Podcasts about Miami River

Lissette Calderon showed up to the studio with a bottle of Casa Dragones tequila and got right to business—just like she has her entire career. From her childhood growing up near the Miami River to becoming one of the most visionary developers in South Florida, Lissette's story is nothing short of inspiring.In an industry historically dominated by men, this proud Cuban-American carved her own path. After attending Coral Gables High, she headed to The Wharton School of Business at the  University of Pennsylvania and eventually returned to Miami to work at the Related Group. But it didn't take long for her entrepreneurial drive to kick in.Motivated by the lack of affordable housing and inspired by the city she calls home, Lissette took a bold leap. She put a development site under contract near the Miami River and launched Neo Lofts—her first project and a spark that would ignite a full-blown transformation of the area. With the success of Neo Lofts, Lissette followed up with Neo Vertika, Wind by Neo, and Pier 19 Residences & Marina, earning her the nickname “Queen of the Miami River.”But her impact didn't stop there. Lissette turned her sights on Allapattah, completing No. 17 Residences in 2021, and is now delivering two more communities—The Julia and Fourteen Allapattah Residences—in 2024. Her latest project, a massive 1,350-unit mixed-use community in the Palmer Lake District, sits across from the future site of Miami Freedom Park and is set to break ground later this year.From Penn to pioneering Miami's most overlooked neighborhoods, Lissette Calderon is proof of what vision, grit, and relentless determination can build—especially when the odds are stacked against you.Connect with usWant to dive deeper into Miami's commercial real estate scene? It's our favorite topic—and we're always up for a good conversation. Whether you're just exploring or already making big moves, feel free to reach out at felipe@builtworldadvisors.com or give us a call at 305.498.9410. Prefer to connect online? Find us on LinkedIn or Instagram—we're always open to expanding the conversation. Ben Hoffman: LinkedIn Felipe Azenha: LinkedIn We extend our sincere gratitude to Büro coworking space for generously granting us the opportunity to record all our podcasts at any of their 8 convenient locations across South Florida.

There's something deeply unsettling about dolls, but when they start moving on their own, whispering in the dark, and leaving behind scratches, that's when the real nightmares begin.Darkness Syndicate members get the ad-free version. https://weirddarkness.com/syndicateInfo on the next LIVE SCREAM event. https://weirddarkness.com/LiveScreamInfo on the next WEIRDO WATCH PARTY event. https://weirddarkness.com/TVIN THIS EPISODE: Haunted dolls seems to be a dime a dozen, and can even be found on sale, but for all of the strange phenomena surrounding these creations, surely the most frightening of all, are dolls that are not only haunted, but also the residences of hateful, violent forces that seek to harm or destroy us. (Sinister Accounts of Evil Haunted Dolls) *** A woman who had never experienced anything paranormal, suddenly has odd things happen around her after visiting a spiritualist. (Has Our Home Been Invaded By A Paranormal Entity Since Visiting a Spiritualist?) *** He's tall, he takes over your thoughts and movements – removing all free will. He has several arms… and no face. Slenderman came into being around 2009 – so what were people seeing thousands of years ago that has the same description? (Mystery of the Faceless Creature) *** Between 1986 and 1989, at least eight individuals and possibly an additional four more were killed in the Colonial Parkway area of Virginia. The serial killer has never been found and the Colonial Parkway murders remain unsolved. (The Colonial Parkway Killer) *** It is said that if she is hailed by another ship, her crew will often try to send messages to land or to people long since dead. In ocean lore, the sight of this phantom ship is reckoned by seafarers to be a sign of impending doom. Her name is The Flying Dutchman. (The Legend of the Flying Dutchman) *** The body of a young woman is found floating in the Miami River outside of Dayton, Ohio. The coroner found nothing to indicate violence; the police believed otherwise. Even after digging her body out of the grave twice, there are still questions about what happened. (The Bessie Little Mystery)CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = Disclaimer and Lead-In00:02:31.944 = Show Open00:05:11.391 = Evil Haunted and Cursed Dolls00:43:24.345 = Has Our Home Been Invaded By a Paranormal Entity Since Visiting a Spiritualist?00:45:33.470 = Mystery of the Faceless Creature00:52:29.485 = The Flying Dutchman00:57:03.994 = The Colonial Parkway Killer01:02:54.591 = The Bessie Little Mystery01:10:11.559 = Show CloseSOURCES AND RESOURCES FROM THE EPISODE…Episode Page at WeirdDarkness.com: https://weirddarkness.com/HauntedDolls“Sinister Accounts of Evil Haunted Dolls” by Brent Swancer for Mysterious Universe: http://bit.ly/2m5AQor“Mystery of the Faceless Creature – Ancient and Modern Sightings” by Ellen Lloyd for Ancient Pages: http://bit.ly/2lGveAL“The Colonial Parkway Killer” by Jim Harper for Historic Mysteries: http://bit.ly/2kboNW8“The Legend of the Flying Dutchman” posted at Ghost-Story.co.uk: http://bit.ly/2kyNZWD“The Bessie Little Mystery” by Robert Wilhelm for Murder By Gaslight: http://bit.ly/2k5Ixu3“Has Our Home Been Invaded By A Paranormal Entity Since Visiting a Spiritualist?” by Jane Lois Collins, posted at MyHauntedLifeToo.com: http://bit.ly/2k5Inmr=====(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46= = = = =WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2025, Weird Darkness.=====Originally aired: June 19, 2018TRANSCRIPT: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/36z2m92c

How has the bustling city of Miami evolved into the vibrant cultural and historical hub it is today? What are the best activities in Miami for history, culture, and architecture lovers? In this episode of Cut to the Chase: Podcast, Gregg sits down with Dr. Paul George, a Miami native, author, historian, and former college professor. Dr. George has become famous for his uncanny ability to recall the most impressive details about the people and places that make South Florida so special. For over 30 years, Paul has been the Resident Historian for HistoryMiami Museum and has toured his way to local, national, and international acclaim with his ongoing historic tours. Whether it be a walking, bus, or boat tour experience, Paul has taken countless locals and visitors on memorable explorations of South Florida through historic neighborhoods, landmarks, and sites. Today, he's giving you a glimpse into the vibrant and multifaceted history of Miami and South Florida. You'll learn about the 1920s real estate boom, significant historical venues like the Olympia Theater and the Grove Playhouse, as well as current revitalization efforts across Miami. You will also learn about his upcoming fantastic tours that he will conduct in the next few months. Ready for a deep dive into the cultural and historical layers of a city that's constantly evolving? Tune in! PLUS… If you're in the Miami area, don't miss out: Join Paul's Moon Over Miami River Cruise Tour on December 28th. 2024: https://historymiami.org/event/moon-over-miami-river-cruise-3   What to expect in this episode: Dr. George's Historic Career: His city tours, teaching history, and ongoing projects. HistoryMiami Museum: Their role and offerings in preserving Miami's history. Education and Classes: Interactive courses and tours led by Dr. George. Historical Miami Insights: Miami's downtown development, historic buildings, and cultural significance. Miami River and Archaeological Studies: Recent findings and their impact on new construction. Upcoming Tours: Detailed information about Dr. George's notable tours, including Stiltsville, Black Miami resistance stories, and a downtown tour. Personal Anecdotes: Dr. George and Gregg share their favorite experiences a and places in Miami.   Key Actionable Takeaways for Law Firm Owners & Organizations: Understanding Historical Context: Take into account the historical evolution of urban areas when advising on land use and development. Community Engagement: Building strong community ties through historical and cultural education can lead to more informed and supportive legal advocacy. Engage with Preservation Efforts: Legal professionals can play a crucial role in advocating for and enforcing historical preservation within urban development projects. Incorporate Cultural Insights: Recognize and incorporate the cultural history of neighborhoods in legal strategies for zoning and community planning. Stay Informed on Local Developments: Keep abreast of significant historical and archaeological findings that might impact legal proceedings related to urban development.   Stay tuned for more Cut to The Chase: Podcast with Gregg Goldfarb! Subscribe, rate, review, and share this episode of the Cut to the Chase: Podcast to help us keep spreading news about all things law and culture!   Resources: Join Paul's Moon Over Miami River Cruise Tour on December 28th. 2024: https://historymiami.org/event/moon-over-miami-river-cruise-3 Join his Stiltsville & Key Biscayne Cruise Tour on January 25, 2025: https://historymiami.org/event/stiltsville-key-biscayne-cruise-2-2 Viernes Culturales (Cultural Fridays in Little Havana): https://viernesculturales.org Learn more about HistoryMiami Museum: https://historymiami.org Connect with Dr. Paul George on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-george-76199626   This episode was produced and brought to you by Reignite Media.

Tonight's first guest, Tamara Grantham, grew up way out in the woods of Southeast Texas. She had a very good childhood. You see, there was a lot of land around her family's property that a papermill owned. That land was mostly forested, and for fun, Tamara and her siblings would explore that land and go on adventures. One of the things Tamara and her siblings decided to do back there was, they built a fort. A playhouse, of sorts. They would take toys, peanut butter sandwiches out there, and have all sorts of fun. One day, though, Tamara decided to go spend time at the playhouse by herself. She took her cat with her, but she didn't have any other company with her that day. Or so she thought.Tonight's second guest, Burt Weitzman, had his Bigfoot sighting when he was 8 or 9 years old, in Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia.  You see, Harrison Hot Springs has been known to be a Sasquatch hot spot for the past 100 years. When Burt was a kid, his parents used to take him with them to a resort in Harrison Hot Springs every year. His favorite thing to do at the resort was going on horseback rides. One morning, around 8:30, Burt walked around to the back of the stables, where a bridge crossed the Miami River. He had about half an hour to kill before it was going to be time to go on that morning's ride. As he was standing there, admiring the beauty of the river and the surrounding country, he had an experience that he's kept to himself for the past 67 years. On tonight's show, however, he's going to finally share it, in a public way. We hope you'll tune in and listen to him do that, so you can find out what happened next.If you've had a Bigfoot sighting and would like to be a guest, on the show, please go to https://MyBigfootSighting.com and let us know. We'd love to hear from you. Premium memberships are now available! If you'd like to be able to listen to the show without ads and have full access to premium content, please go to https://MyBigfootSighting.com to find out how to become a premium member.If you'd like to help support the show by buying your own My Bigfoot Sighting T-shirt, sweatshirt, or tank top, please visit the My Bigfoot Sighting Show Store Page, by going to... https://dogman-encounters.myshopify.com/collections/mens-my-bigfoot-sighting-collectionShow's theme song, "Banjo Music," courtesy Nathan BrumleyI produce 3 other shows that are available on your favorite podcast app. If you haven't checked them out, here are links to all 3 channels on the Spreaker App...Bigfoot Eyewitness Radio https://www.spreaker.com/show/bigfoot-eyewitness-radio_1 Dogman Encounters https://www.spreaker.com/show/dogman-encounters-radio_2 My Paranormal Experience https://www.spreaker.com/show/my-paranormal-experience Thanks for listening!

#SmallBusinessAmerica: AI Startups struggling: AI giants prospering. @GeneMarks  @Guardian @PhillyInquirer https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/the-ai-revolution-is-already-losing-steam-a93478b1?mod=mhp 1900 Miami River

When it comes to community associations, joining forces under a voluntary "umbrella organization" often proves more beneficial than going it alone. Members reap the rewards of shared knowledge, vendor connections, advocacy, and educational resources. In this week's episode of Take It To The Board, host Donna DiMaggio Berger sits down with Ernesto Cuesta, President of the Brickell Homeowners Association (BHA), to share his insights and experiences and hopefully empower other communities to grow stronger together. From casual meetups to formal meetings, Donna and Ernesto dive into how to find and create umbrella groups and the benefits of becoming involved with one.  Ernesto reflects on BHA's modest beginnings and formative years, offering invaluable lessons on forging a strong and proactive neighborhood alliance. Donna and Ernesto also spotlight the essential role of education and mentorship in cultivating the next generation of community advocates. To that degree, they discuss Florida's new mandate on board member education, specifically its impact on the dynamics of condominium governance. This episode is not just a look back but a forward-facing conversation about continuous improvement and active participation. Discover the blueprint for building community cohesion and how a collective commitment can shape the future of any area.The BHA was founded in 1990 and represents condominium communities from Miami River to Rickenbacker Causeway and from Biscayne Bay on the East to SW 3rd Ave. on the West, representing thousands of residents and partnering with scores of businesses, corporations, public associations, stores, restaurants, and other amenities that share the common goal of improving the quality of life for the Brickell community. Conversation highlights include:Creation of the Brickell Homeowners Association How to create an Umbrella Organization of HOAs and CondominiumsThe financial model of an umbrella organization and how funds are raised, allocated, and managedChallenges member communities face Communication channels and resources used by BHAErnesto's Top Tips for community association advocacy

Andrew Hellinger has been developing landmark projects for a number of years. His most recent signature project is called River Landing and is located on the Miami River. On today's show we are talking about community building and designing of the community as an amenity. To connect with Andrew and to learn more, visit https://www.riverlandingmiami.com ------------- Host: Victor Menasce email: podcast@victorjm.com

