MVB's Final Post

Most of our hopes and dreams bit the dust with the county's ratification of the "Global Agreement." We feel like that fallen warrior from ancient Greece. We didn't put that smile on his face, but I'm sure he would have appreciated what we did to his middle finger. This is our last gesture to local politics and our first step in acknowledging what unchecked hubris can bring: lots of sound and fury signifying nothing. It's a bittersweet ending for us but we exit the blogosphere with a song.* Good luck to us all.

UpDate (12/23/2010): Something we advocated 4 years ago (2006 post) is finally coming around: using the rail connection between the Port of Miami and the Hialeah rail yards as the link was designed to be used when the Port was opened in 1963. Look to 2013 for this embrace of common sense.

UpDate (12/25/08): We're still over and out but we couldn't let this pass. Our favorite police spokesperson of all time, Lt. Bill Schwartz of the Miami police department was kind enough to bestow upon all of us a Christmas gift-- after a long absence-- of his criminally inspired bon mots. His latest can be found here with a WSVN-Fox video link.

UpDate (9/26/09): Friends of the Marine Stadium get Jimmy Buffett to endorse their (and our) cause:

UpDate (1/12/08): Before we threw in the towel, Verticus wrote an article regarding the fate of the Miami Marine Stadium for Propeller magazine, the official publication of the 5,000 member American Power Boat Association. It's in the January issue and urges its readers to petition Miami Mayor Manny Diaz to fulfill his unmet 6-year-old promise of saving the venerable, architectural wonder. If you feel the same way we do, you can contact him at: 305-250-5300, or Fax: 305-854-4001, or mannydiaz@ci.miami.fl.us.

UpDate (10/7/08): The City of Miami historic preservation board finally saw the light: by a vote of 8-0, it agreed to designate the Miami Marine Stadium worthy of preservation as an historic site. Let's see the visionless try to knock it down now!

UpDate (4/27/09): The Miami Marine Stadium becomes one of eleven buildings on the National Trust for Historic Preservation thanks in part to the efforts of Miami architect Jorge Hernandez and Friends of the Miami Marine Stadium. Let's see our visionless bureaucrats try to touch the old lady now.

UpDate (3/24): Today Philip Levine, a wealthy Democrat , announced he's scoping out the scene for a potential run against County Mayor Carlos Alvarez. According to experts in the Miami Herald story, he doesn't stand a chance because he isn't Hispanic. We say he does. We believe there are enough people out there from both sides of the language camp who will vote for him simply because they're fed up with local government's big spending and its disconnect from the effects of the rising cost of living on their lives. Earlier, we contacted Tomas Regalado in hopes that he would run against Alvarez but he declined because he couldn't mount a war chest large enough to take on the mayor's well-funded campaign (estimated by Michael Putney to be around $2 million). Perhaps Levine will do it on his own, as the newspaper article implied, Bloomberg style. What with the county commission's last ray of hope, Katy Sorenson, moving to the Dark Side with her vote for the "Global Agreement," we can only hope. As we continue to do that Norman Braman's legal action against the "Global Agreement" will bear fruit. Even if Braman is successful, we hope Levine will enter the race. As we have suggested to Regalado and Levine, we would be happy to offer our support, including re-starting this sad little blog. In that regard, we offer up this campaign slogan for the cause: "Stop the Madness!" (UpDate 6/17): Philip Levine gets cold feet. Only one person will oppose Alvarez for county mayor-- Helen B. Williams, a retired school teacher with probably the world's smallest campaign fund.

UpDate (3/29): Hope springs eternal. Buried in the back of the Miami Herald, it was reassuring to read that "Government lawyers failed to strike down significant parts of auto dealer Norman Braman's legal challenge to the $3 billion megaplan." This ruling by Miami-Dade Judge Pedro Echarte Jr. is a legal blessing on the merits of Braman's case and strengthens his legal challenge for the May hearing. Way to go, Norman!

UpDate (4/1): Tomas Regalado announces his run for Mayor of Miami. That's a good thing. Another sign that things might be looking up: A recent poll shows Miami-Dade county voters are basically fed up with county Mayor Alvarez's "global agreement" by a whopping 59%. Now if only someone will step up to the plate with enough bucks to kick him and his insane plan out of office.

UpDate (5/8): Although Circuit Judge Pedro Echarte did not find government leaders "illegally secretive" when they came up with the "global agreement," he allowed Braman's lawsuit to proceed. We think a more correct term for what the visionless did down at city hall would have been "excessively secretive." Of course, we do have a state law called "government in the sunshine," and we expect it may come into play later on irregardless of the abuse of the public trust Braman's team uses to win its case.

UpDate (8/27/08): Carlos Alvarez and all incumbents on the Miami-Dade County commission are re-elected. How embarrassing.

