City of Dania Beach Breaks Ground for New Library

January 9, 2010: On a chilly, rainy Saturday morning, the visionaries and the government officials whose job is to attend such events (in some case they were one and them same) gathered outside of Dania Beach City Hall to break ground for a new library and parking garage.

Golden shovels in hand, city and county officials scooped up the wet soil marking the beginning of what planners hope will be a new Dania Beach, complete with a major City Center that will retail stores, parks and components of a major marine industry.

"We are going to bring restaurants, shops and tourists to our community," said Anne Castro, City of Dania Beach Mayor. Other speakers included Broward County Mayor Ken Keechl who recalled how important libraries were to him as a boy who was  often too poor to buy books.

The mayor recognized Jeremy Earle, Executive Director of the Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency. Earle envisions a major marine industry and, in the coming years, new bridges, hotels and facilities that can accommodate all requirements of the $10 billion marine industry, even the owners  of the mega yachts that will come there from around the world.

But that is in the future. And it all has to start somewhere, and the new Paul DeMaio Branch Library is a fitting beginning. Keep your eye on Dania Beach, South Florida, the best is yet to come.