LINC Pursuing Charter Change on Incorporation
After four frustrating years of attempting to become locally governed cities, approximately 500,000 residents of unincorporated Miami-Dade County are now preparing a petition drive to require the county commissioners to order an election on incorporation rather than deny an election once certain conditions have been met.

Doral, Palmetto Bay, and Miami Lakes have been denied the opportunity to have a vote within their prescribed boundaries ever since meeting all of the requirements in 1996.

LINC (Let's Incorporate Now Coalition) is sponsoring the petition drive on behalf of its members who now include Doral, Palmetto Bay, Miami Lakes, Destiny, Fontainbleau Gardens, Westchester, East Kendall, West Kendall, Redland, Country Club Lakes, and ENCIDA.

Other communities seeking to incorporate are welcome to join LINC and participate in this important petition drive.

This petition drive is a monumental task--is it worth the effort and the expense?
YES! WE WILL BE WORKING FOR OUR OWN LOCAL CITY OF DORAL! 

Here's how LINC will get the petition drive done:

* 81,160 signatures of registered voters will be required. Most petition drives will result in 25% of the signatures gathered to be invalid. That means that a total of 110,000 signatures must be gathered.

* The estimated cost will be $275,000.00 and is to be shared by all of the communities, plus donations from specific targets.

* The ballot language is being written now. It must be submitted to the election department by March 19, 2000.

* A fund-raising committee is chaired by Kenneth Bluh of Kendall, Beeper: 305 486 7523.

* A professional, petition drive company will be selected to obtain the signatures. Experience has shown that this job is too time-consuming for local people to handle.

* This petition drive must begin by April 19, 2000.

* Once the petition forms are printed, each local community can assist the company in gathering signatures.

Whose job is it?
There was a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure Somebody would to it.

Anybody could have done it but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job.

Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

LET'S NOT LET THAT HAPPEN IN DORAL!
CALL 305 591 2222 TO VOLUNTEER YOUR HELP!

WDFHA Park Committee wants parks now
The WDFHA park committee under the co-chairs, David Lococo and Guiseppina Mariano, are gathering more recruits to push the park department to accelerate the development of the two neighborhood parks,. They are: Doral Park, on NW 102 Ave. and NW 53 St., and Doral Meadows Park, on NW 107 Ave. and NW 58 St.

Our children are playing in the streets. We cannot wait any longer while one delay after another is postponing the development of these two parks.

The county has failed Doral residents again by continuing to issue building permits that bring more families into our community and at the same time not providing us with parks for our children.

Some families have been waiting for eight years for Doral Park. The proposed date of 2002 for those parks is uncceptable.

PARENTS FOR PARKS NOW is being organized by Guiseppina Moriano. Call her and offer your help. 305 715 8543.

A notice will be going out for a rally by the Doral community. Let's turn out 500 concerned parents with their children.

If Doral were incorporated, those parks would be built and enjoyed without delays.

Trees available for public properties
Commissioner Miriam Alonso has 500 Live Oak trees available for planting in District 12. If you would like to see some of these trees planted in a specific area that is public property such as school, roadways, medians, parks, public buildings, etc. call the commissioner's office at 305-599-1200.

"Good Government is Close to the People" TV Series Continue to watch this informative series of 30 minute TV shows on WLRN: Media One Channel 15, Strategic Technologies Channel 55 or Cable Vision Channel 36.

These shows are aired on Tuesdays at 9:00 AM, Wednesdays at 2:00 PM, and Thursday at 7:00 PM.

Video tapes of these shows will be available to all associations that wish to view them. Call 305 591 2222.

WDFHA welcomes community-minded volunteers
The West Dade Federation of Homeowner Associations (WDFHA) is the place to get involved in helping your community. Many new residents are not aware of the ten-year history of WDFHA and how it has been working to develop and maintain a good quality of life for the Doral community.

The monthly meetings are held on the third Thursday of every month at 8:00 PM at the Doral Park Clubhouse, 5001 NW 104 Ave. The public is welcome to attend.

Dolphin Mall is going up
If you haven't driven by the area of the 836 Expressway and the Florida Turnpike lately, you will be surprised to see the gigantic Dolphin Mall rising out of the ground.

This exciting addition to our area will bring shopping, entertainment and fine food plus a 24-screen movie theatre.

A new entrance and exit at the Florida Turnpike is also under construction at that location.

Private enterprise will complete this vast complex quicker than our county can build two ten-acre parks in Doral. What does that tell you about our county government?

Resource Recovery Facility ribbon cutting ignores Doral
The incinerator that we all smell on weekends when the wind is out of the north had a ribbon cutting ceremony on February 16, 2000 for the completion of its rebuilding project. No one from the neighboring Doral area was invited to attend.

The WDFHA helped in the fight to get that plant retrofitted with state-of-the-art emissions equipment. The WDFHA was represented in monthly meetings at that plant for three years to insist that the plant be brought under compliance with the latest technology in emissions and odors.

The WDFHA never argued for the plant to disappear--it was here before the area was developed as residential.

In answer to Mayor Penelas' question to Morgan Levy on why he was not present: Mr. Mayor, we were not invited and had no information that the ribbon-cutting ceremony was taking place.