More embarrassment: The "experts," AKA city planners/consultants, came back with the latest designs for Virginia Key. Despite an earlier charette where the public overwhelmingly agreed that the Marine Stadium should be saved, it is glaringly absent from this latest iteration. In its place: Two 5-story parking garages, a "dry-stack" boat storage for 700 boats, 41,000sf of "small scale retail," and Olympic-sized swimming pools among other sundry items. The city and its experts have effectively destroyed one of the few things that makes Miami unique in the world and replaced it with the pedestrian. The Marine Stadium was the only one of its kind on the planet. Now, because it might be "cost prohibitive" to fix-up, we have become a lesser city, less unique, and a people less worthy of being taken seriously, at being looked upon by others as blessed, lucky, special and cool.

UpDate (9/11/08): Braman loses on lawsuit. Judge says what the county put together "serves the public good." Braman says he will appeal.

UpDate (9/19/08): Friends of the Miami Marine Stadium pulled off a major coup: they got the World Monuments Fund to endorse saving the Marine Stadium. This couldn't have happened at a better time because The City of Miami Historic and Environmental Preservation Board will discuss and possibly make a determination of the final historic designation of the Miami Marine Stadium at their meeting on Tuesday, October 7, at 3:00 PM, City of Miami Commission Chambers. Failure to do so should make them look like idiots-- or at least suspiciously on the take. If you got the time, try to stop by to make your voice heard.

UpDate (2/27/09): We predict the Miami Herald will join other major dailies such as the San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle P-I, Rocky Mountain News, Baltimore Examiner, Cincinnati Post, Minneapolis Star Tribune and Journal Register who have or will go out of business or, at best, file for bankruptcy by the end of 2009. The fact that it has hung on as long as it has in this market is amazing. What with more than half of the population speaking Spanish as its first language, its downward spiral of subscriptions has pretty much been going on for the good part of the last decade. Only recently has it accelerated its demise due in part to a younger demographic not accustomed to getting its news "off the sidewalk"-- as Veronica Mars describes that archaic practice-- significant lost advertising revenue-- a phenomena felt by dailies across the country-- and the most recent last ditch attempt to increase profits by hiking subscription prices by 40%. We predict McClatchy will sell the building on the bay and become a digital purveyor of the goods-- for a price. No more stinkin' free websites for you! Which makes sense. It'll be cheaper in the long run and much more ecological-- think of the trees that will be saved! Hopefully the company will retain its investigative reporters. Without them, Miami-- and all US cities-- are up for grabs with the most corrupt and sociopathic elected officials getting carte blanche at the feeding trough of taxpayer dollars. Subscribing to that business model becomes a patriotic duty. If it instead emerges on the Net as a dumbed-down version of its former self-- like it's already doing with added focus on youth, media personalities, and a decidedly less than AP style to writing that emphasizes the vernacular and, at times, callous rudeness, we'll pass.

You can keep track of the death throes of the American newspaper at www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/. For those who wonder what it will be like to start their day without getting up and going through the morning ritual of picking up the news "off the sidewalk," MVB will be sponsoring a 12-Step Program for those addicted to newspapers. The first affirmation is this: I WANT to get up in the morning even if the newspaper is no longer there.

UpDate (3/17/09): The Seattle Post-Intilligencer, once one of America's oldest newspapers, publishes its last newsprint edition before becoming the first major US daily to go digital.

UpDate (10/16/10): Because of our utter frustration with the way things went south politically here, we haven't updated in a while. Since our final post in December 2007, the tunnel not only got approved but construction has begun on widening the causeway to accommodate the tunnel lanes. Still, we find it interesting to report today that according to the Miami Herald, the Port of Miami received $22M from the U.S. DOT to upgrade the port's existing rail line that connects it to the western Miami rail yards, something we have been advocating (as an alternative to digging a truck tunnel) since this blog was founded in 2006 (http://miamivisionblogarama.blogspot.com/2006/07/miamis-big-dig-manny-carlos-say-it.html). Now, instead of reading the official port stance that the rail line wasn't necessary (http://miamivisionblogarama.blogspot.com/2007/10/miami-today-newspaper-jumps-on-our.html), it's now something to make port director Bill Johnson "super excited" because it will lead to "more international trade and more jobs."

Miami Commissioner Tomas Regalado: He gets our "Yes" vote for the only "No" vote against special interests and the Port of Miami tunnel

Miami's Manny Diaz is one tricky guy. Yesterday he got everything he wanted-- at the people's expense. Instead of putting the issue of diverting needed tax dollars from Miami's slums to building a new baseball stadium, tunnel, and propping up the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts, he worked behind the scenes with Miami-Dade County Manager George Burgess to come up with the billion-dollar-plus "Global Agreement" that should have gone before the people and not five commissioners. Miami City Commissioner Tomas Regalado was the only one who didn't succumb to "deadline" pressures from lobbyists, standing against it for all the right reasons: the city should be using that money as it was meant to be used-- for capital improvements downtown in its blighted areas.

