional funding sources.
Finally, we might note that the Administration has decided not to appeal the October, 2008 decision of the City's Historic and Environmental Preservation Board to include both the Marine Stadium basin and an envelope of land around the Stadium in their historic designation. This is also good news-it will both increase the liklihood that we will be able to access historic tax credits and it will help assure that any new construction near the stadium goes through a design review process to assure compatibility.

Save The Date!
Our "parent" organization, Dade Heritage Trust, will be holding a fundraiser at Crazy Pianos in Coconut Grove on November 10, 6:30 PM-8:30 PM. More information will follow in future updates. At the fundraiser, we will be unveiling Preservation Today, a magazine style publication that will feature articles and photographs on the Miami Marine Stadium. We are very excited about this publication-the galley proofs look great. All members of Dade Heritage Trust and Friends of Marine Stadium will receive a copy of it.
If you would like to make sure you get a copy, please consider becoming a member of Friends of Marine Stadium. Attached is our membership form; the $60 contribution is tax deductible, allows you to support our effort to restore the Marine Stadium, and provides you with a membership in Dade. Heritage Trust, Miami Dade County's foremost preservation organization.

Conclusion
The successful restoration and operation of the Marine Stadium is a very large and complex task, and we should not underestimate the challenges.
But we've had a good month. Actually, a very good month. So enjoy the attached image of the Marine Stadium by Coconut Grove activist and photographer Harry Emilio Gottlieb.
Does the Stadium look like the jaws of an alligator or origami? You decide.
And since we're in a really good mood, attached to this email is another image (just click to open the file)-of Jimmy Buffett jumping off the floating stage at the Stadium at the end of a concert.