Carlos Gimenez has head in the clouds with air taxi vision

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez has come up with a genius solution to the county’s massive traffic gridlock and mass transit problems: Cars that fly.

Ladra is not kidding. Gimenez wants to be George Jetson.

We don’t have money to expand rail, which is what was promised to the people with the half-penny tax increase in 2002. Not even for one extension south or north up to Broward. Not even for a light rail across the bay to Miami Beach.

But we apparently can find the money to entertain thoughts of a public private partnership with Lilium, a German engineering startup that raised $90 million to build air taxis just last year and whose five-seat jets could be crossing our skies in as little as two years, according to the mayor’s vision.

You know, like those Amazon drone planes only bigger and carrying people. Don’t worry. They have parachutes! These electric-powered jets are safe because they have parachutes that discharge if there is any “in-flight failure” or collision.

“So you can just float down,” Gimenez told Miami Today. And, apparently, they took him seriously.

Gimenez has met twice already with representatives from Lilium, the last meeting taking place with executives Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s definitely cutting edge, so I’m interested,” the mayor told Miami Today after the first meeting earlier this month, because you know how he loves shiny new stuff. “We have an interesting place to try out the new concept. We want to be the city of the future.”

Is that why you are buying so many buses?

Not that this isn’t something that Ladra is happy to welcome into our world, like jetpacks and hologram TV. It’s kinda awesome. It’s just not a transit solution.

The five-seat jet can go 186 miles in an hour. Except there doesn’t need to be five people for a trip that, for now, would start and end at one of the county’s four airports — MIA, Opa-Locka, Miami Executive (formerly known as Kendall-Tamiami) and Homestead. Eventually, there will be ports built elsewhere. The developer of Paramount WorldCenter Miami designed a skyport atop the 60-story building for future air taxis.

And certainly it won’t come cheap. Think Uber Super X.

How does this do anything to take care of the massive gridlock most of us face daily? Answer: It doesn’t. But Gimenez isn’t concerned with that. This air taxi idea seems like a quicker turnaround and he is all about immediate gratification.

And shiny things.

And immediate graft? Ladra tried to find out who the lobbyist was for Lilium and couldn’t find anyone in the county lobbyist registrations going back to the beginning of the year. But maybe it’s early. Maybe that’s next as they meet with commissioners.

It’s too bad that Gimenez can’t get excited about finding ways to make a public private partnership for rail happen because that is what the people were promised and that is what the people want.

Nothing, not even flying cars, will be an acceptable alternative.

Carlos Gimenez, traffic, transit, transportation

Carlos Gimenez has head in the clouds with air taxi vision added by Ladra on October 27, 2018
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