1. Page: News_3, Pub. date: Sunday, May 29 Last user: winstonbennett
MiamiHerald.com | THE MIAMI HERALDNC6NC | SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2011
Girl Scouts from Troop
1239, Miami Beach, visited
Jesse J.McCrary Jr. Elemen-
tary School, 514 NW 77th St.
in Miami on Monday, May
23, for their annual book
drive.
The scouts distributed
more than 1,500 books col-
lected over the school year
from friends and schools
they attend to help the stu-
dents at Jesse J.McCrary.
Twenty-six Girl Scouts, who
attend North Beach Ele-
mentary, Nautilus Middle,
Miami Beach Senior High,
MAST Academy, Coral Ga-
bles Senior High, Ada Mer-
ritt and DASH, and two
graduate Girl Scouts from
Florida State and Penn State
universities, helped the 544
McCrary students personal-
ly pick out two books each,
and gave the teachers a third
set.
The highlight of their vis-
it was reading to the youn-
ger students in Pre-K and
first grade. Brownie troops
at North Beach Elementary
helped by collecting hun-
dreds of books. In addition,
several scouts went back to
their elementary schools
and placed boxes for dona-
tion there.
BANANAS
FOR
BOOKS
A QUICK READ: Students from Jesse J.McCrary, Jr., Elementary School, 514 NW 77th St., hold up books they
received at Girl Scout troop 1239’s annual book drive on Monday. The Scouts distributed more than 1,500
books, collected over the school year from friends and schools they attend to help the students.
MARICE COHN BAND/MIAMI HERALD STAFF
BY MARICE COHN BAND
mcohnband@MiamiHerald.com
The all-night rave parties
and drum circles that have
disrupted the sleep of Up-
per Eastside residents are
over.
After a year and a half of
complaints from neighbors
and a shooting incident, the
AmericanLegionHarveyW.
Seeds Post #29 was found to
have violated city rules and
was fined more than
$20,000 at a Miami zoning
hearing.
On May 18, the Code En-
forcement Board issued the
Legion an “affidavit of non-
compliance” for renting the
facilitytooutsidepromoters
for commercial events,
which is illegal, according to
Code Enforcement Director
Sergio Guadix.
That reprimand was ac-
companied by a $250 fine
per day applied retroactive-
ly to March 3, the first time
the Legion, located on 6445
NE Seventh Ave., was cited
for breaking city code. The
total amounts to $20,250.
Roger Kidder, interim
commanderofPost#29,said
the post is making changes.
He said he plans to change
the Legion’s image and
neighbors’ perception of it.
“We know there’s been
some things in the past, and
we want to leave that in the
past. Before, people didn’t
knowwhattherulesare,and
I’m trying to clean it up," he
said. "Right now, we are
making it geared toward the
families.”
Kidder said he wants to re-
vitalizeprogramsliketheBoy
Scout troop and an instruc-
tionalcoursethatteachesvet-
erans to play the guitar. He al-
so wants the post to work
with homeless veterans to
help get them off the street.
On May 19, one day after
the fine was imposed by the
city, Kidder held a gathering
at the post with other veter-
an organizations to try to
find ways to improve serv-
ices for veterans.
For his part, Louis Bour-
deau, president of the Bay-
side Residents Association
— who has spearheaded the
neighborhood’s efforts to
regulate the activities at the
Legion — doesn’t want the
facility to be shut down, but
is content that the “disrup-
tive” parties are over.
“No one is against the Le-
gion. We want them to be
successful, but they need to
respect the neighborhood,”
Bourdeau said. “You come
to enjoy living in peace and
quiet, and there’s a certain
expectation that you can go
to bed and night and have a
peaceful night’s sleep with-
out having a nightclub in
your backyard.”
Post #29 is surrounded by
residential homes and du-
plexes to the west and north
and by a condo complex to
the south. It faces Biscayne
Bay to the east.
The location and its sur-
roundings create an “echo
chamber,” Bourdeau said.
The city’s Code Enforce-
ment Board is also pushing
for revocation of the Legion’s
business tax receipt, which
would prevent the nonprofit
from operating as a business.
If that were to happen, the
Legion would not be able to
organizeeventsforthegener-
alpublic,chargeadmissionor
rent the facility. It would also
mean that the bar it houses,
Harvey’sbytheBay,couldnot
serve visitors or even Legion
members.
The last reported inci-
dent on the Legion premises
was on May 11 during an
event called “Words and
Wine.”
“The party was adver-
tised, open to the general
public, admission was being
charged, and for-profit op-
erations were conducted
from their bar,” said Miami
police Cmdr. Manuel Mo-
rales via email.
According to Morales, po-
lice shut down operations
and cited Post representative
Dion Wright, who hours be-
fore had attended a City Hall
meeting to discuss the noisy
parties and why the Legion
was renting the establish-
ment to outside promoters.
Susan Pierres, a resident of
thePalmBayYachtClub,who
at times has heard the noise
from her 20th-floor apart-
ment, agrees with Bourdeau.
“Nobody’sintentionwasto
kill the American Legion, but
it was affecting the surround-
ing community,” she said.
UPPER EASTSIDE
American Legion post fined $20K over events
■ An American Legion post commander says he
plans to make changes to address neighbors’
complaints about loud parties at the post.
BY SERGIO N. CANDIDO
sergio@OpenMediaMiami
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