Opinion
Avenue 3: One Step Closer
Starting soon, Avenue 3 restaurants will expand their outdoor seating into the parking lanes so their limited occupancy of 50% will be enhanced by more tables and chairs on the street. By Steve Dutton.
I’m excited about finally having the opportunity of helping make the oft-envisioned AVENUE 3 a reality. With a talented group of volunteers who’ve been working with me the past two years, under the banner name of Avenue 3 Miami, Inc., we are working in coordination with the Miami DDA, the Flagler District BID, the City of Miami, and, of course, the 13 restaurants we’re proud to have reopening safely on NE 3rd Avenue.
Starting soon with the partial closure of the street from Flagler north to NE 2nd St. we are assisting each of the restaurants to expand their outdoor seating into the parking lanes so their limited occupancy of 50% will be enhanced by more tables and chairs on the street. Leaving the street’s center lane open for local traffic, as has been the situation for years, we soon will be witnessing the transformation planned for the street into AVENUE 3, a new destination for everyone who lives, works, or visits Downtown.
But don’t wait until the changes planned are finished, please do come NOW and enjoy eating at any one of the small restaurants so they can recoup business they’ve lost due to COVID-19 and the cessation of cruise ships for the foreseeable future. Please do come for a visit immediately, so the restaurants are encouraged to keep open longer hours and they and you will begin to see what can happen as the streetscape changes in front of our eyes!!!
The bold vision for lighting the street and colorful mural and other attractions that are going to make AVENUE 3 a fun, inviting place to visit will start happening and each week you’ll discover new things to see. If you wish to share in the enjoyment of making a new public place happen, contact me by emailing avenue3miami@gmail.com.
Editorial Note
Steve Dutton’s commitment to Avenue 3, and Downtown’s general quality of life, is more significant considering his personal history. Here he summarizes one sad episode: “There are lots of things happening that may discourage many of us living in Downtown Miami. It seems we’re not really safe, especially when we hear that another random attack in broad daylight last week has caused serious injury to one of our neighbors. This affects me in particular because that was my life partner’s situation in September 2016: a random attack took the life of the person I loved. But turning this tragedy into action, I have grown to find this City a place I can lovingly call my home now. And there is more we can do to help make our neighborhood as safe “feeling”, as the statistics say we are in fact.”
Multimedia
Please take a look at this wonderful video portrait of Avenue 3 and the man behind it, Steve Dutton.
