This Month in Biscayne Times

It's as if Ken Russell can't wait to leave Miami City Hall. For the second time in six years, Russell is aiming for federal office with time left on his tenure as a Miami city commissioner. On this go-round, he wants to be the Florida Democrat who gets a shot at dethroning U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio in the 2022 midterm election, which is a full year before Russell’s current and final city com...

At this moment of peril teetering on opportunity,  the City of North Miami is the town on the flying trapeze. On the peril side, the city is scrambling to get out of big money trouble. Yet opportunity awaits, with an unprecedented wave of development under construction, on the books or in plans this year, as big money recognizes this city’s bull’s-eye location between Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, whi...

Last year, like most everything else that required dense crowds to gather, Book Fair canceled all live events and went completely virtual. "Miami Book Fair online was very successful last year, and we were very happy with what happened and how it rolled out – the mix of authors, the conversations, the feedback. And we knew that having had the experience of how to produce a fully online book f...

Miami-Dade is still the most populous county in Florida, but according to the results of the 2020 Census, its population isn’t growing as fast as most of its neighbors. And the places where the population is increasing the most are miles away from Miami’s urban core or densely developed coastline. Thanks for listening! For more local news visit BiscayneTimes.com .

Steven Rosenthal was asleep in his bed when he was woken by a very loud bang. “I thought it was the loudest thunderclap I heard in my life, times 100,” he recalled. Thinking it was just a storm, Rosenthal fell back to sleep. Then the bed started shaking and dust fell from the ceiling. That’s when he thought Florida was being hit by a rare earthquake. Thanks for listening! For more local news visit...

There was a stack of household items in the corner of Miami City Commissioner Jeffrey Watson’s office, objects like a cooler, bottled water, bug spray, a portable fan, bleach, paper towels, masks, wipes and other items. They were part of a presentation by Communities United. To continue running the nonprofit organization’s Senior First Disaster Preparedness program in District 5, executive directo...

“Teens get a bad rap,” my son’s doctor said to me recently during a routine appointment. Varisa Perlman of Miami Beach Pediatrics should know. She’s been a pediatrician for decades and has recently sent one of her kids to college and is ushering another through their latter high school years. “My kids are my residency,” she said. She applies those lessons learned to the dozens of teenagers, and th...

The creation of the Independent Civilian Panel (ICP) was Commissioner Barbara Jordan’s last major legislative victory before leaving office. Tasked with investigating complaints and grievances filed against officers of the Miami-Dade Police Department, and reviewing policies within the MDPD, the ICP’s passage was an uphill battle that was only won in late August 2020 when Jordan agreed to give up...

The ground is shifting fast in North Miami and particularly in North Miami Beach, and the September budget month proves it. Taxpayers and residents can expect water, sewer and garbage rates – and property taxes – to inch up as fall turns to winter. Thanks for listening! For more local news visit BiscayneTimes.com .

Sid Hoeltzell has witnessed a lot of things from the view of his Wynwood loft. Cars blasting their stereo bass so loud that the windows rattled. Children playing among tractor trailers. Art gallery warehouses replaced with mixed-use apartment high-rises and offices. And gun battles... Thanks for listening! For more local news visit BiscayneTimes.com .

It’s easy to turn on the tap and take things for granted. Our drinking water is pumped, aerated, chemically processed, filtered and piped in the Biscayne Aquifer, a shallow layer of permeable limestone roughly 100 feet underground. Approximately 4,000 square miles beneath Biscayne Bay, the Atlantic Ocean and Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, it supplies almost all of southeast Florida’s...

The Seafair   mega yacht is a 222-foot-long vessel docked by the Hotel Intercontinental that can be rented out for weddings, bar mitzvahs, quinceañeras, corporate conferences and special events. On July 31, it was chartered for a Bitcoin Rodney “Mastermind” cryptocurrency conference. The event was attended by hundreds of cryptocurrency entrepreneurs who paid as much as $3,500 each to mingle over f...

