Gimleteye writes: As far as I can tell, the only civic activism that has measured up recently is what the surfers are doing, to try to regain access to the beach at the former Harbor House in North Miami, now dominated by another bad condo project by WCI Communities. The issue: the take-over of the public parking lot by a private corporation, depriving citizens of any place to park to get access and the fact that access has been blocked, for years!, by construction activities intruding on the public right of way. I know, it seems like a small issue. But it's not.
There are so very few things that are easy for government to do, and so very few promises that should be easy to keep by government to its citizens: maintaining public access to Florida's beaches should be one of them.
The government gets so much wrong. Here is another example of government agencies that are simply unwilling to put their foot down and let people park their cars to get to a beach. Instead, Miami Dade county, Bal Harbor, and especially the Florida Department of Transportation are just throwing up their hands as if there is nothing they can do to stop contractors working at WCI Communities' project from using the public parking lot as their personal staging area. This has been going on for years!
All you have to do is read our archive feature "housing crash" and you will read about WCI Communities' role in the massive implosion of real estate markets, its corporate leadership in particular. In the post above, you can read about Lennar and its consiglieres who contributed to the trashing of Homestead and Florida City. This is another example: of all Florida builders who should be on regulators' tightest leash: WCI Communities is it. Discriminatory? Hah!
What about citizens whose fundamental rights are being stepped on every day by government, corporations, and lobbyists? Maybe it is time for surfers and fishermen should take all their surfboards and fishing rods straight into Mayor Alvarez' office at County Hall and sit there until he picks up the phone and gets FDOT to fix the problem now. And if that doesn't work, try Governor Charlie Crist. This is a problem that should have been fixed a long time ago. Here's our guest blogger's comments:
"A lot of locals have given up on going to the beach here in Miami, I hear so many say they make the drive to Hollywood or further north to spend a nice day at the beach. For good reason to, on a recent trip to Miami Beach I tried to park in one of the largest lots - 45th St. and there was no parking in the 300+ space lot on a weekday - low and behold developers had taken over and the entire lot was being used by construction workers.
Later in the week I went to a little spot I enjoy at 65th and was asked to pay $10 to park on weekday. I balked and was told Miami Beach residents only pay $2, I was there for a quick surf check and after much complaining learned that if I mentioned it I could pull-in and park at a meter - .25 for 15min. The County receives millions of US tax dollars for sand pumping projects under the premise that equal access to all is provided - the Army Corps of Engineers has specific guidelines - this seems to defy those rules in order to promote development and city parking revenue.
Finally, some of you may remember the Surfrider protest at Bal Harbour. Seems the County and FDOT ignored the largest environmental protest down here in years because the same problems are occurring, just a new twist. The new twist is that free parking now allows WCI contractors to take over the lot - leaving nothing for the public. The County and State are forgoing thousands of dollars in parking revenue every day since - a freebie of State land use by a private corporation - a clear violation of Florida's constitution. Word is Bal Harbour is also stonewalling on allowing an after-hours permit parking program for fisherman who want to access one of the best night time fishing spots in the County. Apparently, those not affluent enough to live in Bal Harbour are suspect should they seek a permit to fish at night."
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