Friends, Neighbors, Miamians,

This is the moment you've been waiting for, that we have worked to achieve since January 2012.

Walmart has thrown in the towel!

Make no mistake, this was a team effort, and this petition was the lynchpin to making sure in July 2012 that we did not lose the war before the fighting began when hundreds of you showed up at City Hall to keep the city from scrapping Midtown's plan in favor of whatever Walmart wanted, and sharing this petition with your friends.

So please give yourselves a round of applause for supporting the cause, and please thank all of the neighbors who were plaintiffs in cases, the lawyers who worked for reduced rates or pro bono, the people who chipped in for legal fees and showed up at public meetings and everyone who helped behind the scenes, and Grant (me!), in that order, please.

Here is the early coverage:

Walmart bails on Midtown Miami, sells site to developer (paywall)

https://bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2019/09/27/walmart-sells-midtown-miami-site.html

"Community activist Grant Stern filed a lawsuit challenging the city's approval of Walmart's site plan, arguing it violated the rules for the Midtown neighborhood. Stern also pointed out a significant problem: Walmart doesn’t own the frontage on North Miami Avenue or Northeast First Avenue. The narrow strips of property that would have separated Walmart’s land from those key streets are owned by the Midtown Miami Community Development District and Midtown Opportunities, respectively.

Without acquiring those properties, Walmart was unable to build on its property and have access to those crucial roads."

Controversial Walmart site in Midtown Miami sells for $26M

Walmart sold the site after receiving backlash from neighbors and residents

https://therealdeal.com/miami/2019/09/27/controversial-former-walmart-site-in-midtown-miami-sells-for-26m/

****

When you fight the good fight, with love in your heart and your friends at your side, there is nothing you cannot accomplish!

I hoped to bring accountability to the city of Miami by pursuing this fight, and I hoped to change the culture of our city into one of awareness, participation and vigilance, and I think those goals have been met, but there is always more to come.

Thank you EVERYONE who has helped out, once again, and please let people know what happens when a community dares to stand up for its quality of life, its rights as residents and for what is right.

Yours,

Grant

grantstern.com

Twitter @grantstern

****

We've been fighting Walmart on a shoestring budget for almost 4 years now, and this is the one and ONLY time we will ask for cash, to file an appeal in court to the 3rd District Court of Appeals.

Even $1 will help!!! If you cannot donate, then please share this link everywhere: http://igg.me/at/nowalmartinmidtown2015

Latest Update: There's a public meeting of the Midtown CDD on Tuesday October 13th, at 1pm in the Midtown Parking Garage's 2nd Floor office, Suite 132 where we can make public comments which the Board cannot ignore!

Walmart wants to destroy NE 31st Street and turn it into a 3 lane road with 30 trees and 20 parallel parking spaces built with public money, and we need to support the Midtown CDD's Board in doing the right thing, and denying Walmart a building permit.

The local government agreements and bond obligations which created Midtown strictly stipulate that there be parallel parking on both sides of NE 31st Street, to maintain the pedestrian character of the neighborhood.

The zoning says the same thing, that the safety of pedestrians is primary in MIdtown over increased traffic flow. The Midtown CDD is bound to follow the city's zoning code too.

If we let the Board know that citizens are overseeing their activities, they can't break the Bond Obligations which support a $100,000,000 of existing debt which we taxpayers issued to pay for Midtown Miami to be built.

********************

We did it! Our last, and best chance to stop Walmart in court from building an illegal big box store has arrived.

Walmart wants to build a much bigger store than Midtown Miami can handle, and they convinced the city to approve their plan administratively (without public hearing), but including an illegal variance - which we convinced 3 County 11th Circuit Court judges to rule in favor or residents last year.

That should've been a nearly fatal setback for Walmart's plans in the area.

However, the city gave them a free pass to fix things late in the game, rather than start from the beginning as code would've allowed and to do everything the right way the 2nd time.

They didn't even bother collecting a plans review fee, after the hundreds of hours the City's lawyers spent defending Walmart's bogus idea that the word "total" means minimum.

At last year's city commission hearing, they did everything to hide plans from the people who went to great lengths and spent their own time and money

The city railroaded us in a tragically flawed Commission meeting, without following any of the zoning process in our laws and approved the permit again.

Our last attorney dropped the ball, so we had to seek new lawyers and apply for 2nd tier certiorari review from Florida's 3rd District Court of Appeals.

