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MIAMI BEACH
BY ANDREA TORRES
atorres@herald,com
Students from local schools
recently got in the act for
Miami Beach's ongoing 90th
birthday celebration when
they reenacted the city's very
tirst commission meeting.
The'y gathered May, 16 in
commission chambers at City
Hall, wore hats and bow ties
and endured silver hair spray
and makeup. Jan Vleeschou-
wer, a ninth-grader at Miami
Beach Senior High, said the
subterfuge was necessary to
"embody the wisdom" that
comes with age.
To transform himself into
John N. Lummus, the city's
first mayor, Jan also adopted a
Southern accent and studied
up on the history of the city,
including diving into Lummus'
book, The Miracle of Miami
Beach.
Jan and 10 other students
performed the reenactment
based on minutes from the
April 6, 1915, Miami Beach City
Commission meeting. Local
historians Abraham D. Laven-
der and Carolyn Klepser
reviewed the script for accu-
racy, though the students con-
tributed improvisational snip-
pets between agenda items.
After a couple of rehearsals
that allowed students to famil-
iarize themselves with the
AS PART OF MIAMI BEACH'S ONGOING
90TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION, LOCAL
STUDENTS RE-CREATED THE CITY
COMMISSION'S FIRST MEETING FROtv11915
pronunciations for words such
as "ordinances" and
"adjourned," Lavender, presi-
dent of the Miami Beach His-
torical Society, introduced the
"meeting" tq a small audience
of teachers frOln Nautilus
Middle and Miami Beach
Senior High schools, plus city
officials. ,
"The most important issues
of the time were street light-
ing, sewers, sidewalks and
other municipal improve-
ments," Lavender said.
During the play, students
were encouraged to impro-
vise. At one point Jan, speak-
ing as Lummus, jokingly sug-
gested he wasn't interested in
spending money on education.
TURN TO MOCK, 6
That drew a sharp retort
from eighth-grader Taylor
PLAYERS: Taylor Calibo, 14, of Nautilus Middie School, and Luelle Llorens, 18, of
Beach Senior High School, performed in a mock commission meeti'ng to
commemorate the 90th anniversary of the city of Miami Beach.
The students' mock 1915
City Commission
meeting will be televised
on Miami Beach's
Channel 20 from 8:30 to
9 a,m, before the City
Commission meetings of
June 8, July 6 and 27 and
Sept 7, You can also
watch the meeting
online, at
www.miamibeach
fl.gov /videol
video_archive.asp,
TO WATCH
THE MEETING
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ANDREA TORRES/HERALD STAFF
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2:
The Historical Museum of
Southern Florida will offer
Tropical Explorers Summer
Camp 2005 that will take
campers on imaginary and
real-time journeys through
South Florida and the Carib-
bean.
Camp starts June 6 and runs
through Aug. 5, with registra:'
tion available by weekly ses-
sion or for the entire nine
weeks. Hours will be 9 a.m. to
5 p.m. weekdays at the Histori-
cal"Museum, 101 West Flagler
St., for children 6 through 12
years old.
Some of the camp's high-
lights include meeting Carib-
bean artists who will help the
Tropical Explorers create
Caribbean-inspired works of
arts; directing a production
For information, call the
Historical Museum of South-
ern Florida at 305-375-1492 or
visit www.historical-
museum.org.
about the early days of South
Florida and playing characters
like Mary Brickell, Julia Tuttle,
Ralph Munroe and other
Miami founders.
There will also be field
trips and guided tours to sites
such as the Cutler Ridge Fossil
Site, the Miccosukee Indian
Village, Gusman Center for
the Performing Arts, the Dade
County Court House and-
Lummus Park.
Sessions are $110 a week for
museum members; $120 for
nonmembers, with discounts
available for multiple sessions.
\
Camp take~ journeys
though South Florida
DOWNTOWN MIAM
At WRIGHT / For The Herald
Al Wright, who lives on Ocean Terrace in Miami Beach, shares this picture of
Miami at sunset, taken from his balcony. 'The sunsets are fantastic!' Wright says.
Show Us Your Neighborhood is a feature spotlighting photos submitted by
readers, Send pictures and descriptions to editorJim Murphy at
jmurphy@herald,com.
SHOW US YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
\ ANDREA TORRES/HERALD STAFF
LOOKING BACK: Chris Lewis, 18, of Miami Beach Senior
High School, participated in a mock commission
meeting. Lewis is shown with local historian Abraham D.
Lavender, who reviewed the students' script for
accuracy
Calibo, who played original
city clerk J.F. Canova. ,
"Education is important.
That is how we are going to
build the leaders of tomor-
row," Calibo said.
While they acted out the
meeting in about 20 minutes,
Louis Armstrong music
played in the background.
Overall, the students
seemed to take their mock
jobs seriously, submitting to
makeup sessions and wrin-
kling their faces to add a few
years.
Attempts at realism were
sometimes betrayed by con-
cessions to reality - such as
when Theo De Freze, a
fourth-grader at Morningside
Elementary-, sat on a phone
book so he could see the other
commission members over
the table..
In the end, the l)tudents fol-
lowed the script - and his-
tory - by grappling with top-
ics such as boardwalks, a post
office" schools and city statio-
nery.
Afterward they had a mod-
ern pizza party, and hob-
nobbed with the likes of cur-
rent Mayor David Dermer,
Vice Mayor Luis R. Garcia,
the City Attorney Murray
Dubbin and Commissioners
Saul Gross, Matti Bow'~r and
Richard Steinberg.
"I know this was a serious
day, but I liked that I was able
to make people laugh," Jan
said. "I learned a lot because
we were able to interact with
each other and understand
the way a city is developed
and the way it grows.
"I. mean, it used to be all
swampy, and today it is what
John Lummus wanted it to be
- a tourist attraction."
· MOCK, FROM 3
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Students hold mock meeting
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