Miami is a city steeped in magic and mystery, from its rich cultural history and vibrant culture. Yet, amidst the glittering facade of glamour and vibrancy lies a darker chapter in Miami's history—the Cocaine Cowboys era—a tale of excess, danger, and intrigue that left an indelible mark on the cityscape. But beyond the myths and misconceptions, Miami beckons with its eclectic neighborhoods, picturesque beaches, and a wealth of cultural treasures waiting to be explored. Join us as we uncover the allure of Miami, from its pulsating nightlife to its serene hideaways, offering a glimpse into a world where magic and reality intertwine.The Birth of the "Magic City"Miami is often referred to as the "Magic City" due to its rapid growth and development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term "Magic City" was coined by a local newspaper editor named Julia Tuttle. She created the term to describe the incredible transformation of Miami from a small, remote outpost into a thriving metropolis almost overnight.Julia Tuttle was a prominent Miami pioneer. She originally visited her parents in South Florida in 1875 and fell in love with what is now known as Biscayne Bay. She later purchased 640 acres at the mouth of the Miami River and returned as a widow to live there in 1891. She convinced Henry Flagler to bring his railroad to the Miami River, and over seven years she lived there, she worked to build the community and had a lot to do with transforming the region. In 1896, Miami was incorporated as a city. From there, the city experienced a significant boom in population, infrastructure, and economy during the early 20th century, fueled by the Florida East Coast Railway. The nickname still fits the city's vibrant atmosphere, diverse culture, and ongoing growth and innovation.Cuban Influence on MiamiCuba has had a significant influence on Miami, particularly due to waves of Cuban migration to the city, especially after the Cuban Revolution in 1959. It's shaped the city's identity, culture, economy, and politics in so many ways.PoliticsCuban exiles and their descendants have been actively involved in local, state, and national politics, shaping policies and perspectives on issues related to Cuba and Latin America. You feel like you are in another country!Cultural InfluenceCuban culture is in music and art, cuisine and language. Salsa music, mambo, and Afro-Cuban rhythms have bled into Miami's music scene, and Cuban artists have made the city vibrant and contributed greatly to the colorful art.CuisineCuban cuisine is all over Miami. The city has numerous Cuban restaurants and cafes serving authentic Cuban food. Some signature Cuban dishes include sandwiches, picadillo, and arroz con pollo.ArchitectureCuban influence & heritage can be seen in so much of Miami's architecture, particularly in neighborhoods like Little Havana - colorful Art Deco buildings & classic Spanish-style architecture.Language and DemographicsSpanish, particularly Cuban Spanish, is widely spoken in Miami.EconomyCuban migration has had a significant impact on Miami's economy, contributing to the growth of tourism, hospitality, and international trade. Many Cuban entrepreneurs have also established successful businesses in Miami, which has played a huge part in enriching the city's economic landscape and creating further diversity.The "Dark Side" of Miami and the Cocaine Cowboys Era.The Cocaine Cowboys era and drug trafficking had a significant impact on Miami during the 1970s and 1980s. It caused a surge of drug-related violence, crime, and corruption in Miami. Miami was the primary entry point for cocaine smuggling into the US for powerful drug cartels like the Medellín Cartel led by Pablo Escobar. This led to an explosion of wealth in Miami, led by the cartel individuals. It fueled a construction boom because drug profits were laundered through real estate investments, which led to the rapid development of luxury properties and businesses. However, it also contributed to a culture of excess, with conspicuous consumption and hedonism becoming more prevalent. Not to mention widespread violence as rival factions were fighting for control of the lucrative trade routes and markets.Law enforcement agencies really struggled to contain the violence and corruption associated with the drug trade. There were high-profile cases and efforts to crack down on drug trafficking networks, but it created "The Cocaine Cowboys era," which gave Miami a reputation as a city marked by both glamour and danger. It still lasts today.Myths About MiamiEveryone in Miami is WealthyMiami is home to many affluent individuals and neighborhoods, there is also significant socioeconomic diversity in the city. Many residents are working- or middle-class individuals who may not enjoy the lavish lifestyle often associated with Miami. Richer areas are Brickell, Key Biscayne, and parts of South Beach; Poorer areas are downtown and some parts of Wynwood.Miami is only about beaches and nightlife.While Miami is famous for its beautiful beaches and vibrant nightlife, it offers much more than that. It has a rich cultural scene, diverse neighborhoods, delicious cuisine, and a thriving arts community. You don't have to be a party animal to love Miami.All Miamians are Latino or Cuban.While Miami does have a large Hispanic population, including many Cuban-Americans, it is a melting pot of cultures from all over the world. You'll find people from various ethnicities and backgrounds living in Miami.Miami is Not Dangerous.Known by some as a "sin city," Miami can be dangerous, but not as dangerous as you may think. Miami is not on the FBI'S top 15 most dangerous cities list - which measures the violent crime rate and the highest cost of crime per capita, which includes instances of murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Like any major city, Miami has its share of crime, from drugs, gambling, etc, but it's unfair to label the entire city as unsafe. Many neighborhoods are safe and welcoming to residents and visitors. But as with any city, you must exercise common sense, and taking precautions is essential. You need to do your research, do not talk to strangers or get in cars with strangers, etc. Also, ignore creepy men trying to hit on you, or tell them no if they don't look too dangerous.Miami is all Glitz and Glamour.While Miami does have its glamorous side, with luxury hotels, high-end restaurants, and designer boutiques, it also has a laid-back, casual vibe. There are plenty of opportunities to enjoy the city without breaking the bank. You can explore parks, outdoor spaces, and museums and even go dining at local eateries and food trucks. There are free cultural events and art festivals as well. And don't forget the beaches are free (Key Biscayne, South Beach, Hollywood), minus the parking. Miami is only for the Young and Single.While Miami is known for its vibrant nightlife and party scene, it's also a great place to live for families, retirees, and people of all ages. The city offers excellent schools, diverse neighborhoods, and many activities for people of all ages and interests. You can't drive in Miami - The traffic is Too BadJust be careful where you park, and know that people honk a lot.The Best Areas in Miami for a Solo TravelerSouth BeachThis area is popular for its vibrant nightlife, beautiful beaches, and diverse dining options. You'll find plenty of opportunities to meet people at bars, clubs, and social events. However, it can get crowded and rowdy at times, so staying vigilant is important.Downtown MiamiDowntown offers a mix of entertainment, dining, and cultural attractions. It's also close to popular destinations like Brickell and Wynwood, which are known for their lively nightlife scenes. Choose accommodations in well-reviewed hotels or reputable Airbnb listings.BrickellThis upscale neighborhood is known for its high-rise condos, sophisticated bars, and restaurants. It's a popular spot for young professionals and offers a relatively safe environment for solo travelers.WynwoodFamous for its street art and hipster vibe, Wynwood is home to trendy bars, breweries, and galleries. It's a great place to meet fellow travelers and locals interested in art and culture. Just be mindful of your surroundings, especially at night.Coconut GroveThis historic neighborhood has a more relaxed atmosphere than South Beach. It has scenic parks, waterfront dining, and boutique shops. It's a good option if you prefer a quieter environment but still want access to nightlife and social activities.Hotels VS Airbnbs in MiamiFor a solo traveler, a hotel is safer, but it can be pricier than Airbnb, depending on where you want to stay. Airbnbs tend to be much cheaper for a group.Unique Destinations to Visit in MiamiVizcaya Museum and GardensThis historic estate features stunning gardens, European-inspired architecture, and unique photo opportunities around every corner.Versace MansionThe Versace Mansion is where world-renowned Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace was murdered on July 15, 1997. He was shot outside his Miami Beach mansion by Andrew Cunanan, a serial killer who took his own life eight days later. His South Beach mansion is now a "killer" lunch spot, and it's a great deal. Guests can also stay there. However, it is a pricy hotel.Coral CastleThis mysterious structure was built by Edward Leedskalnin using 1,100 tons of coral rock. The method of construction remains a mystery.Wynwood Walls The Wynwood Walls is an outdoor museum that showcases large-scale works by some of the world's best-known street artists, making it a vibrant spot for unique and colorful photos.Venetian Pool This historic public swimming pool built in the 1920s featuring waterfalls, caves, and incredible landscaping, providing a picturesque setting for photos.The KampongThe Kampong Botanical Garden features a collection of tropical fruit trees and flowering plants.Oleta River State ParkOleta River State Park is Miami's largest urban park along the shores of Biscayne Bay. You can kayak, hike, and picnic among mangrove forests.Deering EstateThis historic landmark and estate has guided tours of the mansion and gardens, as well as access to scenic trails along the waterfront.Miami Beach Holocaust MemorialThe Holocaust Memorial is a moving tribute to the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, featuring sculptures and reflecting pools.The Monastery of St. Bernard de Clairvaux Originally built in Spain in the 12th century, this monastery was dismantled and reconstructed in Miami, creating a unique architectural juxtaposition.Grapeland Water ParkThis water park features a quirky collection of sculptures and structures, including a giant pineapple and a shipwreck-themed play area. It provides fun and unusual photo opportunities.Key Biscayne Crandon ParkCrandon Park is home to a unique fossilized reef and the historic Cape Florida Lighthouse. It offers hiking, picnicking, and wildlife viewing opportunities.Miami City CemeteryThis cemetery, dating back to the 19th century, features historic gravesites, elaborate mausoleums, and lush landscaping, providing a fascinating glimpse into Miami's past.SportsMiami has a strong sports culture, with teams like the Miami Heat (NBA), Miami Dolphins (NFL), and Florida Marlins (now Miami Marlins, MLB).Day Trips from Miami Everglades National Park Everglades National Park is a short drive from Miami. It's a unique ecosystem full of wildlife. You can take an airboat ride to see alligators, birds, and other wildlife or explore the park's trails and visitor centers. It's great if you are not from Florida and are used to seeing our wildlife, and it's great for a family trip as well.Key WestWhile it's about a 3-4 hour drive from Miami, Key West is worth the trip for its charming atmosphere, beautiful beaches, and vibrant culture. You can visit the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum, explore Duval Street, and relax by the water. Boat rides are fun as well.Fort LauderdaleOnly about a 30-minute drive from Miami, Fort Lauderdale has beautiful beaches, shopping, dining, and great cultural attractions. It also has Gulf Stream horse racing tracks, gambling, and the famous Hard Rock Guitar Hotel. Stroll along the Fort Lauderdale Beach promenade, visit the Bonnet House Museum & Gardens, or take a gondola ride along the city's canals.Biscayne National ParkLocated just south of Miami, Biscayne National Park is perfect for outdoor enthusiasts. You can go snorkeling or diving to explore the park's coral reefs, take a boat tour to see the historic lighthouse on Boca Chita Key, and enjoy spectacular views of the ocean.Wynwood Arts DistrictIf you're interested in art and culture, head to the Wynwood Arts District in Miami. This neighborhood is one of my favorite Miami spots and is known for its colorful street art, murals, galleries, boutiques, and super trendy restaurants and cafes.Coral Gables Coral Gables is a beautiful and upscale neighborhood in Miami, known for its Mediterranean Revival architecture, greenery, and historic landmarks like the Venetian Pool and the Biltmore Hotel. Spend the day exploring the shops and restaurants along Miracle Mile or visiting attractions like the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.How to Stay Safe in MiamiAreas of Miami to Avoid when VisitingHistorically known for its high crime rates, Overtown has seen some revitalization efforts in recent years but still may not be the safest area, especially at night. Liberty City is another neighborhood with a reputation for crime. While Little Havana is vibrant and culturally rich, there are many areas that are not safe, particularly at night. If you want to go, exercise caution and stick to well-lit, populated areas.Avoiding Certain Beaches at NightWhile Miami's beaches are beautiful during the day, most are unsafe after dark. Stick to well-populated areas and avoid isolated or poorly lit beach areas at night.Be Cautious of Scams and Tourist TrapsBe wary of overly aggressive street vendors, "free" tours that require a purchase at the end, and other similar schemes.Be Careful when Driving in Rush Hour TrafficIf possible, avoid driving during peak traffic times to prevent getting stuck in gridlock.Be Vigilant at NightWhile Miami's nightlife is legendary, some areas may be more prone to rowdiness and crime. Exercise caution and be aware of your surroundings, especially if you're out late at night. While Miami does have public transportation options like buses and the Metrorail, they are way less frequent and safe at night. Consider using rideshare services or taxis if you need to travel after dark, but don't get in an unregistered taxi, uber, or Lyft. Ask, "Who are you here for?" Miami can be a fun place to show off, and it's okay in certain areas like Brickell. Anywhere else, I would be extremely careful, and if you are new to the city, I would not wear your extremely fancy items. Cars also get broken into all the time, so do not leave things in your car. Better safe than sorry! In addition, don't take backroads at night.Bars can be safe to go into alone, but many female solo travelers get targeted in Miami, especially in bars and clubs. Don't take a drink from a stranger that you can't see being poured by the bartender. Also, men in Miami can be very aggressive, so be upfront with them and seek help from a bouncer if they will not leave you alone.What to Wear for A Night OutYour attire depends on where you are headed for the night. For clubs in Brickell and even South Beach, Ladies typically wear dresses or skirts and a top with heels, and guys wear nice shoes, buttoned-down short or long-sleeve shirts, and sometimes suits. Some clubs have strict "not too casual" dress code rules. For bars and any event in Wynwood, like a garage party, more casual clothes can be worn (e.g., rompers, shorts and tops, sneakers, and jeans and T-shirts for guys).Miami BeachesBeach Swimming in Miami When it comes to swimming in the waters off Miami's beaches, it's generally safe as long as you adhere to common-sense safety guidelines. While South Florida is known for its shark population, the risk of encountering a shark while swimming is very low. Most sharks are not interested in humans as prey and typically avoid interactions. Additionally, lifeguards and beach patrols in Miami are very vigilant about monitoring the waters and providing warnings or closures if any dangerous marine life is spotted.Favorite Miami BeachesMiami Beach is great for people-watching parties, meeting new people, good food, and all the action. It even has big events like pop up music festivals. For a more relaxed atmosphere, check out Key Biscayne. It is more relaxing, family-oriented, and has a great view of the Miami skyline. However, watch out for the "no-see-ems!" Beach TipsSome beaches, like South Beach, may experience higher theft rates, especially during peak tourist seasons when there are larger crowds. A few tips are to not leave valuables unattended, use lockers if available, and be mindful of your surroundings. Also, remember that local law enforcement and beach management often take measures to address theft. If you can not put items in a locker, do not bring valuables, and if you must bring valuables, like your phone and wallet, you can ask a normal-looking couple to watch them. It is taking a risk, but it has worked for me. Waterproof phone pouches are great for bringing a phone into the ocean. If you go into the water, stay where you can see your items. Do not let yourself drift far if you go into the water.Take the following precautions to ensure your safety while enjoying the beach:Swim in designated areas: Stick to beaches with lifeguards on duty and swim within the marked swimming zones.Avoid swimming alone: It's safer to swim with a buddy or in groups, especially in open waters.Stay alert: Be mindful of your surroundings while in the water and avoid areas with fishing activity or schools of baitfish, as these can attract sharks.Respect marine life: Avoid touching or approaching marine animals, including sharks, stingrays, and jellyfish.Follow beach safety guidelines: Pay attention to warning signs, flags, and instructions from lifeguards regarding water conditions and any potential hazards.Miami HurricanesIf you are visiting Miami when a hurricane hits, follow the steps below.Stay informed: Monitor local news, radio stations, or weather apps for updates on the hurricane's progress, including its projected path, intensity, and any evacuation orders or shelter information.Evacuation orders: Follow any evacuation orders issued by local authorities. Secure your accommodations: If you're staying at a hotel or rental property, inquire about their hurricane preparedness plans and follow any instructions provided by management. They may have protocols in place for guests during a storm.Stock up on supplies: Gather essential supplies such as non-perishable food, water, medications, flashlights, batteries, first aid supplies, and important documents. Ensure you have enough supplies to last several days in case of power outages or limited access to stores.Prepare your belongings: Secure outdoor furniture, decorations, and any other items that could become projectiles in high winds. If you're staying in a rental property, follow any instructions provided by the owner or management on securing the premises.Charge devices: Make sure your cell phone and other electronic devices are fully charged in case of power outages. Consider purchasing portable chargers or external battery packs for backup power.Stay indoors during the storm: Once the hurricane arrives, remain indoors in a safe location away from windows and doors. Follow safety guidelines: Follow any safety guidelines provided by local authorities, such as avoiding flooded areas, staying away from downed power lines, and using caution when venturing outside after the storm has passed.Be prepared for the aftermath: After the hurricane has passed, be prepared for potential flooding, debris, and other hazards. Follow instructions from authorities regarding cleanup efforts and any additional safety precautions.Miami stands as a captivating blend of magic and reality, where the dreams of visionaries like Julia Tuttle collide with the gritty realities of history. From its inception as a fledgling settlement to its evolution into a global destination, Miami's story is one of resilience, diversity, and constant reinvention. While the echoes of the past, including the tumultuous Cocaine Cowboys era, add layers of complexity to its narrative, Miami continues to thrive as a beacon of creativity, opportunity, and cultural fusion. As visitors traverse its vibrant streets, bask on its sun-kissed shores, and immerse themselves in its diverse tapestry of experiences, they discover a city that defies expectations and invites exploration. 

