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1674-4 Mitchell Wolfson N. (ha ft A Kr new.a. mow= 17 Frisstd *flared 010,000 I tad hla and be Said 61.22 given you elo,oao profit profit shortly after! W. Si' rasll gen it to ne.' I sad ewe Ind I signed Nitohel1 ',!o]fson sired over the pig of paper end he save tai a check f-•r aver binder and re aoivod C10,000 ,refit, plus the C2,000 I paid down, and I <<ont cheek for X0,000 profit in the barber shop and had everything done to fr -m 1ua the. 02,000 downpaymant. hand to toe and epont about C15 in the barber alyn). I Continued to barber, foaling had mado see much money in that short walk that I thought rich at quick profit. � � Iy�twas rich. �`7.,. ,,�2 One day woke up to find O °ours°, one day ue woke up and the boom uas over. L11 boom over and richea gene. those things were gone and things aero very bad in :laid and all of ue t iho t hzught eta were very rich woko u. t find out that we didn't have very much. :that ;art did hurricane flay That's a good story! Tho hurricane, how ::nloh f a :art in things going daw0 did it pray in things gAng down drastically? Boons had started taporing :Yell, it vas the ollrera of the boom. Tha boo:_ had a1road-y off when hurricane cavo. atarted to taper off and whon the hurricane came, • oo,-1e • Damage caused by hurricane were not used to it....you know, the laio,Arty dar.ai o and fixed by using savings. the death, and moat people didn't have insurance, includ- Hurricane final climax. ing my father. Ba bad no windstorm insurance. They didn't really think about it in thoao deyo, and as a Maid race-oaten started in result a lot of our savings had to be taken and "gut int 1927 before the 1929 the repair of the house and reg,air of the haainoas recension felt throughout properties. That was just a finial climax that ended the country. the boom oomp1etely here. Mani went through a ver' severe reeesaio , and in 1927 and '28 and even in '29 193? started climb up. befbre the aatesal reoesaion of 1929 hit the root of the country we vett through very difficult times until about 1937 when we started 'Climbing back out of this rscsedo . '30a characterised as eriod The 'ilOa have bean characterized here as a earl d t f p2Kmounaed antleeemitiam propeammodantlaeemitisa. Lid this tanifeet itoeir hero. Polly rd's etory openly in the Mani area? In Polly Redfbrd'e bo k. . . . telling of signs here barring she lust is ate a book called 'The Billion Dollar- :ahebar° Jews and dogs exaggerated? uhioh is thaahlography of Miami Beach and she traces that story, you know, that g'ea that there were f*~ many ign that said that there were no Jew or doge allowed t -nu sign she acid that indicated Gentiles -slay, no d r-;. Ban the story been built up to' much over the yca s? T!: .: it been exaggerated? A11 resorts used "stub I'll toll you an interesting story about that. I think appeals to gentiles, who at that most resorts, whether they were e riginally in the that time had the ray. Jews Catski l,a or habenar they were at Saratoga, or whether net wealthy thou. they were here in Miami Beach or Palm Beach tried t hes' a snob appeal to wealthy per le. The Jew's weren't r en't so wealthy at that time. One of the ueya they did it traa by appealing to the snobbery of the gentiles f that time by saying s1ao Jove allowed." By that time the.:'o were only a tow real unusual anti-genitals. As far as I know there dere only one or two places that had 3igno Moat *tens tantilas only.. Jima ar 40g$ alle md.a Some Mims weld bails baea...t ''t tem...had a diff1.alt deal with some Jewish family esr Jewish person and so forth. Most of theme just sold 'gentiles' only.' Two newspapers, the Miami As a matter of fact the two newspapers here had Deily Neve and The Miami Herald this sign that carried most of the ads on carried "gentile only° ads. Nisei poach, 'gentiles only.° There were very few Jewish people over there. Well, I mai' Mitchell Wolfeon selected by selected by the Anti-asfemation League to go Anti-Defamation League to and talk to the newspapers at that time and ease try to stop these ads. Went if we couldn't eliminate these ads. I )right as to !eland, D'n ?"honey on well tell this story. I bad a good friend, News who acid that if Herald flan Mahoney, who ran the Miami Daily Hews at that would stop, News would. time. I went to him and asked him to eliminate Decided to approach Herald also. theme aigns....thsese ads, rather....which were offensive to the Jewish people. Mahoney said, At that time, very few Jews in °Mitchell, I'm the second newspaper in town. Miami Beach and business for The