I'm speaking for myself here, but I'm absolutely tired of reading crap like the claim in the Tweet above, "Preservationists and CGP Foundation NOT pleased or consulted, theater demo not acceptable."

The writer of this crap, Olga Granda-Scott, who is either a paid employee of this foundation, or is on the payroll of the law firm of Colson Hicks Eidson, and who supposedly shares office space in the Grove with the developer Peter Gardner of the Pointe Group, not only took to Twitter to show her displeasure with the County's decision to save the front part of the historic building and tear down the back part and build a new stage - possibly 2 - along with a 500 car parking garage, and perhaps 35 condos to boot, but then turned around and included me in another Tweet asking me to help her spread the word.

Really!?!

"Inappropriate?"  Says who? And based on what information?

Now, I have no strong opinions one way or another on the Coconut Grove Playhouse, and whether it should be rehabbed, rebuilt or torn down, but I do have a huge problem with people like this Olga Granda-Scott who claims to be a "community leader," and instead of leading, whines and bitches about being not being consulted and then decided that she needed to include me a Tweet asking me to HELP spread the word that the County wants to "tear down the CGPlayhouse."

First, the County seems to only want to tear down the part of the playhouse that's rotted away. Secondly, preserving the facade of what have been identified as "historic" buildings is not a new occurrence in this city. They did it with the little office buildings on Miami Avenue that are now part of the federal lockup, and they're doing it now with the Boulevard Shops on Biscayne Boulevard and 15th street, and I'm sure if I spent some time I could come up with other examples.

Thirdly, I'm not sure that it's the end of the world to do this.  That however, is actually a secondary issue to the fact that the reason that the Playhouse has sat empty for the last 10-11 years is that back in the day, the self-appointed "community leaders" who sat on the board of the Playhouse managed to Screw The Pooch and the public 14 ways from Sunday.

Decisions have consequences, and those consequences led to not only the Playhouse being shut down, but the folks in the community who care about theater being forced to find other opportunities and venues to meet the community needs.

Now were those options perfect? Probably not. Can a revived Coconut Grove Playhouse make a difference both artistically as well as financially to the Coconut Grove Business District.

Absolutely!

But there's a big divide between those possibilities and the whiny behavior of Ms. Granda-Scott who demands that the train be stopped because she and her so-called "foundation" weren't consulted.

It took me less than 1 minute of searching on the internet to figure out that this so-called "foundation" appears to be a vanity enterprise of rich Coral Gables lawyer Lewis S. Eidson, his wife, a guy named Ronald Esserman, who is probably part of the car dealership family, and Olga Granda-Scott.

That's who makes up this "foundation."

Their website is a flimsy one page affair that's short on information such as listing a Board of Directors, or a plan of action, but is very quick and direct in asking you to give them money.

Besides being the president of this Coconut Grove Playhouse Foundation, Eidson real job is being one of the principals of the Coral Gables personal injury law firm, Colson Hicks Eidson, and a few years back he was also the Chairman of the Arsht Center Board of Directors, where he helped raise millions of dollars.

So my question is, if Eidson was this major player only a handful of years ago and had everybody's ear and phone number when he was the Chairman of the Arsht Center, how did he not get "consulted" about the decisions that led to the announcement last week about the Playhouse?

Something here doesn't compute, unless of course, the folks at the county decided that his "foundation" was just a front for a rich guy being run by some whiny woman who, as some folks who've dealt with her have told me is just another one of those "doe-eyed millennials" who doesn't know jack shit, but demands that she be paid attention to.

With only a very small handful of exceptions, these doe-eyed millennial fucks who now seem to be injecting themselves in everything having to do with the civic life of this community are shaping up to be either cold-eyed, and cold-hearted schemers looking to sell their asses and their souls to the big money operators like the Knight Foundation, or they're all too willing to sell all of us, and this country, down the river at the first opportunity.  

According to a recent and scary survey, two-thirds of millennials in America "do not consider it essential to live in a country that is governed democratically," which goes a long way toward explaining why this country is currently being driven to hell by an Uber driver.

And while I'm at it,  just so I don't leave anyone out in this rant, Tom Falco, who publishes the Coconut Grove Grapevine, and who seems, as he grows older starting to become the poster boy for what a reactionary Trust Fund Baby looks like, had this to say about the possibility that the county might have decided to include the construction of 35 condos as a way to offset some of the costs to do what they want to do with the Playhouse.  

A CRESPOGRAM RANT

Now, you'll never get much argument out of me that in much of what passes for government in Miami is little more than an organized criminal conspiracy looking for ways to plunder the public treasury - and I think I've provided emails, documents, videos and audio tapes to suport those claims on numerous occasions - but at the same time, since all of this involves decisions that are memorialized in documents somewhere, it would help if Tom did a little research and provide some fact-based information to go along with his opinions.

At the end of the day however, I'd be inclined to say that if Olga Granda-Scott is against it, then I suspect that the county's deal can't be all bad.

For those of you who really care about this issue however, you need to show up on Tuesday, December 8th, and make up your own mind.

Ransom Everglades Academy

3575 Main Highway

6 to 8:30 PM

And remember, It's Miami, Bitches!