"The city should not be in the business of paying for the tunnel," he said. "That's a regional issue. It's a state issue. It's a federal issue."

Unfortunately, none of his fellow commissioners were listening. It was disappointing to see commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones flip-flopping this time around-- though not surprising since she once served as an aide to Manny and has said more than once she considers him her mentor. After all, as proposed under these new rules, the expansion of the Community Redevelopment Agency means taxes once earmarked for rebuilding the blighted parts of town-- where most of her fellow African-Americans live-- will be siphoned off to partially finance the $1.3 billion Port of Miami tunnel ($50 million will go toward building the tunnel which is now listed by the Miami Herald at $914 million-- as if that will make its cost more palatable since they have come out in favor of building it), the Florida Marlins baseball stadium ($500 million), Carnival Center ($500 million to pay down its debt), a streetcar to MidTown ($200 million), and more. We can only hope that the "Global Agreement" makers don't have any legal grounds for re-writing how the CRA's funds are used and that the Florida Marlins can't come up with their $155 million share for the stadium. Although this comes up before the Miami-Dade Commission Monday, we only see them rubber stamping this race to build a tunnel to special interests and to choose the lesser of visions.

For Commissioner Regalado's ballsy vote, we dedicate this song to him with hopes he will adopt it from Billy Jack as a theme song for a future run for the City of Miami's Mayor's office. Right now, Commissioner Regalado, you're our Billy Jack!

UpDate (2/16): The Miami Herald reports today that the FDOT officially awarded the contract to build the tunnel to Bouygues Travaux Publics. We find it interesting with each new story how cheaper the tunnel gets. Today the estimated cost to build it is $914 million. Could it be the paper is distorting its actual cost for reasons unknown to the public? And if so, why?

UpDate (12/13): Christmas comes early with the announcement that the tunnel project succumbs to a well-deserved death when the state and Bouygues Travaux Publics can't agree on terms. Hurray!

UpDate (4/1/2008): Regalado announces his run for Mayor of Miami. You can learn more about what he stands for and help his noble cause by clicking here.

One more time: No! to the Port of Miami Tunnel

We'd like to think the graphics beat Chavez, that the iconic comic bubble caught enough people's attention down there in Venezuela to turn the tide on madness. Perhaps it will work here with the City of Miami Commission. For MVB, it's all we got because we've outlined our reasons more than once on this humble blog to the point of embarrassment.

This Thursday the City of Miami commission votes on whether or not to contribute $50 million to the construction of a truck tunnel between the port and Watson Island. Without that contribution, the tunnel idea becomes the best bad memory all of us living here could have because public dollars allocated toward the project are removed and placed elsewhere and the project for all intents and purposes dies.

As far as we're concerned, that's the best thing that could happen because many experts predict a tunnel won't save the money generator port shipping has become. In fact, they predict that the cost of doing business at the port will inevitably rise because of the tunnel's cost ($1.3 billion at the last count) which will be passed on to the shipping companies in the forms of fees and tolls. Once it becomes too expensive to ship in and out, shipping companies will jump ship for cheaper and more accessible Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale leaving Miami and the County with the biggest money pit since Boston's Big Dig.

Perhaps we should start thinking about letting Port Everglades assume its natural roll as a container shipper and re-focusing the Port of Miami toward building on its position as the largest passenger cruise port in the world. We do not advocate removing the shipping industry from the port. On the contrary, we have been suggesting that perhaps it might be better and way cheaper to re-activate use of the existing railroad tracks attaching the port to the mainland with the idea that hundreds of shipping containers would be loaded onto railroad cars and hauled in and out in the wee hours of the morning so as not to disturb the growing number of people taking up abode downtown. It seems to make more sense. Unfortunately, the Miami commissioners are getting a lot of pressure from special interest groups to vote for the tunnel. The question is, which of the commissioners who voted against the tunnel will now vote for it? Here's hoping they don't flip-flop. That would be as embarrassing as yet another post from MVB on this subject.

Besides, if Miami has a $50 million hole burning in its pocket, we can think of a better place to spend it. Instead of throwing it at special interests-- shipping and trucking-- we'd like to see it spent where it will help the most people: here.

UpDate (2/16): The Miami Herald reports today that the FDOT officially awarded the contract to build the tunnel to Bouygues Travaux Publics. We find it interesting with each new story how cheaper the tunnel gets. Today the estimated cost to build it is $914 million. Could it be the paper is distorting its actual cost for reasons unknown to the public? And if so, why?

UpDate (12/13): Christmas comes early with the announcement that the tunnel project succumbs to a well-deserved death when the state and Bouygues Travaux Publics can't agree on terms. Hurray!