The 3rd DCA had no obligation to accept our case after a loss at Circuit with a "Per Curiam Denial" (no opinion issued, just a ruling) and we had a higher standard of argument to set forth to get heard.

But we did it anyway!

Here's the court order:

https://www.scribd.com/doc/282995447/Midtown-Walmart-Appeal-Order-From-Third-DCA-for-Response

This is a major milestone, but we haven't won anything yet. To finish the job, we need to finish paying our counsel before the hearing too: igg.me/at/nowalmartinmidtown2015

I respectfully and humbly ask that you pitch in, as I already have (outside of indiegogo) significantly to ensure that the appeal linked below was filed on time with new counsel who had to work on a very short deadline.

https://www.scribd.com/doc/282675095/Midtown-Miami-Walmart-Petition-for-Writ-of-Certiorari-9-24-15

Wish us luck, more updates to come, and there will be a final resolution sometime before November 20th of this year, one way or another.

If you care which way Midtown goes: Please donate even $1 and share this campaign with someone you know who cares too.

THIS IS IT!

We've been fighting Walmart on a shoestring budget for almost 4 years now, and this is the one and ONLY time we will ask for cash, to file an appeal in court to the 3rd District Court of Appeals.

Even $1 will help!!! If you cannot donate, then please share this link everywhere: http://igg.me/at/nowalmartinmidtown2015

Remember that we still use the hashtag: #NoWalmartinMidtown too.

Walmart was allowed to skip a mandatory $10,000 fee to the city, and cheat the process by Francisco Garcia our corrupt City of Miami Director of Planning & Zoning.

So now that they've been allowed a free ride, we have to pay.

In an unfortunate turn of events, we had to get new legal counsel this month, but fortunately, they are two very talented lawyers at Dubbin & Kravetz who agreed to take our case on an emergency basis.

Our appeal has to be filed in court on Thursday, so that's all the time we have to raise money.

But if each and every person on this list donated $10 we would have more than we needed, and if each person shared the fundraiser once and donated $5, we'd be ok too.

Make no mistake, this is IT. The End of the Road, one way or another.

Walmart's permit expires on November 21st, 2015 and if we are still fighting them in court, we will win the war.

Help us fight this beast today, or fight the traffic it creates with its illegally approved store later.

Thank you



Grant

*****************

Walmart Hearing at Miami City Hall, Thursday November 20th, 2014 at 5pm (arrival on Miami time is encouraged, more the merrier!)

The City of Miami proposed a resolution to give Walmart back its permit, in blatant violation of numerous city ordinances and a recent court order in favor of the NoWalmartinMidtown.com petitioners.

We don't expect to get much of a hearing when the city is proposing to land an anvil on our heads and send us back to court, but we could use a little help from you guys, our loyal supporters for tomorrow's hearing even if you cannot make the schlep to city hall.

1) We need you to Share the Petition Again!

2) Please check out facebook.com/NoWalmartinMidtown and share our updates and our meme's so the city knows that something sly is afoot

3) Email these guys again telling them to vote for the residents of Miami and against Walmart's nullified application

Mayor Tomas Regalado

TRegalado@miamigov.com

Chairman of Commission - Commissioner D1 Willy Gort - Frank Castaneda - Chief of Staff

wgort@miamigov.com - FCastaneda@miamigov.com



D2 Marc Sarnoff, Esq. (Walmart is in his district) - Sarnoff Aide Ron Nelson

msarnoff@miamigov.com - rnelson@miamigov.com



Commissioner D3 Frank Corollo, CPA

fcarollooffice@miamigov.com



Commissioner D4 Francis Suarez, Esq.

fsuarez@miamigov.com



Comissioner D5 Keon Hardemon

khardemon@miamigov.com



Director of Planning and Zoning Francisco Garcia (he approved Walmart’s plan illegally)

fgarcia@miamigov.com

City Attorney Vicki Mendez

vmendez@miamigov.com

Here's a sample letter:

Please vote against Walmart's resolution today. Their cheating avoided telling our neighborhood about the traffic they intend to bring with their oversized super center.

We have a right to a public hearing for this kind of project before it is approved too.

Walmart's plan was rejected by 3 judges for having won an illegal variance. The Judges clearly said that Walmart cannot have a Special Permit, it's nullified.

