Sorry, the bit about Burn Notice is halfway down the article. But no one would get the jist if I just posted the bit about it. So, here is what led up to it. Just scan the first to get to the middle.





Council member Felice Dubin (shown left) seemed to be the only person who made any sense. She was concerned about the budget for the project. According to Michelle, bay bottom leases paid by two of the yacht clubs after Hurricane Wilma (for permission to rebuild docks) totals $1.2 million. This was designated for the Waterfront Master Plan. Also Dinner Key Marina leases also bring in about $2 million. That is such a small fraction of the cost, I'm not sure how that makes sense.

But this project could take 10 to 20 years to get through all the phases according to Michelle. While that sounds crazy, the whole purpose of the Master Plan is to keep the City from touching the land. If the project is approved, the City cannot do anything other than keep the area as parkland. So even if it does drag out, the main goal will be completed -- preserving the land from development.

Felice had some good concerns. If the project is drawn out for years, she wanted to be sure there are no eyesores for 10 to 20 years. Would each phase be completed totally and landscaped totally or would the whole thing be a mess for all those years? You know, in bits and pieces.

She also is concerned about the Expo Center being torn down while Burn Notice is using it.

One citizen from a Quality of Life group in Coconut Grove suggested that Burn Notice blow up the Expo Center as part of the last episode of the third season (they are currently filming the second season). It is already being talked about with the producers. Also, the City is working on finding Burn Notice another home (film studio). The show seems to be a huge hit and getting bigger, and it may go on for years.

"I don't think a television show is worth slowing down our waterfront park," said David Collins, council member.

Council member Lilliana Dones is in favor of allowing Burn Notice to stay for another season (their third). She felt the Village Council could be flexible in light of the fact that Burn Notice was a fluke and everyone is surprised by the success.

Basically it came down to this: TV watchers were in favor of keeping the Expo Center for a bit longer, those who don't watch TV are indifferent.

In the end the plan was approved unanimously, as-is, with the current phasing schedule in place. A motion was also passed to have the City give consideration to Burn Notice and the Expo Center and try to work with them and their schedule and not be so fast to obliterate the whole thing.

I didn't care for the fact that they wanted to avoid the issue and come back and discuss it, but Felice kept them there until they made the motion to deal with the Burn Notice/Expo Center issue. She only had voted for the first phase as-is, because they told her there would be a motion to try and save the Expo Center right after, but then they tried to put off the vote for another time. Luckily Dave Collins stepped in and made the motion happen.

Ironically as they discussed this into the night, Burn Notice was actually on tv at that very moment, delighting millions of fans.

Sorry, newbie moment...what parts of BN are in the Expo Center???? The loft? alot of it seems to be in various locations....is that where they keep the equipment or something?


KA23

A fluke?? A FLUKE??!!! I don't think so!!!!

All of the interior scenes, including Madeline's house and garage, Michael's loft, as well as the outdoor cafe scenes are filmed at the convention center. This I know thanks to DanJ who took me on his famous tour!

Great! Thanks for the 411! The cafe concept threw me for a minute....but then I realized i was thinking Arena, not convention center.....

Was hoping to one day be at that cafe, you know, like you can go to places in the Sopranos series (just a side note, in case you didn't know, both "colleges" Meadow visited were DREW UNIVERSITY...I should know, it's my Alma Mater )....anyway, oh well :S



TTFN,



KA23

Well, wouldn't it be interesting if they blew up the loft and Michael had to move in with his mom!!
Funny, it would be, but I really like that cool loft!!!!

The exterior shots of the loft are actually done at a warehouse on the Miami River. I forget which street it was, but DanJ took me there, too. On that day, the building was being measured and surveyed because it had just been sold to a new owner, whose telephone number was on a little note stuck to the street-side window. I took pictures of the building from the same angles that are displayed in the show, from across the river as well as in the courtyard.

I'd love to see it. I love the show and look forward to it all week. I wonder why they didn't expect the show to do well. What about it at the onset was seen as preventing it from being a popular show?

Oh man, what a difficult situation the producers are in! Miami is a great location, but now in addition to people wanting to cut the tax breaks, someone wants to tear their warehouse down!

I hear Nashville, TN gives great tax breaks to movies and productions. If they want to stay south rather than west.

I think they will probably stay for the moment in Miami. They will come to a compromise. But if all that should go to h*ll, they can always come to New York. I'll gladly keep tabs for them.

Holy crap, this would be amazing to see - how often do you see a real life Expo Center actually blow up on your television show?! It makes me want the third season to hurry up and arrive, lol!

Do you think that they'd be able to build another film studio somewhere else in Miami, or would they just give up and move the show somewhere else? Hmmm...

Thanks for the great article, LuLuNY!