UpDate (10/16/10): Because of our utter frustration with the way things went south politically here, we haven't updated in a while. Since our final post in December 2007, the tunnel not only got approved but construction has begun on widening the causeway to accommodate the tunnel lanes. Still, we find it interesting to report today that according to the Miami Herald, the Port of Miami received $22M from the U.S. DOT to upgrade the port's existing rail line that connects it to the western Miami rail yards, something we have been advocating (as an alternative to digging a truck tunnel) since this blog was founded in 2006 (http://miamivisionblogarama.blogspot.com/2006/07/miamis-big-dig-manny-carlos-say-it.html). Now, instead of reading the official port stance that the rail line wasn't necessary (http://miamivisionblogarama.blogspot.com/2007/10/miami-today-newspaper-jumps-on-our.html), it's now something to make port director Bill Johnson "super excited" because it will lead to "more international trade and more jobs."

Miami Today newspaper jumps on our bandwagon regarding the proposed $1.2 billion Port of Miami tunnel

We've been saying it officially on this blog since July 29, 2006 what publisher Michael Lewis opined on in his October 18th Miami Today piece:

• This project could turn into another "Big Dig"


• Charging shippers tolls to pay for the $1.2 billion tunnel could drive them out of the Port of Miami and into the open arms of its chief rival, Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale


• Consider using the existing but under utilized train tracks in the wee hours of the morning to get the shipping containers out of the port.

The main argument for not using the existing rail line at the port is that only about 11% of it heads north-- "not enough to make a rail option economically feasible," according to port spokesperson Andria Muniz-Amador.

We say: Hogwash!

Whatever it costs, using the rail line as proposed will be way cheaper than building a $1.2 BILLION tunnel. To even consider such a plan reeks of madness!

UpDate (12/13/08): Christmas comes early with the announcement that the tunnel project succumbs to a well-deserved death when the state and Bouygues Travaux Publics can't agree on terms. Hurray!

There is Rejoicing in MVBville Today! The Florida Supreme Court Slaps the Hands in the Public Cookie Jar

In what the Miami Herald describes as a "stunning decision," the Florida Supreme Court yesterday made it more difficult for local government to rob Peter Public to pay Paul Megaproject. Instead of leaving it up to the whims of city commissions to decide whether or not public projects costing hundreds of millions of dollars should tap into community redevelopment agency (CRA) funds-- generated by property taxes within a specific blighted community slated to be used for improvements there-- now the state requires voter approval. This means that projects like the Port of Miami tunnel are in jeopardy since the city of Miami couldn't' figure how to contribute their $50 million share of the $1.2 billion+ project without tapping CRA funds-- which is a good thing from our point-of-view. Now, maybe our elected officials will consider a less costly alternative MVB has been advocating since day one: reviving use of the already existing rail line running into the port. Also, that extra $50 million burning a hole in the Omni CRA pocket can now be directed towards a BayLink monorail-- which actually serves the people and runs through the Omni CRA.

UpDate (10/11): The port tunnel project gets a reprieve from its developers. Instead of cancelling the project because of the missed September 30th deadline, they will now extend the deadline indefinitely until closing. This extra time will allow the City of Miami to find the $50 million needed to make this a go.

UpDate (12/13/08): Christmas comes early with the announcement that the tunnel project succumbs to a well-deserved death when the state and Bouygues Travaux Publics can't agree on terms. Hurray!

Passin' On Paradise: South Florida's High Cost of Living is Driving People Away

From today's Miami Herald: "Recruiting workers and keeping them has become increasingly challenging for South Florida employers, as home prices have soared out of reach even for many two-income households."

Scary Stats:

• Incomes rose here by 28% between 2000 and 2006. The $39,900 median income has been "all but gobbled up by the rise in property taxes and insurance alone."
• Property tax on a median-priced home rose to $8,011 last year from $3,505 in 2000.
• Between 2000 and 2006 the median home price rose 172 percent to $375,800 in Miami-Dade.
• Only 1 in 10 homes sold in Miami-Dade was affordable to a family earning the median income.
• Turnover of prosecutors at the Miami-Dade state attorney's office is approximately 20% per year because they can't afford to live here.
• To recruit doctors and research scientists, the University of Miami is kicking in up to 50% of the purchase price of a home-- up to $300,000-- in exchange for a stake in the property. When an employee sells the property, the university shares in the equity appreciation.
• Nurses and other skilled medical workers can't afford to live here. Baptist Health has bought a large Kendall apartment complex which it is renovating to offer as discount rentals for hard-to-fill positions such as nurses.

As MVB has been saying for over a year now, it's scary out there and getting worse.

UpDate (9/12): Today's Miami Herald reports that nearly a quarter of south Florida homeowners spend at least half of their income on housing. Miami-Dade had the highest rate in the U.S. (24.9% spend 50% of income on housing).