Miami Herald is the big nave paper, and I from m gentiles essential to agree with you. They shouldn't have these typed economic well-being of papers. of ads, butt I can't take them out. ?' ► advertis- ing saetnsgss says we'll lone all the ads we have The Knights bad just bought teen thews hotels which are essential to our the Herald. economic well-being, but if The Herald will eliminate them, we'll eliminate them, but I can't eliminate then unless the Herald eliminates them.' I said R4e11, let ccs see what I can do. I don't like that, but I'll go to The Herald and e.e what I Bas do.' The Knights had Just bolt !ha Harald sasses time before that. This luring the thirties? Whoa was this? What period of time were you talking about? The thirties? In thirties. First went to The thirties. yes. First I went to see the Herald advertising manager, advertising manager of The Mini Herald, and he Refesed. said that they didn't feel that thio was offens- ive and that me were super-sensitive and that it was important to their well-being. They had just oame to town and they didn't want to antagonise the oe®auaity by eliminating a pmeatioe vhieh bad gone on for each a long time, 1 Hs wasn't lees position to eliminate this type of advertising. nem went to ase Mr. Jack I said 'dell, would you have any objection if I Knight who was sympathetic. saw your superiors?' He said °No. Go ahead.' Called in staff to hear Mr. So I went to see Mir. Jack Knight and explained itcboll Arbon. the thing to bine He said "?tell, I'm very esyipathetio. I think you've got a point.' And he called in his staff end said 'Mitchell wants to tell you whey the Jewish community is opposed WCEPSON 19 Mr. Wolfson itisaidoodto •titf to those Woe 3 414. faa Aar at,igatasd to why ads vera oflaoi e. Staff did IdAttMrtherthoeght it, WalinperlknAlte oestinue it not want to eliminete ada as fat bocauae they had lust come to teea and they weren't they were too new in town, not received yet as 'Yankees' you tit say, and that yet accepted as 'Yanksee' and they thought that in time they might be able to time not opportune. eliminate it, but they didn't thin' that the tine wan opportune for them to do it. Jack Knight disagreed and I was vary pleased with Jack Knight at that time. He ordered removal of ads. Said said "I don't give a damn what the oommunityr thinks. he'd continue to report wawa as This is offensive to part of our population. Take ho sees it, but no more "gentile those ads out.* Belo a tough guy, and he said t••� only" ads. no 'Mitchell, now don't you come beak crying over every little story that ha;:pena to be offensive in the paper to the Jewish people. Ue will report tho news as we see it, but We're oertainly not gig to carry any more ads that say 'gentile oniy'and it's eliminated as of caw." Mr. 1 honey then removed such I wont beak, reported to Mr. Mahoney, and he also ads frnaa News also. took geese out after that, and that was the end of the "gentile only" ads, as far as the new pa;arc. Maly people ar© inclined to That's a terrific story! I Lieut to ash y>u a ignore Carl Fisher's acc,xnplish- and try to verity something. You know wo know tat runts and point out only that he Henry Ium and John Collins; ray have been hero earlier, was anti-eemetio, due to property but it was really Carl Fisher who built Mani Duce:. restrictions. Wiow, some Jews, when yna ask about him will sort of sluff over his other accomplishments like the Lincoln True he supported you when you ran Bighwey and the Dixie Highway and the Indiai-az lis for Mani Borah city oo'mmiasion? Speedway, and point to the fact that Mr. Fisher anti-esawtio because of the restrictive oovenantc ,u the property, but Barry Simonoff in his book "Under Strange Skies" said that Carl Fisher supported v,,u • i bei ou ran for the city commission in Maul Beach. T9 that true? True. Not anti-eometia, but Absolutely true. Carl Fisher wee a buainesamnn of t]-.at a very good businessman. time, and it was good business to put restrictive Gamblers were taking over covenants in; it was good business to say "gentiles lanai Beach. People unhappy, aoly" because that was a way he would get a better but not anxious to rem for price and a bigger profit for his property, but ho office. )4l.tchell t3oltacn decided was not anti.eemetio per es. A: a matter of fact, to to run. amplify on that story, we were very unhappy with... . when I say ewe' I mean not only Jews but gentil©s with character...w at was happening at Nieces Beach because the geeelders had more or less taken it over. There was a lot of illegal things going on about which a group of people