"All that glitters may not be gold": Latin America, do you see what is happening to downtown Miami? by gimleteye

An ill wind might have sent shivers through the Inter American Development Bank symposium on Miami Beach yesterday, where public policy officials from around the region gathered to discuss economic growth.

''Yes, there have been very good policies,'' Santiago Levy said during a seminar as the bank's five-day annual meeting started. "But there has also been good luck." Levy was quick to say that he was not trying to be gloomy, but the message was that regional governments should try to control their spending in case the good times don't last and put more revenue into investment for the long term and less into current expenditures." ("Warning to region: Start saving", Miami Herald, April 5, 2008)

No one wants to be gloomy, but economic gloom is piling up faster than foreclosures in South Dade.

Take the positive and upbeat editorial space the Herald allows to lobbyist and developer Jose Cancela, a strange choice to make the point that the Hispanic vote in America is growing in influence.

Cancela is a political aspirant, who combines the glib fast talk of bought-and-paid-for media with a lobbyist's certainty and a developer's smooth assurances.

The message would have been credible, if had been delivered by Dario Moreno or Sergio Bendixen.

But Cancela is the right person for the Herald to summon the spit and polish over the rotted mess of a city and state heading into the fiercest economic crisis since before the Great Depression. There is a heap of backstory to the world-wide credit crisis that was born on Wall Street but had its origins, right here, in the politics of Miami and Miami-Dade county where rampant land speculation and housing overdevelopment are still the drivers of local elections.

The crowd at the Inter-America Development Bank meeting should be able to cast a discerning eye at what the Miami skyline represents.

Because the reflection of empty condos in downtown Miami is reflected, to perfection, in downtown cities in the fastest growing areas of the Americas.

In Panama, "more than 35 towers, each 20 stories or more, are under construction. Another 350 are in the planning stages, representing more than 40,000 units, according to local government estimates." One observer said, "Right now, I believe the majority of the market is speculation." ("Developers press ahead in Panama City, International Herald Tribune, Jan 31, 2008)

I suppose that attendees of the IADB summit, if they rub shoulders with Jose Cancela, might ask him about speculation and the role of his colleagues in the South Florida development community.

But they might just be too polite. For a closer view, read our archive feature "housing crash".