UpDate (9/20): And it keeps getting worse. Today the Miami Herald reported south Florida housing costs rose 8.4 percent in July and August-- the fastest rise in 25 years-- while overall costs rose 3.7 percent.

UpDate (5/15/08): Today the Miami Dade County Commision will vote on whether or not to increase funding the North Terminal by another $64.3 million in order to finish the baggage handling system ($43.5 million) and the automated people mover ($20.8 million). How can they say no? And so it goes.

Kudos to Tomas Regalado, Michelle Spence-Jones and another City of Miami Commissioner who wasn't mentioned in today's Miami Herald or other news media

In a narrow vote of 3-2, the City of Miami passed on shoveling $55 million down the $1 billion-plus hole known as the Miami Tunnel Project. Led by commissioner Tomás Regalado who has been against it from the get-go because the city's contribution would tap funds from the Community Redevelopment Agency-- its mission is to "improve the quality of life in some of the city's downtrodden neighborhoods, `thereby achieving the complete eradication of slums and blight'.'' Fellow commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones who represents one of those "downtrodden neighborhoods" backed Regalado. As of this moment, MVB hasn't a clue who the third commissioner was who voted against throwing millions of dollars down our own version of Alice's "rabbit hole." Hopefully they will remain firm because now the real pressure begins, coming at them from the county and the state.

MVB believes there is no way this tunnel from Watson Island to the Port of Miami is going to be profitable for the city-- even if tolls are levied. It's structured much like those infamous movie investments where some dumb bastard agrees to take "points" on a movie deal. Because of unforeseen expenses or the costs of doing business, profits never materialize. Miami-Dade county residents have already become "producers" for life on the Carnival Center because of its immense expense. We believe the same thing will happen to Miami residents-- they'll never see their investment. However, everyone will pay for this mad plan through a higher cost of living-- the only real thing that will be passed back to the "investors."

UpDate (12/13/08): Christmas comes early with the announcement that the tunnel project succumbs to a well-deserved death when the state and Bouygues Travaux Publics can't agree on terms. Hurray!

$100 Million Blip on Miami's Radar

The April 5th edition of the respected Miami Today weekly marks the first time in print by any publication we have seen that lists the estimated cost of the proposed Port of Miami tunnel at $1.3 billion. That's a $100 million increase without a spade of dirt being turned. Pass the mojitos, please.

UpDate (5/3): The following consortium won the right to build the $1.3 billion tunnel: Bouygues Publics Travaux (French), Babcock and Brown (Australian), Jacobs Engineering (U.S.), and Transfield Services (Australian). The 35-year concession agreement still needs to be negotiated and the state is still waiting for firm commitments from the county and the city for $450 million for their half of the construction costs.

UpDate (5/11): The Miami Herald discovers that Bouygues Pulbics Travaux has ties to Cuba, having built 11 high-end resorts with the Cuban military since 1999. Considering the flavor of local politics, this could be a deal breaker.

UpDate (6/21): A resolution pledging $50 million from an unnamed source was removed from last week's city of Miami commission agenda and deferred to July 10th. The administration is targeting community redevelopment funds. Commissioner Tomás Regalado has promised to move to deny the funds.

UpDate (7/24): 9 County commissioners pledge $402.5 million towards the tunnel. Only 3 vote against it on political reasons (Cuba): Javier Souto, a Bay of Pigs veteran, Natacha Seijas, and Rebeca Sosa. Joe Martinez was absent. Now its up to the City of Miami to pledge their share: $55 million. That vote is not expected to take place before September. Commissioners, nervous about paying their share, suggest tolling the tunnel and the existing bridge to the Port. Tolls for trucks would be as high as $7.00 per outgoing truck. Cruise lines are against tolling as it would affect employees and increase surcharges to cruise line passengers.

UpDate (12/13/08): Christmas comes early with the announcement that the tunnel project succumbs to a well-deserved death when the state and Bouygues Travaux Publics can't agree on terms. Hurray!

Another Mojito Moment or Things That Make You Drink in Miami: The $1.2 Billion Port Tunnel

Although the official county estimate for the Port of Miami Tunnel was $1.2 billion, real world bids came in this week that might cause more than a few of us to make up a batch of mojitos. The lowest bid was $1.16 billion and the highest was $2.21 billion. The kicker is how the county will pay its 50% share since, according to the Miami Herald, that issue "remains a little fuzzy." Using County Manager George Burgess' "fuzzy economics"-- which includes a $50 million contribution from the City of Miami, the poorest of the big cities in Dade County-- the county still comes up $300 million short. His solution is to add truck tolls and shipping fees.

MVB thinks that's one bad solution because it will only drive shippers and truckers away from the port-- as some have already promised they would if that happened. Where will they go? Miami's chief cheaper shipping rival: Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale. In the end, real world economics instead of "fuzzy economics" will turn what has been described as "the largest bored tunnel in the U.S.," into the world's biggest money pit.