Haunted dolls seems to be a dime a dozen, and can even be found on sale, but for all of the strange phenomena surrounding these creations, surely the most frightening of all, are dolls that are not only haunted, but also the residences of hateful, violent forces that seek to harm or destroy us. (Sinister Accounts of Evil Haunted Dolls) *** A woman who had never experienced anything paranormal, suddenly has odd things happen around her after visiting a spiritualist. (Has Our Home Been Invaded By A Paranormal Entity Since Visiting a Spiritualist?) *** He's tall, he takes over your thoughts and movements – removing all free will. He has several arms… and no face. Slenderman came into being around 2009 – so what were people seeing thousands of years ago that has the same description? (Mystery of the Faceless Creature) *** Between 1986 and 1989, at least eight individuals and possibly an additional four more were killed in the Colonial Parkway area of Virginia. The serial killer has never been found and the Colonial Parkway murders remain unsolved. (The Colonial Parkway Killer) *** It is said that if she is hailed by another ship, her crew will often try to send messages to land or to people long since dead. In ocean lore, the sight of this phantom ship is reckoned by seafarers to be a sign of impending doom. Her name is The Flying Dutchman. (The Legend of the Flying Dutchman) *** The body of a young woman is found floating in the Miami River outside of Dayton, Ohio. The coroner found nothing to indicate violence; the police believed otherwise. Even after digging her body out of the grave twice, there are still questions about what happened. (The Bessie Little Mystery)SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM THE EPISODE…“Sinister Accounts of Evil Haunted Dolls” by Brent Swancer for Mysterious Universe: http://bit.ly/2m5AQor“Mystery of the Faceless Creature – Ancient and Modern Sightings” by Ellen Lloyd for Ancient Pages: http://bit.ly/2lGveAL“The Colonial Parkway Killer” by Jim Harper for Historic Mysteries: http://bit.ly/2kboNW8“The Legend of the Flying Dutchman” posted at Ghost-Story.co.uk: http://bit.ly/2kyNZWD“The Bessie Little Mystery” by Robert Wilhelm for Murder By Gaslight: http://bit.ly/2k5Ixu3“Has Our Home Been Invaded By A Paranormal Entity Since Visiting a Spiritualist?” by Jane Lois Collins, posted at MyHauntedLifeToo.com: http://bit.ly/2k5InmrWeird Darkness theme by Alibi Music Library.= = = = =(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46= = = = =WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2024, Weird Darkness.= = = = =Originally aired: June 19, 2018CUSTOM WEBPAGE: https://weirddarkness.com/slenderman-cursed-dolls-flying-dutchman/

This podcast episode discusses the early history of the Port of Miami. From the first channel dredged by Henry Flagler in 1897 to the move of the port to the Dodge Islands, the overriding theme throughout the history of this most important institution was “Watch the Port of Miami”. What began with the start of steamship service from Royal Palm Docks to transport tourists from Miami to Key West, grew into one of the largest port operations in the nation by the 1930s. When the port moved from the mouth of the Miami River to today's Maurice Ferre Park (aka Bicentennial Park), it was not well received by many of Miami's civic leaders. The fear was that the beauty of the shoreline along the bay would be overtaken by the industrial operations of the port. From the onset, city leaders had a plan to move the port from the shoreline to somewhere else. Finally, beginning in the late-1950s, the Metro Dade County government partnered with the City of Miami to bulkhead and connect the chain of Dodge Islands to create one of the busiest ports in the world. Tune into this week's podcast episode to hear more about the Port of Miami. You can access this episode on your favorite podcast platform (iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Spotify), or listen directly on the Miami-History website. Please remember to click on the subscribe button and to provide a rating and comment on any of the aforementioned platforms.

Lograron sus tronos a fuerza de crímenes atroces, ilegalidades evidentes, aberraciones colosales, masacres rampantes, acciones miserables, saqueos ruines y robos categóricos. ECDQEMSD podcast episodio 5516 Coronación Conducen: El Pirata y El Sr. Lagartija https://canaltrans.com Noticias Del Mundo:  El rey Carlos III - Gabriel Boric atrapado por el tobogán - Fin de la emergencia internacional - Canelo ganó y el Checo segundo en Miami - River le ganó a Boca y hubo batalla - Nápoles de fiesta - Las opiniones de Robert Smith y Nick Cave - El club de la F1 Historias Desintegradas:  Tragos en la azotea - El Gazpacho - Que asco, me encantó - Recorriendo USA en automóvil - Vivir en cuatro ruedas - En Albuquerque y sin batería - Servicio de carretera - Caminando por el desierto - Gadget en el supermercado - Noco GB 40 power - Montevideo poliamoroso - Autosatisfacción geriátrica - The Sound of Silence - No jugar con piedras - Cruz y Media Luna Roja - La batalla de Solferino y más... https://www.canaltrans.com/ecdqemsd_podcast_2023/5516_coronacion.html En Caso De Que El Mundo Se Desintegre Podcast no tiene publicidad, sponsors ni organizaciones que aporten para mantenerlo al aire. Solo el sistema cooperativo de los que aportan a través de las suscripciones hacen posible que todo esto siga siendo una realidad. Gracias Dragones Dorados: https://www.canaltrans.com/radio/suscripciones.html

River Roamin' with the Tillerys goes south for February and get two more rivers done.

This podcast episode features the different Dade County courthouses that were located in the City of Miami from the formation of the county. Dade County was created in 1836 and the county seat resided in Indian Key, along the banks of the Miami River, and in Juno, until a county-wide vote placed it in the City of Miami in 1899. The first county courthouse in Miami was located in a two-story building on the east side of Avenue D, the future South Miami Avenue, from 1899 until 1904. The first courthouse located on Twelfth Street, the future Flagler Street, opened in 1904 and was expected to accommodate the county's business for fifty years. However, the growth of the county required a larger courthouse by the mid-1920s. Today's Dade County courthouse was opened on September 6, 1928, but will soon be replaced by a new structure being constructed just west of the current building.

Donate to the OVERCOMING THE DARKNESS fundraiser at https://weirddarkness.com/hope. Find Weird Darkness wherever you listen to podcasts: https://linktr.ee/weirddarkness. #paranormal #truestories #paranormalstories #ghoststories #horrorstories #truecrime #cryptidsJoin the weekly LISTEN & CHAT on Tuesdays 8pm ET / 11pm PT at https://KCORRadio.com! IN THIS EPISODE: A woman who had never experienced anything paranormal, suddenly has odd things happen around her after visiting a spiritualist. (Has Our Home Been Invaded By A Paranormal Entity Since Visiting a Spiritualist?) *** He's tall, he takes over your thoughts and movements – removing all free will. He has several arms… and no face. Slenderman came into being around 2009 – so what were people seeing thousands of years ago that has the same description? (Mystery of the Faceless Creature) *** Between 1986 and 1989, at least eight individuals and possibly an additional four more were killed in the Colonial Parkway area of Virginia. The serial killer has never been found and the Colonial Parkway murders remain unsolved. (The Colonial Parkway Killer) *** It is said that if she is hailed by another ship, her crew will often try to send messages to land or to people long since dead. In ocean lore, the sight of this phantom ship is reckoned by seafarers to be a sign of impending doom. Her name is The Flying Dutchman. (The Legend of the Flying Dutchman) *** The body of a young woman is found floating in the Miami River outside of Dayton, Ohio. The coroner found nothing to indicate violence; the police believed otherwise. Even after digging her body out of the grave twice, there are still questions about what happened. (The Bessie Little Mystery) *** Haunted dolls seems to be a dime a dozen, and can even be found on sale, but for all of the strange phenomena surrounding these creations, surely the most frightening of all, are dolls that are not only haunted, but also the residences of hateful, violent forces that seek to harm or destroy us. (Sinister Accounts of Evil Haunted Dolls) SOURCES AND ESSENTIAL WEB LINKS…“Sinister Accounts of Evil Haunted Dolls” by Brent Swancer for Mysterious Universe: http://bit.ly/2m5AQor “Mystery of the Faceless Creature – Ancient and Modern Sightings” by Ellen Lloyd for Ancient Pages: http://bit.ly/2lGveAL “The Colonial Parkway Killer” by Jim Harper for Historic Mysteries: http://bit.ly/2kboNW8 “The Legend of the Flying Dutchman” posted at Ghost-Story.co.uk: http://bit.ly/2kyNZWD “The Bessie Little Mystery” by Robert Wilhelm for Murder By Gaslight: http://bit.ly/2k5Ixu3 “Has Our Home Been Invaded By A Paranormal Entity Since Visiting a Spiritualist?” by Jane Lois Collins, posted at MyHauntedLifeToo.com: http://bit.ly/2k5Inmr = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =Weird Darkness theme by Alibi Music Library. Background music provided by Alibi Music Library, EpidemicSound and/or StoryBlocks with paid license. Music from Shadows Symphony (https://tinyurl.com/yyrv987t), Midnight Syndicate (http://amzn.to/2BYCoXZ), Kevin MacLeod (https://tinyurl.com/y2v7fgbu), Tony Longworth (https://tinyurl.com/y2nhnbt7), and Nicolas Gasparini (https://tinyurl.com/lnqpfs8) is used with permission of the artists.= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46Trademark, Weird Darkness®, 2022. Copyright Weird Darkness©, 2022.= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Paddlefest was cancelled but the tournament was great

In this episode, Oscar interviews Miami Herald editor Curtis Morgan. Curtis is one of the best known environmental journalists in Florida. He has been a reporter or editor directing environmental coverage for close to 30 years. He'a also an avie fisherman that grew up fishing the sea grass flats around South Florida, often taking a 14-foot boat when he was a teenager out into the Gulfstream current.  Since that time, he's come to know the issues affecting the health of the everglades, Florida Bay and Biscayne bay intimately. He talks about the long gone Miami River rapids; the foolish decision by local leaders to dump almost all of South Florida's partially treated raw sewage a mile and a half from Miami's world-renown beaches; and the hopes for bringing back some of the lost beauty through everglades and Biscayne bay restoration.

  We cover a great deal of terra firma in this podcast, but not so much as on of the rivers and streams of the Panhandle and Florida peninsula along with the outlying islands. These bodies of water had an outsized impact on the conduct and campaigning of the Seminole Wars. As fortune has it, Doug Alderson has that covered for us. He podcasted with us previously about his Seminole Trail of Florida smart travel guide. He returns this week to connect river composition and range in its various arteries, veins and cataracts, to use by Seminoles and Soldiers in this long conflict. In Florida's Rivers: A Celebration of Over 40 of the Sunshine State's Dynamic Waterways, Doug examines the big rivers, the clear streams and the muddy waters of Florida.   In Florida's Rivers: A Celebration of Over 40 of the Sunshine State's Dynamic Waterways, Doug examines the big rivers, the clear streams and the muddy outcrops. In this podcast, he takes us to the rivers that featured so prominently in this war. We discuss the Apalachicola River and the hot shot that destroyed the Negro Fort at Prospect Bluff. We consider the Hillsborough River, where Major Dade and his men forded the waters after Seminole burned the bridge across its span, and travel to the peninsula's tip to where Colonel Harney encountered Spanish Seminole Indians at the Miami River. He does this and still finds time to cover battles and skirmishes for most everything else in between. Then, Doug teases a look at the Florida coastline for further exploration on this topic.   Courtesy photos from Doug Alderson   Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast catcher, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ... Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!

WADE ALLYN FASHION COLLECTION DEBUT AT SCOTTISH RITE BUILDING The WADE ALLYN fashion collection by designer Wade Hallock debuted with a private runway show at the Scottish Rite Building near the Miami River. The late 1920s Deco Aztec landmark was transformed by Hallock into a spring fashion wonderland, complete with flowering cherry blossom trees and flattering ...

The top headlines from the Miami Herald for Feb. 11-14 including the latest on Valentine's Day flowers, a new Rusty Pelican on the Miami River, UM football podcast, the Haitian marketplace in Miami's Little Haiti, the new Miami-Dade schools superintendent.

The top headlines from the Miami Herald through Dec. 22 including the latest on a new Miami River hotel, Miley Cyrus in Miami for New Year's Eve on NBC, Duke Johnson and the Miami Dolphins, COVID on a cruise, Greg Cote podcast with Dave Barry.

On this week's episode of Hell Has an Exit Bryan invites Berta R. to tell one of the most potentially shocking and horrifying stories on the podcast so far.  Listen to this incredible episode and take this unbelievable journey to hell and back involving the following: ◦Being kidnapped at 4 yrs old  ◦Forced to take IV Drugs to perform as a sex slave ◦Being bagged and thrown into the Miami River in a potato sack  ◦Returning home & being sexually abused by her brother  ◦Not being permitted to talk about being kidnapped at home ◦Encountering her captive years later & catching an attempted murder charge ◦Miami Drug Cartels  ◦Becoming a millionaire  ◦Sexual assault & false accusations ◦Solitary confinement ◦25 years clean & relapsing ◦Addicted and homeless  ◦College degrees, & helping others ◦The 12 steps, therapy & a new life Watch the full video interview available on Youtube. Audio podcast available on all platforms  Link in Bio. For more information, please visit unitedrecoveryproject.com or call  tel: 833-999-1877 Follow on Instagram & Twitter @hellhasanexit @united_recovery @dbpodcasts Produced by dppodcast.com Music by Miles M. Davis.

The top headline from the Miami Herald for Thursday including the latest on the return of the Mai Kai restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, new retail on the Miami River, a new restaurant on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami, mask mandates at schools.

Season 2 Episode 657/13/21We installed a 5 Star tuner. These tuners plug into your computer port on the engine under the dashboard and they set the engine settings to ones that are more economical and powerful. I looked into them and was surprised at the price. So I did some homework. I found this video of a company testing them and was very impressed. https://youtu.be/z9N5M2WhIiI So we took a Gamble we ordered our tuner. This is a phenomenal product. We love it. Here is a link to the tuner.https://amzn.to/3jEGytb I believe there is a disproportionate amount of high school bullies on RVing social media groups. It's such a shame.On June 21st we left for a trip to Indiana. We have fallen in love with Goshen and Shipshewana. In spite of being near Thor, smh.We've been there a few times, but always for Thor issues, but never for fun. And we haven't been to southern Indiana before so that's the reason for this trip.We drove 3 hours to Fantasy Island Campground in Sunbury PAhttps://maps.app.goo.gl/pG75MDBbyqDRXqJYA . which is a Passport America location so we got it for $22.50/night, now that's stress management.Sunbury, eh. But we found a BYOB pool hall, so that's where we spent the evening.the next day we drove three and a half hours to cook Forest State Park in Pennsylvania. Which is another passport America location. This one was $20 per night with electric and water. If you send me an email I can email you back a discount code the next time Passport America offers one, which they periodically. So where we are is in between Cooks Forest State Park in siskawana state forest. The North end of Susquehanna State Forest we knew there was snowmobiling up there and we didn't realize how close we are to “up there”. We then drove to Fremont Ohio. We stayed at a boondock Welcome location that we had stayed previously. Today is my birthday and my 3 yr anniversary of being retired, yay ! After dinner we went to Chateau Tebeau a winery we had visited 2.5yrs ago. We saw 2 fantastic musicians playing. The next day we packed up and drove to Goshen Indiana. When we got into Indiana we went to Shipshewana and stocked up on meats and other foods. This was the purpose of this trip. We love the prices and quality of meats found at Yoder's https://yodersmeatandcheese.com/ Our next stop was at our BoonDockersWelcome host located in Goshen Indiana. We met Rick and Amy and got setup. They offered 30 amp electric which we gladly accepted being it was in the 90s. On the way there, we went past a bunch of RV manufacturers and saw thousands of new RVs in their parking lots. We mentioned this to our host Rick and he explained those are rigs that have been built but are waiting for certain items to be installed like air conditioners or Windows. A lot of the items are on backorder so the rigs are just sitting there and this is what's creating the backlog of deliveries at RV dealers. The next day we took a ride to Bontragers. This is a great RV surplus parts store that is super inexpensive. https://bontragers.com/ That evening we went to dinner at Goshen Brewery in Goshen Indiana https://goshenbrewing.com/ with our hosts. The next day we did some walking in Middlebury IN. We found a small park with a walking path following a stream which gave us us a nice break from the 90 degree temp. We then passed a furniture store which had a coffee sign, so we went in and had a fantastic lunch. https://m.facebook.com/TheLegendaryGrind/ We then visited Linton's Enchanted Garden https://www.lintons.com/ The next day we said goodbye to our hosts. We then drove South to Speedway Campground. OMG !! This was the worst Campground we have ever seen. We pulled in and the mud to get in prohibited the RV from driving into the campground. TRhere was no electric but he offered a generator, we then left and went to the KOA of Indianapolis. I took advantage of the splash pool and we did laundry. The next day we went into Indianapolis and parked near the city market. Trish found a canal path so we walked from the city market to the canal path. We stopped for a snack at an Italian cafe right on the canal. Here are some of our pics on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CQwGzuzMheE/?utm_medium=copy_link We then walked to The Garage which has various restaurants for dinner. https://www.garageindy.com/chapatibeta We packed up and we left the next morning for West Milton Ohio. We plugged our surge protector in and it would not turn on. so I contacted the company and they are sending me a free replacement, as it does have a lifetime warrenty. Heres a link to the Progressive Industries EMS PT30 amp EMS. https://amzn.to/3klhEzf We found a place that can shuttle our kayak. So we paddled for an hour or so on the Miami River in Ohio. After that we visited Charleston falls preserve and we're pleasantly surprised. Couple of waterfalls cave sheer Rock cliffs beautiful hiking paths.The next day we went to Aliquippa, Pa. another BDW location. We were here for 2 nights and visited Pittsburgh, Pa. the next day. 1st we went to Canton Ave which is the steepest street in the continental United States. It has a 37% grade. We drove up is with the jeep. We then went to Schenley Park. Who walked from one end of the park to the other which took almost a half hour. He then had lunch at a place in the park called The Porch https://www.dineattheporch.com/schenley/menu The next day we drove about 3 hours East and arrived at our passport of America Campground which is ye olde grist Mill Campground in burnt cabins Pennsylvania. Because of Passport America we got the campground for half price water and electric for $22 a night. We had installed a curtain separating the cab area and the coach area and this curtain helped keep the rig cooler so much. Here's a link to the video on the curtain https://youtu.be/m17giRxNVs0 The next day we took a ride over to Gowans Gap State park. Very nice. The next day onto the road again for a 3-hour ride to pick up Trish's grandson in New Jersey and headed over to Old cedar Campground in Monroeville New Jersey. We had stayed here about a month ago with Trish's grandson, this will be his 1st 2 night stay with us. The weather was hot ! So we got a lot of use out if their pool. It was a nice few days if fishing, swimming, playing chess and pool. A perfect way to end our 2 and half week trip. So what do you do to help manage your stress? Do you know someone who would benefit from listening to a stress mange exercise? I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at https://relaxrv.org/stressed-2-2/stressed-2/ If that ain't your thing I made some videos about the improvements I mentioned and I posted them on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA Or you can watch them on https://relaxrv.org/videos-the-good-the-bad-and-the-modifications/ Boondockers Welcome: Here's a discount to Boondockers Welcome, when you join use the coupon code (RELAXRV) to save 10% off your membership fee.http://www.boondockerswelcome.com Harvest Hosts:Here's a discount link to Harvest Hosts, when you use it, you'll save 15% off of their annual membership fee. http://harvesthosts.refr.cc/relaxrv AND Use Code HHFRIENDS15 at Checkout!Here's a link to my RelaxRVPodcast Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Relax-RV-277623782811787/ I'm on Instagram as @relaxrvpodcast https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=hsxp0gjpugbz&utm_content=5h4872a My podcast can be found at https://www.spreaker.com/show/relax-rv-podcast Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something from one of our affiliates, we receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Thanks for helping to keep our podcast running!