were meeting and talking about. . . .we should try to stop it. I was a young man of cnt :uaiau i and energy and nobody would run for office, like they do now. Finally I said *Jell, I'll rte for office if nobody alae mill.' Everybody said "Horrey. You go rum WOLFSON 20 A,eA )ysN Uent to Mr. William , Jewitrh Voll, cfecmsee to get sleeted ratans to go see loader nn Miami Beach, who opposed the leaders in the fit'. There We a very the gambling and even =edema which fine Jess.:- r on ? ami Feasts oe roraultod. William P - Miami had comm to i about1925, invoeted in property, had a firm hem, arA uao a very uell.reepocted man, and who was very such se oppod to some of the garnbl.ing and even murders that had happened as a moult of some of the --Mt A DPfigmmblieg over there. I r. Pereti4ee introduced Hr. Llolfaon He vas very pleased that I uao willing to run, and to Carl Fisher, his friend. helped ma a good dol, including taking mc to Carl Fisher whowas a friend of his and cihrm he had a I ir. Fi her ch aaksd.•out Mr. Uolfson and lot of respect for. He t'ld Mr. Fisher what I a week later agreed to support him. was willing to do and would try to eliminate the bad hraotioee and Mr. Fiuhor vas a tough guy. He TARe.o44A has s;�kon very hi of you Mr. W'olfeon. You ray y,u alt to do those good things, but before I endorse you or su.-:; ,rt you, I uant to check your background a d y ur track record. You come back and see mo in about a creek and I'll let you knew whether or not I'll eco: - i t you. So he checked my background I presume, and when I came back in a week he said "Lvarything 'TA1lAOtISA Mr. mPareamersaid about you I've checked out. I'll support you, and I will do everything I can.* Cort:t.: raise of Vr. Fisher opposed Actually, be found that there were others on the 'Iolfson because he sns Jewish. teat who were his centempareriee at the time crh Deo ito fallout with some, Afr. Fisher were very each opposed to me because they didn't c._::tined support. think they'd vent a Jewish member of the Councl l Hr. Fisher ted quite a fallout with some of tholl as a result of eupportiztg ms, but I would think that I probably owe pogo election more to Carl Fi rhor than almost anyone also, although a lot of pe-.•lo supported &e....of course, the Jewish aoQrsmity. .inial Beach Jewish oemunity ascii. I probably owe Hr. Carl Fisher more for my oleecti-:n at:lout Carl Fisabar'e support whereby the first time to the Council than any other the gentile community voted for Mr. individual, because without bis cunr•ort I sc uld n t olfa-a, election would have been have received sufficient to sport fr-m the gentile znl sol;f. community to tote been elected. At that tine th u,.e were not sufficient Jeewich voted on Mend Beach t elect someone like myself, ea it wr=uld require a majority of the Jowish vot4e, plus a large grout: of the gentile voters in order to be elected, and without Carl Fisher's oupportll wY Auld have had a difficult time receiving sufficient tutee fry a the gentile community to have been elected. r u caro active in oonm*aity affairs In the thirties, you really started to get acti.'e In Vas thirties, before being :n the in cccsrrunity affaires, didn't u? I rear bof re :ity c',i isai n, weren't yell? you were on the city commiaat,:n. I found an l.d vomit 21 II w did ycu acme to ted up load 011Pnileg about :ram* healing up thbar 19011 Munleien coz,�j rai,�r mor Spessard H-il_land for far Sreeeard Holland fer geveraor t* 1930. 1:":at C ,Tern r in 19307 made y-u get lsrvilvod with that?. Derived call from cousin truer Very interesting, the meson I got involved eit:: ami-a requesting support of Spxaaard Holland. I had a cousin over in Tun:a by I r. Holland, atating hie the name of Dave Falk ub , originally was a family cnaalifioations. Nan of intoi city, that my father brought to goy :.'eat fr Dar , e and honest, unbiased, no anti-oomiti n. than they moved to Tama and become very active in Tampa. As a uattor of £aot, Pr. Falk became a large da.?artment store ,,uner and he wa.s elected t the citeeeunail. His son was a lawyer very active in Florida politics, and he called ago u>> one day and acid to me "There's a can by the name of S as •aid Holland whole been president of the mate 'if Florida and running for governor, and Ile going to su. ;,r.t him and I would like for you t-- su sport in.s S aid, "Jolly why should we ate,-.wort hill? that do©s ho have in his background that wr u d cause ice t su;; rt him?" He said "loll, I can just tell you one thing ire's absolutely unbiaood, doeonrt have any anti-ao;.Stiac„ and le a gentleman of integrity and h