Liberty City theater named after colorful, controversial late commissioner

Photo courtesy The Miami Herald

Eight years after his death, the life of Arthur Teele remains celebrated by some in Miami. This past July, the city of Miami and District 5 commissioner, Michelle Spence-Jones, remembered Teele with a celebration at Charles Hadley Park.  This week, Spence-Jones dedicated Liberty City's black box theater at Charles Hadley Park in honor of Teele.

From Charles Rabin and The Miami Herald:

Only five weeks before the end of her second and final term in office, Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones followed through on a promise to her district: Naming the theater in Liberty City’s Charles Hadley Park after the late Arthur E. Teele, Jr.

“Today I wanted to do something publicly. We honor the late Arthur Teele,” said Spence-Jones.

The resolution to name the venue after the controversial former city commissioner passed 3-0, with votes from Spence-Jones, Commission Chair Marc Sarnoff and Commissioner Wifredo “Willy” Gort, who once shared the dais with Teele. From now on the theater at 1300 NW 50th St. will be called the Arthur E. Teele Jr. Black Box Theater.  

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Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/09/26/3653183/liberty-city-theater-named-after.html#storylink=cpy

Overtown's Gibson Park Ribbon Cutting

From 11am to noon today, Overtown celebrates the $10.9 million renovation of Gibson Park with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The once empty grass field now boasts an Olympic-sized pool and state-of-the-art football and baseball fields. The park is located at 401 NW 12th street.

Gibson Park - Patrick Farrell/ Miami Herald Staff

In her Miami Herald article, "Overtown's renovated Gibson Park a symbol of hope," Alexa Lopez details the park's renovation:

The park is part of a citywide plan to bolster Overtown, the historic black neighborhood that once was the hub of Miami's black middle-class, but slipped into blight after I-95 bisected it. In May, the Miami commission approved investing $50 million in the neighborhood, building four mixed-use projects of housing and retail, and renovating the aging Town Park residences.

For Gibson Park, Tuesday's opening is Phase 1; Phase 2 calls for a $2.7 million gymnasium, now in its preliminary design stage.

The article also details the overall improvements throughout Overtown including the benefit of the once-criticized parking lots that Arthur Teele brought to the area:

(Marvin) Dunn credits Arthur Teele, the former Metro and Miami commissioner, with being one of Overtown's earliest visionaries. He pushed to add parking lots along Third Avenue, the hub of Overtown's business community.

"At the time, people thought that they were a waste of money," Dunn said. "But now that Overtown has begun development, we need those parking lots. The long-term impact has been positive for Overtown."

You can see Marvin Dunn, Jim DeFede and Oscar Corral's views (from 2007) of the Overtown parking lots in this scene from Miami Noir:

"Miami Noir" - Overtown's Parking Lots from Sam Rega on Vimeo.

Art Teele's Suicide - 7 Years Later

Minutes after 6PM tonight, it will be seven years since Arthur E. Teele, Jr. committed suicide in the lobby of The Miami Herald. The news broke across South Florida at the start of the evening news hour. At 7:50PM, he was declared dead at Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center. In the aftermath, The Miami Herald hastily fired Jim DeFede. Frank Alvarado's Miami New Times cover story "Tales of Teele: Sleaze Stories" become one of the scapegoats for Teele's public suicide. The following day, the suicide was front page news in the Herald. Click on over to Random Pixels for the original front page article. Here are additional articles from the July 28, 2005 issue of The Miami Herald as well as articles from the following days.

July 28, 2005 (The Miami Herald)

July 28, 2005 (The Miami Herald)

July 29, 2005 (The Miami Herald)

July 29, 2005 (The Miami Herald)

July 29, 2005 (The Miami Herald)