Holiday lights at Heritage park

The Future is Bright in Sunny Isles Beach

By George “Bud” Scholl, Mayor

(Tuesday, December 31, 2019) – I want to welcome everyone to a new year and a new decade full of promise and exciting opportunities in Sunny Isles Beach. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and were able to spend time with loved ones, perhaps even at one of our many winter activities around the city.

Recently, I’ve been asked why the city does not put up holiday decorations along Collins Avenue. When driving along the coast, some of our neighboring cities are adorned with lights and seasonal embellishments, but when passing through Sunny Isles Beach, A1A might not seem as festive. This is largely a consequence of the Utility Undergrounding and the Street Light Enhancement projects. Throughout the last several years, the undergrounding project inundated Collins Avenue as we laid conduit, repaved the road, and improved crosswalks, all to enrich the quality of our busiest street. Last year we moved into the next phase of the project, replacing all the existing lamp poles on Collins with decorative street posts. This scope of the project is rather lengthy and projected to reach completion in two years.

On the bright side, once the Street Lighting Enhancement project concludes, all new light posts will be ornamented with power and stations for decorations. While our main road might not light up like some other cities, we have plenty of annual holiday happenings across all of Sunny Isles Beach. In addition to our packed event calendar, you might have seen our holiday tree towering over Heritage Park, also the location for many decorations and lights. Or the holiday sandcastle in the heart of Samson Oceanfront Park. And many of our interior streets are wreathed with lights and snowflakes to help put you in the spirit as you drive home.

I also want to thank all our properties along A1A that decorate their frontages so elaborately. They certainly enhance the festive ambiance. Though you might not see a change next holiday season on Collins Avenue, know that your inquiries are being heard and addressed, and we hope to see more holiday decorations in the years to come.