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Royal Palms and Shade Trees to Share Corridor02-12-07 | News

Royal Palms and Shade Trees to Share Corridor




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The Biscayne Boulevard corridor in Miami has exclusively been the realm of the royals, palms, that is.


The Florida Dept. of Transportation?EUR??,,????'???s (FDOT) Miami?EUR??,,????'???s Biscayne Boulevard reconstruction project is a multiphase endeavor for new storm water drainage systems, new roads, sidewalks, medians, traffic separators, traffic and pedestrian signals, street lights and street signs. In 2008, FDOT will begin installing a mix of shade and palm trees along Biscayne Boulevard. The corridor has previously favored royal palms exclusively.

Some want the corridor to remain the realm of royals, like Elvis Cruz and Sean-Paul Melito, who have lobbied state legislators to give the boulevard historic status. The pair assert the city dedicated royal palms along the boulevard to ‘’the veterans of all wars’’ during Armistice Day in 1926, although apparently the palms were not installed until the 1930s. The palm advocates want to save the royals still standing and bring back those the FDOT removed in 2005 during road repairs.

However, the city has already passed a landscaping plan. Steven Craig James, a FDOT landscape architect, said the agency’s landscaping plan reflects the community?EUR??,,????'???s desire for a combination of shade and palm trees, a sentiment held by Robert Flanders, president of the Upper Eastside Miami Council. Flanders told the local media the Upper Eastside royal palms are not historic.

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