On the right hand side of the Miami Herald's front page recently, I found a Recommended list. On this Recommended list I saw first this headline, "Number of Homeless Students in South Florida Soar" and immediately after it was this headline, "Now is a Good Time to Build a Stadium". By the way, at the very tip-top of the list was this headline, "Miami-Dade Teachers Outraged Over Plan to Defer Pay".
I often read Eye on Miami and one thing constantly being shouted out by its main authors is the failure of the Miami Herald to connect the dots for the readers. When I see a Recommended List like the one I've caught, I have to wonder-- is the Miami Herald not connecting the dots intentionally or is it simply a matter of ignorance? A list like this stinks of a disconnect between the powers that be at the Miami Herald (i.e. the Editorial Board) and its writers. I just wonder if maybe there's some mischievous dot connector working on the website putting together lists like this one hoping someone catches it maybe.
You see, the three articles above speak very clearly to me: They tell me a very special story. Combined, they scream their own headline, "Miami-Dade Remains Dedicated to Destruction of its Future". You see, I see those three articles and I think of my darling friend Sisyphus, the king cursed to roll a rock up a hill, watch it roll back down again, and repeat-- for eternity. There just seems to be no ability to keep the damn rock stuck at the top of the hill.
In its Editorial, the Herald argues "the investment should be considered over the full 35-year term of the loan." When I read that, I start thinking about those homeless children and those outraged teachers. The Herald names such benefits as:
* "the team would be an asset that produces tangible and intangible benefits throughout South Florida"
- By starting this way, the Herald sets the tone: be as vague and flimsy as possible
* "Sports enliven and bring excitement to a community"
- I'm pretty sure the Herald wrote articles on the shooting in Liberty City, the drunk driver in South Dade, and those outraged teachers. Do we really NEED more excitement? I'm sorry but this point is so cheesy, I had to take a sarcastic swipe at it.
* "Sports help to build and unify communities by bringing diverse groups, cultures and people together for a common goal, instilling pride when the team wins and stronger purpose when they don't."
- Did the Herald attend a Dolphins game during the season that preceded this one? You know, the one where we won ONE game? Our stadium had fans-- the opposing team's. Our city has a long-standing tradition of turning its back on losing teams. Why would this change for a team like the Marlins?
* "A modern, comfortable stadium would generate revenue streams (something the Marlins currently don't have much of), which, in turn, would be used to invest in quality players"
- Of course! Quality players! Yes, please throw more millions at millionaires! Brilliant strategy!
* "Conventional wisdom has its place, but it shouldn't stop a dream whose time has come."
- I can think of plenty dreams our county keeps stopping every time it cuts funding to schools.
Here is my dot connection. No, it's not the right time to build a stadium. It's the right time to invest in a solid future in Miami-Dade. Baseball stadiums offering temporary construction jobs and the more permanent (mostly minimum wage, part-time) jobs is not the way to build our future. You want a solid 35 year investment, put it where it counts-- schools, schools, and more schools. No, I don't want to hear about bed taxes and funds designations. Thanks to economic scandal after economic scandal, we are not stupid readers. We know that when it comes to moving around money, where there is a will there's a million ways. You want a stadium? Fine, build one when we have a well-educated and higher-paid citizenship. You might even find more investors so the County doesn't have to foot such ridiculous percentages of the bill.
By funding, TRULY and GLORIOUSLY funding education, you see immediate results. We hire more (well-paid) teachers, better (better-paid) teachers. We hire professionals, counselors, specialists. We create programs, fund projects and research. We get the ball rolling. Empower the local college and universities to turn adjunct professors into the real deal. Bring back the arts classes. Increase enrollment. Give grants. Green light research projects. Throw open the doors and say, "Come in and learn!" Create talent. Our talent. Homegrown, local, intelligent talent.
Let's bring this back around again. This started with sports, let's end it with sports. There was one last point on that Recommended list, "FIU stocks up with recruits from South Florida." It mentions how FIU is heavily recruiting its football players locally, ''Almost 50 percent of our signing class is from Dade County, our home county, and we're going to continue to make that a point of emphasis,'' Cristobal said. ``The best football in America is played down here in South Florida.''
And I think to myself, what if this was a big employer talking? And the last line was different like "The best bio-medical research in America is being done down here in South Florida" or maybe "The best technological advances in America are being made here in South Florida." Go ahead and choose your profession of choice. My point is this, if you want to invest in the future of the county, invest in the future leaders of the county. Make sure they're intelligent and talented and HOMEGROWN.
Very truly yours, M. Arce
4 comments:
Excellent view, the motives of the Herald are confusing. The stadium is a reactive vote as evidenced by Pepe Diaz "jobs" quote. There is nothing beneficial long range to this waste of $1.8 billion dollars that will not be going to worthwhile projects that attract tourists. They certainly do not come here for the baseball. Somehow through it all there must be a county and city commission luxury suite and a future job for George Burgess as somebody has already mentioned. Remember the stadium will be empty 78% of the time. $1.8 billion is money unwisely spent.
The Herald editorial was in total contrast to the excellent reporting being done by 4-5 Miami Herald journalists. The facts, in many cases discovered by the Herald journalists, show the Marlins Bailout to be a huge ripoff of the taxpayers.
The Herald was pandering to the Marlins because they wanted to sell more ads to the team. Or maybe the editorial writers were too stupid to understand the facts?
$2 billion for a private company? In this recession? Be serious.
The more details emerge about the Marlins Bailout and the $2 billion costs to be borne by the taxpayers the worse the scam looks.
The Herald Editorial Board should truly examine the documents and learn the details.
Post a Comment