In Biscayne Times, former Herald writer John Dorschner captures the magic realism within the fact that Miami-Dade -- one of the most poorly planned large metropolitan areas in the nation -- is home to two of the nation's foremost urban planners; Lizz Plater-Zyberk and Andres Duany. The BT story is a must read. Congratulations to Dorschner and BT for capturing the nuances of a great American story.
On the other hand, there is the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, the right-wing, conservative effort to circumvent democracy using Trojan Horses to slip into state and county legislatures and take over the process of writing legislation. It is difficult to explain to people who don't care about the fine details of democracy, just how damaging ALEC has been. Its fingerprints are all over Florida and Miami-Dade rules and regulations.
A Georgia television station captured ALEC in action. Eye on Miami offers anonymity to any Miami-Dade or Florida whistleblowers who would like to come forward and detail their ALEC experiences. There is a not-so-subtle connection between New Urbanism and ALEC: what the one seeks to encourage, the other is determined to suppress. Watch the video, here.
A Georgia television station captured ALEC in action. Eye on Miami offers anonymity to any Miami-Dade or Florida whistleblowers who would like to come forward and detail their ALEC experiences. There is a not-so-subtle connection between New Urbanism and ALEC: what the one seeks to encourage, the other is determined to suppress. Watch the video, here.
4 comments:
Elizabeth Plater-Zyberks Miami 21 has many glaring loopholes. Big money developers and their land use attorneys did not want to be controlled, so every developer who owns 9 acres or more CAN WRITE THEIR OWN ZONING. True, the loophole is for anyone owning 9 acres or more. This loophole has a code name - Special Area Plan (SAP). Request a SAP and you don't need to be subject to parking requirements, setback requirements, height requirements, density, signs, open space... Ever notice that Midtown Miami has no assigned park space? Notice that Miami WorldCenter has no park space planned for the first 600,000 sq ft or 10 years, whichever occurs last? No park in the Design District?
I'm too old and tired to go down to the new areas of Miami and I live in Kendall. I was on I-95 recently and the number of cranes was astounding. Miami and Miami-Dade Commissions have no sense at all. Where is the public transportation to alleviate all the gridlock? Oh, well, Miami is the next Atlantis and I'll be gone. Our daughter and family will move to the mountains somewhere. But our local politicians are the worst to allow these things described by Anonymous above to happen.
Diane Lawrence, Kendall
Definitely not Anonymous
Thanks for the post on ALEC......As I live in Atlanta now I have seen that on TV several times.....
I suspect that corporations write much of the legislation across the US. ALEC is just perfecting the process!!!! Steve Hagen
I love the new urbanism project, "Miami Green City," a west of the UDB new city, situated over the County well field protection zone. The project is courtesy of FIU and Baptist Health, two of the County's biggest promoters of urban sprawl.
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