Our solution: Use the existing rail system (currently not used at all) to its maximum capacity in the wee hours of the morning so as not to disrupt downtown traffic with off-loading in the rail yards near MIA (where many, if not most, of the trucks from the port drive to anyway). We believe that solution hasn't really been looked at because of the influence of the powerful trucking unions.

What's Next? A panel of five "experts" will determine which of the three proposals is the best. And then it's up to the county commission to give the final vote. Knowing it comes back to the commissioners is another reason we drink a lot here at MVB. In the past, few commissioners have shown any restraint on spending huge amounts of money on projects like these, i.e., the nearly half-billion-dollar Carnival Center for the Performing Arts (which will probably never show a profit) and MIA's $6.2 billion-and-rising costs. Even county mayor Carlos Alverez, whom we backed in his strong mayor bid, is for this project which just goes to show, even MVB can make mistakes.

Heads Up to Christopher Mazzella, the county's Inspector General, who has said "fraud and ineptitude" cost the county $344 million a year: Considering the potential amount of public money that will be spent on this project, pehaps you may want to get your Public Corruption and Investigations Bureau to keep an eye on the five experts and the commissioners in advance to make sure their opinions aren't tainted in any way from outside influences instead of after-the-fact when it gets convoluted and very expensive.

UpDate (12/13/08): Christmas comes early with the announcement that the tunnel project succumbs to a well-deserved death when the state and Bouygues Travaux Publics can't agree on terms. Hurray!

Introducing Monocle Man

A note from the publisher:

First off, anyone wearing a monocle today should be viewed with suspicion. This gentleman, who wishes to remain anonymous as is a bloggers wont, is not the kind of guy you'd invite to a party. If his 1,000 yard stare doesn't quickly put your shindig into an irreversible slide toward downersville, his jaded, dyspeptic personality soon will. So, dear reader, read his words with caution and a mojito, MVB's drink of choice, in hand.

***********

Really, I'm not as bad as Mr. Erectus made me out to be. Sure, I might wear a monocle, but does that mean I don't eat, sleep, and shit like the rest of you? Perhaps you'd be more forgiving if you knew I was born and raised in Miami and have been living here for over half a century. I've basically seen it all and it has taken its toll on me. My shrink calls me Eeyore, my girlfriend calls me shallow, and my hero Verticus Erectus calls me dyspeptic, but despite those sentiments, I still get up every morning in Miami thinking that today is going to be an improvement on yesterday. That should count for something. Right?

Anyway, my first "observations" for MVB are:

• Since no one else seems to be doing it on a scale that will make an impact, Baptist Health South Florida, the region's largest private employer, and the University of Miami are going to provide affordable housing to attract and retain workers. They will build units on land they own. When the average house price in Dade County is $372,400 and the median family income for a family of four is $55,900, who will build affordable housing for the teachers? The cops? The firefighters? For you and me?
• What's with underwear? When I was at UM in the early 70's, hardly anyone wore them. Trust me, I've seen my fair share of cracks over the years-- some good (the one I saw on March 7, 2006 was a standout), most bad-- but now a days, they've changed what once was something utilitarian into a fashion statement. I know this because I can see people's underwear almost every place I go. I find myself not knowing whether to look or turn away. Maybe some day if I live long enough, I will be comfortable seeing other people's underwear in public.
• Speaking of underwear, until I started dating a sensuous, worldly Brazilian named Luciana, I didn't know that after all of these years I had been placing "it" inside my underwear in the wrong position. According to her, it is supposed to go "up." I ran this by Esquire magazine's Answer Guy and he said, after calling me a "pussy," that this is America and I can put it any where I want to. Thanks to Luciana, however, I discovered colorful "athletic briefs" and stopped buying those old man white cotton briefs and will never go back. Now, God forbid, if I should ever get into an accident, I can rest assured that at least I'll be looking good on the gurney, well, at least as far as the underwear goes.
• What's with the county trying to dig a $1.2 billion tunnel between the Port of Miami and Watson Island? Recent reports show that the port has lost money while other ports-- including its chief competitor, Ft. Lauderdale's Port Everglades-- made profits. Part of the plan to pay for the tunnel includes charging trucking companies and shippers tolls. Won't this raise the cost of doing business at the port? Won't it drive business away? As MVB has suggested, why haven't they considered bringing the existing, unused rail line on line during the dead of night to relieve port congestion while downtown is asleep? It's gotta be a lot cheaper than digging a billion dollar freaking tunnel.
• When I was growing up in the westside of North Miami, no one got murdered by a gun. Burglaries were unheard of. Then, during the seventies and eighties, people moved away and the color and the language changed from white and English to black, brown, Spanish, Creole and something resembling English. Murders went up along with burglaries. When I went to North Miami High, no one got killed and it stayed that way up until the last 10 years when at least two kids have been killed there. One crawled under a car in the school parking lot to get away from a guy with a gun-- to no avail; the killer got on all fours, looked under the car and fired away. Some even pee in the hallway. What happened?
• Elita Loresca.

