Dumb and dumber: Miami Herald on the ‘golden age’ of traffic woes by gimleteye

The cheerleading pom-poms are out again at the Miami Herald on traffic woes afflicting our region. Do Herald executives know that, as a result, its subscribers are fleeing as fast as attendance at the Orange Bowl Parade?

Oh boy. What is it about the Herald that its leadership is persuaded that readers are too immature to face facts?

Its coverage of the recall effort of vile county commissioner Natacha Seijas has been anemic.

Here is a pitched battle by a brave group of citizens trying to pry Hialeah loose from the domination of wealthy developers for whom Hialeah is their political Bethlehem. They are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to protect the single county commissioner most responsible for the real cause behind our traffic nightmares: Natacha Seijas.

Over a very long period of time, Commissioner Seijas spearheaded zoning decision after zoning decision to plow hundreds of thousands of new production homes in outlying areas without planning for transportation infrastructure.

How sad is it, you have to read about this connection in a blog, because the Herald won't print the facts?

And it gets worse. The underfunded Dan Ricker, in his page 3B “Watchdog Report” notes that county commissioners, paid $6000 per year, are getting rich on real estate deals, but doesn't report how. The net worth of Seijas' key ally on the county commission, Barbara Jordan, increased from $890,000 in 2004 to $1.84 million in 2005. How?

We don’t know who the cheerleaders are or what their fluff sessions at One Herald Plaza sound like, or the steady chatter from the outside that persuades executives and editors that its readers are too immature to face the ugly truths about our communities on a regular basis.

Take today's editorial, “Unclogging the roads”, for instance. What is the great opportunity for applause? “Broad support” at a recent Miami Chamber of Commerce for re-timing traffic lights, a website, and “a long list of other ideas”.

Who writes re-timing traffic lights to alleviate massive gridlock is a cause for optimism?

Then there is the obsequious letter to the editor, “Miami is in its golden age” by a writer who ‘moved to Miami from New York City less than two years ago’, as have many Miami Herald or El Nuevo Herald reporters.

Come on, Herald. Do your jobs!