Season 2 Episode 657/13/21We installed a 5 Star tuner. These tuners plug into your computer port on the engine under the dashboard and they set the engine settings to ones that are more economical and powerful. I looked into them and was surprised at the price. So I did some homework. I found this video of a company testing them and was very impressed. https://youtu.be/z9N5M2WhIiI So we took a Gamble we ordered our tuner. This is a phenomenal product. We love it. Here is a link to the tuner.https://amzn.to/3jEGytb I believe there is a disproportionate amount of high school bullies on RVing social media groups. It's such a shame.On June 21st we left for a trip to Indiana. We have fallen in love with Goshen and Shipshewana. In spite of being near Thor, smh.We've been there a few times, but always for Thor issues, but never for fun. And we haven't been to southern Indiana before so that's the reason for this trip.We drove 3 hours to Fantasy Island Campground in Sunbury PAhttps://maps.app.goo.gl/pG75MDBbyqDRXqJYA . which is a Passport America location so we got it for $22.50/night, now that's stress management.Sunbury, eh. But we found a BYOB pool hall, so that's where we spent the evening.the next day we drove three and a half hours to cook Forest State Park in Pennsylvania. Which is another passport America location. This one was $20 per night with electric and water. If you send me an email I can email you back a discount code the next time Passport America offers one, which they periodically. So where we are is in between Cooks Forest State Park in siskawana state forest. The North end of Susquehanna State Forest we knew there was snowmobiling up there and we didn't realize how close we are to “up there”. We then drove to Fremont Ohio. We stayed at a boondock Welcome location that we had stayed previously. Today is my birthday and my 3 yr anniversary of being retired, yay ! After dinner we went to Chateau Tebeau a winery we had visited 2.5yrs ago. We saw 2 fantastic musicians playing. The next day we packed up and drove to Goshen Indiana. When we got into Indiana we went to Shipshewana and stocked up on meats and other foods. This was the purpose of this trip. We love the prices and quality of meats found at Yoder's https://yodersmeatandcheese.com/ Our next stop was at our BoonDockersWelcome host located in Goshen Indiana. We met Rick and Amy and got setup. They offered 30 amp electric which we gladly accepted being it was in the 90s. On the way there, we went past a bunch of RV manufacturers and saw thousands of new RVs in their parking lots. We mentioned this to our host Rick and he explained those are rigs that have been built but are waiting for certain items to be installed like air conditioners or Windows. A lot of the items are on backorder so the rigs are just sitting there and this is what's creating the backlog of deliveries at RV dealers. The next day we took a ride to Bontragers. This is a great RV surplus parts store that is super inexpensive. https://bontragers.com/ That evening we went to dinner at Goshen Brewery in Goshen Indiana https://goshenbrewing.com/ with our hosts. The next day we did some walking in Middlebury IN. We found a small park with a walking path following a stream which gave us us a nice break from the 90 degree temp. We then passed a furniture store which had a coffee sign, so we went in and had a fantastic lunch. https://m.facebook.com/TheLegendaryGrind/ We then visited Linton's Enchanted Garden https://www.lintons.com/ The next day we said goodbye to our hosts. We then drove South to Speedway Campground. OMG !! This was the worst Campground we have ever seen. We pulled in and the mud to get in prohibited the RV from driving into the campground. TRhere was no electric but he offered a generator, we then left and went to the KOA of Indianapolis. I took advantage of the splash pool and we did laundry. The next day we went into Indianapolis and parked near the city market. Trish found a canal path so we walked from the city market to the canal path. We stopped for a snack at an Italian cafe right on the canal. Here are some of our pics on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CQwGzuzMheE/?utm_medium=copy_link We then walked to The Garage which has various restaurants for dinner. https://www.garageindy.com/chapatibeta We packed up and we left the next morning for West Milton Ohio. We plugged our surge protector in and it would not turn on. so I contacted the company and they are sending me a free replacement, as it does have a lifetime warrenty. Heres a link to the Progressive Industries EMS PT30 amp EMS. https://amzn.to/3klhEzf We found a place that can shuttle our kayak. So we paddled for an hour or so on the Miami River in Ohio. After that we visited Charleston falls preserve and we're pleasantly surprised. Couple of waterfalls cave sheer Rock cliffs beautiful hiking paths.The next day we went to Aliquippa, Pa. another BDW location. We were here for 2 nights and visited Pittsburgh, Pa. the next day. 1st we went to Canton Ave which is the steepest street in the continental United States. It has a 37% grade. We drove up is with the jeep. We then went to Schenley Park. Who walked from one end of the park to the other which took almost a half hour. He then had lunch at a place in the park called The Porch https://www.dineattheporch.com/schenley/menu The next day we drove about 3 hours East and arrived at our passport of America Campground which is ye olde grist Mill Campground in burnt cabins Pennsylvania. Because of Passport America we got the campground for half price water and electric for $22 a night. We had installed a curtain separating the cab area and the coach area and this curtain helped keep the rig cooler so much. Here's a link to the video on the curtain https://youtu.be/m17giRxNVs0 The next day we took a ride over to Gowans Gap State park. Very nice. The next day onto the road again for a 3-hour ride to pick up Trish's grandson in New Jersey and headed over to Old cedar Campground in Monroeville New Jersey. We had stayed here about a month ago with Trish's grandson, this will be his 1st 2 night stay with us. The weather was hot ! So we got a lot of use out if their pool. It was a nice few days if fishing, swimming, playing chess and pool. A perfect way to end our 2 and half week trip. So what do you do to help manage your stress? Do you know someone who would benefit from listening to a stress mange exercise? I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at https://relaxrv.org/stressed-2-2/stressed-2/ If that ain't your thing I made some videos about the improvements I mentioned and I posted them on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA Or you can watch them on https://relaxrv.org/videos-the-good-the-bad-and-the-modifications/ Boondockers Welcome: Here's a discount to Boondockers Welcome, when you join use the coupon code (RELAXRV) to save 10% off your membership fee.http://www.boondockerswelcome.com Harvest Hosts:Here's a discount link to Harvest Hosts, when you use it, you'll save 15% off of their annual membership fee. http://harvesthosts.refr.cc/relaxrv AND Use Code HHFRIENDS15 at Checkout!Here's a link to my RelaxRVPodcast Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Relax-RV-277623782811787/ I'm on Instagram as @relaxrvpodcast https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=hsxp0gjpugbz&utm_content=5h4872a My podcast can be found at https://www.spreaker.com/show/relax-rv-podcast Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something from one of our affiliates, we receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Thanks for helping to keep our podcast running!

Join us this week as we discuss community engagement, event planning, and the hottest spots in Loveland. Tune in to hear the Disney character Meredith identifies with, the answer may surprise you!Special thanks to Meredith with LMRCA. She can be reached at:meredith@lmrchamberalliance.orgHosted by Nick Winnenberg and engineered by Alex Winnenberg with BergTech Media. http://lmrchamberalliance.org/

SLENDERMAN, CURSED DOLLS, THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, and More Paranormal Stories! #WeirdDarknessPlease SHARE Weird Darkness with someone who loves paranormal stories, true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries like you do! Recommending the show to others helps make it possible for me to keep doing the show!IN THIS DARKIVE EPISODE WITH STORIES FROM JUNE 2018: A woman who had never experienced anything paranormal, suddenly has odd things happen around her after visiting a spiritualist. (Has Our Home Been Invaded By A Paranormal Entity Since Visiting a Spiritualist?) *** He's tall, he takes over your thoughts and movements – removing all free will. He has several arms… and no face. Slenderman came into being around 2009 – so what were people seeing thousands of years ago that has the same description? (Mystery of the Faceless Creature) *** Between 1986 and 1989, at least eight individuals and possibly an additional four more were killed in the Colonial Parkway area of Virginia. The serial killer has never been found and the Colonial Parkway murders remain unsolved. (The Colonial Parkway Killer) *** It is said that if she is hailed by another ship, her crew will often try to send messages to land or to people long since dead. In ocean lore, the sight of this phantom ship is reckoned by seafarers to be a sign of impending doom. Her name is The Flying Dutchman. (The Legend of the Flying Dutchman) *** The body of a young woman is found floating in the Miami River outside of Dayton, Ohio. The coroner found nothing to indicate violence; the police believed otherwise. Even after digging her body out of the grave twice, there are still questions about what happened. (The Bessie Little Mystery) *** Haunted dolls seems to be a dime a dozen, and can even be found on sale, but for all of the strange phenomena surrounding these creations, surely the most frightening of all, are dolls that are not only haunted, but also the residences of hateful, violent forces that seek to harm or destroy us. (Sinister Accounts of Evil Haunted Dolls) SOURCES AND ESSENTIAL WEB LINKS…“Sinister Accounts of Evil Haunted Dolls” by Brent Swancer: http://bit.ly/2m5AQor “Mystery of the Faceless Creature – Ancient and Modern Sightings” by Ellen Lloyd: http://bit.ly/2lGveAL “The Colonial Parkway Killer” by Jim Harper: http://bit.ly/2kboNW8 “The Legend of the Flying Dutchman”: http://bit.ly/2kyNZWD “The Bessie Little Mystery” by Robert Wilhelm: http://bit.ly/2k5Ixu3 “Has Our Home Been Invaded By A Paranormal Entity Since Visiting a Spiritualist?” by Jane Lois Collins: http://bit.ly/2k5Inmr Weird Darkness theme by Alibi Music Library. Background music, varying by episode, provided by Alibi Music, EpidemicSound and/or AudioBlocks with paid license. Music from Shadows Symphony: https://tinyurl.com/yyrv987t, Midnight Syndicate: http://amzn.to/2BYCoXZ, Kevin MacLeod: https://tinyurl.com/y2v7fgbu, Tony Longworth: https://tinyurl.com/y2nhnbt7, and/or Nicolas Gasparini/Myuu: https://tinyurl.com/lnqpfs8 is used with permission. 

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =WANT TO ADVERTISE ON WEIRD DARKNESS?Weird Darkness has partnered with AdvertiseCast to handle our advertising/sponsorship requests. They're great to work with and will help you advertise on the show. Email sales@advertisecast.com or start the process now at https://weirddarkness.com/advertise = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46Find out how to escape eternal darkness at https://weirddarkness.com/eternaldarkness WeirdDarkness™ - is a registered trademark. Copyright ©Weird Darkness 2021.= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =00:41:07.393, 00:55:47.214, HONEY= 00:53:16.822

In this Episode 24, I talk about my town and Memorial Day; my wife and I visited a park near the Little Miami River; my post Breakthrough FPT launch news and more. Link to Podcast: https://anchor.fm/james-sancimino/episodes/James-No-Stress-Podcast24---Memorial-Day-in-Springboro-Little-Miami-River-Post-Product-Launch-News-e12d3p8 Link to the YT Video: https://youtu.be/zSnIP1Ph3LI Link to Vimeo Video: https://vimeo.com/560404633 Link to Blog Post: https://wp.me/pbvNqZ-vh Link to Breakthrough FPT Sales Page: https://www.clkmg.com/23wvco/brkthrufpt1 Link to John Thornhill's P2S Webinar: https://www.clkmg.com/23wvco/autoss Keep in touch: https://anchor.fm/james-sancimino http://jamessancimino.com https://jamessancimino.online https://www.facebook.com/jamesa.sancimino https://www.facebook.com/groups/jamessanciminosmastermindgroup/ https://www.facebook.com/websitesdoneright/ Youtube Channel: https://jamessancimino.com/ytchannel

The Underline, a 10-mile linear park, urban trail and public arts destination, will meander from the Miami River to Dadeland South under the Miami Metrorail. With its first section, "Brickell Backyard" newly opened, Meg Daly, Founder and President of Friends of the Underline, talks with Lea about Miami's past, present and future.-- Lea and Meg both grew up in  the Miami area a generation apart. Lea remembers Miami Beach of the past 50 years: no air conditioning, the airport not much more than a hangar, mosquitos sprayed from above with DDT, and much more.-- Meg tells of growing up in an activist family in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables, in a vintage Spanish-style house. Her family came from Boston in 1960 and was active in keeping the gorgeous Biltmore Hotel from being destroyed. -- At the beginning of the Millennium, when Miami still did not have a cultural center, Meg's father, Parker Thompson, who would later help plan The Underline, was involved in developing the Arsht Performing Arts center. It influenced an arts scene including museums, Art Basel, Wynwood, and new neighborhoods designed by great architects, spawning great restaurants.-- Along with progress came heavy traffic  -- and that is where The Underline comes in, bringing us a 10-mile linear park by 2025, leading to a network of parks and trails with native plants, butterflies,  places to connect --"it equals life!"-- Meg talks about the first section completed, "Brickell Backyard," from the Miami River through Brickell Village.-- And the four thousand new trees and green design will help Miami get through climate change.And last, Meg remembers how she conceived of The Underline --combining past, present and future in an engrossing memory._____Meg Daly is a full-time volunteer, Founder and President of Friends of The Underline,  transforming the underutilized land below Miami’s Metrorail into a 120-acre linear park, urban trail and public art destination spanning 10-miles in the urban core. (www.theunderline.org).   A 30-year sales and marketing veteran, she held executive marketing and management positions in the television, public relations, advertising, technology, and real estate industries. Meg has a BA in English from Vanderbilt University and has served on numerous philanthropic boards. _____Podcast host Lea Lane has traveled to over 100 countries, written many travel books, including Places I Remember, and has contributed to dozens of guidebooks. She's @lealane on Twitter and  blogs about travel at forbes.com  Contact her at placesirememberlealane.com.______Please follow  Places I Remember with Lea Lane wherever you listen to podcasts, and review it on Apple! New travel episodes every Tuesday.

The name Brickell has become synonymous with the upscale financial district located on the southside of the Miami River. However, long before the name became a brand for an important quarter near downtown Miami, it was the surname of a prominent family that settled southside when the area was a sparsely populated outpost and long before it became what it is today. Those who are familiar with the story of the Brickell family may know their role in the formation of the city of Miami but may not be familiar with their story prior to arriving in Miami. It was a serendipitous journey to Australia that led William Brickell into great wealth, but also led him to find his wife. While Mary and Bill Brickell met and married in Australia, it was ultimately their journey to the wilderness along the Miami River that cast the family in a leading role in the formation of the Magic City.

