essay could be titled, “A Tale of Two Cities”. The two cities in questions in this case are Seattle and Miami. Both are blessed with a strategic geographic location that serves as a gateway to another continent. They also enjoy spectacular scenic beauty and an ethnically diverse population. The similarity between the two cities ends here. King county (Seattle) is one of the most prosperous counties in the nation while Miami-Dade county is one of the poorest. The differences between Seattle and Miami go well beyond material wealth, however. Seattle draws strength from its ethnic diversity while Miami remains one of the most polarized metropolitan areas in the country. The deep-seated animosities that divide Miami along racial and ethnic lines prevent it from enjoying any real sense of community. In the movie “On The Waterfront”, Marlon Brando says to his brother (played by Rod Steiger), “It was you Charlie. I coulda been a contendah”. In this one line of dialogue all the wasted and missed opportunities of a lifetime are summed up. What is true in an individual’s life can also be true in the life of a city. In the late 1940s, Miami was considered to be the premier city in the Southeast eclipsing even Atlanta in the view of many demographers. Due to a lack of any kind of overall vision on the part of our local politicians, the opportunity to transform Miami into a true “Gateway to the Americas” was squandered. Instead, the political process came to be dominated by short-sighted real estate developers whose only concern was making a lot of money. Again, in the early 1960s, Miami had another chance to become a great city. The Disney Corporation wanted to build Disney World in the northwest corner of the county with a monorail connection to beachfront hotels in the Sunny Isles area. When this proposal was made to the county, the then mayor looked at the Disney representatives and told them, “We don’t want no honky-tonk amusement park built here in Dade County”. With that, the Disney people thanked the mayor and headed towards Kissimmee. Compared to Seattle, most things in Miami are inadequate, mediocre, or just plain tacky. When a family of visitors steps off the plane at MIA, they are immediately confronted with a variety of negative impressions including apathetic service, inadequate public transportation, pedestrian unfriendly and filthy downtown Miami streets, and a surly attitude on the part of many taxi drivers and sales clerks. As tourist attractions go, the Seaquarium and MetroZoo are mediocre at best when compared to tourist attractions in Seattle and in other tourist destinations. As Miami continues to devolve into a two-tiered city of haves and have- nots, about the only thing our current crop of politicians can come up with is to approve the continued paving over of every inch of the downtown area and approval of yet another high-rise condominium. No parks, no art in public places, no first-rate tourist destinations that can be enjoyed by the average visitor or local resident are, apparently, even considered by city planners. What makes a city great are the little things that keep it on a human scale. Tiny shops, small restaurants, and parks are things that make a walking tour a real adventure. Could anyone in all truthfulness consider a walk in downtown Miami a pleasant experience? Much of the decline of this area was predicted years ago. Destruction of native habitat with resulting water and air pollution is serious enough. The greatest loss, in my opinion, is the loss of a sense of community. Scripture tells us that where there is no vision, the people perish. There is a saying, “Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States”. It could also be said of Miami, “So close to paradise, so far from becoming a world-class city”.
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 15:33:30 +0000
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