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with the financial woes of Miami Beach as its many low -rise housing units had fallen into disrepair and the city's demographics showed a disproportionate number of elderly residents. The glamour of Miami Beach had been lost, Beginning with the efforts of Barbara Capitman who founded the Miami Design Preservation League in 1976, the beginnings of a renaissance were in motion. In 1979 the "Art Deco District" was listed in the National Register of Historic Places, starting a major development boom on the beach. More and more people moved into "the beach" achieving a level of success not thought possible. Temple B'Nai Zion was founded in 1983, and flourished as a Conservative temple. By 1986, the temple had grown to 400 families, and was the largest in Sunny Isles.21 Because of its increasing growth, the temple purchased the Sunny Isles Lutheran Church in 1997. Most recently the temple changed from Conservative to Orthodox. As a result a renovation took place to comply with the religious imperatives. The temple's seats that previously faced west were moved so that they face eastward towards Jerusalem. The ark where the Torah is kept was also moved, and a separate section for women was created as in Orthodox rules, women did not sit with the men of the congregation.22 Today, the temple is unoccupied. An Unprecedented Ceremony On Sunday, March 28, 2004 over two hundred of the nearly three hundred men and women who made their homes in Sunny Isles Beach, survivors of history's most cruel and ignominious chapter - -- the Holocaust —met together at the Temple B'Nai Zion for a somber, yet joyful, reunion and celebration of life. The brainchild of Mayor Norman S. Edelcup, ably assisted by City Historian Richard C. Schulman, the City of Sunny Isles Beach paid tribute to Sunny Isles Beach citizen's who had survived the Holocaust. Dignitaries from the city, state and nation joined the survivors to pay homage to those whose fragile lives were spared. The attendees included Mayor Edelcup and the Sunny Isles Beach City Commission, State Attorney Katherine Fernandez - Rundle; State Senator Gwen Margolis; Representative Dan Gelber; Martin Goldman and Naomi Katz of the National Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Rossita Kenigsberg of the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center. Others who could not attend but wished to acknowledge this extraordinary gathering, sent their well wishes, including: U.S. Senator Robert (Bob) Graham; U.S. Senator Bill Nelson; U.S. Congressman Peter Deutsch; Martin Goldman, the Director of Survivor Affairs for the United States Holocaust Museum, and Martin J. Levy from the Survivors of Shoah Visual History " "Max Krieger, Temple B'Nol Zion Founder (obituary) The Miami Herald, 21 November 1984, p.3c ii "Synagogue Seats Now Face East. The Miami Herald, Neighbors Aventura, 28 May 2006 p. 3AV 11