Supporters of saving the Miami Marine Stadium have scored another coup, landing the iconic but neglected site on the World Monuments Fund's list of endangered places for 2010 -- along with Macchu Picchu and the gingerbread houses of Port-au-Prince.
The listing by the fund, a New York-based organization dedicated to saving world architectural and cultural treasures, follows the stadium's inclusion earlier this year on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's list of 11 most endangered historic sites in the country.
And it comes less than a month after Friends of Miami Marine Stadium, a non-profit group leading the fight to save it, released an ad spot in which singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett urged his fans to support the shuttered city facility's renovation.
“This is a special and important and iconic place that is at risk,'' Amy Freitag, the director for U.S. programs at the World Monuments Fund, told the Associated Press. “We can't let this fall down. And it's rare that you can mention the World Monuments Fund and Jimmy Buffett in same sentence.''
The City of Miami last year named the 45-year-old stadium, considered a singular feat of architecture and engineering, as a historic landmark. The World Monuments Fund has also funded a $50,000 engineering study to determine the extent of needed renovation work.
The fund's Watch list, issued every two years, aims to call attention to “cultural heritage sites around the world that are threatened by neglect, vandalism, conflict, or disaster,'' according to the organization.
The 2010 list includes 93 sites in 47 countries, including nine in the United States and 15 from the 20th Century.
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