nasty." Ian. Rand cup! rted Al Smith I would Ii1oa to recite ono ,f the things ezhie:h ho diel as democratic candidate f r rdiich bears out that evaluation of his. When Al S. It, U. S. presidency, though Al Smith van nominated as the dowecratia candidate f r WS a Catholic and Nr. Holland preaideney of the United States. ..as you knou .'l Smith raised by !ethodi.st uiniater was a Catholic, oy and there was a great deal ^f r ,ont- father in enti«Catholic ateceo . t in the ecuth, perhaps more o^ anti-Catholic than antieJew ish...ax d there was no one in the uta7e Ur Holland never anti-Je++ish. of Ylarida e000aspt S,..ssard Holland ubo would :stay wit,1 the derroaTatie party. He ceupportesd Al Suitt: boc:euso South very anti-Catholio at time, he was a ilemooratie, regardless of his religi ,n, oven perhaps more so than anti-Jewish. ' bough Speasard Holland was the son f a Moth-x3i.st *Ulster. He eartainly rias rained up in an anti- Catholic atphere as a youth, even though ho 't aertaaLinly at any time anti-Jewish. fter Looting S$asriard Holland When I met Spesserd Holland I was conviacod, arts trusted Jewish representation meeting hive, that he vas the kind of pars Vn that do at .onsite level to Bine am he was could trust our Jeuisah religion to, and wo w'ul d be neither anti-Jewish nor antic- reoogniaod at the Sonata level at leant without any Catholic. Received 85% of Tata. antipathy for ubat was right or what vas wrong. Ho n Miami Beach. wan a conservative, naturally...a very strong c-neo v-- att e, but as far as being anti-Jewish ,r anti-Catholic there was no ambiance of that, ever, in his le history. I was very plowed at that time ti have boon one of his major supporters. As a matter of fact. ee got I think 8 of the voten on Miami Bewail for his. That was oonaidrred quite a triumph fn. mat. Just met him lcwt weak fel. first I uet him just last week for t:ao first time. '1.10c a time. Nioe gentleman. nice gentlaa#n. Fine gentleman. Fine gentleman. =paw 22 Y( u Were councilman from 1999 to 'nba tins that you mar* on to city eouneil. 1941? yma► ver° m eouncilnan from 19)9 to 1941, is that right? Richt. And 1941 to 1943. Elected 19 9 to 1941 la riga. '41 to '43, and than Layor in 1943. in '43 1 W'ls eleotod mayor. I:;torvitu with Barron do Hirsh ;Ivor We talked about tho gambling. In fact, yuater- a1s�; revealed concern ':vo: grumbling dry I interviewed Bar:.,n de Hiroh Fcs:yer and vu a d dianlaaal of ooupl© of police talked ammo about the city cs -1soi n inMiami chiefs. Beach and tha fact that the o mrisaion really did have to constantly be on their guard t :Yd you boo'.ome interested in off- gaMbling and the fact that a o-u;,10 of the ntreet parking voile on + remission? police etiefkbad to b' a disai,ssod. I think you t.oual d on that bofn-a, but you have been very interested in am.ething that I raver thought too rpt about until I just thought about it, and that's off-straot •arldng. Did you get interested in that when y-u were n the city °omission? You. Yes. a:11 uo. Could you tell something of that? F al nod that not only streets Yea. You know, vera the cre atunes in euw ncuc.ed with advent of automobile total of all the little things we do every day. but Larking for the care in order Being in the motion picture theater buoinoa:.;, I t'> do good business. sed way beak that with the advent of the automobile it was necessary not only to have streets for to to ride on, but a place fhr these to mac, end that it Was nee scary in order to have a av000safu1 business to provide a plain forth* automobiles to park because people came from distances to patronise you, whethor you were a grocery art=-re or our experi- eves with tuatara, so I was very conscious of to need of parking. C-unci1i an Gould annoy enemy by Mere was awry interesting thing that had lacixic parking lot suint to foe'o happened in Mai Beach. I don't know what a,c..rt ent, oatuain8 duet which caused it, but one of the uatyo a c-funciIwan disturbed residents, as paving, 000uld get even with one of his enemies WSA to lighting, pd icing, drainage, eta. place a parking lot next to thin so-celled n::At required at that time. 