Village of Pinecrest Aventura Mkt Council

Giant dump trucks rumble through the heart of Coconut Grove up and down Commodore Plaza, while bulldozers clear the land on the shore of Biscayne Bay where 41 ultra-pricey Mediterranean townhouses will be built in a compound to be known as Cloisters by the Bay.

One wonders just what in the world happened that this priceless piece of property that stood virtually vacant for so many years could not have been acquired by the city or state for a public park.

If ever a sliver of land cried to be bought for the public, this one did. Situated between Peacock Park to the North and the state's Barnacle historic site to the South, it seemed a natural that some way, somehow someone would have put together a deal to connect these three parcels for the public good.

But, no, 10 years of haggling and heated words led to naught. Yet, it seemed so simple. The people surely expressed their view that the land should be acquired. The media certainly led the charge for public acquisition. All the politicians made speeches about how important it was to buy this property. Yet, today the bulldozers rape the land and the dump trucks cart away the debris that once made up a quiet, shaded haven from the hustle and bustle just a few feet away.

Word has it that this parcel could have been purchased for about $10-million dollars. Why wasn't the deal done? Who dropped the ball here? The city commission? The state? The media? Were we all simply too lethargic, perhaps too confident that it would get done, that everything would work out alright and the 6.3 acres ultimately would slide into the public fold like a quarter into a parking meter.

And now we hear that the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County are readying a deal to borrow $26-million to buy a small but prime plot of land at the mouth of the Miami River to save a circle etched in coral rock that some believe may have been carved by an ancient tribe of Tequesta Indians. No real evidence has surfaced to prove this theory other than a few shards of pottery.

Meantime, a $200-million high-rise development of 600 apartments that would have risen on the tract -- one that would have provided hundreds of jobs, stimulated a downtown economy and paid the city millions annually in taxes -- has been killed in favor of borrowing $26 million to turn the land into a questionable monument.

Hello! Are we missing something here? Just who has their head on straight in our city and county government these days? Maybe we should have put in a call to Billy Tiger and had him bring over a few Miccosukees to tell the city commissioners how their ancestors once fished off the banks of the Coconut Grove tract. Maybe that might have swayed a few votes for floating a loan to save the property from development.

And, so we have the beginning of a $51-million construction project in the heart of Coconut Grove on land that is far and away more historic and more beautiful than the plot at the mouth of the Miami River probably ever was, or ever will be.

Now, all any of us can do is sit in our sidewalk cafes and watch the dump trucks rumble across Main Highway and onto a dirty little road that cuts into the heart of a once-pristine, tree-shaded piece of property that should have been bought for a relative pittance and saved as a public park.

All of us should be ashamed of ourselves, including the developers.