Your Evening Sift

The 4th of July Weekend has commenced. Let's get it tolling with your evening Sift.

A- Let's begin the TGIF evening Sift with a look at homes sales on Miami Beach for the first half of 2011...at Miamism.

There were 130 Miami Beach homes sold already in 2011 – out of those, 55 were sales over $1 Million which is 42% of all sales….not bad for a “depreciating market”.

B- Beached Miami posts the best bike events and music events for July.

C- Nikon Miami gets us in the mood for the 4th.

D- Southern District of Florida Blog turns six.

The Southern District of Florida Blog was launched July 4th weekend 2005 with this post. Six years later, this is the 1,863 post. The blog is averaging over 500 visitors a day.

E- Miami Beach 411 introduces us to Wine Depot & Bistro 555.

After exploring the wine store, the evening does not need to end there. You have sampled the wine, now you can sample their menu and adjacent to the bar is the outdoor patio that holds the real magic of Wine Depot. The outside garden has been transformed into a beautiful dining area hidden behind trees decorated with strings of white lights. Not visible from the street, it creates an intimate dining experience for you and your table. The walls are decorated with colorful paintings and once night falls the lighting sets a cozy almost romantic setting.

F- Obalesque and his commenters have fun with a Carlos Gimenez plea for votes...after the election..

Leave aside the peculiar fact that this email arrived over 24 hours after the polls closed. How about that I’m a resident of and registered voter in Broward County? Well, like he says, “Every Vote Counts!”

G- Discourse mulls over a rumor that Annette Taddeo may be considering a challenge to David Rivera.

I was, as longtime readers may recall, a big supporter of Taddeo when she ran for Congress in my district, FL-18. I even went out and canvassed for her here in my neighborhood. I do think she’d make a great Congressperson.

But. Can she pull it off?

H- Eye on Miami reflects back on how their love affair with Xavier Suarez started.

We all loved Mayor Suarez after he extended that olive branch during his visit and were totally bummed when he got swept up in Humberto Hernandez's absentee ballot scandal. Windsurfers still look back at Xavier Suarez with fond memories. We were treated like shit by everyone else in the City of Miami (except the Waterfront Board). I can't believe that was about 15 years ago. Trying to get the beach closure reversed, by the way, got me started on the road to community activist -- we finally got the beach opened 3 years later (Mayor Joe Carollo was as obstinate as Mayor Clark).

I- Soul of Miami has some photos from Sketchy Miami last night.


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