'a apart house, bocatuao in those days Po :ple could meice noise at night you didn't have to provide iemingi you didn't to create dlaturb nee. have to provide drainage, provide lighting or polte4ng. If you drove in on a lurking lot, there was a lot of sand and dust that would rise and disturb the people in the apartment house, and people would go there at night when it ww; dark and Rias and yell. AxywQy, that was ono the things to do. One of the things that I tried WOLFSON23 As counailman, Ur. Wolfson to ado wee a t eibie won of puking to any o e tried enforced building at who bit an apaxiaania bow sr bait a store, so larking faaillties when that the people unuldn't be n the stroot, and new construction. co that people wuld have a glace t ;ark. The parking lot w:)uld have to be 11 itod i aro ferl; , n.,t Mining in the oyes of the tuts. It i u Id have tr,1 foquircmonta f lighting, be raved so there is'ul d be no dust airing iriing u;:ward. Thoz c drain, i avirg, ate. would have to be drainage,age, so there Wmuld bo n' >uddlos of Water standing. In other w,,rdn, a modern ,arkiae lot, and beautified, and so trth. Passed rosoluti:n to Ono of the interesting things was, I ?xiaood a rolv]L:- noceaaitate ;.rovision for tion on a first rrxiding that I a tudiod ti- t I acquirod So many oar ajiaaeo for so from Los An us Angela* ( I ewer, r1 they .at hae first many arxartmonta in building. poo41e to do it) that you would have to provide e a; many ear epacea for ao maay apartmenta. Thi$ i$ the first time this was tried so far a�n��If�kulw, and cortai;:ly in Fl �7 >rida, and it paaaod nani I oly on a fir ct reading. Builder$ created disturhanco By that time the land-oveatera and the apartment-?r'uso in council dhambora in violent peo;.la, and the peoplo who arcuated try speculate and opposition. Council all loft build didn't smut to have too ;.rOvido Arking a?acaa, 1� Wolta-n alone and unabla and they all came down to the council's chambors and to get anyone to second his just created all kinda of diaturba►noos and hullabalos aeoond reading. about how this fellow Was trying to force tiacsn t provide free perking for tenants, and for mtr-na lf the stores, and all the council loft tea, and I ca: the only one left. On the 000nnd reading, to r:;ake a motion, I alabl 't even get a second to it, and that was the weed of that. Eventually, bu1`.'ing of park. trantually, it came about, and eventually at loaat I ing lots with propor facilities was able to insist, and .did insist, and did ace 14:110h came about on voluntary basics. that anyone dbo wanted to build a e rkdng lot could build one with the proper facilities and that, uid.lc+ it was on a voluntary basis for a number of years, at least it wasn't considered a slap at some loom-40G' .o••callod, and mama councilman who ai'4 It want ar ki :;; nerxt to his property. Later headed off-ctroot }3mg.? You later seat Am to head the if-at 7rao�tE�p-arkii �? °"F• S i`lllY/{O �en/n City purchased part of golf What was then a golf courao back of Lincoln Rad e course back of Lincoln ld. Card. Fisher Cly (it WM3 then out of his hard.. . .i and maintained it as =tach. t1d* it bal-ongod to Lindt,ey Hopkin ) sold that r crt5 for I think it was t400 a front-foot, t20,000, a fifty- Ramaindor of Land cold at toot lot, and ten per-cent off for cash, and left an $400 a front-tot. Owned alley in the back. Then the city bought the rant f first by C•^rl ?idler Co. the golf ocuree and maintained it as a golf o =30 and later by Lindnoy Hopkins, s+itb(mt the frontage on Linco3n Rood. Dy train who then sold it to city the need for parking became so acute on } .ani Boach and as aeparato lots. that I decided, along with s•ne help, that we •:s ght tams 24 Need for parking tremendous. Qamake over tome p!" course into a tyre is Turned golf or ur a Into parking parking flteint7 vlieh would later be an area arou with space for auditorium, eta. for an auditorium and so forth thSei you ace therm which came later. naw. No zoning changes permitted unless Well, it WM4 vary interesting. 'Al wore very real need. No graft. tough an eoning sitter because we bad sufficient of the world's goods that we didn't have to take graft or our diameter vac such that we wouldn't, so we never permitted any coning to be changed =leas there was a real need for it. V. B. T. Roney oi1med land on There was a Baan named N. B. T. Roney who owned Lincoln and Collins zoned for single at that time the southeast corner of Lincoln and then later multiple families. Road and Washington that ran all the way to the eauthweat corner of Collins Avenue that he had bought and this property :sae originally zoned for dingle families, and than later for multiple families. W. Roney golfed every day. Mr. Roney had two problems in his own Hind. One: Wanted to change residential zoning he had en office there on Lincoln Road and at to commercial. about five o'clock he would go doun and play nine holes on this golf course. The other Pr. y:oaf eon and Baron de Hirsh Meyer problem yea that he scanted to change this on council explained '^ W. Roney