UpDate (12/13/08): Christmas comes early with the announcement that the tunnel project succumbs to a well-deserved death when the state and Bouygues Travaux Publics can't agree on terms. Hurray!

Great Seal To Steal: It's only your money!

The Herald called it a "small step" when the County Commission unanimously approved building the $1.2 billion Port of Miami tunnel this week. MVB sees it as a "giant step" to fleecing the public from traditional "unforeseen rising construction costs" to your run-of-the-mill kickbacks. Even the looming shadow of Boston's notoriously corrupt, over budget "Big Dig" and the county's own track records of the $200 million cost overrun for the Carnival Center and its horrific mismanagement of the staggeringly huge MIA project estimated to be $1 billion over budget couldn't persuade them to think before committing to a project some experts believe will only fail. If only as much thought were put into this by the commissioners as is being put by them into the Island Gardens project on Watson Island-- a private investment delayed numerous times, sometimes over the silliest things like whether or not it will suck up too much water from the mainland (see October 15th posting).

Still, there is a bright side. The county has to come up with their share of public dollars which is an eye-opening, heart-stopping $900 million. The county figures it can dig up $600 million by:

1. Using $100 million set aside from a general obligation bond approved by voters in 2004,
2. $114 million from local transportation fees (always an ambiguous place to find money),
3. $47 million "in the form of right away donated by the port" (whatever that means since the port is owned by the county-- it sounds like a plan to pay for something we already own).

If the City of Miami, one of the poorest cities in the U.S., throws in $50 million, our local contribution will still be $300 million short. Not to worry, the brains behind this cockamamied idea figure they can get that money by:

1. Charging tolls to drive into the port,
2. Increasing user fees for cargo and cruise ships.

Another set of experts has said that those tacked on fees will make the "port less economical than Port Everglades, its Broward County rival." Which means shippers will turn to Ft. Lauderdale-- ironically solving the Port of Miami's problem of moving goods to and from the port.

A little research showed that most containers coming into the Port of Miami are delivered only to Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties-- not the rest of the U.S. Although we don't pretend to be economists, we think common sense tells us that those increased tolls and operating fees will be passed on by the shipper to the manufacturer who will pass it to the consumer as more expensive goods. Usually, when something like that happens, the cost of living rises. The cost of living in Dade County alone has created a shortage of workforce housing. If it continues to rise unchecked, where will we find our teachers, tradesmen, cops and firemen, retail and wholesale workers? The only ones who will be able to live here are the lawyers, doctors, bankers, and real estate developers. But how will they continue to function without their paralegals, nurses, secretaries, and real estate agents who can't sell their projects?

Oh, but we digress which is our wont.

Condsidering how much it costs and how much can go wrong with this project-- hell, it's not even above ground for crise sakes and look what happened to those that were-- you'd hope our commissioners would have been more cautious before leaping into the money pit. For instance, as we have been harping on more than once, did anyone consider ramping up use of the rail line to the port? In the middle of the night when downtown Miami is "sleeping"? Wouldn't that relieve pressure on the port?

Despite what some people might think of Johnny Winton, the City of Miami commissioner was against the port tunnel project. We can only hope a majority of Miami commissioners feel as he did. Without their support, the port tunnel will only remain an underground pipe dream.

Because the stink is so staggering regarding the county commission's vote on the port tunnel, the traditional MVB Poopy Head hat just won't do in conveying our overwhelming disappointment. We asked our publisher, Verticus Erectus, to break down and actually draw something like a political cartoon instead of ripping off pictures from the Internet to Photoshop-illustrate previous postings. So, in homage to the work of Don Wright, the great political cartoonist of the Miami News whom Mr. Erectus has sorely missed since 1988 when the paper went under,* we offer up our first real political cartoon albeit with some Mr. E's Photoshop B.S.

* Why the Miami Herald didn't grab Wright when they had a chance will always be a puzzlement-- like the time they yanked the comic strip "Arnold," the junior high school kid with the really big nose. Wright had already won a Pulitzer for the News, the rival hometown paper just down the road. He was and is clearly the most influential political cartoonist of his generation. Both missteps will forever be the Herald's loss.

UpDate (12/13/08): Christmas comes early with the announcement that the tunnel project succumbs to a well-deserved death when the state and Bouygues Travaux Publics can't agree on terms. Hurray!