In this episode of Fresh Art’s Fall 2020 Student Edition,  University of Miami students Diana Borras and Kurt Gessler discover sacred land hiding in plain sight at the heart of Miami’s business district. Carib Tribal Queen Catherine Hummingbird Ramirez has come to meet them at the  sacred Native American site known as the Miami Circle. Ramirez has come to share her concerns about the ongoing impact of urban development. The Miami Circle: In 1998, an archaeological investigation at the mouth of the Miami River uncovered evidence of a 2,000 year-old Native American site on land once occupied by the Brickell Point Apartments.  Now known as the Miami Circle, the Tequesta site consists of a circle over 35 feet in diameter with about 20 basins and hundreds of smaller postholes. Many consider the Miami Circle a North American “Stonehenge.” Producers: Diana Borras and Kurt Gessler/Miami Moves Me, Jahné King/FreshArtINTL Sound Editor: Anamnesis Audio Related Episodes: Miami Moves Me/Miami Circle, Fresh Art Student Edition, Fresh Voices Miami, Culture Making in Downtown Miami Related Links: Miami Moves Me Podcast, Tequesta Artifacts, Miami Circle, Fresh Art Distance Learning Guide

The Little Miami is home to some strange things like the Loveland Frogmen or the haunted Loveland Castle. Here are some stories from the area and a few farther away.

