The Grinch Who Stole Open Space: Starring a Misguided Citizen

Dear Editor,

As a resident of Miami Beach, I take serious issue with Frank Del Vecchio’s letter to the editor, which was printed in the SunPost on Sept. 13. He points out correctly that a number of things were discussed by the neighborhoods that could not be completed with the original funding. The original GO Bonds were not meant to do everything citizens wanted to do in their neighborhoods.

I think what is really going on is that Frank has decided to be the Grinch who would deny the city of Miami Beach a new park, and this is the way he has tried to say it.

In this proposed sale, everyone will benefit. First, the citizens of Miami Beach can afford to pay for a new park. The city of Miami Beach has been fiscally conservative, giving us the ability to invest in our future. While this will raise property values for the owners of the homes in the neighborhood, its effects will benefit all of the residents of Miami Beach. If they want a new park and a much improved hospital, then they will see the value of this initiative.

Second, it will add to the quality of life for the whole community because the hospital plans to reinvest the proceeds of this sale right down the street into a new suite of operating rooms and the tower of which they will be a part. These operating rooms will pay a dividend in providing the best of care for this community. They will be larger than the current operating rooms; modern equipment requires more space. They should allow the hospital to add the finest equipment and attract and retain the best doctors who can use it to our advantage. The tower will add more private hospital rooms to Mount Sinai.

The result will be that we will continue to have the finest care available. In addition, the new building will be able to withstand Category 5 hurricane surges, which the current building cannot. It also will house the new energy center, which will add to the community’s security during the worst storms.

As to Frank’s statement about the unmet needs of the original GO Bond issue, I don’t think we need to do one thing or the other. I think the citizens of Miami Beach should do both. The original GO Bond issue was never meant to improve every neighborhood. It was always anticipated that additional funds would be necessary to do everything worth doing in our neighborhoods.

Now that many of the GO Bond projects are finished, it is time to ask the citizens of Miami Beach if they want to complete the job. I think they are proud of the GO Bond projects that have been finished already and would like to see the other ideas they have discussed with the city implemented.

It is time for us to see how we can improve Miami Beach, not to tear down the leaders who have enough foresight to bring this idea to a vote. It is time for us to improve our quality of life by building a new waterfront park right in the center of Miami Beach and to improve our only hospital by voting for this initiative.

Leonard A. Wien Jr.

Miami Beach

[Editor’s Note: Leonard Wien Jr. is a vice president of Mount Sinai Medical Foundation.]

 

Plaaaaaaay Ball

Dear Editor,

If four Miami Beach city commissioners have their way, Miami Beach voters will soon have an opportunity to turn the Miami Heart Institute into a nine-acre local park at a total cost of $181 million [“$95 Million for a Park?” published Sept. 6] That works out to $459 per square foot. 

To get some perspective, prime commercial land in the center of the city of Miami is now selling for, say, $150 per square foot. Undeveloped residential land in some choice New York communities is selling for about $70 a square foot. However, before rushing to judgment, intelligent voters should carefully compare the Miami Heart park project to competing projects that are also searching for public financial support.

For example, by comparison, a plan to spend many millions to put a retractable roof on a new stadium for the Marlins and a few hundred of their loyal fans seems like a proposal of genuine genius. Wouldn't you agree?

Morris Sunshine

Miami Beach

 

The Hypocrisy of Illiterate Bicyclists

Bravo to Hershel Goldberg for his letter about the biased and unfair SunPost article regarding bike riders vs. cars [Letters, “I May or May Not Brake for Bicyclists,” published Sept. 13, and “Hell of a Ride,” published Aug. 30]. I couldn’t agree more with his anti-biker sentiments, for all of the reasons he gave. Plus, here's a reason of my own:

The Broad Causeway Bridge between Bay Harbor Islands and North Miami has two narrow traffic lanes in each direction. Because it is dangerous for a driver to pass around a bike rider slowly riding along in the middle of a traffic lane there (it forces the driver to encroach into the adjacent traffic lane), that bridge has long had a sign posted at either end ordering bike riders to WALK their bikes across the bridge on the side pedestrian walkways, instead of riding them across in the auto traffic lanes.

As a resident of Bay Harbor Islands, I drive across that bridge between 400 to 500 times each year. In all those trips, I have only seen somebody actually walk his bike across there ONCE.

So, you'll forgive me if I have little sympathy for these holier-than-thou bikers who always complain about the arrogant car drivers. I find their whining to be just a tad hypocritical.

Marty Monroe

Bay Harbor Island

 

Blasted Humanoid Pig Drivers

Dear Editor,

Being a daily bicyclist on the killing streets of greater Miami, I read with interest the Aug. 30 article “Hell of a Ride” by Kirk Nielsen, but felt no need to respond to anything he wrote, even though I, too, have been hit by an uncaring Miami motorist. She thought she could shortcut over double yellow lines to run a yellow light, but blindsided me instead, then loudly berated me for destroying her windshield with my bloody head.

However, after reading the letter from Hershel Goldberg in the Sept. 13 issue, I feel the need to respond to a letter that epitomizes the pig mentality of most vehicle drivers we bicyclists encounter.

I commute daily to and from work on a six-mile stretch that takes me across the Kennedy Causeway from Miami Beach to Miami. This is to address Mr. Goldberg's comment, “Why can't bike riders take their hobby to a park, the Everglades or just go to a gym like normal people?” I am a normal person, but one who elects to forego the daily use of an atmosphere-polluting automobile for my transportation needs. While I really enjoy pedaling my bike and benefit from using my muscles and sweat instead of some fossil fuel that the fossil-minded like Mr. Goldberg spew daily, I do not need a bike lane going nowhere.

One thing I would like to point out to Mr. Goldberg and other benighted motorists (and, perhaps, even law enforcement) is that I HAVE A RIGHT TO BE ON THE ROAD! Bicycles are governed by the same laws as cars. Motor Vehicles Chapter 316 of Title XXIII — State Uniform Traffic Control. Basically 316.2065, which covers bicycles, says we must abide by the traffic laws and stay as close to the right curb EXCEPT when making a left-hand turn, avoiding things in the path or a “substandard width lane that makes it unsafe to continue along the right-hand curb or edge.” When it is unsafe for a bike and vehicle to travel safely side-by-side, such as on those ridiculous slalom islands on Pine Tree and La Gorce, the bicyclist is legally allowed to ride in the center of the road to prevent some pig driver, perhaps Mr. Goldberg, from sideswiping him trying to get by.

It’s regrettable that Mr. Goldberg feels that bikers (as well as those pesky mass transit buses that are recommended for most large metropolitan areas) slow down traffic, preventing him from speeding along in his private, wasteful car during rush hour. If he could get his troglodyte brain to exercise some logic, he would notice that the traffic problem is being caused by all those thousands of other cars, just like his, clogging the streets.

Mr. Goldberg correctly observes that Miami “isn’t even safe for pedestrians.” I have seen so many incidents of cars running off the road and onto the sidewalk that the old joke, "If you don’t like my driving get off the sidewalk,” isn’t actually a joke here.

I wish more urban drivers would take care on the roads (my fantasy at best). It would be nice if the state of Florida would educate drivers about the rights of bicyclists, either by making it mandatory for getting a driver’s license or by advertising it in public announcements. But, alas, Mr. Goldberg pointed out that we bicyclists are causing the budget deficits, so there’s no chance of that.

Rob Boyte

Miami Beach