property that be owned from multiple family to it would be possible in future, but commercial. Of course it uauld go up fr-•m than too much oommereial not wise maybe $400 a foot to $1,000 or more over night. as people had Just bought residentially We tried to explain to Zfr. Roney, both Baron do zoned land nearby, which should Hirsh Mayer and I, (he was on the council then acquire its value. with me) that same day this should be commercial but that we ,acted the property that vas just sold toOva* to acquire its value and not he ee the market hurt by dumping too such eceeaeroial cam Golf course land made into parking At the same time, we had...at least I bad facility and later the Auditorium decided to take this golf course and make it was built. into this parking facility and area for city thsnge like the Auditorium, which we did. W. Yr. Roney angered at Mr. Wolfson and Repay came out with a blast at both of us, Fir. Baron de Hirsh Meyer. Took out ado de Hirsh Meyer and I, saying that vs were do±g in papers asyiag it was being done to this to help cut businesses, and he actually heli. out businesses and Lincoln Rd. took out tall-cage ads in the Herald and The Now , merchants, which was true. haying that we were doing this to provide nark- ing for the merchants an Lincoln Road, which we 1r. Wolfson bitterly opposed in were, because we thought it was necessary aabd 1941 election by Mr. Roney. Wolfson so forth and so an... .and as a matter of fact elected by large majority. W. Roney opposed me very bitterly in my 1941 election I guess this was, but I V.3 elected by a large majority. What you see there now Was a result of what we thought was necessary for Miami Beach. WMPOOS 2$ - Back free taut in 1946. Suggestion Nr, Assn I enure beat from the war in 1946 I gas, I made to Mayor Abs Aranovits of sated to Atte Arcus sbo Was tbifl mayor eta* city...the city of Maid. Wore you friends growing up? Were you friends in Key 'est? I meows in gr-'uing up? Yes. Suggested parking authority Sure. 4;e grew up together. I snggopt©d that we should to take parking out of politics. have a parking authority in M.ami and take it out of politica. One of the problems on Plead Beach which Miami Beach councilman elected bad not taken it out of politics was that it me:i being and subject to preeeuree. Would ram by the city council and oven though you had good do friends f avore. lir. Wolfson members they were subject to preeau es. They were wanted people to be appointed, doing a lot of things over thero uhieh I didn't think fooling better job could be dose vas right like buying nark ng l oto where there wan no without pressures. need for one but same friend of t}'.nirs wanted t> sell one, and doing other things which neon's that pro appointed rather than elected could do a bettor Job beaatt,e they weren't xubjoat to those prescaro©. Mayor Aroncvite finally brought After a long fight, Abe Aronovita finally was able about Miami Off-Street Parking with the city council to pass an ordinance which Authority. Mr. 4olfeon on orig. would then lase through the Legislature, an enabling board of S. Is now Chairman of act to authorise the eetabliahnont of what i-; n-'u the Board. called the Miami Off-.Street Parking Authority, with fivo mothers. I vas ono of the memboro and I on now and have been the Chairnan of the Board of tris Off-Street Parking Authority. valet about your desire when on het me ask you something else. When you were n the city commission to purchaee land city e w ieuion, and /Ivy seen ee of the at rieo between Miami and Fort Lauderdale? that o out la those days, there was one er'�j act that you wanted very badly, emething ebrut ;urcl Daae cf land 41.eh would now be vest of the exl-resawey, between Miami and Port Lauderdale. Had deal gone over Miami Beach If I were able to have put that deal overMani ai T ch would have been richest city in would be the richest city in the world, and cls-) there world and no tarda. would be no tame by people who have to nay f r Mond Beacb. Miami Beach tinct city with It was interesting hoe it happened. We had a man by e x:plate savage system. Ocean the WOO of Purney lobo was our consultant for -ur outfn1i. water and sewage. fly the may, you know we had the first sewage ooasplete eyste Ior the city of Miami Beach Consultant, Mr. Purney said cf any city. Of courseit had an ocean outfall. In f N nr+t in danger of meter short- those days it wasn't quite es much a problem of ago, as wells had not as yet been pollution as you tthink it tight be. Anyway, Mr. Purxoe drilled. ease dower and said that we were perhaps in danger of having