  BE SURE TO SEE THE SHOWNOTES AND LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE HERE.   Eve Picker: [00:00:15] Hi there. Thanks so much for joining me today for the latest episode of Impact Real Estate Investing.   Eve Picker: [00:00:21] My guest today is Avra Jain, co-founder of the Vagabond Group. With a career path that has taken her from bond trading on Wall Street to developing properties along some of Miami's trendiest streets, Avra has earned a reputation for identifying the next IT neighborhood. Her remake of The Vagabond Hotel on Biscayne Boulevard in the historic MiMo District of Miami changed the course of that neighborhood forever.   Eve: [00:00:58] Be sure to go to evepicker.com to find out more about Avra on the show notes page for this episode. And be sure to sign up for my newsletter so you can access information about impact real estate investing and get the latest news about the exciting projects on my crowdfunding platform, Small change.   Eve: [00:01:23] Hi Avra. Thank you so much for being on my show.   Avra Jain: [00:01:27] Thanks so much.   Eve: [00:01:28] Very nice to be here, yeah. I love this quote from your website, which says, "We operate from the perspective as storytellers, allowing history to take center stage and create a genuine sense of place". And I would really love you to tell us a little about what that means.   Avra: [00:01:46] Well, that really has come from the work that we've done. We, kind of, we got there. We, I'd like to think there were people that actually, sort of, do it and then rather than talk about it. So, I can say that that actually, actually came from the work that we're doing. My team is three architects, one of which was, has a master’s in historic preservation. And so, when we start a project, or we do a project, the first thing that we do is that we study the history of the community, of the buildings themselves, architecturally, culturally. And so, we always sort of start from the story. And if there isn't a story, we don't do the project.   Eve: [00:02:36] Oh, interesting.   Avra: [00:02:37] Yeah, so we actually, so that quote really came from how we really operate. So that's a real reflection of the work.   Eve: [00:02:48] So what sort of stories do you look for?   Avra: [00:02:52] You know, it varies. So, in Miami there's a section of, there's a historic strip from the 1950s and 60s called MiMo which stands for Miami mid-century modern. So, there's a boulevard, Biscayne Boulevard, which used to be US1. So, if you were driving down post-World War Two in your 57 Chevy and you were going to Miami, the Magic City, you would have driven on US1 or Biscayne Boulevard. And there is a section that had these old 50s and 60s motels and, you know, with a big neon signs, and so, we came up here, one of the projects, larger projects that we did, that we're known for is the preservation work. When we renovated the Vagabond Motel to Vagabond Boutique Hotel. And that was the tipping point for the historic boulevard. So, we bought about 10. The neighborhood at the time was all drugs and prostitution. And, you know, it had been a neighborhood that you would've just driven right through with, you know, the shades down next to the baby seat, you know, but there were some spectacular, you know, vintage mid-century architecture, which I know you're an architect so you can appreciate.   Eve: [00:04:17] Yeah, I know. I took a look on your website. They are stunning.   Avra: [00:04:21] Yeah. So well, these were buildings that were up for demolition. And they were in disrepair, you know, SWAT teams were coming in once a month to empty them out because of, you know, drugs and things that would go on. And so, we knew that in order to, and this was a neighborhood that used to be Main Street, Biscayne Boulevard used to be Main Street. If you couldn't afford to stay at the Eden Roc or the Fountain Blue, you would've stayed at the Vagabond. Same architect that did the very famous Delanoe Hotel on Miami Beach. So, we knew what it once was. So, it was about, you know, bringing it back. There are other times when we actually, you know, neighborhoods, right, where we go into warehouse districts and create neighborhoods. This was a neighborhood that was so all we do was bring it back. And there was actually some really affluent neighborhoods nearby and surrounding neighborhoods that were also original from the 1930s and 40s. So, it was really a beautiful project to do both architecturally and for what it did for the community. The thesis was, if we bought enough of these motels that were 20 dollars an hour, you know, sixty dollars a night. The hotel that we bought next to Vagabond, in the lobby the sign said: "no refunds after five minutes". And it originally said ten minutes and they whited it out. That was the neighborhood and so we bought six of these old motels. A couple of them were abandoned and the rest of them we shut down. What happened was we thought is, if you shut down where people were actually doing these bad things, could the neighborhood find itself again? And it did.   Eve: [00:06:20] What gave you the courage to do that? And what sort of resistance did you feel for these projects?   Avra: [00:06:28] Oh, no resistance. Oh, my gosh. The city was like, the mayor, you know, we when we opened the Vagabond, we had nine hundred people. Everybody, all the arts, everybody. It was like a really big deal. This was, you know...   Eve: [00:06:40] I suppose I meant from the point of view of, because opening is easy. But what about the financing? I mean, how easy....   Avra: [00:06:47] Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I was going to say, we had no community resistance. In fact, people continually thank us all the time. But the resistance, yeah, sure financing, couldn't get any.   Eve: [00:06:58] Yeah, I'm sure.   Avra: [00:07:00] Yeah, no, I mean you know, you've done this enough times, Eve. So in fact even my traditional real estate investors, I had done a lot of adapted use in New York City and other places and a lot of my investors which go all the way back, you know, twenty five years to New York City, even some of them were like, ah, you've done a lot of crazy things, but they just could not get past the working girl on the corner. They couldn't get past it. They could not see the architecture. They could not see, they couldn't see the history, they just couldn't see it. They couldn't believe that it would come back. And so, a lot of, in this particular case, a lot of the money for that particular project was myself and my partners, you know, my spouse. I mean, we put up, I'd say 40, 50 percent of the money. So, it was really a cash project. But we found some very clever financing opportunities, financial opportunities. So, we did, I did my homework. I always tell people, you know, part of real estate is doing your homework. Understanding zoning, understanding the community and doing the outreach. Understanding building codes, a lot of homework. Well, I'd done my homework and I knew that there had been an ordinance set up in 2010, where you could sell development rights for historic properties. So, you know, in New York City, we knew that we could do this. We call them transferable development rights.   Eve: [00:08:32] Right. I'm very familiar with them. Yeah.   Avra: [00:08:34] So in Miami, for this particular strip, because it was historic, they down zoned it, meaning they limited, they did a height restriction of 35 feet. They took away buildable rights for the property owners. In exchange for doing that, they offered the property owners the ability to sell those development rights. So, floor area ratio, you know how much you could build. And then later they adopted a policy that also allowed you to sell the density. Like how many apartments you could build. The number of doors we call it, right? So, I was able to arbitrage that and the value of the transferable development rights for the Vagabond was three million dollars.   Eve: [00:09:24] Wow.   [00:09:25] And the purpose of those development rights and the ability to sell them is also to incentivize property owners to preserve and invest in the historic preservation of the property. So, you can sell those rights, but you have to reinvest them into the property and meet historic guidelines.   Eve: [00:09:43] Interesting.   [00:09:44] Yeah, it's not a little project. Actually, I think that, you know, in order to get historic preservation to work, you really have to give people incentives because it's very expensive. For those of us who build, doing historic preservation it's more expensive. It would've been cheaper for me to knock the building down and build it again than it was to actually preserve the existing Vagabond. So, they have to give you incentives otherwise... there's a reason why developers let those buildings go into disrepair and   Eve: [00:10:16] because they're expensive, yeah. Historic tax credits help as well. I don't have Florida has a state credit as well, but I've used those in the past and they certainly help to fill the gap, that's for sure.   Avra: [00:10:29] Yes. We qualified. We nationally designated the Vagabond Hotel. We met those standards and got the federal tax credit. So, we got 20 percent of our investment into the property. Yeah, every state's different. Every state's different. Every municipality is different.   Eve: [00:10:47] This really took creative financing and the, since then, you said you bought six of them and how did the financing change one you opened the Vagabond Hotel?   Avra: [00:10:57] Well, once we opened the Vagabond, sold the development rights, we were able to, get banks to give us some financing. But most of the projects we did, we did cash. We did cash and we financed after. It was just still, even now it's easy, you know, but I took rents, rents on the Biscayne Boulevard for twenty, twenty-five dollars. The Starbucks leases from me for 70 dollars, triple net. So, now it's very easy to get financing. And the Boulevard has a lot of cachet, but it   Avra: [00:10:57] It's very difficult, yeah. I mean, this is actually why I started Small Change because, you know, banks almost squash the creativity out of what needs to happen, the creativity and innovation out of what needs to happen in cities, because you can't, they want to only finance what's been done before. So, how do you tackle a place like this if you can't get financing and you don't have the cash?   Avra: [00:12:00] Yes, it's almost, I would say, it's almost impossible. So, you know, you rely on friends and family. A lot of it's your check book. But that's also the opportunity. Those are the properties that are also undervalued, right? The property that trade that are most expensive, are really a function of financing. You know, Multifamily trades at a tight cap rate because that is the darling with the lenders. Banks really, and part of it is the regulations, banks have to fund based on cashflow, income from properties. The regulations almost mandate it.   Eve: [00:12:36] Yes.   [00:12:37] So, lending on land or lending on an abandoned building and for adaptive reuse, which is unfortunate because in a lot of the underserved communities you need.   Eve: [00:12:48] That's exactly what you need, yeah.   Avra: [00:12:49] And what you lose because these are buildings that need a lot of work. Of course, they're not income producing, nobody should be living in them. And some people do live in properties like that and shouldn't be there. So, you know, the banking industry does not set up to be helpful. You know, what has happened, short of being able to fund yourself or have enough track record to to attract funding, is that there's a, sort of a hybrid lending space now. Used to be you could only get bank financing or a bridge loan or, you know, hard money loan you call it, right? 13, 14 percent which makes projects also unfeasible. You just, you give away all your profits in interest costs. But there's hybrid money out there now, that is more flexible, and you can get, you know, between six and nine percent depending on the project and you’re, and the sponsorship. We've been able to get hybrid money for projects like this. And it's really because of our track record. And it's all personal guarantees, right? I have to sign personally on everything.   Eve: [00:13:58] Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I sign my whole life away.   Avra: [00:14:02] Until the projects completed. You know, it's very hard for people to get into this business from the developer's side. You know, I have three architects that work for me and they didn't want to be in a firm, just, as you guys would call being a cad monkey. I think, you know where you're just drawing all day, right? And so, they wanted to be developers. And so, they came and worked with me. And they're learning development really is about money. So, when you think about what does it take to be a developer? We're not licensed. Architects are licensed, builders are licensed, right? Your electrician's licensed. Even the real estate agents are licensed. Developers are not licensed. You can call yourself a developer as long as you have a check book.   Eve: [00:14:52] Yes. So, what would you tell other women who want to be real estate developers?   Avra: [00:14:57] You have to love it. Well, first of all I'd ask, what does developer mean to you? So, if I asked you Eve, define developer, what, how would you define it?   Eve: [00:15:07] Well, for me, it's all about the buildings. I'm very passionate about buildings and places and using architecture to make better places. So being a developer for me is the opportunity to really make some significant change through the money that I invest, or I put together to make buildings better.   Avra: [00:15:34] And then there's a lot of people that would like to do that, right? So how do they do that? Right? And there's, I think there's a lot of people with vision and, so, you need the money, right? And then you have to be able to execute. And so, a lot of what goes right or wrong is in the execution. So, you know, you have the vision, but it's the, now is the execution. You know, how well do you budget, the quality of the work, the team that you can assemble. And you know the surprises, right. You know, we say we're in the problem-solving business, really, especially with more adaptive reuse or historic preservation. You have no idea where you're buying. You know, we've gotten pretty good at it now and I can tell you every time it's different.   Eve: [00:16:24] Oh, yeah, it's a challenge. But that's the fun of it. But listen, why? You know, you're a female developer, I'm a female developer. There are very few of us. Why is that? Because, you know, women are very good at team building.   Avra: [00:16:40] Well, I think a lot of women are doing it. They just don't have the title, right? So, in my particular case, I'm the founder and, you know, I know I run the company, but a lot of women are doing it. They're just not, I think the front person. Interesting. You do your work, you're the front person. You're doing it but the women that work for me, they all work, you know, I give, I empower them, they all have their own projects within, within the Vagabond Group. They all run their own jobs, they do the architecture, they do the expediting, you know, of course, all under. And they've been with me long enough. They know at first, you know, tightly under my watch and now, you know, call me if you need me.   Eve: [00:17:25] But still, that's a little bit different because they don't have access to their own money. And that's, I think, you know, as you said, the deciding factor. So, where I live there's very few women who kind of can plan their own destiny as real estate developers. I actually don't know of anyone else at the moment. So,   Avra: [00:17:45] It's money, so that's it. You've really defined it. But I will say there's a couple of other things. So, you know, because people have asked me Avra, why, you know, why aren't there more? Well, one is money. And a lot of that money comes with track record. You know, I wouldn't give a first-time person, developer money. I mean, you know, you really have to have experience in order to gain that. So, when I first did my first projects, it was mostly my money.   Eve: [00:18:11] Yes.   [00:18:11] You don't want to lose somebody else's money while you're learning, right? So, there's a learning curve here and so, as you learn and you'd have track record, you can get sponsorship, but you really have to have that, you know, especially in what we do, right? So, what you and I do, we find these. It's easy buying a multi-family, lipsticking it up, creating value. OK that's one thing. But to actually go in and create place, that's different. And that requires mostly cash investments. The returns usually reflect the risk, they always do. I mean, I don't, you, know people, you know, people go "I get two times two times my money". And people are happy getting two times their money in four to five years.   [00:18:59] I can tell you that isn't, that would never be a deal on my desk. If I don't think I'm making four to five times equity, in five years, I don't do the deal, which is why I'm able to get sponsorship. So, part of it is discipline. You know, there's a lot of projects I'd like to do, but I look at them and go, you know, I just can't I can't pencil it. And then, those projects that I can't pencil, which is like affordable housing, I just do myself and I'm OK. But those don't make money. I'm OK that they may or may not make money because I'm doing those for different reasons. Those are for social reasons. But when I'm doing deals where I'm taking in investment money, you know, the returns for the type of deals that we do, at least the perceived returns need to be much higher. But I do that for myself. I mean, a lot of this is my own money and I treat everybody's money if it's my own money. I also don't take fees. I'm not a fee developer, so I get paid based on success. So, I don't, I don't take fees.   Eve: [00:20:03] Ok. So, you right alongside equity investors who risk their money, then.   Avra: [00:20:09] Right alongside. So, I don't make a penny until you make money. And I think that's part of what, the other way that I've been able to raise money. Now, not everybody can do that. That's not realistic for a lot of people. But I've been able to do that because I set myself up for that. I saved enough money. I don't want to get paid, which is why I've been able to get, you know, the investment I get. Because people want to know that your interests are aligned and there are a lot of developers out there, they're really in the fee business. They're just, they're in the fee business period. And I don't think that that makes us aligned.   Eve: [00:20:52] So, tell me a little bit more about the 50s motels that you're converting to affordable housing?   Avra: [00:20:58] Yes, we I did one, we did one in Little Haiti, not too far from the Vagabond. So, if you couldn't afford to stay at the Eden or at the Vagabond, if you couldn't afford to stay the at the Vagabond, you would have stayed at Superior, Superior Motel and Apartments, which is west, further west and 1950s. It's a more modest property. You know, in some of the more modest neighborhoods then historic properties are more modest, but it doesn't mean they're less important. And I bought the building to do affordable housing. The person that runs affordable housing for the county, Mr. Lu, he would say, he actually stalked me into doing this. He wanted to put a new face to affordable housing in the projects that were being done. So, I started by giving him suggestions on what I would do and how I would go about it and then he said, then he just asked me to do something and I did. I can tell you that it was a horrible experience. Working under the administrative aspects of affordable housing. You know, they wanted to give me a small sur-tax loan. That was a half a million dollars sur-tax loan. And then by the time they were ready to give me the loan, I said, I don't even want it. It'll be the most expensive money I've ever gotten because I've spent fifty thousand dollars in administrative costs to get a 500,000-dollar loan, right. There was like a 10 percent cost. You know, every draw request was like the size of a Bible. I said, you know...   [00:22:28] No, that's right.   [00:22:29] I said, Mr Lu, I can do the work, but I can't handle the administrative aspect of this. I wouldn't get a draw for, you know, a draw request. I don't know how sophisticated everybody is on the podcast so I'll try to be a little more descriptive, but, every time you build a building and it's time to, and you have a loan, you do the work, you turn in your invoices, so to speak, and you're supposed to get reimbursed. Well,   Eve: [00:22:57] Quickly, right? Quickly is the idea because you'd need the money to keep going.   Avra: [00:23:00] Well, six to 10 weeks.   Eve: [00:23:03] Yes, I've been there.   Avra: [00:23:05] Which means that in you know, that if a guy doesn't get paid for six weeks or would anyway, if you weren't getting paid six weeks after you've done a job, you'd leave the job site.   [00:23:16] Yeah. So, it costs a lot of money in time because you're,   [00:23:19] So I ended up floating the entire job, meaning I paid everybody myself and then getting reimbursed, you know, six, twelve weeks later. And again, that's not feasible for most people. And that's why affordable housing doesn't work. And that's why, when you drive around and you see these, sort of half-completed buildings, is because you have to have the means in order to get through those projects. And I ended up, I probably have a half a million dollars of my own money in the project making zero return. So, because the cost to do it right versus the rents that you should charge. It doesn't mean, I can charge higher rents but truly affordable rents, you cannot build affordable housing in Miami. If you gave me a piece of dirt and said Avra, build affordable housing at 80 percent of the averaged income, I would tell you I couldn't do it.   Eve: [00:24:15] You can't do it anywhere, actually. You can't do it anywhere in the world, I don't think. So, oh, maybe some places, but it's a standard problem, yeah.   Avra: [00:24:22] Right, so it has to be subsidized, so you have to get grants. So, the reason why we were able to do historic preservation was because of the, you know, the entitlement programs to sell entitlements. That allowed us to grant ourselves some moneys to do these, what I called public benefit projects, historic preservation of the benefit. And you're saving time, you're saving moments in time, right. And then, same thing with affordable housing. You cannot do affordable housing without subsidies and grants. It's impossible. So, those are instances. And people think, oh, well you can get financing for it or people will do impact investing on these things.   Eve: [00:25:02] No, you can't.   Avra: [00:25:03] A bank doesn't lend to the same criteria where there's a public benefit or not. It's not to say they don't want to, but they can't.   Eve: [00:25:12] Yeah, so non-profits become very important in this equation. It's very difficult. How successful has that motel been and have you built other ones that are affordable? Do you have a waiting list?   Eve: [00:25:22] Oh yeah. Well that project, it's called, it was a motel and efficiency apartments. So, there's all apartments, most of them efficiency apartments. Very successful, 100 percent occupied. When you can charge a...And we were able to lease to more high risk candidates, you know, maybe people who've a felony in their past, you know, not a violent crime or something, but we're able to lease to people and not take security deposits. And a lot of, you know, our employees, one of the reasons why we started, we did, we started to do some affordable housing. When we opened the motel, or the hotel, Vagabond Hotel, because we realized our staff were taking two or three buses to get to work, and they were single Mums. So, we actually started subsidizing housing for our employees, early on. We bought an apartment building close by and then we realized that obviously this was not just a Vagabond issue. This is a national, well certainly a local and certainly a national issue. So that started our efforts in affordable housing, was sort of subsidizing for existing employees. And then, when we did the other ones, we're very conscious about trying to fill the void. We can do that because it's a personal investment. We're not a large institution doing affordable housing we've seen. This is not a money maker. I think there's a way to do it where you could get, you know, you can you know, people go, well can you do impact investing and get a five or six percent return? We can, because I don't take developer fees.   Eve: [00:27:04] Right.   Avra: [00:27:05] And we self-perform a lot of the work. So, I'm able to do that. So, on the project I did after this, I took in two small investors who wanted to participate in impact investing. So, we did one in Little Haiti and then we did their next projects in Overtown. Forty-four units in Overtown. And we're in the process of renovating that. Also, a 1950s, late 50s, so it's a combination of preservation and affordable housing, which we think is important. You know affordable housing is not bricks and mortar, it's about people and the qualities of their life and how they feel about themselves. We say we're really in the self-esteem business. You know, how does a single mother feel in their house? The stress level, you know, knowing if her kids are in a healthy environment or not in a healthy environment. The projects we're just in the process of doing, we finished two of five buildings so far, we keep everybody on-site and we rotate them. So, nobody leaves the property, they're not relocated. So, people are not, their lives are not disrupted. They stay where the kids go to school, where they went to school. Their friends are still their friends. They go to the same church, you know. So, we think it's important when you do affordable housing to keep communities intact. That's one of our prerequisites. Even when we did the property in Little Haiti, we did two units at a time and rotated people. So, they did not have to move. So, in the building we just finished one of the, in one of the buildings was a single mom and her child was having a lot of health issues and DCF was going to take the child away because they didn't think that the mother was giving the child the asthma medication and everything, because the child was suffering. And the minute we moved her from the apartment that she was in to one of the new apartments, the child was fine.   Eve: [00:28:59] Wow.   Avra: [00:29:00] She almost lost her child because of the housing, the quality of the housing she was living in.   Eve: [00:29:06] That's pretty shocking.   Avra: [00:29:09] It's shocking. It's unacceptable. I mean, so, most of the buildings that we, so all these buildings that we bought in Overtown, I mean, they should be condemned buildings. I mean, I'm surprised people didn't, well apparently, they had. Some people had fallen from the second floor into the first floor. I mean, the people live in those conditions because they can't afford higher rent and they don't want to move. You know, these tend to be closer to core locations, right? They're older buildings, closer to where they work, it's where their communities are and they don't want the landlords to fix up the apartments because if they do, they know they have to raise the rent and then they might get kicked out. So, people choose to live in these really, you know, sub-human conditions because they can't afford the rent if it was renovated. So, in that particular project, we teamed up with the CRH, the Community Redevelopment Agency in the area, and because they had seen our work in Little Haiti, they had asked us to do a similar project in Overtown.   Avra: [00:30:16] And my, my response was, no. I said, it doesn't work. I go, it doesn't work. I can't afford to subsidize all these projects. So, I said, you know, I told them what they needed to do. One, they had to remove all the administrative. No good developer would operate under those administrative restrictions. And two, I said you're going to have to pay for it. And if you want the rents truly affordable, you're going to have to pay for all of it. Because if you want a seven-hundred-dollar rent, I need to be in that unit for seventy thousand dollars. And by the way, it costs eighty-two-thousand dollars to buy the apartment. And it's going to cost you another fifty-thousand-dollars a unit.   Eve: [00:31:03] To renovate it.   Avra: [00:31:05] So if you want me to do it, and I'm not going to wait, I'm not going to take draws, you're going to have to give me five hundred thousand dollars every time I start a building. Because I'm not going to, I'm not going to chase you down. I'll do open book. Open book, come anytime you want, knock yourself out. But I can't do the work and meet all the typical requirements. And so, they, they said Avra, yes. Do it.   Eve: [00:31:35] Wow.   [00:31:36] It went all the way to Commission. Commissioners voted on it and I did the project. So, they basically bought down the rents and people are living in two- and three-bedroom apartments, beautiful two- and three-bedroom apartments. When I say beautiful, you're an architect. You know, I floated the walls. I did resilient channels for the wall boards for sound.  Wool between. Everything's copper piping. We don't, you know, rebuilt from the inside out. If you'd walked in, you would have fallen through to the studs, to the studs on the floor and you would have seen the roof two ceilings up. So totally rebuilt, you know, with all the right quality materials. No, everything mold-resistant, every, you know, impact glass safety, all those things. So, people are living in really beautiful apartments. And, so think about what that's like. For them. For them, they're people, right? The pride, how their kids feel to come home, to work, the family gatherings. Remember it's, we don't build buildings. You build buildings, but it's really the quality of the experience in the building. It's how people feel. Otherwise, buildings can be nice to look at, right? Right? What are they really? I mean, building to me, they're made of organic materials, I mean, buildings live. And as builders and developers, we have to, you know, we feel that, we think about that. You know, so lots of times I get a building and it just doesn't feel right. It doesn't have the life. And our job is, that when we do these projects, these adaptive reuse and historic preservation projects, whether it's for, you know, an adaptive reuse or for affordable housing, you have to think of it as how do people live? How are people going to feel when they're there, when they're inside? And that’s, you know, sort of, that’s sort of how we operate.   Eve: [00:33:48] That's how it drives you. So, these products, I know we've talked about them a lot, and they're clearly your passion projects. You also work on very, very big projects.   Avra: [00:33:58] Yes, so that I can afford to do the passion projects.   Eve: [00:34:02] Yes, that's the bread and butter work, right?   Avra: [00:34:05] So and those, you know, are more traditional, you know, I do. By the way, they're very good local community banks here that I work with in... we're very fortunate during Covid and everything that, you know, my friends that had the large banks, you know, had a lot of trouble getting, having to work with them and work with their tenants. But the community banks in Miami really stepped up and were the first to say, you know, what can we do? How can we help? So, I've good local banking relations, banks that have lent to me for 20, 25 years that support, you know, that support my projects. Even if they're slightly out of the box they, again track record, they support the project. So, I'm able to do, I'm getting ready to do a large adaptive reuse project towards 50,000 square feet of adaptive reuse in a warehouse district. There might have been a day where I wouldn't get financing, but I will get financing for that, 50 percent loan to cost, and then I'll have the capital stack of my own investors. Then, you know, on some bigger projects, I'm getting ready to do a project on the Miami River. That's a big project to earn, it's a new build. Two hundred fifty-nine apartments,200,000 square feet of office and retail. It'll be almost 180-million-dollar project with 120-million-dollar loan. I'M partnering with a very large developer, Property Market Group, PMG, they build really well. I'm really excited to have a chance to work with them, there are developers that you respect and then there's the other developers that you would really like to work with, and this is one of them. And they're both. And so, they build beautifully. So, they, we're teaming up. They're going to do the residential portion and I'm going to keep the office and retail. You know, without them, they're providing that completion guarantee. I mean, I wouldn't have, I wouldn't have the balance sheet. We're talking financing here, right? I wouldn't have the balance sheet to guarantee a 120-million-dollar construction loan. So, you know, so that's very limiting to do big projects. Problem. You know, I don't do, one reason why I don't do a lot of big projects is because of the financing. It's just by the time we bring in the capital stack and everything, you know, and then when you do that, you lose, you give up a lot of control over the integrity of the project. People start value engineering everything out of the project. And so, you know, the vision gets lost and all-of-a-sudden it's work and it's not fun. You know, it's one reason why I don't do a lot of large projects. So, whereas on the smaller projects, we can keep control. So, you know, so, yes, I am doing a large project because it's a spectacular site with a spectacular vision. But I don't do that as often. The risks are high and the loss, I think more than anything, is the loss of, you know, the vision. I mean when you do big, big projects. You know, what I always say you have to have two things when you, when you partner with people. You have to have the same vision, but you also have the same have the same values. Some people can have the same vision but then if they don't the same values, it is not the same. So, lots of times that happens when you do these, sort of, bigger projects.   Eve: [00:37:36] Yeah. You know, I've always stuck with smaller projects for much the same reason. Because I can finish them the way I think they should be finished and no one's egging me on to do something different.   Avra: [00:37:47] Everyone wants you to cut corners. Hey, it's already sold. Hey, it's already leased. You know, then, who cares, you know, it's a, if it's a 10-year paint or a fifteen-year paint? Well I care.   Eve: [00:37:58] Yes, I'm with you.   Avra: [00:37:59] Those decisions that get made, you know, again, the more people that are involved. For developers that have cut those corners, it's short-sighted because then, why do they come and lease my building instead of their building? Because people can feel the difference. They can feel the difference in quality. So, you know, it's interesting right now in this market and during Covid, and people are consolidating and deciding which offices to keep or which ones not to keep or which neighborhoods to be in or not be in. And I can tell you I have two very large tenants that had offices across the city, and they chose to consolidate. And both of them chose to be in my buildings and give up other spaces. And it really is because of the quality of our buildings, the uniqueness of our buildings. It speaks to their brand. And this was a time when spending the money and having your building be special, having there be a story to the building and the neighborhood that is in mattered. Because lots of times you can't spreadsheet this stuff. Anybody in finance and in the financing world wants, you know, a spreadsheet, right? Well, let's do a spreadsheet, right? You can't spreadsheet the quality of a space. You can't spreadsheet cool and placemaking. There's no spreadsheeting that. But when there's stress in the market and you see how people move and what they choose to keep and where they live or work, how, where rents are more stable or whatever, you see the performance. But when I'm doing a spreadsheet and presenting it to a bank, there's no way to quantify that.   Eve: [00:39:45] Yeah. Just shifting gears a little bit, are there any current trends in real estate development, especially around the pandemic, that you think are most important for the future of our cities?   Avra: [00:39:58] Well, we're staying the course. I mean, our mindfulness, our thoughtfulness, it hasn't changed. If it's before the pandemics, during the pandemic, or the after-pandemic. So, we've always practiced sustainability. Even in our new building, everybody's talking about these new air filtration systems and water systems. We had already designed that into our building before Covid. So, you know, it was like we were already there. We already felt like the wellness trend was, we already got on that bus a while ago. Now the tenants are going to be asking about it and insisting on it. We were already on that bandwagon by. My team is architects and so we are always looking at what's new, what's cutting edge and hopefully somewhat cost affordable so we've already, we're adopting a lot of those. So, I think those things will become more mainstream now. Good. And maybe that will even make them more cost effective. So, we haven't changed. Again, our mindset has always been, you know, we need to adapt to reusing. You use existing buildings. I mean that's the ultimate in sustainability, right?   Eve: [00:41:07] Yes, I agree.   Avra: [00:41:09] It's like fruit shopping, right? The most, the best thing, people don't realize how many CO2s go into building a building. And you knock it down, you spend more CO2s and then you rebuild it and spend more CO2s. There is a really great study out there, and I don't know if you've read it, on green building. And it was put out actually by the historic preservation community but if you were to take a building and knock it down, build it back, using green, let's say green technology, all the new Green Technologies, Sustainability, LEED certified, whatever, it would take you 80 years to make up for the damage done. 80 years to make up for the fact that you knocked down a building. So, we think, you know, so we are all about keeping existing building,   Eve: [00:41:56] Keeping, yeah, yeah.   Avra: [00:41:57] Absolutely. And it's interesting. We, and we do it, you know, we don't stop and think, oh, my God, we're saving the environment, right? But we know that it's important to the sustainability story. But we also know that it's important to the cultural story, to the story of community and social resiliency. When people talk about resiliency, but they talk about it like, you know, well, how high is your sea wall, or whatever. Resiliency, by definition, is your ability to bounce back. It does not say how high is your seawall, it's your ability to bounce back. And that is a social, that is a social response, not a building response, not a civilian engineering response. So, we think that focus, that part of social resiliency is part of keeping community. And part of keeping community is to try to save and do adaptive reuse with existing buildings. Again, we're back to why we build our business around this story. We think without the story we, it doesn't, it isn't going to get us where, we won't be interested. And it's got to be a story that, when you do projects that have a story, people want to be a part of it. People want to be a part of it. People want to work on it. People want to help build it. And then people want to live in it and people want to do their business in it. You know, I think builders, developers underestimate the market.   Eve: [00:43:37] Yeah, I think you're right.   Avra: [00:43:38] I think they underestimated them. They know the difference. And they know how it feels. And if they have a choice to spend a dollar here or a dollar there, they're going to spend it where it also feels good.   Eve: [00:43:51] Yeah. So, one last question for you. And that is, what's your big hairy goal?   Avra: [00:43:59] Gosh, you know, I guess just, you know, I'm living it every day. You know,   Eve: [00:44:06] That's a great answer.   Avra: [00:44:07] Yeah, I just, you know, we just keep doing what we're doing, and I think, you know, we talk about, you know, always wanting to learn, right? And knowledge is empowering, but it doesn't give you power unless you use it. So we are, you know, we're always learning, always curious. We're always helpful to other developers. Very transparent. We open source. So, if you go on, I think you've been on, our website. If you go onto VagabondGroupConsulting.com and you hit open source, we open sourced our affordable housing project. You get all the money we spent, all the inspections, all the time, all the materials, everything. The things that went well, the things that didn't go well. I think that one of the goals would be to hopefully encourage more developers and especially people in the public benefits space. Anybody'd be taking public dollars for sure, to open source their projects so more people can learn and so that more, more thoughtful developers can hopefully...   Eve: [00:45:16] That's a great idea. I'm definitely taking a look. And I'm super jealous of all of fabulous 50s motels that you're renovating. It's a fabulous...   Avra: [00:45:26] Here's a question for you. So how, in your platform, can you help developers like me?   Eve: [00:45:33] Well, if you want to start raising money from a broader group of people, from the community, that's really what investment crowdfunding is about. And I see there's a, how can I say this? I landed in Pittsburgh unexpectedly and one of the really big things I learned here is that people really want to be involved with their community and making it better with their city. It doesn't really matter where you go, people are very connected to the place they live in. And I was working with dollars that dried up in the late 2000s and started thinking about crowdfunding to replace them. You know, also working with banks that became more and more skittish and wanted to do less and less innovative project lending. And so, all of that kind of led me to investment crowdfunding, which really lets the crowd decide. So, you could, very soon you'll be able to raise, there's actually upgrades to the rule under way, but very soon an issuer, a developer, would be able to raise up to five million dollars a year from anyone over the age of 18.   Avra: [00:46:47] Wow. No, no subscription agreement.   [00:46:50] No, no, there's subscription agreements, but we handle all of that electronically online. So, if you go to a funding portal like Small Change, we are registered with the SEC and members of FINRA and it's a very heavily regulated rule. We kind of manage all that. And you basically create a disclosure package which we help you create, register it with the SEC and then everything else is handled electronically as people invest. So, I think the most meaningful thing for me is that if you want to bring along people in your community, you normally don't have a chance to invest and create wealth based on what's happening in their own community. This is a way to do that.   Avra: [00:47:38] So, I think it's a great idea. I actually went on your webpage and I thought about it. So, in in the affordable housing project that we did in Overtown, we actually, one of the partners, because we were getting large grants, they asked, they basically assigned us a local CDC, a community.   Eve: [00:48:00] Right, a development corporation, yeah.   Avra: [00:48:02] Yeah, to be part of the ownership. And it was Mount Zion, which was actually the oldest church in Miami, I think. They're a part-owner, you know, less than 10 percent so the lender has no issues. And I was neglecting again, it was more control thing, it wasn't a money thing because we're not making money. Right, so.   Eve: [00:48:24] Right, but they can bring grants to the table that you can't as a for-profit developer, right?   Avra: [00:48:31] But the reason why I don't put myself in a non-for-profit space is because I know, I see a lot of the people, in non-for-profit space and it's not non-for-profit, OK? It's actually, I call it, so, I'm in the no-profit space. So, I'm like, so I won't put on a non-for-profit space because everybody pays themselves salaries and things. We don't pay. We don't pay ourselves.   Eve: [00:48:53] Well, that's right.   Avra: [00:48:54] So the CDC came in and they've been great because they helped, you know, that was the thing. I said, well, as long as everybody understands nobody's getting paid, I'm happy to have a community organization. And I said, so they have ownership, so certainly down the line this, you know, we have a 30-year covenant and down the line there will be some value there. But I thought that it would have been great if, even instead of the CDC or in addition to the CDC, what if everybody in the community, so I get a grant from this CRA. What if every family that lived in that community all got a piece of the project? Instead of this CDC?   Eve: [00:49:37] Yeah, I've thought about this a lot. I've actually thought that, you know, in a poor community, wouldn't it be fantastic if there were even a foundation that matched investments made, or to increase the value to people who invest, you know, maybe even 100 dollars?   Avra: [00:49:54] Yes. So anyway, we got a three-million-dollar grant, just so you know. But I mean the three-million-dollar grant, and you'll see and, you'll like to see the math in our open source, the three-million-dollar grant will save the residents eight million dollars in rental cost over the 30 years. So, that's a huge benefit to the tenants with subsidized rents but if everybody in the community was given, let's say, a thousand-dollar ownership, assigned a thousand-dollar ownership, right? I mean, as long as I don't have to deal with, you know, a thousand investors, you know, I'm happy to have them own a piece of the project. You know, as long as me as a developer I can do what I do, you know? So, any time there's a grant made into a project, why isn't that grant, which is community dollars, community dollars, taxpayer dollars, why not have that grant be a crowdfund investment?   Eve: [00:50:57] Well, it can be. I just think people aren't quite there yet.   Avra: [00:51:00] Well, let's do it.   Eve: [00:51:01] Yeah. I'd love to do it. I've thought about raising a pot of funds for a community, for example, where someone, maybe you partner with a community development financial institution or a community bank, and someone manages the money, but it's programmatically distributed in the community as well. So now you have, maybe not just your project improving the community, but you're benefiting other people directly. Let's just say you're below a certain income and you need your roof replaced, you can get a loan for zero percent.   Avra: [00:51:38] Miami does a lot of that. I have to say, there is a lot of things we do. America Build does that. We have these twenty-thousand-dollar grants. If people know where to look that is made available.   Eve: [00:51:51] I know. But I'm thinking really community specific, you know. You pick a community that you're working and you, kind of, really try to build it up and make sure that people who are not wealthy in that community come along for the ride when developers do make investments and the community is improved. So, I mean, it could happen in any number of ways but, you know, we all think about what happens to people who are left behind, right? So, there's something there. I'm not exactly sure what it looks like precisely, but I have tools in my toolkit, these SEC regulations that I understand very well that could be deployed in that manner. Absolutely.   Avra: [00:52:34] Yeah. I think there's something there and I think, so, you know, we should talk about that Eve because I'd like to explore that. I think that, I think there's the political will to do it in Miami. I think there's enough. Again, you know, the thing is, is if we do one, right, we do one project and it works, it becomes the model.   Eve: [00:52:57] Yes, absolutely.   Avra: [00:52:59] So our study, the one that we did for Vagabond Group Consulting, that open source, has become sort of a case study. You know, I get calls from all over the country. People.   Eve: [00:53:10] Yeah. That's very important.   [00:53:12] You know, and that's what we need to solve some of these problems we need the transparency. We need to have conversations like you and I are having. And we all need to share and figure out best practices. We need to find a solution and it's in the developer's best interest that we find these solutions. I try to challenge some of my big developer friends and say, listen, guys, we need to be part of the solution here. This is really our, becomes our problem. You don't think it becomes your problem, but it does, because if the restaurant in your building, even if you don't want to do it for all the right reasons, you know, you should understand how it affects you, because if the restaurant in your building can't find employees because there's no place for them to live, you know, they're having that problem on Miami Beach and they're having trouble hiring people because nobody can afford to live on Miami Beach. So that affects your ability to rent your space. I mean, you know, so I tried to encourage that, show them even financially why this is in their best interest. That we all, we all don't do well unless we all do well, right? So, how do we incentivize developers to do that? There needs to be policies in place for that as well.   Avra: [00:54:26] In Miami, we have something where we, where developers can write a check. Like you're building a building and you write a check towards public benefits. Well, you know, make the developer build the affordable, do the public benefit. You know, sometimes writing a check is easier than doing the work.   Eve: [00:54:44] Yeah, no, I agree. Well, this has been absolutely fascinating and I'm going to be in touch soon. But we should wrap up and I really enjoyed talking to you, Avra.   Avra: [00:54:56] Yeah, this has been fun. I look forward to seeing your work. So, you have to send me some of your some of your work.   Eve: [00:55:04] I will.   Avra: [00:55:04] Share some stories.   Eve: [00:55:05] Thank you. Absolutely.   Eve: [00:55:13] That was Avra Jain, a wildly creative Miami developer. Avra and the Vagabond Group have built projects that range from converting a 100,000 square foot warehouse, to luxury loft condominiums in New York's Tribeca neighborhood, to the remake of The Vagabond from motel to hotel on Biscayne Boulevard. But Avra's passion lies squarely with the personal project portfolio she's building. The conversion of abandoned and historic motels into reimagined, affordable housing communities. She's leveraging her past success to tackle both the restoration of significant architecture and the making of affordable housing in a very unique way.   Eve: [00:55:59] You can find out more about impact real estate investing and access the show notes for today's episode at my website evepicker.com. While you're there, sign up for my newsletter to find out more about how to make money in real estate while building better cities.   Eve: [00:56:16] Thank you so much for spending your time with me today. And thank you, Avra, for sharing your thoughts. We'll talk again, too but for now, this is Eve Picker signing off to go make some change.  

