MAY 18 - 24, 2010
Permanent village hall rapidly taking shape Author relishes her first T book on hot dog history
BY GARY ALAN RUSE
he new building that will become the permanent village hall for Palmetto Bay is so far along in the construction process that it’s immediately recognizable to anyone who has seen the architect’s renderings. Located at 9705 E. Hibiscus, on the site of the former Neighbors Supermarket, the new village hall is expected to be completed by October or November. The roof will soon be completely in place, what they call “topping out” in construction jargon, and the dome over the clock tower will be added shortly. “Everything is on schedule,” said Mayor Eugene P. Flinn, Jr. when interviewed on Wednesday, May 12. “Because there’s a need for work right now, the construction crews have been able to give this their undivided attention. I think that the only thing that could delay the project at this point is if a product, like windows or something else, isn’t delivered on time, or if we get any hurricanes.” Designed as a USBG LEED-certified Platinum building, the new village hall will be the first municipal center of its kind in Florida. The building will use solar cells to
Construction on the Palmetto Bay Village Hall complex is well underway.
–––––––––––––––––– See
VILLAGE HALL, page 4
Village partners with local firm to put businesses ‘on the map’
C
P
BY BILL KRESS
BY LINDA RODRIGUEZ BERNFELD utler Bay resident Adrienne Sylver is on top of the world. Her first book, Hot Diggity Dog: The History of the Hot Dog hits the shelves this month. “I wrote the book in the fall of 2005. I had heard the story on National Public Radio, talking about how Americans eat two billion hot dogs in the month of July,” Sylver said. “That got me thinking, wow, that’s just a crazy number. I thought about kids and who doesn’t like hot dogs. I started doing some research. It seemed that everything I looked at was more interesting than the last.” Her research even turned up that hot dogs were eaten in space during the Apollo 11 trip, the first time man walked on the moon. While researching and writing the book was quick, the road to publication wasn’t. Sylver met an editor from Dutton Children’s Books at a Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Conference a few months later and he told her to send Cutler Bay author Adrienne Sylver holds her first him the book. copy of “Hot Diggity Dog: The History of the Hot Dog.” She already had sent out a few ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– queries to publishing companies to So she wrote the small company to withgauge interest in the manuscript. draw it from consideration. There may “There was one very small publishing have been times when she wasn’t sure if company that liked it and had it under con- she had done the right thing, because the sideration when I sent it to Mark publication process stalled. It took almost a [McVeigh],” she said. “When I met him year before the editor came back with a and told him about it, he said, ‘wouldn’t you rather publish with a big publishing company.’” ––––––––––––––––––––––– See page 4
AUTHOR,
almetto Bay is in the early stages of developing the premier edition of a colorful, fold-out village map to be distributed within the municipality and at other strategic points throughout South-Dade in early 2010. Business advertisers currently are being invited to participate as only about 35 preferential display-ad slots are available per year. This program is the cornerstone of the village’s promotion of businesses and attractions in Palmetto Bay, thereby literally putting Palmetto Bay “on the map” for use by local residents and visitors to South Florida. By partnering with a firm called Miami Maps, more than 75,000 maps will be produced and updated annually, partly in a “green” attempt to encour-
–––––––––––––––––––––––– See
MAP, page 4
ALL TYPES OF COVERAGE FROM OVER 100 TRUSTED, COMPETITIVE, INSURERS
305.238.1000 Savings & Service Since 1950