The Herald reports a behind the scenes attack of the new Miami zoning code, Miami 21 before it is implemented, by land use attorneys and builders associations including the LBA. 5 years and countless hearings and controversies proceeded its passage. The developers never want more government intervention through zoning and planning. Even in the worst bust since the Depression, they want whatever it takes to bring the boom times back. In the state legislature, the Growth Machine worked like busy beavers dismantling state planning requirements. And it is no different, here in one of Florida's most populous cities and the political epicenter of the housing boom and bust.
City commissioners would do well to consider how the absence of rational zoning created exactly the quality of life deficits and conditions for disaster that developers want to re-create, again. We can't go backwards, except at great expense, and correct the problems etched in the Miami landscape in cement, steel and glass, but we can remember just what grief has been inflicted on Miami taxpayers and voters by our local builder and development lobby. Former LBA president Willy Bermello etched that hubris turned to grief in The Miami Herald in a 2005 editorial:
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Lately, there has been more written about the "condo bubble" than the weapons of mass destruction during the Iraq war. There is a relationship in both phenomena: If you say it often enough, you actually start believing it, and soon enough you're on your way toward a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Miami is a great world city, and there is no going back. Build them, and they will come." (May 21, 2005) The parallel logic to this nonsense is driving the Growth Machine today. Build whatever we want to build, for which there is "demand", and it will be good for the tax base. It is a bunch of nonsense that also lead to enormous billion dollar infrastructure deficits and a built landscape that makes little sense at all in terms of layout and transit.
Miami 21 can't go backwards and fix all the mistakes made in South Florida by developers who made the playing field uneven as possible, to get what they wanted out of local government in zoning changes when they wanted it. The damage by speculators like Greenberg Traurig's land use lobbyists and attorneys is right there. "... real estate continues to still be a safe harbor for investors," Mr. Bermello wrote in 2005, "whether it be equity or the purchase of a condo in South Florida, where doubling of your investment in less than two years is commonplace...
Miami deserves its place next to Shanghai and Dubai. More important, it deserves our confidence. The bubble is not latex but stainless steel."
What did listening to this nonsense accomplish? City commissioners should understand it made Miami what it is today: a casino for vulture investors. So let the developers and their lobbyists froth. Leave Miami 21 alone.
9 comments:
One question, have you actually read Miami 21?? I have, and I have to say, it is not the panacia that some claim it is. Also, its not just developers that are against Miami 21. MNU has opposed it for some time. They are trying to have amendments passed, that would lead to their support of Miami 21, but, those amendments have not been passed yet. Also, no one is looking at the devaluation of property values that will undoubtebly result as a function of Miami 21 implementation. It could mean even more budget issues at the City, and result in lower ad valorem revenues to the County and School District.
Speaking from anonymity,
I can tell you the LBA has nothing to do with it from the administration side.
Gifted, can you explain what you mean? Nothing to do with what? Lobbying the Mayor?
If Miami 21 passes we will push out all potential business who are looking to build in Miami.
First anon, go away, your negativity is not wanted here. Miami 21 will protect Miami neighborhoods far better than the existing mess does -- just look at the towers next to high-rises allowd by 11000 -- and MNU has simply asks for some minor changes that will pass. Miami 21 will make every corner of the city more attractive and valuable, so what if a few developers lose money?
Speculators, go home.
Get more info about the current Miami 21 happenings at www.transitmiami.com
Miami 21 is a farce.
The existing Zoning Code of the City of Miami is fine except weak commissioners have approved too many exceptions and changes. Weak commissioners will make stupid changes to Miami 21 too but at least the existing code is written in a language familar to planners and the public.
The lobbyists want Miami 21 amended so they can continue the parade of requests for zoning changes unimpeded. They don't like the limits on the timing and nature of Miami 21 zoning changes. These are the same lobbyists that raise tons on money for the mayor and commissioner races. Unless these changes are stopped, we will never break the clout of the developers.
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