Calatrava Miami?

MVB doesn't know how it was back in ancient Athens 2,500 years ago when they were building the Parthenon, whether or not the citizens had any input in the design, but for what it's worth, as citizens of Miami, we're suggesting that we go for the "big one" when erecting the next building on the Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus in downtown Miami.

In a rare example of the public sector using a visionary approach in solving a problem, the college recently ran a full page color ad on the back of the Miami Herald's Business Monday tabloid looking for partners to develop "one of the last parcels of undeveloped land on Biscayne Boulevard" which they own. Realizing they need another 250,000 s.f. for an Arts and Humanities Center, they decided it would be a win-win situation for private developers to build the structure in exchange for "air rights."

It's amazing that this property is still available. Just south of the Freedom Tower and the American Airlines Arena, Lot 1 (see map) hopefully will attract an equally visionary deep pockets developer to take them up on the offer with a landmark design that mixes office and living space with the college's needs.

Hopefully, too, the building won't be anything subtle. As a "beacon" to those around the world searching for an education, it should stand out from the crowd-- and not just the buildings around it, but also all the others in all the cities around the globe that claim and will claim to have the tallest buildings. Miami should raise the bar high enough that we, as proud citizens of south Florida, can claim bragging rights that will last at least a century (2,500 years might be asking too much).

To perk the digital ether, we've Photoshopped Santiago Calatrava's proposed world's tallest Chicago tower onto the Miami Dade college site. We think it looks pretty good there. Actually, Calatrava's design would look good anywhere-- especially next to an actual Miami proposal for the world's tallest condos called Empire World Towers.

Hopefully seeing this MVB proposal will start people thinking about the really big picture that speaks to the intangible aspects of the human heart with an architecture that lifts the spirit and sparks the imagination like the Parthenon has done for mankind all these years.

Perhaps a Pericles, the visionary Athenian politician who gave the world the Parthenon, will rise above the pettiness of local politics and take a stand for bold vision by simply requiring that the design will be this new millennium's Parthenon.

Miami is in a unique place in time that probably won't come around for another hundred years before the towers that are being built today are torn down and replaced with newer models. We should leap at this opportunity to snare the skyscraper title. In fact, we should look at it as our civic duty-- just like the ancient Athenians did. Let's make Biscayne Boulevard the "Boulevard of the Giants."

You can read more regarding this proposed partnership on the college's web site.

Miami Dade College Number One...

Despite its management.

We've always been proud of Miami Dade College. Verticus Erectus is an alumnus of the North Campus-- as are most of the MVB staff with the possible exception of Sir Manny Mojito who says he's an Oxford graduate. In fact, looking back, Mr. Erectus argues his MDC professors were better there than those at the University of Miami where he finished his last two years. Today, the college ran a full-page color ad in the Miami Herald reminding everyone at considerable public expense that they are, among others, number one in these areas:

• MDC enrolls the most students in the nation (163,000)
• Awards the most Associate Degrees
• Awards the most degrees in Nursing
• Enrolls and graduates more Hispanic students than any other in the nation
• Enrolls and graduates more African-American students than any other in the nation
• Is the most diverse institution in the nation with students representing 171 countries and 84 languages

So why can't they pick up the phone or answer their emails in the International Student's department?

An Eastern European friend who recently graduated from high school told us he was looking into studying music studio production and jazz piano in Canada.We suggested, because he has been here many times-- Verticus booked him at Churchill's where he banged out some original compositions on their old upright-- that he consider MDC because they have some of the best music/film/TV production classes in the U.S. We told him to check them out through the Internet. About six weeks later, he got in touch to let us know that no one had responded to his numerous email queries and asked if we could help him out. When MVB agreed to help, we had no idea about what we were getting ourselves into.

After many emails to the North Campus International Student contact Ms. Tere Martinez went unanswered, we broke down and actually called the International Student department. In the beginning, we left messages because there was no one picking up the phone. This went on for half-a-dozen times over a couple of weeks. At one point, it got so bad that even the answering machine wouldn't kick in to take a message. As always, just when you promise yourself this is it, no more attempts, someone picked up the phone on our last call. Liz, a young woman on the other end, was very polite and apologetic. She explained that the department is inundated with queries and has fallen behind. She was able to answer most of the questions our friend had, but was unsure about the Tuition Assistance Institute which offers special financial incentives to students who live in a few select countries around the world. Our friend happens to be from one of those countries. She didn't have a clue about what we were talking about-- even though there was a link on the opening page of the International Student web site. She suggested MVB check with Financial Aid. We did, they didn't have a clue either and said we should go back to International Student Services.We did and got lucky twice in the same day. Liz again answered the phone and promised to get back to us before 4:30pm. Well, she did, but her department still didn't know what we were talking about. So, MVB clicked the link on the side of the their web page. The program is state funded to waive all or part of a foreign student's tuition. Only 25 are given out in a year for the whole state. Digging deeper, we discovered the Eastern Europe group is ran out of the University of Central Florida in Orlando. MVB sent the director, Jean Kijek, an email. We called them up and left messages. Nothing.

To this day, no one from Miami Dade College north campus has responded to our original emails. Tere Martinez hasn't called. Neither has anyone from the University of Central Florida. This leads MVB to believe that these state schools succeed despite themselves. If Miami Dade College president Eduardo Padron, the highest paid community college president in the U.S., took a cut in his $407,229 annual salary or a cut from his 31.5% salary supplement, maybe they could fund a couple more support staff positions in the north campus International Student department to answer the phones and reply to the emails.

Anyway, our friend will miss the winter semester because of the ineptitude of the MDC north campus. Hopefully he will be able to enroll for the fall semester. By the way, the kid speaks and writes perfect English and has a Cambridge Certificate of English to prove it. Unfortunately, MDC doesn't accept that one. He needs TOEFL certification. To prove he can handle the English requirements, he will have to take a TOEFL test at the college which to us sounds like another example of a badly ran bureaucracy at work.