Pete has been in technology and security for over 30 years. He is currently the CISO for Cybraics, and has been CISO for some really large companies like Hertz Rental Car and Virtustream, now a DELL EMC company. He's just got so much knowledge and there was something in there for everyone. After giving his background we have a little discussion about why the CISO is such a short lived position. One of the reasons CISOs only last 14 months. "What should be more of a technical role and the lead security technologist ends up being the lead beggar for money. You're doing nothing but asking for money and trying to justify your projects and figuring out return on investment?" We then chat about the technology they are working on over at Cybraics which came out of a DARPA project to do things like locate IEDs and transitioning it to security use cases, and the challenges with doing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for real: "The language of machine learning is written in Python, and if it's artificial intelligence, it's written in PowerPoint" Pete then drops some knowledge about what it takes to continually move up in the security game and stay relevant long term.  "If you can't work on the business side you're going to hit a wall where you're going to be the smartest tech guy but you're going to plateau, at some salary level" Finally we wrap up talking about some past incidents we've worked on where Pete and the team took a boat up the Miami River and hacked into kiosks at the airport, and a couple of other fun projects that he's been involved with. If you are interested in a career in cyber, moving up in the ranks, or are a seasoned professional, I think there's something in here for you. I hope you enjoy and if so please subscribe, rate, and review. Below are links to the podcast as well as how to find Pete and Cybraics. Until the next one!   Pete's company Cybraics Connect with Pete on LinkedIn Listen to the Podcast: Spotify iTunes Stitcher iHeartRadio

www.thecloserclub.comTheCloserClub Episode 74: Lissette Calderon, Developer / Pioneer of the Miami River & Allapattah! In this episode, we cover: -Her story on becoming a prominent Miami Developer -Her breakthrough moment -Where the Miami River District is today and her vision for the area in the next 5-10 years -Everything Allapattah -And so much more!!

Tired of commercials interrupting your listening experience? For just $5 per month you can listen to all past, present, and future #WeirdDarkness episodes commercial-free – plus BONUS AUDIO and news about the podcast! Learn more at http://www.WeirdDarkness.com/WEIRDO.Feel depressed or hopeless? Visit http://www.iFred.org. Suicide thoughts? Call anytime (800)273-8255.IN THIS EPISODE: (Archive episode – previously aired June 19, 2018) *** A woman who had never experienced anything paranormal, suddenly has odd things happen around her after visiting a spiritualist. (Has Our Home Been Invaded By A Paranormal Entity Since Visiting a Spiritualist?) *** He’s tall, he takes over your thoughts and movements – removing all free will. He has several arms… and no face. Slenderman came into being around 2009 – so what were people seeing thousands of years ago that has the same description? (Mystery of the Faceless Creature) *** Between 1986 and 1989, at least eight individuals and possibly an additional four more were killed in the Colonial Parkway area of Virginia. The serial killer has never been found and the Colonial Parkway murders remain unsolved. (The Colonial Parkway Killer) *** It is said that if she is hailed by another ship, her crew will often try to send messages to land or to people long since dead. In ocean lore, the sight of this phantom ship is reckoned by seafarers to be a sign of impending doom. Her name is The Flying Dutchman. (The Legend of the Flying Dutchman) *** The body of a young woman is found floating in the Miami River outside of Dayton, Ohio. The coroner found nothing to indicate violence; the police believed otherwise. Even after digging her body out of the grave twice, there are still questions about what happened. (The Bessie Little Mystery) *** Haunted dolls seems to be a dime a dozen, and can even be found on sale, but for all of the strange phenomena surrounding these creations, surely the most frightening of all, are dolls that are not only haunted, but also the residences of hateful, violent forces that seek to harm or destroy us. (Sinister Accounts of Evil Haunted Dolls) If you like what you hear, please share a link to this episode on your social media, tell your friends about the podcast, and please leave a rating and review of the podcast; I might read your review here in a future episode!STORY AND MUSIC CREDITS AND/OR SOURCES…“Sinister Accounts of Evil Haunted Dolls” by Brent Swancer: http://bit.ly/2m5AQor “Mystery of the Faceless Creature – Ancient and Modern Sightings” by Ellen Lloyd: http://bit.ly/2lGveAL “The Colonial Parkway Killer” by Jim Harper: http://bit.ly/2kboNW8 “The Legend of the Flying Dutchman”: http://bit.ly/2kyNZWD “The Bessie Little Mystery” by Robert Wilhelm: http://bit.ly/2k5Ixu3 “Has Our Home Been Invaded By A Paranormal Entity Since Visiting a Spiritualist?” by Jane Lois Collins: http://bit.ly/2k5Inmr Weird Darkness theme by Manuel Marino (http://bit.ly/2JLBRKp). Background music provided by EpidemicSound and AudioBlocks with paid license. Music by Shadows Symphony (http://bit.ly/2W6N1xJ) and Midnight Syndicate (http://amzn.to/2BYCoXZ) is also sometimes used with permission. SUPPORT THE PODCAST…Become a PATRON (Official Weirdo): http://www.WeirdDarkness.com/WEIRDO Visit my sponsors: http://www.WeirdDarkness.com/sponsors Subscribe to my other podcast, “Lifelines: Verse Of The Day”: https://www.spreaker.com/show/lifelinesverse MY RECORDING TOOLS…* MICROPHONE (Neumann TLM103): http://amzn.to/2if01CL* POP FILTER (AW-BM700): http://amzn.to/2zRIIyK* XLR CABLE (Mogami Gold Studio): http://amzn.to/2yZXJeD * MICROPHONE PRE-AMP (Icicle): http://amzn.to/2vLqLzg * SOFTWARE (Adobe Audition): http://amzn.to/2vLqI6E * HARDWARE (MacBook Pro): http://amzn.to/2vQzD5g I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use. If I somehow overlooked doing that for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I’ll rectify it the show notes as quickly as possible.***WeirdDarkness™ - is a registered trademark of Marlar House Productions. Copyright © Marlar House Productions, 2019."I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46 *** How to escape eternal darkness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IYmodFKDaM

In part 2 of our look at Henry Flagler, we discuss the extension of the railroad south of Palm Beach. The railroad's extension led to the development of Miami, now a world class city and one of the economic and cultural capitals of the Americas. But at the time the railroad was built Miami was small village at the mouth of the Miami River. Florida's leading city at the time, Key West sat 150 miles away and completely unconnected by road or railroad to Florida's mainland. Flagler would change that and eventually link Key West to the rest of Florida. But unlike other towns Flagler built his railroad to and through, Key West was an established and vibrant city, the largest at the time in Florida and one of the richest in the United States. So Flagler connected Key West but did not "colonize" the way he did St Augustine, Palm Beach, Miami and so many other places where he in fact developed the core of the towns.

