The Political Event of the Year in Miami-Dade: Expansion of SR 836 … by gimleteye

The blog TransitMiami highlights what is at stake in the September 4th rollout by MDX of the expansion plan for the most congested roadway in South Florida: SR 836. "Will Miamians allow MDX to realize its Southwest Highway Dream"? The timing is noteworthy, coming a week after the election for county commissioner in the affected South Dade district.

Eye On Miami has been following the 836 expansion project for many years. In our search bar, just type in "MDX" or "sprawl".

Years ago we concluded -- with no special skill set other than observation at land ownership patterns -- that highways are political events first and foremost. If you want to know the politics of sprawl, just follow the money train to the county commissioners who approve it.

On August 26, a few days from now, the most important election affecting taxpayers in Miami-Dade is the District 8 county commission seat.

Incumbent Lynda Bell is supported by every major developer, contractor, and material supplier with an interest in the 836 highway extension. What the politicians say is that the expansion will relieve traffic congestion. What we say, is that the expansion will liberate millions of dollars of speculative land investments by politically connected developers made during the housing boom -- money that has been dead in the water since the crash.

For the same reason Bell's supporters were enthusiastically behind the Marlins Stadium deal, they are even more directly impacted by the 836 extension. Their strategy: re-elect Bell then immediately roll out the 836 extension so it can become a focal point for the governor's race.

That's why, a week after the District 8 election MDX is hosting a rollout for the highway extension.

Why is the timing important? We already know that Gov. Rick Scott will approve anything so long as he's re-elected. His supporters from the Growth Machine will be anxious to call in their IOU's, ASAP. TransitMiami's concern that this "public rollout" is a pro-forma routine is well-founded.

The 836 issue is a harder one for Crist who, when he was governor, keenly felt the pressure from the same interests. He is the candidate boxed in by the 836 rollout in early September.

Now if Daniella Levine Cava wins on Tuesday and defeats the Lynda Bell / Sprawl / Growth Machine, things could get interesting. That would be a very big hiccup for the nomenklatura.

Click "read more" if you don't know what nomenklatura means.



From our blog, March 2013:

"This is what is unfolding in the corner of Miami-Dade at the western boundary with a plan to extend the SR 836  into farmland purchased at the top of the real estate bubble primarily by top GOP campaign contributors allied with US Century Bank (on US Century, check our archive). It is a tried and true formula for wealth generation: use profits from real estate development to secure political patronage, then use political patronage to stack permitting authorities and local boards to speed the way for new taxpayer investments that will double, triple, quadruple the price of real estate, and -- if you are very very connected -- arrange for highway exits and entrances to be put right where you want them. Last February, we wrote, "Ajamil Bermello: members of the Growth Machine nomenklatura": 

"Nomenklatura: a category of people within the Soviet Union and other Eastern bloc countries who held various key administrative positions in all sphere's of those countries' activity: government, industry, agriculture, education, engineering and infrastructure development. In Miami-Dade (and Florida) there is a parallel nomenklatura. Some key members of our own domestic nomenklatura are on parade through the effort to extend the Dolphin Expressway south on the western edge of the county, directly threatening Everglades National Park and benefiting land speculators who purchased property in anticipation of the growth of suburban sprawl: they are also key members of the nomenklatura and include Rodney Barreto, Ramon Rasco, Ed Easton and Sergio Pino."

Back in Sept. 2013, I wrote:

"It’s hard to fight off the speculators, when so little was done to hold any accountable after the housing crash. You see, the small homeowner gets foreclosed with a computer algorithm in a heartbeat. The big developers and their big loans with banks get white glove treatment in comparison. The banks are desperate to “monetize” their stale mortgage inventory. They don't foreclose (think, Jorge Perez) because they don't want their own careers marred by signing off on millions if not hundred of millions of losses. Depending on how much cash they have burned through in the recent past, the builders and developers may just want to get out at the highest price today, before sea levels rise and wash it all away. PT Barnum would have been right at home in 2013. Anyhow, one Miami Dade activist writes, “You may have the money – you may have the patience – but we can be patient too. And we will bring out all of our green shirts to fight you on this. You are out of line thinking that this will be a cake walk.” Think back to all the tax dollars you spend to support patterns of growth that clearly we cannot afford. Why should you care? As the wise woman once said, if you don’t do politics, politics does you."