a shortage of water because at that tiros Mucci had not gone out and drilhhd the wells and Cone the job that it was necessary f'►r then to do to Airni ih %alteer to Mdse Bench. We still buy wetter froze t:.e Viand authority. The thing to do was to purchazo the WOLFSON f6 uggeeted purahase, at abaut as IMM rich Ibis has bees basest for 'ore, of 50 thousand acres of land fifty 443are u ie Fort Leudstrada h-;m Fort Lauderdale south to Miami, down to Mimi, west of Seventh fie...abaut rest of 7th Itve. fifty thousand sores. Could be soil and eater c: nocrvation This wu1d be a soil conservation and water urea. If neceasarxy, could supply Imam conservation area. We cc u1d bring water from lith :rater and vice-versa. our walla north to approximately where Day Harbor rbor is now, or Del Harbor area. Than we could sail water north and ma a-uld bring it fould have water to sell north and down and sell agister south and tie into the ;out, and tie into Miami 'system. Miami eya'tom, so that if Mani ran out of «agar we could supply Miami 'with water, and if we ran into any problem they could supply us frith water. tont with Mr. Purnoy to see city It was interesting. It that tima, Mk. Claude anager, Claude Rsnahav to diaausa Renshaw who was the city firer had had a furcaase of this land for soil and heart attack and vena down on Key Large recu arat- ator counarvation area. ing. I went down thorn with Mr• Purney and wo sold 1*'. Fonehaw on the idea that we the city 11 were snthutsed, Including Mfr. should btu* this land and eatabliah this water and ansbaw. soil o-nservation area and have our own tiator system. We were all willing to do it.:i±F.ansh au VMS rather enthused about it as I was. r. John Levi than mayor. Fine... At that time we bad as a mayor a wan named Mr. ltra-eonsorvative mdn. John Levi wbo was a fine old gentleman, but an ultra conservative. :i0 .dated with Carl Fisher? 8e was associated with fir. Carl Fiaber, nti r:'t Eat riginally. dell, originally, yes. That's a long story too. Aid be was se conservative' and bad control of r. John Levi had control of aoune l the mil that he thaarted the effort. Hin nd thwarted the effort. Thought start reason vas that be said that private water t aocia].istia for city to go into sass Bought to supply water, and that to go ater business. should be privatslY Into the water business was socialistic, and it mood. vase" the thing to do. No matter bow good it swan be was opposed to the city going into the tatter business. riod to explain that et one tine I triad to explain that in the older days the jade and bridges were Privately owned dukna and lords of clans sireabwned the roads Id later became community responadbility, and the bridges and you'd have to_pag money to e with parking. Private enterprise travel on tb-jr road or to travel on their bridooe in run parking but eventually it but eventually roods and bridge's became counit r mould be converted to best use. i'eeponnsibdlity and the government responsibility. I thought that like parking, that parking was • community responsibility. It's fine to have private operators run parking lots, parking things bat eventually periv+ate enterprise could anuv rt that property to the highest and best use. Vain= z7dMMUMEMMENT If nee4 y U t .y felt that ilhaa "Mgr built a parking garage should be reps Good eith hotel that War it yea better a hotel there ei c a;zartzaezrt house. it vas better to tut an aescrbmont beese there. they ire gin to tear the garage► dleas end do that; aed that uaa than right thing to de. City-- rwvidc d etz Bete, brl ddgea, At leant when is a city ;�r eeidded the stroot or sidewalk eta. aro i:•orngnent. or ttu c31 or bridge it UMs there •er a iorntly. he rime way with parking. Nov I felt tint ::at.e i' waw +mace, r ate�r eo o tial imd ouch services eaeential for peocle'a health iu - ) Iota need. It oahould be rendered by city who ons a matter of the staff of life and it was it -ortant could control rates. for the city or the c-unty or momoer_a to e' into the flatter bueineee everseeal.J beoa e° it .V.ts nocoLioarr to keep the rates dons as low as pon:.ible and to render service. Unable to ar.nvince nc yor Levi. I wee unnbbe to convince him. tom/or J'•hn Levi cit that 4 ycr defeated tido, telling tied ,ar ivaded the council. the t this ynunr. Lento idea c ,unail idea evel e1 iatic. waw not the thing to doI It wan s- cinli sti c, and Iand worth billion today. as a result, we don't have those lance that arc v rth maybe a billion ion dollars today. Your work to oocure North Shore Would you list co --ne f :jour o ro oatiafying tioe-oe.