Chairman of the Coconut Grove Village Council invites residents to participate

In response to criticism from the residents of Coconut Grove, Patrick Session, Chairman of the Coconut Grove Village Council has released a statement inviting them to be more active in the council. In a letter that outlines the turbulent beginning of this new Council, Sessions reaffirms that the Council also represents the residents and asked them to attend the meetings to voice their concerns.

“We can’t deal with the issues that affect you on a daily basis unless you let us know what they are and what we can do to help.” Sessions wrote.

The next meeting is tonight at 7PM at the Swansen Auditorium at the Ransom Everglades Middles School.

If you are unable to attend the meeting you may contact Pat Sessions via email directly  patsessionsCGVC@aol.com or through your Homeowners and Tenants association

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May 11, 2010

Dear Neighbor,

I’ve recently heard some comments from members of the  Grove community that some of the citizens of Coconut Grove feel that the Coconut Grove Village Council perhaps has been too focused on the business interests and issues in the center Grove business district and have not been dealing with issues in the residential neighborhoods. While we represent the interests of landlords and business owners in the business district as well as residents, we certainly have not meant to do so at the expense of the residents. If that is the perception, I want to let everyone know that it was not meant to be the case.

This new Council, which was installed in January, 2010 inherited the controversial and often contentious 3am vs 5am closing time issue for bars and restaurants in center Grove. Given the amount of time and effort that was put in to the issue by the members of the previous Council, the new Council requested that they vote on the issue prior to our being sworn in. They declined to do so and so the new Council had to try to get up to speed on the issue, and get input from the various stakeholders involved in the issue, including the residents and business interests in the Grove. After much debate, that issue has been reviewed by the City Commission and they elected to make no changes to the 3am closing time, effectively ending the discussion. However, while this was a high profile issue, the Council was also dealing with neighborhood issues, such as the Bird Road improvement plan, the waterfront plan, tree watch, South Grove traffic calming devices and other resident concerns.

Compounding the problem, two days after the current Council was elected, Miami city officials unaccountably canceled the CGVC meetings that had already been scheduled to be held at City Hall where they have been held for the last several years. While being ousted from City Hall for no apparent reason is troublesome, the fact that the meetings are no longer televised on the city television channel is even more problematic. That venue allowed many Grove residents who were not able to attend the meetings at city hall to watch the proceedings and keep up with the issues. Yesterday, after a 6 month delay, the city finally issued a draft of the regulations regarding the use of City Hall. Unfortunately, it only allows each organization to use the chambers once a year, and only on Fridays from 9am to 8pm, regardless of whether the facility is available at other times or not. We were able to hold the April meeting at city hall but now that the new regulations have come out, I was told by the city that the Council will not be able to use the chambers for another year. This lack of continuity has made it difficult for you to follow the actions of the CGVC and for us to keep you informed. In order to supplement the lack of tv coverage, we are about to issue a contract for the design of a new interactive website to increase the communications between the CGVC and the Grove residents. We hope to have it operational in the next few months. This site will be interactive and will allow you to watch live coverage and televised re-runs of the meetings. We are also searching for another permanent meeting site so that you will know when and where the monthly meetings are being held. I will let you know as soon as we have finalized the location.

All of us on the Council live in the Grove, and we are very keenly aware of our responsibilities to the residents, especially on quality of life issues. We took an oath to represent you and to help in any way we can to make the Grove a better place to live for all our residents and we will do everything we can to fulfill that pledge. But we need your input, good or bad, to do our job. We can’t deal with the issues that affect you on a daily basis unless you let us know what they are and what we can do to help. I realize that many of you belong to neighborhood associations that deal with the very specific needs and issues of your neighborhood and these associations do a great job. While some issues may be Grove wide, and some may not be, we want to help in any way we can to further the goals of you or your associations. While we try to keep abreast of the issues affecting the Grove, we need you, the people of Coconut Grove to set our agenda, not us.  We can’t do it in a vacuum; we need you to come to a meeting and let us hear from you or contact me at the e-mail address above.

I apologize if we haven’t been the best communicators and pledge to you that we will strive to do better in the future. Our next meeting is at 7pm on May 20, 2010. We will send you an agenda and meeting location as soon as it is finalized. If you would like to speak at the meeting please contact me and let me know so we can put you on the agenda. In any event, come to the meeting, we’d be glad to hear from you.

We look forward to your input and doing what you elected us to do, make Coconut Grove the best it can be.

If you have received this letter as the head of a neighborhood association or any other group, I would appreciate it if you would pass it along to your members.

Patrick Sessions

Chairman, Coconut Grove Village Council

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