The latest episode of the Miami History Podcast will tell the story of the Miami Daily News and the building that it occupied from 1925 until 1957, when the newspaper relocated to a new building near the Miami River. The tower was vacant for nearly five years when it was given a second life. From 1962 until 1974 it became the Ellis Island for newly arriving Cuban refugees. During its time as the processing and welcome center for Cubans, it was renamed Freedom Tower. The building provided healthcare services and food for the immigrants that were arriving with not much more than the clothing on their backs. Many arriving Cubans fondly remember the reception and services they received at the Freedom Tower.   Miami History Blog Miami History Channel

This podcast episode features historic Fort Dallas Park in downtown Miami. Once the core of Julia Tuttle’s estate on the north bank of the Miami River, it became a fine upscale residential area following her death. Harry Tuttle, Julia’s only son, platted out property that spanned from NE First Avenue to South Miami Avenue from east to west, and the river to midway between SE Third and SE Second Street from south to north. There were many one to two-story single-family homes in this downtown subdivision of downtown Miami. Miami History Blog Miami History Channel Meetup: Brickell Family & Neighborhood History of Coconut Grove & Hotel Mutiny

This podcast episode features the story of the Miami City Cemetery. Aside from a city’s history museum, there may not be a better way to learn about an area’s past than a walk through its oldest cemetery. The city cemetery on NE Second Avenue certainly tells the story of early Miami. Miami’s signature graveyard has interred many of the city’s most important pioneers. From railroad men who were dispatched by Henry Flagler to the Miami River to develop the north bank, to opportunists that crafted their legacy during the early years of the city, many of Miami’s founders and contributors are buried in the city cemetery. Miami History Channel: www.miamihistorychannel.com Miami History Blog: www.miami-history.com  

For many Americans, our relationship with stuff ends when we take it to the curb on trash day. But for millions of items—everything from coat hangers to mattresses—this is the beginning of a second life, one that flows out the Miami River and on to Haiti. In the June issue of Harper's Magazine, Rowan Moore Gerety explores how this process relies on cheap labor rather than cheap materials, the fine margins of which many Haitians rely on to survive. “Refugees from the northwest have long made up a disproportionate share of the ‘boat people,'” he writes. “Today, it remains Haiti's poorest and most isolated region, and almost every family that can afford it has sent someone to South Florida in search of a living. For those who stay, fortunes rise and fall with the tide.” In this week's episode, Moore Gerety talks with web editor Violet Lucca about how cocaine undergirds the industry, why a once agriculturally rich nation remains so poor, and how this story epitomizes the United States' approach to territorial control in the Caribbean. Read Moore Gerety's article here: https://harpers.org/archive/2019/06/downstream-haiti-american-junk/

The second part of the history of the Miami River describes the evolution of the river from the mid-1800s through modern times. Prior to the Brickells arriving to the area, the big cash crop in the area was the cultivation and processing of the cyad plant, known as Coontie. It was one of the few industries that provided trade for the area. After the Tuttles and Brickells came to an agreement with Henry Flagler, the river changed dramatically. The news of Flagler extending his railway to what would become the city of Miami attracted a lot of new people. The first port of Miami was setup along the north bank of the river near today’s Miami Avenue as a result of the influx of civilization to a once desolate paradise. Miami History Channel: www.miamihistorychannel.com Miami History Blog: www.miami-history.com

Liza Meli owns and operates BarMeli69, a Mediterranean Restaurant & Wine Bar she opened in 2014. Through our conversation, Liza shares a glimpse of her 30+ years in the restaurant industry and her approach to her latest project. She offers an image of herself as a woman who knows who she is, what she wants and is actively & creatively living out her personal vision.We talk about passion being a foundation to build upon, approaching work as a lifestyle rather than an endeavor compartmentalized from life, being willing to lose in order to gain, trying & failing rather than regretting, how to stay relevant & inspired, owning her role as a female restauranteur and more.Liza, raised in Sydney, Australia and of Greek descent, dedicated herself to travel, dance & music from the 90s to the early 2000s. She toured with her then-husband Flamenco guitarist Alex Fox as his agent, dancer and producer.Following the challenges of a growing family while traveling and an amicable separation from Fox, she rooted herself in Miami, Florida and pursued her passion for food & wine.Liza is no stranger to the restaurant business, getting her first taste of the industry by working at her uncle’s popular Greek seafood restaurant at the age of 15. She owned Ouzo’s Greek Taverna in North Beach and Anise Mediterranean Taverna on the Miami River before opening BarMeli69.

The Miami River is the serpentine tributary that separates downtown Miami from today’s Brickell neighborhood. The history of the area has centered around this waterway as the regions earliest inhabitants found refuge, food and security along the banks of the river. Juan Ponce De Leon named the indigenous people found along the river as “Tequesta” during a voyage on Biscayne Bay in 1513. The river was also the location of several Spanish missions, a military fort, a blockade by the navy during the Civil War and a trading post run by the Brickell family along the south bank. The rapids located near the south fork of the river became a processing plant for Miami’s early cash crop: coontie. Miami History Channel: www.miamihistorychannel.com Miami History Blog: www.miami-history.com

As December approached in the year of 1896, the recently incorporated city of Miami was winding down a very eventful year. The extension of the FEC Railway to the banks of the Miami River was completed, construction of Flagler’s Royal Palm Hotel was nearing completion and the residents of the new city were preparing for their very first Christmas. Miami History Channel: www.miamihistorychannel.com Miami History Blog: www.miami-history.com

This podcast episode features the history of Coconut Grove. From its inception, ‘The Grove’ was a place that attracted characters and developed on its own terms. Long before Henry Flagler decided to extend his railway to the banks of the Miami River, Coconut Grove was an active community that was much larger than what would become the core of downtown Miami. The community attracted counts, authors, painters and anyone who appreciated the organic and pristine beauty of South Florida before the extension of the railway. Through the Twentieth Century, it never lost its beatnik vibe. Although it has been area that has changed a lot in the last couple of building booms, ‘The Grove’ still maintains its own charm and identity that so many South Florida residents find appealing.

This podcast episode features Miami’s first luxury hotel. As part of his agreement with Julia Tuttle, Henry Flagler built the Royal Palm Hotel on the north bank of the Miami River in an area that became downtown a few decades later. Shortly after the signing of the agreement between Tuttle and Flagler, Joseph A. McDonald and John Sewell got to work to build the iconic hotel. The structure was a five-story, wood-frame building with an observation tower at the top and a wrap-around veranda on the first level. The hotel was painted in the customary Flagler yellow. For the better part of thirty-three years, the place was the focal point of social activities and celebrity sightings during the winter months. During the summer, local-residents got to enjoy the pool attached to the hotel.  

Groundwork tells the story of the ground beneath our feet. We describe the formation of Florida, the Everglades, the Miami River, and Biscayne Bay, and discuss some of the implications of our local geologic history, not only for our past, but for our future as well.

Slenderman, Cursed Dolls, The Flying Dutchman, and more! 6 True Paranormal Stories! #WeirdDarknessIN THIS EPISODE: A woman who had never experienced anything paranormal, suddenly has odd things happen around her after visiting a spiritualist. (Has Our Home Been Invaded By A Paranormal Entity Since Visiting a Spiritualist?) *** He’s tall, he takes over your thoughts and movements – removing all free will. He has several arms… and no face. Slenderman came into being around 2009 – so what were people seeing thousands of years ago that has the same description? (Mystery of the Faceless Creature) *** Between 1986 and 1989, at least eight individuals and possibly an additional four more were killed in the Colonial Parkway area of Virginia. The serial killer has never been found and the Colonial Parkway murders remain unsolved. (The Colonial Parkway Killer) *** It is said that if she is hailed by another ship, her crew will often try to send messages to land or to people long since dead. In ocean lore, the sight of this phantom ship is reckoned by seafarers to be a sign of impending doom. Her name is The Flying Dutchman. (The Legend of the Flying Dutchman) *** The body of a young woman is found floating in the Miami River outside of Dayton, Ohio. The coroner found nothing to indicate violence; the police believed otherwise. Even after digging her body out of the grave twice, there are still questions about what happened. (The Bessie Little Mystery) *** Haunted dolls seems to be a dime a dozen, and can even be found on sale, but for all of the strange phenomena surrounding these creations, surely the most frightening of all, are dolls that are not only haunted, but also the residences of hateful, violent forces that seek to harm or destroy us. (Sinister Accounts of Evil Haunted Dolls) If you like what you hear, please share a link to this episode on your social media, tell your friends about the podcast, and please leave a rating and review of the podcast; I might read your review here in a future episode!==========SPONSORS...*Advertise your product/service on Weird Darkness; visit http://www.bgadgroup.com or call 770-874-3200.*MY PILLOW: http://www.MyPillow.com (Use promo code WEIRD to get 2 premium pillows for the price of one!)BECOME A PATRON at http://www.patreon.com/marlarhouse  ESSENTIAL LINKS...THE MARLAR SHEET NEWSLETTER: http://www.MarlarHouse.com/MarlarSheet FACEBOOK GROUP: http://www.facebook.com/groups/marlarhouse UPCOMING EVENTS: http://www.MarlarHouse.com/Events AUDIOBOOKS: http://www.weirddarkness.com/audiobooks MOBILE APP: http://ww.MarlarHouse.com/mobile STORY CREDITS AND/OR SOURCES…“Sinister Accounts of Evil Haunted Dolls” by Brent Swancer: http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2018/05/sinister-accounts-of-evil-haunted-dolls/“Mystery of the Faceless Creature – Ancient and Modern Sightings” by Ellen Lloyd: http://www.ancientpages.com/2018/06/19/pr-mystery-of-the-faceless-creature-with-multiple-arms-ancient-and-modern-sightings/ “The Colonial Parkway Killer” by Jim Harper: https://www.historicmysteries.com/colonial-parkway-killer/ “The Legend of the Flying Dutchman”: http://ghost-story.co.uk/index.php/ghost-stories/378-the-legend-of-the-flying-dutchman“The Bessie Little Mystery” by Robert Wilhelm: http://www.murderbygaslight.com/2018/06/the-bessie-little-mystery.html “Has Our Home Been Invaded By A Paranormal Entity Since Visiting a Spiritualist?” by Jane Lois Collins: https://www.myhauntedlifetoo.com/2018/05/31/has-our-home-invaded-by-a-paranormal-entity-since-visiting-a-spiritualist/ WEIRD DARKNESS MUSIC PROVIDED BY Midnight Syndicate http://amzn.to/2BYCoXZ and Shadow’s Symphony http://www.facebook.com/shadowssymphony/ - all music used with permission. All rights reserved.  BECOME A PATRON at http://www.patreon.com/marlarhouse

The fifth episode of the Miami History Podcast continues the story of the Brickell family. Part two discusses the Brickell family’s impact on Miami from the turn of the twentieth century to modern day. Following the death of Bill Brickell in 1908, Mary Brickell assumed the role as leader of the family business. While she was a tough business woman, she was considerably more tactful than her late husband. During her time managing the family’s real estate affairs, Mary sold tracts of land to Miami pioneers and industrial giants alike. She began a project near and dear to her heart when she platted and sold lots in The Roads neighborhood. However, prior to the completion of the project, Mary passed away. Her daughter Maude and other surviving family members ensured the project got completed. While there are no known Brickell descendants in the Miami area today, and while there are no family constructed buildings that remain standing, the family legacy is very enduring. Brickell is as much a brand as it is a family surname. The brand is internationally known and property in the neighborhood is always in high demand. This podcast episode concludes with Dr. Paul George discussing the impact of the Brickell family on the development of Miami after more than one hundred forty-eight years after their arrival to the banks of the Miami River. Miami History Channel: www.miamihistorychannel.com Miami History Blog: www.miami-history.com Provide feedback to casey@sfwebnet.com

The fourth episode of the Miami History Podcast begins the story of the Brickell family. This is a two-part series explains what brought the family to the banks of the Miami River and their impact on the development of the City of Miami. William Brickell was considered a soldier of fortune who traveled the world to find his fortune. During his travels, he met his wife Mary Bulmer. By the time the couple arrived in South Florida, they had six children and added two more after settling along the south bank of the Miami River. The family ran a trading post while accumulating land around South Florida. Listen to part-one of this two-part series to understand what brought the family to the banks of the Miami River and how the family built their land empire when the area was merely a scarcely populated frontier. Miami History Channel: www.miamihistorychannel.com Miami History Blog: www.miami-history.com Provide feedback to casey@sfwebnet.com

The third episode of the Miami History Podcast features the story of Julia Tuttle. She is considered by most the “Mother of Miami”. Although she was unable to cast a vote for the incorporation of the city on July 28. 1896, there was no bigger catalyst for the founding and development of Miami. Julia was a young woman when she first visited the banks of the Miami River. From the moment that she saw the pristine beauty of the area, she began to envision what it could become. Long before she convinced Henry Flagler to extend his railway and invest in the city, she articulated her dream of the area becoming a “great southern city”. Although she died only two years after incorporation, she did see the beginning of her vision for Miami. She passed away in September of 1898 and was one of the first interred into the Miami City Cemetery. Please click play to learn more about this fascinating woman.

Entrevista a Nina Torres quien habla de la feria de arte, “Miami River Art Fair”, Art Basel y la influencia del arte en Miami y las ferias de arte en las que puedes participar en el mundo.

Entrevista a Nina Torres quien habla de la feria de arte, “Miami River Art Fair”, Art Basel y la influencia del arte en Miami y las ferias de arte en las que puedes participar en el mundo.

Cee Cee Collins grew up in Beavercreek Ohio. All about swimming Cee Cee learned to swim as a toddler and fell in love with the sport. As a youngster, Cee Cee became a life guard, taught swim lessons, and managed a pool. These experiences taught her a lot about responsibility and leadership. Come here a...

(9-27-2017) Today’s Topical Currents ponders a South Florida which existed long before documented settlers arrived at what’s now a Megalopolis. We visit with FSU Professor Andrew Frank and discuss his book, BEFORE THE PIONEERS: Indians, Settlers, Slaves and the Founding of Miami . Obviously, the ancients were on to something: the largest Tequesta village at the Miami River mouth, was also the focal point of what became a great city.

Seasalt and Pepper is the hot new Mediterranean seafood restaurant garnering buzz around the Miami for its delicious cuisine and star clientele. Chat Chow TV sat down with co-owner Carlos Miranda to learn more about the inspiration for the space and its unique vibe. The restaurant is prominently located on the Miami River inside of Howard Hughes’ former seaplane hanger. Miranda explains that it’s actually two concepts in one with Seasalt Brasserie serving as the restaurant and soon-to-be opened Pepper that will house a bar, lounge and members club. Throughout the elegant industrial space, patrons can not only soak up beautiful waterfront views but also admire unique pieces of art work made just for the restaurant. The show stopping installation hanging in the main dining room was created by Miami artist Carlos Bentacourt and features more than 1,000 items that can be found on the Miami River. Seafood is the star of the menu, which was created by seasoned Executive Chef Alfredo Alvarez. Featuring seafood casseroles cooked in 900 degree wood-burning ovens, a fresh raw bar, homemade pastas and pizzas, the cuisine highlights flavors found throughout the Mediterranean. Curious what Miranda’s favorite dish is? Or which celebrities have already been spotted at the restaurant? Find out those things and more in the video above.