The "Big Dig" is coming to Miami

MVB has a hard time understanding Miami's rush toward replicating Boston's infamous "Big Dig" tunneling project. It was announced today that plans for building a $1.2 billion truck tunnel connecting the Port of Miami to Watson Island are "falling into place." You'd think public servants everywhere would have learned something after watching what happened in Boston. That debacle, which started out costing $2.5 billion in 1985, turned out to be, according to CNN, the "most expensive highway project in America". Its final cost is an estimated heart-stopping $14.6 billion in public dollars.

For our "little tunnel", the state has already set aside $600 million for its 50 percent share in the deal. Unfortunately for us, county managers, the same ones who oversaw escalating costs for MIA and the Performing Arts Center, figure they can raise $489 million. That leaves a $111 million funding gap.

Hooray! MVB hopes they never find the money.

Why? Because the solution to solving trucks coming into and leaving the port is already there. In fact, it's been there since the port opened in 1964. It's called a "rail line." If Sir Manny and the boys will step aside, you can see the railroad tracks in the picture. That vertical structure at the end? The railroad tracks raised so boats may pass-- a position they've been in for years. Why? We think it has something to do with the powerful trucking union but we can't prove it. If the rails are used to move shipping containers to and from the port, why do you need truckers?

MVB is not concerned why the rail line isn't being used anymore but we are suggesting that it be brought back "online" in conjunction with the trucking operations. Our solution is to move thousands of shipping containers by rail in the dead of night when it will be less disruptive to the emerging "new downtown".

The irony here-- and there is always irony and silliness when you talk about Miami-- the rail lines run to an existing off-site container storage facility near the airport-- the same site most of the truckers are driving to to drop off their shipping containers. Why are the truckers driving there? So that the shipping containers can be transferred to...freight trains.

What we find amusing-scary is one of the solutions the county is considering in closing the $111 million funding gap: charging a toll for all cars, trucks, and busses that would use the tunnel and the Port Boulevard-- which is now running pretty smoothly without a toll. We thought the whole idea was to make port operations more efficient. Why then would you consider throwing a roadblock in the form of a toll booth into the picture? Won't vehicles start backing up like they do all over Dade County where there are toll booths? This doesn't make any sense at all. Of course, as always, any fee will be passed along to the public one way or another. Shippers using the port will inevitably pass along those tolls and fees to the consumer in the form of more expensive goods.

If any of this makes you scared or "mad as hell and you're not going to take it anymore" angry, feel free to use the city, county, and state links provided on the right to email your sentiments to your respective public servants. By doing so, you may be able to bring down the county's cost of living if you can convince them that any talk about digging a tunnel is "crazy talk." Right now the county is ranked as one of the most unaffordable places to live in the nation because of the escalating mortgage, rent, and insurance costs. It's so bad, we can't even recruit executives much less a workforce population to teach our kids and work in our hospitals. How will building an unnecessary $1.2 billion truck tunnel make Dade county a more affordable place to live? How will it bring the cost of living down? If anyone is out there and actually reading this and knows the answer, please comment. MVB would like to know.

UpDate (11/23/06): According to Miami Today, Miami-Dade cargo carriers and cruise lines "warned the county last week not to increase port fees to pay for" the tunnel. Shipping executives said "higher port fees would price Miami-Dade out of the market."

UpDate (12/13/08): Christmas comes early with the announcement that the tunnel project succumbs to a well-deserved death when the state and Bouygues Travaux Publics can't agree on terms. Hurray!

UpDate (12/23/2010): Miami Today reports the tracks linking the Port of Miami and the Hialeah freight yards will finally be used by 2013 thanks to a $28 million federal grant.

Miami's "Big Dig"? Manny! Carlos! Say it ain't so!

The Port of Miami and the FDOT are talking about boring a BILLION DOLLAR truck tunnel from the Port to Watson Island. I wish the public could vote for or against this cockamamey idea. After learning about the recent misappropriation of millions of taxpayers dollars to build public housing and the hamhanded billion dollar airport construction project, I'm pretty sure this proposed project would get buried where it belongs. Even if a plan is worked out between the city and county and a construction company that will build and operate it in exchange for forking up some big bucks, I'm still "agin it." Besides making it a target for terrorists and a place waiting for major accidents to happen, it will probably raise the cost of shipped goods in and out of the port. The proposed plan calls for the builder/operator to run a toll booth over a period of 75-years in order to recoup its costs to build it and to make a profit. You can bet those toll costs will be passed on to you and me in the form of more expensive goods. Perhaps the new Port Director ought to try using the railroad tracks leading to and from the port that have been lying idle for years (see picture). Transporting cargo containers and truck trailers by rail in the dead of night in order to lessen the impact on downtown traffic to and from the off-site railyards near the airport seems to me to be the logical economical solution. But what do I know? I'm only a citizen writing the Rodney Dangerfield of blogs. That's my opinion. What's yours?

UpDate (12/13/08): Christmas comes early with the announcement that the tunnel project succumbs to a well-deserved death when the state and Bouygues Travaux Publics can't agree on terms. Hurray!