''Miami is a world-class city. You're lucky to live there,'' a Parisian told me as we were waiting to board a transcontinental flight to South Florida last Monday.

The computer programmer told me many of her friends and co-workers were doing U.S. trips this year, helped of course by the strong euro. The big three destinations: Miami, New York, San Francisco, she said. By my unscientific tally -- a quick passport count -- more than half the passengers on my flight were Europeans.

She's been here once before, and again she'll be staying in South Beach. I asked her if she had ever been to downtown Miami. Nope.

Good thing. I don't think ''world-class'' would be the adjective she'd use for that.

I just returned from a weeklong vacation in Paris, and spent a few days of it in La Defense, its business district actually west of the city. Developed in the 1960s and '70s, it recently underwent an expansion and rejuvenation. Amid the scores of glass-and-steel towers housing well-known companies and some condos, there were pedestrian-friendly plazas, interesting public art and lots of places to eat and drink after work, as well as shop (a mall right there). And of course a convenient metro stop.

Clean and safe, too. Paris washes the streets every night, there are trash cans everywhere you look and police patrol regularly.

If only in Miami . . .

The same day I was in La Defense, Macy's Florida CEO Julie Greiner was blasting Miami's downtown -- and it certainly raised quite an uproar here. Deservedly so. Readers also had a lot of great suggestions on ways to fix the dilapidated state of downtown, so much so that we've decided to run some of your dozens of e-mails, plus the voices of many of the stakeholders of a vibrant downtown -- business owners, merchants, officials and others -- as part of today's cover package starting on page 22.

Your message was loud and clear: Miami should have a world-class downtown.

• 

With a lot of help from our online team and Assistant Business Monday Editor Brenda Krebs, we've launched our Miami Herald Business newsletter, which goes out on Mondays. It features stories from Business Monday, other recent stories, who's who around South Florida, tips on your small business and more. To sign up, go to MiamiHerald.com and click on ''Register'' in the top right corner. If you are already a registered user, click ''Member Center'' and then ``Newsletters.''

Send us an e-mail to let us know what you think about the newsletter and website.

Nancy Dahlberg is the editor of Business Monday.

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