Ariel Fernandez
Founder & Editor
[email protected]
The City of Coral Gables’ Community Recreation Department held a public meeting on Thursday, December 8th, to discuss the design concepts for the diner to be located at the location formerly known as Burger Bob’s.
Community Recreation Director Fred Couceyro led the presentation and showed renderings of the City’s concept for the diner.
He explained that the footprint of the diner is being expanded into the space of the golf pro shop in order to accommodate for a single unisex ADA accessible bathroom within the restaurant.
The entrance doors will be moved to create two entrances at opposite ends of the front of the restaurant, with an access door to the golf pro shop.
The design, he explained, was based on using contemporary features and incorporating some of the historic ones that made the restaurant what it was.
Residents in attendance voiced their desires to incorporate some of the features, such as the furniture, from the old diner. The furniture is currently in storage at a resident’s garage. They were also adamant about the removal of the bar-top table on the window with charging stations, as this would remove the potential for additional tables and discourage oral communication.
The point that brought about the most concerns was the timeline for reopening.
Although the Commission had asked for City Manager Peter Iglesias to work on completing the diner by this Christmas, the presentation explained the time table is set for construction to take place in winter of 2023. This would imply that Bob’s, which closed its doors on February 13th of this year, will have remained closed for at least two years and not be open until 2024.
The timeline confirms what sources at City Hall had been telling Gables Insider for months, Bob’s is not a priority for the City Manager. In comparison, the State of Florida was able to complete a bridge to Sanibel and Captiva within three days, Coral Gables will take two years to renovate a 1,200 square foot diner. Iglesias, who was present for the presentation, did not answer the question on why this process has taken so long.
The current estimated cost of the project is $610,000.
Staff will be taking resident input from this meeting back to the architect for potential design changes.
We know they are lying.
They know they are lying.
They know that we know they are lying.
We know that they know we know they are lying.
And still they continue to lie.
Burger Bob in 2024?
The word Mañana is alive and well in
Coral Gables!
Government moves like molasses in winter and dealing with government is as pleasant as picking cotton in Mississippi in August.
There was one most delightful moment!
A man stopped trying to be overly polite like the rest of us and called it exactly what my friends and I were thinking “a cold hybrid of a McDonalds with a Starbucks”.
Apart from that this meeting felt like yet another defeat by the city of its residents. If they aren’t going to represent us then the city should turn all major decisions to a quarterly resident vote. Decisions will be made by us and not the commission that claims to always know best. Shameful.
The mayor had the gall to say this was yet another example about how well he listens to residents. NOPE all major decisions are a done deal.
I beg for us to VOTE LAGO out. He doesn’t give a rat what we care about. They kept this quiet on purpose like all of their endeavors. All efforts we oppose are simply there to build Lago’s political portfolio NOT for our community wellbeing. We are a big item on his resume. Nothing more : ( : (
The mayor had the gall to say this was yet another example about how well he listens to residents. NOPE all major decisions are a done deal.
I beg for us to VOTE LAGO out. He doesn’t give a rat what we care about. They kept this quiet on purpose like all of their endeavors. All efforts we oppose are simply there to build Lago’s political portfolio NOT for our community wellbeing. We are a big item on his resume. Nothing more : ( : (
The mayor had the gall to say this was yet another example about how well he listens to residents. NOPE all major decisions are a done deal.
I beg for us to VOTE LAGO out. He doesn’t give a rat what we care about. They kept this quiet on purpose like all of their endeavors. All efforts we oppose are simply there to build Lago’s political portfolio NOT for our community wellbeing. We are a big item on his resume. Nothing more : (
I got one was disappointed that most residents including myself did not receive any notice from the city nor was it listed on the website under the city calendar. I was told it was on social media. Like many of us I’m not connected to social media 24/7 and I’ve never checked it as the primary means of notification from our city. There were only about m 20 people who attended.
I have been a patron at Bob’s for many years and though I am disappointed in the manner the re-opening has been handled I am more disappointed about a comment in this article.
My disappointment is towards the unintelligible comment “In comparison, the State of Florida was able to complete a bridge to Sanibel and Captiva within three days”. How can you compare the needs of thousands to reach their homes, or what was left of their homes, after a devastating hurricane, that took tens of lives, to the reopening of a cafe in Coral Gables? Where is the urgency?
Sometimes our emotions get the best of us, but be vigilant with your words!
Just plain PATHETIC. Why the Hell is this manager Iglesias still there? Why are you all not listening to us, who are asking for his removal. WHO do you work for? Oh yea, you all work for Peter. You can rebuild the building in the same amount of time. Open it up and get rid of Iglesias already. Have a vote and I am sure a huge majority want him out. Why are you not doing your job? Burger Bobs reopening 1 year from now without expected delays? Really?
Just plain PATHETIC. Why the Hell is this manager Iglesias still there? Why are you all not listening to us, who are asking for his removal. WHO do you work for? Oh yea, you all work for Peter. You can rebuild the building in the same amount of time. Open it up and get rid of Iglesias already. Have a vote and I am sure a huge majority want him out. Why are you not doing your job? Burger Bobs reopening 1 year from now without expected delays? Really?
Isn’t winter 2023 next month? Winter begins on December 21st, so January is winter 2023. Is that when construction begins?
There’s nothing more comforting that the sound and noises of young children, I can’t understand why anyone would complain about that. My suggestion is to move to an adult only community. There are plenty of those in Florida.
Who could have imagined that this would be a complete disaster? Anyone with a brain! Remember when there was a private operator willing to take on this project, on their dime, who would have had it open by now? But noooooo. Some of the same crybabies from last night made sure no private operator in their right mind would come anywhere near this place. And are people seriously calling for use of the old furniture? Hahahaha that’s amazing! We are getting exactly what we deserve with this whole fiasco. Embarrassing.
Burger Bobs — if you can’t kill it in the dark, kill it in the sunshine with neglect and delays. What’s happened here is simply the arrogance of the City to that believes it’s residents are incapable of doing what’s best for them. Once again, the City Manager has shown his true colors and once again he will be allowed to continue.
Elections are April 2023. Choose your candidate wisely. One that will commit to complete independent internal audit. Will commit to an unbiased review of city leaders. Etc.
We need another candidate for Group 4. Running unopposed doesn’t bode well for accountability.
The meeting last night showed a handful of people stuck in the past who don’t appreciate good coffee. Respect the past but you need to embrace the future. Instead of holding the project back demanding stupid changes like removal of cell phone chargers, help it move forward and break ground. And to the lady who tried to shame crying babies and loud kids at the country club cafe, claiming to be unbearable, shame on you! Example of why can’t keep it *exactly* how it was and must move forward.
The weak mayor and commissioners gave the keys to the City, to the tiny tyrant, peter iglesias.re
This City Manager Yglesias is an arrogsant, incompetent prick. nit answering residents’ Questiions? seriously. he works for himself, not the residents. he’s the weakest link in Coral Gables. but until the Mayor ir commission step up & fire this guy, we’re S.O.L.