Walmart can't have a special process to give them anything they want, they need to follow the rules and the Midtown Master plan - and the court's decisions.

As a City Commissioner, you should vote against Walmart and in favor of the rule of law tonight.

*********

If they pass the posted resolution to approve Walmart, the city of Miami is going to violate our 14th amendment rights to due process tomorrow.

More specifically, they'll violate resident's rights to equal treatment, or just simply a government that responds to legitimate court rulings with legitimate action. When 3 judges took on the case, we won 3-0. When 6 architects reviewed it, we won 6-0.

Again thank you as always for believing in us and supporting us.

Today we need your action.

Thank you,

Grant

******************************************

Please come out to #Miami City Hall tonight for the final #NoWalmartinMidtown Public Hearing at 7pm. Presentation starts at 6pm.

My Dear Neighbors, Friends and Supporters,



I want to first thank you for your support over the last two and a half years of fighting Walmart. It totally humbles me to hear your individual thanks from time to time.



That’s because without you I would be nowhere and Walmart would’ve long ago flattened Midtown Miami.



Tonight is it, the last dance. Our only firewall against administrative shenanigans is the City of Miami Commission.



Please show up and tell our commissioners that Walmart has to follow the rules like everyone else!



When: 6pm Walmart Hearing Starts

7-9pm Public Hearing



Where: 3500 Pan American Drive, Miami City Hall on the waterfront of Coconut Grove



Who: Walmart’s team of 20 lawyers and experts vs. the people



Why: This is our final appeal outside of an expensive courtroom brawl in the effort to force Walmart to comply with Midtown’s zoning rules.



The city of Miami has violated our rights to due process allowing Walmart a variance riddled plan approval without a real public hearing before making the decision.



*********************************************



If you can’t make it, there’s still something important you can do!



Email our public officials and call them now!



Mayor Tomas Regalado

TRegalado@miamigov.com



Commissioner D1 Willy Gort - Frank Castaneda - Chief of Staff

wgort@miamigov.com - FCastaneda@miamigov.com



Chairman of Commission D2 Marc Sarnoff, Esq. (Walmart is in his district)

msarnoff@miamigov.com



Commissioner D3 Frank Corollo, CPA

fcarollooffice@miamigov.com



Commissioner D4 Francis Suarez, Esq. (who is absent tonight)

fsuarez@miamigov.com



Comissioner D5 Michelle Spence-Jones

MSpence-Jones@miamigov.com



Director of Planning and Zoning Francisco Garcia (he approved Walmart’s plan illegally)

fgarcia@miamigov.com



Here’s a few talking points you can share in your phone calls and emails:



- Walmart is removing over a dozen trees from NE 31st Street against code



- Walmart is changing a NE 31st street from 2 to 3 lanes against the recommendation of the code.



- Walmart is building 2 buildings with completely different designs in the same project in violation of the code.



- Walmart ignored a parking setback of 8’ feet from the street on the 2nd and 3rd level abutting NE 31st street



- Walmart should have habitable space on the 2nd and 3rd levels facing Midtown Blvd and Miami Avenue, or set back the parking garage walls by 85’



- Walmart has a blank wall facing south, without habitable 2nd and 3rd floor liners - again against the code.



- Walmart’s 40’ blank wall runs for nearly 500’ alongside Pike Brothers’ 15’ tall wall creating a dangerous alleyway



- Walmart placed a parking garage entrance on N. Miami Avenue facing a 10,000 sq. ft. green space area designated for public enjoyment



- Walmart has 5 loading zones where 3 are required, no more no less.



- Walmart’s loading zone for the “liner shops” is inadequate with 12’ height where 15’ is required - this will force off street loading on Midtown Boulevard, not allowed by code



- Walmart’s plan doesn’t have parking garage access to the east side’s liner shops to meet ADA requirements



***********************************************************



Once again, I would like to see all of your smiling faces tonight at Miami City Hall and for everyone on this list to at least share 1 email with a public official between now and 6pm when our hearing time begins!!!!



Thank you so much for being there so many times in the last two and a half years and sharing this message with your friends and neighbors time and again.



With luck, this could be the end of our long road - and with support tonight a successful conclusion. Yes, I said it, tonight could be Walmart’s last call in Midtown.



See you soon!



Grant

********************************

Why should This Wednesday Night be important to you?

