Critics question process and lack of public notice
If the committee meeting last week is any indication, the Miami-Dade Transportation Planning Organization meeting Thursday is going to be long and hard. Have a big breakfast.
That’s because the TPO is going to be discussing and voting on the controversial 87th Avenue “bridge to nowhere” that is being pushed as quickly as possible by appointed County Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins. It’s a highly divisive issue that has polarized the community.
Commissioner Jean Monestime, who chairs the TPO’s Transportation and Mobility Committee, said there were 60 people signed up to speak, most of them on the bridge. Ladra would venture to say they were split by 50/50, for and against.
Many residents north of 168th Street, where the bridge would start, don’t want it. They fear it will cause more traffic, make them less safe and diminish their quality of life. Many of the families closest to the canal that the bridge would cross use that public space as a park or extended back yard. They say they shouldn’t have to pay the price of overdevelopment in Cutler Bay.
Those who live south of it, including Cutler Bay residents, say they need it for relief from the even growing gridlock. Some of them say it takes them too long to even get out of their driveway. Mothers complain of having to drive an hour to get their kids to a school that should be 20 minutes away.
While there are some residents of Palmetto Bay in favor, it’s also pitted the village, which voted unanimously against it, against the Town of Cutler Bay, which voted unanimously in favor of it.
“The proposed project is a multi-million boondoggle and it will destroy more neighborhoods,” said Palmetto Bay Mayor Karyn Cunningham, who traveled to County Hall to speak on the item. She pointed out that the bottleneck would only be moved north 1.4 miles to 144th Street, where 87th Avenue ends at another canal.
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There goes the connectivity argument. Also, the original item called for the connectivity of these dead-end streets countywide. And all the other commissioners balked and had that taken out so it’s just 87th Avenue.
Cunningham also said that the traffic studies, which are several years old, do not take into account any of the traffic calming solutions proposed for Old Cutler Road, the light synchronization that is allegedly being done on U.S. 1, the rapid bus transit coming and the use of Wayz and other apps that let drivers take the fastest route.
Cutler Bay Tim Meerbot said that the main issue was public safety. The bridge will allow police and fire rescue to respond more quickly, he said. “This is a very emotional issue for a lot of people,” Meerbot said.
He ain’t kidding. People are very divided. And both sides are right. There should be more connectivity and those people south of the canal need a pressure valve. But it’s not the fault of the people north of the canal that the county hasn’t managed growth better and that mass transit is still a pipe dream. The bridge won’t be a solution for very long. It’s a bandaid.
What we do know for sure is that this is a complicated issue — and it should have been handled better.
The bridge project was passed on first reading after being introduced under the provisions of the COVID19 emergency, even though it’s not related in any way, shape or form to the pandemic. Even Commission Chair Jose “Pepe” Diaz seemed uncomfortable with moving forward — he should have stopped the vote right there — and said he would not allow this to happen again.
He shouldn’t have allowed it to happen even once. It was unnecessary. And it gives the whole thing a bad stink.
Cohen Higgins, who lives in Cutler Bay, has repeatedly said that she has been open about opening up that street. In fact, she campaigned on it. But making it her very first big move, under these circumstances, with so little public notice and consideration, seems intentional. She knows it’s a complicated issue that pits neighbor against neighbor.
If she had taken more time — she has almost two years before she has to actually run for the office she holds — then critics wouldn’t have that argument against it. And they have gone as far as to hire political consultants to help them block the bridge.
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Pedro Diaz, who runs local campaigns, said he had petitions signed by 1,153 residents opposed to the development of the bridge and he said there were several flaws in the current proposal.
- It fails to describe its true cost.
- It fails to identify a proper funding source.
- It is not substantiated with current traffic studies.
- It arises from inadequate public participation.
- The assumed connectivity of this bridge (connect the grid) is baseless as 87th Avenue reaches a dead end between 141st Street and 140th Street, driving unnecessary trafficinto residential streets.
So what is Cohen Higgins doing?
Could this be a fundraising tool? There are lots of serial campaign donors that would be interested in this kind of work. And Cohen Higgins has already gotten checks from some of them.
Contributions include at least $4,000 from professional government grifter Ralph Garcia-Toledo and political consultant Jesse Manzano, who are partners in Aqualand Development, the company that pitched the original monorail to Miami Beach. She also has at least $5,000 from Ray Gonzalez, who owns several transportation companies, including shuttle services to and from the airport.
Ladra likes what Palmetto Bay Councilwoman Marsha Matson suggested — a referendum on the matter in 2022, which gives Cohen Higgins and the proponents plenty of time to back up the proposal with science.
“Let the public decide this issue,” she said last week at the committee level.
Controversial 87th Avenue bridge comes back to county at TPO meeting added by Ladra on
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