The chances that freight from the new, widened Panama Canal will land in Miami are slim to none. Nevertheless, Miami business leaders have thrown their weight behind more than a billion in investment to scar Biscayne Bay; deepening and widening the channel used by super-freighters.
What the public thinks seems to matter, not at all. These economic Hail Mary passes aren't built on sound logic, but they do keep a group of municipal and county managers in place who are facilitators for large public works projects. Bill Johnson, at the Port of Miami, for example. Johnson rose through the ranks, performing for the Homestead Air Force Base fiasco, then the Performing Arsht Center, now for the Port.
When these projects fail to pan out, there is never any penalty for the managers and facilitators. They just move on, to the next billion dollar infrastructure project while the costs left behind -- infrastructure deficits-- continue to pile up, buried or lost in the accounting. Many of these people consider themselves to be "conservatives".
What in the world are the rest of us, thinking?
6 comments:
What about the Miami Herald's complicity in this? Not a word on the economic boondoggle or environmental impacts of this project. How is anyone supposed to have any opinion in the community if they don't even know what is going on?
The port deep dredge project and the billions that will be spent on tunnels, rail and rebuilding I-195 just doesn't make sense, considering the Miami Dade County Climate Change Advisory Task Force's determination that sea level will rise anywhere from 3 to 5 feet by 2070 here in south Florida. There comes a time when multibillion dollar infrastructure projects need to be reviewed in this light, with funds and energy redirected to address the real and scarey issue with south Florida, SEA LEVEL RISE.
This is not a done deal. Neither the port tunnel nor the deep dredge have been issued the environmental permits to dig or dredge by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Nor do they have all the funds. Maybe now is the time to question this. Since money talks, have the tourism officials been consulted about the impact on our world-class beaches and Bisayne Bay fisheries?
Thank you for posting this. Government scientists are petrified of what this project will do to Biscayne Bay. They are calling upon activists to rise up because they have been silenced. Corals dead, Johnson's Sea Grasses dead, primary, secondary and cumulative impacts to Biscayne Bay's marine life. This is one to get off your comfy couch for.
Gee, Boston's Big Dig all over again but in Miami. As long as there is big bucks to be made, these boondogles will continue.
The New York Times just wrote about this, Fears in Miami That Port Expansion Will Harm Coral Reefs, Biscayne Bay.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/us/04coral.html
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