There's a Public Hearing at 6pm tomorrow night, Wednesday October 2nd at Miami's City Hall for NoWalmartinMidtown.com's appeal of Wal-Mart's flawed architectural permit.

Details Here =====> http://on.fb.me/1fEdjxN

What difference does it make if Wal-Mart can ignore local ordinance and get away with it?

Wal-mart's Midtown project contains nearly double the parking, loading and floor space than any single establishment should be allowed to build in that location.

This is the first and could be the last public hearing you'll get on the matter.

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT AT MIAMI CITY HALL THIS WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT 6PM.

Midtown Miami residents and business owners have nervously followed a battle lasting 2 years this month pitting residents who oppose Wal-Mart vs. local government officials.

In February, Miami's UDRB, a citizen board of architects denied the permit in a 6-0 vote. Normally, such a recommendation ends the planning process for a project, but Wal-mart's application kept rolling through the system, like a zombie in big box clothing.

This past August, the city's Director of Planning and Zoning issued a permit approval to Walmart that violates no less than 7 distinct portions of Midtown Miami's Master Plan.

That's right, an unelected city official gave special privileges, without the required public hearings, and key reports on the traffic impact of Wal-Mart's proposal.

Miami's local government appears ready to set horrific precedent that anything goes with Wal-mart - and as citizens who care, we must draw a line.

Please join me in the City Hall chamber to voice your support tomorrow night.

*** AUGUST 16th, 2013 *** FUNDRAISING EMERGENCY ***

The worst case scenario has come to pass. City of Miami Planning Director Francisco Garcia has approved Walmart's Class II Permit application. We have only a few days to appeal Walmart's entitlement.

Please Donate and Share this link today:

http://bit.ly/NoWMTMid

This past April, Miami's Planning Director promised to me - on video tape - and to you as residents, that his office would respond to all written comments or demand changes to the plans to eliminate any variances.

The Huffington Post let me chronicle the only written reply from Mr. Garcia's office since that time in an article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/grant-stern/miami-walmart_b_3751868.html

Please share, like, and tweet that article!



My last visit to the planning department on July 3rd revealed an un-logged set of plans from March 4th, 2013. A careful examination and photographic capture of those plans revealed few, if any changes from the plan denied by the Miami UDRB 6-0 in February.

If you've got any desire to oppose Walmart's defenestration of Midtown - this is the time to make your voice heard. The appeal is not unreasonably expensive - but it must be started promptly, submitted to the city and most importantly accepted by the city.

Once an appeal is accepted, it would go to the Planning and Zoning Appeals Board - the same board which voted against Walmart's flawed requests 9-0 last year.

All we need to do is fight - there is a strong chance that our appeal will be successful.

** UPDATE: PUBLIC MEETING APRIL 4TH AT ROBERTO CLEMENTE PARK 6:30PM **

Please be advised that a public meeting has been scheduled for the Midtown Walmart on Thursday, April 4, 2013, from 6:30 to 8:00pm at Roberto Clemente Park, 101 NW 34th Street.



As mentioned in previous meetings and public hearings, the proposed use itself (a large scale retail establishment) is allowed on the property and the sole issue before us is whether the design of the store is appropriate and contextual. We encourage your feedback and comments and respectfully request that they address site design and building design issues, as it is these we will consider and fall properly within our scope of review.

********************************************************************************

If you plan to attend, please read how Walmart's Spends Your Tax Dollars to Break the Rules and watch the embedded and linked videos to see how.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/grant-stern/walmart-spends-your-tax-m_b_2984635.html

**************************************************************************************

Miami’s residents, its small business people, its artists and entrepreneurs have conspired to create a uniquely vibrant set of neighborhoods in spite of a rough national economy and the local real estate bust.

The last thing this thriving experiment in urban renewal needs is the presence of Walmart in Midtown Miami.

Walmart, the standard bearer of international corporate power and conformity, just doesn’t fit the image that so many have worked to create for Midtown and the Wynwood Arts District, and placing the world’s largest discount retailer in the Miami’s hub of arts and culture just doesn’t make sense.

Read more:

MiamiHerald:

http://bit.ly/NoWalmartinMidtown

Photo Essay:

http://bit.ly/WhatIDidForMLKDay

GrantStern.com:

http://bit.ly/No2WalmartinMidtown

HuffingtonPost Miami:

http://huff.to/xzlqL7