- park satisfying? lishoents of that period the work y 'u did t secure North Shore Bark? North Show Park haven establish- Yes, I would. This is very interesting. This North ed by federal government before $hors Park Vas a haven that was established by the turn of century, before light- federal government before the turn of the century, houses. Men living there could ritually when they had no lighthouses. They establiehe use rowboats and rescue ship- these things all along the coast where people could wreaked people. be rescued it they were shipwrecked by act men who lived there and went out in rowboats and saved them. As you knee this land rums from the ooeaan all the way through to the bey. It's a beautiful piece otf;roperty. During boas no longer need for When it was apparent that the bow was going an and North Shore Parkas haven for land was becoming very valuable and there was no longer shipwrecks and speculators all any need for this, every land speculator in the United wanted to bey the property. States vented to buy that piece of property. I had a real good friend who was then one of the county ecenisesic ere who had previously been the building inspector for the city of Pisan and lobo had been elects to the county eommieeion and vas a ve-y patriotic gentleman by the moose of Lowry. We used to call him /Ye/1 b 4°c •sneo Lowry' became be was so friendly. City of Miami Beach did not I went to him because the city of Miami Beach didn't have the money to purchase have the money to buy the property and tried to Park property. Mr.; Wolfean persuade him to buy this park for the city or the c ,uni went to Mr. Lowry to try to so it would be preserved for public use. tic, a natter persuade him to buy the park of fast, I was also able during his aeministration and for the city or county. minas; to get the first money that wets ever given to Miami Beach by the county....$50,000 to help rave and WOLMOW 28 County gave Miami Beaesh $50,000 to Was Man Rad. but tb at t s a different titory. Improve Alton Road. bre, h ?boa t o , Utile pr car heads together and let's go Veit oar congressman Went to see congressman who helped and see what can happen.* We wilt to see the establish International Airport. congressman at that time who can really the first to establish the International Airport. I'll have to give you his name. You'll think of his name. I'll get it from you. You'll think of it. We sat down and we said "How will we do this?* Bo said (Congress had no money then too, it was the depression years) *Well, maybe we can exchange this land some may, somehow.* So we sat down and we finally figured out how to do it, which pleased p�el��dor• - Lowry* because he wanted the Coast Guard Station moved from Fort Lauderdale down to Miami. Wilcox was his name. Congressman Wilcox. Passed law in Congress whereby the We passed a law in Congress that this land could land could only be exchanged for another not be sold, but it could only be exchanged for Coast Guard facility. other property suitable for Coast Guard use that would replace what was originally Coast Guard property for eamsthing for modern Coast Guard facilities, so you couldn't buy this land. Y-,u could only exchange it for another Coast Guard fkoility. That stopped the land sweaters and speculators. County gave $225,000 toward building Then we rant to the state, and we got the stato to island off McArthur Causeway for a deed ns where nom Coast Guard Island is, off the ����� Coast Guard station. McArthurCausevoy, for one dollar. Then *vervul ie Lawry' said that if we would use this property State deeded land where Coast Guard which is mouths North Pasrk fora park that he station was built for one dollar. would get the county to give us $225,000 towards this at the rate the first year of I think it was Two properties exchanged. $25,000 and the balance as needed to build an island in the bay there off the McArthur Causeway Park property worth about ten million for a Coast Guard Station and exchange the two dollars today. properties. The county put up $225,000. The state pat up $1. bio built the island where now the Coast Guard is and we exchanged that for thin park which we got for one dollar, which is all the city had to put up for it, and it must be worth ten million dollars today. every tins I rids by it I feel pretty good. I bet you do. We've just really hit the top of You resigned as mayor. what you did during the years that you were nn the city commission and mayor. You resigned as rnay' r. When in axw about to go overseas. I resigned as mayor when I enlisted in the army and was about to go overseas.