Howard Schnellenberger, the famed college football and NFL coach who lived in Miami Lakes for 30 years, died in Boca Raton on March 27. He was 87. Schnellenberger was the star inductee for the Miami Lakes Sports Hall of Fame class of 2020; the June 2020 ceremony was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Schnellenberger was head coach at the University of Miami from 1979 through 1983 and led the team to the first of its five...

Miami-Dade County’s plan to remove a Miami Lakes pocket park and barriers to a bridge on March 27 if the town didn’t take them down was put on hold Thursday. The park -- at Northwest 170th Street on the east side of the bridge which spans Interstate 75 toward Hialeah -- was built in 2019 after the town discovered contractors working near its property without a permit. The parties will attend a previously scheduled...

Shakey Rodriguez would have been proud. Mater Academy Charter High School’s boys basketball coach was a South Florida sports icon who led high school teams to five state championships. But he died from a brain aneurysm during the preseason, the biggest setback among challenges his Mater team faced. The school’s gym at its Hialeah Gardens campus was being rebuilt and the team often had to practice and play elsewhere, while...

The town council approved an increase to the stormwater utility fee property owners pay and will go to the municipal bond market later this year to raise $15.5 million. Bond proceeds will fund new capital improvements as part of the town’s ongoing effort to alleviate flooding. “It’s the largest infrastructure investment
in town history,” Mayor Manny Cid told The Miami Laker on March 13. The money raised from...

The Town of Miami Lakes is allowing property owners to replace their natural grass with artificial turf, but only in certain areas. The second, final vote on a new ordinance was made during the council meeting on March 9. Prior to the unanimous vote, resident Bonnie Cintron told councilmembers, “I am sad, I am disappointed and I’m angry because I keep hearing that we’re growing beautifully, and then I look around my...