Have you ever seen two squirrels fight? I know – it’s such odd imagery, but as a landlocked kid from Texas, these little animals were at times my entertainment. Think about it. Their little twitchy tails do a dance-like tussle until one of them prevails in getting away, preferably with the prize of an acorn. Sometimes, this is what parenting feels like. Sometimes, this is what our spouse or partne...

Some mixed drinks started out as medicines and magic potions –as digestives (like an Aperol spritz), aphrodisiacs or something to warm the bones on a cold winter’s journey (like a hot gin sling). The daiquiri has always been about sweet, refreshing relief from the heat... Thanks for listening! For more local news visit BiscayneTimes.com .

It’s September, and Miami Spice is halfway done. Have you had a chance to check out any specials? The two-months-long event runs through Sept. 30, giving savvy foodies an opportunity to eat well and save big. As part of this annual promotion, participating restaurants across the city are offering discounted multicourse lunch and dinner menus. With time running out, we’ve rounded up a few eateries...

For the past five months, Henry Baiz has been living next-door to a short-term rental, and he isn’t happy about it. Baiz complains that he hears raised voices and loud music almost 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And not just from the house next door, but from other short-term rentals, too. Thanks for listening! For more local news visit BiscayneTimes.com .

The City of Miami is in the midst of a 10-years-plus development boom that’s bringing billions of dollars in foreign and domestic investment into the Magic City. But while real estate developers and investors are raking in cash, activists and neighborhood advocates insist the rush of development is having an adverse impact on traffic, sanitation, parks and affordable housing, the latter a critical...

Large scuba tanks on the divers’ backs didn’t weigh them down as they emerged from the ocean with clear containers holding striped maroon-and-white fish. Plopping their catch onto a table lined with measurements in the center of the two-story dive boat, each one grabbed a fish by its mouth – being careful not to touch its venom-filled spines – and recorded its length. Thanks for listening! For mor...

Summer is finally here. Not that the new season means much in South Florida: It’s brutally hot all year long. But even if seasons don’t really exist around these parts, there’s just something about summer that makes us think about good company and good burgers. Thankfully, Miami restaurants have that second part covered. Thanks for listening! For more local news visit BiscayneTimes.com .

Immersive van Gogh experiences in Miami are blowing up social media – and creating a bit of confusion. People with tickets to one show are showing up to the second one's location. Facebook is awash with people who post: “I've seen it, you should go.” Only to be corrected that what they’ve seen is van Gogh at the Ice Palace Studios adjacent to historic Overtown – which opened in April – a...

Early summer in the Biscayne Corridor smolders. Not just because of the steadily rising heat index, but because there’s a steady aroma of burning embers in the evenings. Ribs are on the grill. Lechón is being roasted over coals. Fresh-caught mahi and wahoo are laid out in backyard smokers. Noon outdoors is uncomfortable this time of year – as it always is – but right around sunset there’s somethin...

Manny Gonzalez, executive director of the Wynwood Business Improvement District (BID), insists that Wynwood is the most popular destination in the City of Miami, attracting millions of tourists and locals every year. The main draw of these visitors, Gonzalez tells the Biscayne Times, is the art that decorates the walls. Thanks for listening! For more local news visit BiscayneTimes.com .

Nonetheless, I must say that the slices of my prime rib roast make any chicken shiver and any hog wane in comparison. So it's a struggle for me with beef on one shoulder sweetly whispering in my ear and chicken softly clucking in the other, “chirp, chirp … eat me.” This time the cow carried more weight. Thanks for listening! For more local news visit BiscayneTimes.com .

Long live summer! When the days are longer, the water is warmer and the air is thicker. Though summer may not be the most pleasant season here in South Florida with its relentless heat and threat of hurricanes, there are still some summer traditions that we can enjoy while sweating through the day. Thanks for listening! For more local news visit BiscayneTimes.com .

Omar Jimenez remembers jumping from his dock into the canal next to Park View Island in North Beach every day after work. He’d invite his nephews, nieces and friends over to show them his “natural aquarium,” a colony of coral reefs by his dock that attracted puffer fish, rays and dolphins swimming by. Thanks for listening! For more local news visit BiscayneTimes.com .