3 June 19-25, 2025 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | ▼ THE DOGHOUSE WOOF! JOE CAROLLO PUT A DOG PARK IN THIS GUY’S BACKYARD. BY NAOMI FEINSTEIN O ver the past three years, Benjamin Augustyn had enjoyed observing the fruit trees behind his condominium building. He would sit at his kitchen table and admire the beautiful mango and coconut trees. “That’s one thing that I liked,” the Miami Dade College associate professor says. “It was just like this kind of sea of green.” But these days, he looks at an outdoor gym and a dog park, courtesy of the City of Miami and Commissioner Joe Carollo. He says he has lost his sense of privacy. People riding the outdoor elliptical can peer into his home. Dog owners sit on benches a couple of feet away from his windows. Floodlights turn the park into a stadium at night. Augustyn says Carollo and the city have ig- nored his privacy and noise concerns regard- ing East Shenandoah Park at 1320 SW 21st St. In protest, he has set up cardboard signs in his windows that read, “We were ignored!” and “What about our privacy?” “They ignored the people that are living like literally three feet away,” Augustyn tells New Times. When construction first began, Augustyn notes that construction workers set up their cut station just outside the residents’ patio ar- eas, which were later covered in sawdust. “Last June, they cut down all the fruit-bear- ing trees and finally started grading it without any construction barriers or anything,” he says. As construction progressed, he noticed benches were added right against the property line. There was a visual for the project outside the construction site, but Augustyn says it was hard to believe that the city could put benches just outside their windows. After he sent numerous emails to the city, he thought the workers were finally going to put in a sufficient privacy fence. But to his disappointment, it was only a four-foot, black picket fence. “It’s like, ‘Why are they putting all of their benches as close as possible to where people live?” he says. Now, every time Augustyn steps out of his back door, people at the park can just look at him. “It’s designed to look nice from the street, but then the people living next door, there’s zero empathy for them,” he tells New Times. “Every time I come back from the grocery store, it’s like ‘What’s he eating today?’ I call it zero empathy design. They could have moved the benches away from where people live, so that people and their dogs are further away. At least do something to mitigate. Put in a solid barrier so you don’t have dogs sniffing at you and barking at you while you’re throwing out your garbage.” He emailed the city to ask what residents could do to mitigate the situation, to no avail. The condo association then took matters into its own hands and installed Areca palm trees. “Like, if someone’s really noisy, what can we do? Someone is sit- ting on the bench, staring into the windows. Do we call the police? Can you tell someone to keep your dog quiet if it’s barking for hours?” Augustyn adds. “They’ve ignored that.” Last month, Carrollo and the city celebrated the park’s grand opening. The commissioner said the park has a great “zen” area where people can “lie back,” “drink a soda,” and “watch nature.” “This is great,” Carollo said in a video. “Residents of this area have asked us for a dog park and a park that would have outdoor exercise equipment. We finally got this done.” Augustyn left his own mark on the celebration. When the event started, he unveiled a white sheet outside his property that read, “NO PEACE! NO PRIVACY! NO EMPATHY! From your commis- sioners, mayor, city, they will do this to you!” During Carollo’s speech, Au- gustyn says, the commissioner said maybe the person who created the sign was a drug user. “’Maybe some people are taking medical marijuana right now,’” Augustyn recounts. Carollo maintains that the park has been a tremendous success and that residents have been using the dog park and gym regularly. He tells New Times that there is no noise and that the city took all the necessary steps to al- low resident input throughout the process. “It is wonderful,” he tells New Times. “You always have a grouch. You can’t please 100 percent of people. There was a need.” [email protected] | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS Benjamin Augustyn says he has zero privacy with East Shenandoah Park in his backyard. Photo by Benjamin Augustyn ▼ MIAMI THE BEST DEFENSE? ALEXANDER BROTHERS FILE $500M DEFAMATION SUIT AGAINST THE REAL DEAL. BY ALEX DELUCA T he Alexander brothers have filed a $500 million defamation lawsuit against The Real Deal, accusing the real estate publication of launching a “smear campaign” against them. Back in December, federal agents arrested Miami real estate brokers Oren and Alon Alexan- der along with their brother, Tal, on charges of sex trafficking. The brothers are accused of working together since at least 2010 to “repeat- edly and violently drug, sexually assault, and rape” dozens of victims between New York and Miami. Prosecutors allege that their behavior be- gan when they were high schoolers in Miami. All three brothers have pleaded not guilty. As first reported by The Wall Street Journal, the trio is now suing Korangy Publishing (the publisher of The Real Deal), claiming it has “re- lentlessly published articles containing false and misleading statements” about the brothers, ac- cording to a state court document filed last week. “Defendant was made aware of the false and misleading statements ahead of publishing the first ar- ticle on June 8, 2024, and made a conscious decision to proceed with their targeted campaign to destroy the reputation of Plaintiffs and subject them to public hatred, contempt, ridicule or disgrace,” the suit reads. In a statement shared on Instagram, The Real Deal publisher Amir Korangy called the suit a “frivolous and cynical attempt to weaponize the legal system,” noting that the outlet’s reporting on the brothers has been “fair and conscientious.” “Let’s be clear: this lawsuit is not about jus- tice. It’s an attempt to stop investigative journal- ism and bully a newsroom for doing its job,” the statement reads. It continues: “The First Amendment is the cornerstone of a free society. When powerful fig- ures use the courts to punish the press, they’re not just attacking a media outlet — they’re at- tacking the public’s right to know. We look for- ward to this case being tossed out, and we believe those who abuse the legal pro- cess to silence the press should be held accountable.” The lawsuit appears to have been initiated on the same day that Alon, Oren, and their friend, Ohad Fisherman, filed a motion seeking to dismiss their sexual battery charges related to an alleged gang rape in Miami Beach on New Year’s Eve in 2016. According to NBC 6, attorneys for the broth- ers and Fisherman are seeking to dismiss the charges, claiming the most critical evidence in the case was “lost, destroyed, or never pre- served” — including a video of the alleged rape. [email protected] “IT’S AN ATTEMPT TO STOP INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM AND BULLY A NEWSROOM FOR DOING ITS JOB.” A $500 million defamation suit filed by the Alexander brothers against The Real Deal accuses it of launching a “smear campaign” against them. Photo by Aaron Davidson/Getty Images
