Behind Broken Promises: Miami has a trust problem. Herald Editorial Board wants solutions | Opinion
READ MORE
Broken Promises: Miami has a trust problem. Here’s why
The vows sound so convincing — a waterfront park, economic revival in a historic Black neighborhood, a new rail line. Decades later, the pledges remain unfulfilled. Elected leaders and developers move on, hoping voters and taxpayers will forget. What happens when no one is ever held accountable? The Miami Herald Editorial Board wanted some answers.
Expand All
Miami leaders talk a good game about building a world-class city, but they fall far short when it comes to following through on some of the biggest civic promises made by politicians and developers.
Maybe it’s because we have such a transient population that they can get away with it. Maybe it’s just that short-term thinking is a lot easier than planning for the long haul. But over and over, we succumb to the newest rich and dazzling “visionary” to waltz into town or the newest politician elected to office. And when that happens, the promises made last week, or last year, are discarded or shrugged off.
As an Editorial Board, we wanted to shine a light on some of those broken promises, especially the ones that have stretched for years, into decades. Our project examines five unfulfilled pledges made to the people of South Florida and demands that our leaders — even if they weren’t in office at the time — make good on them. We believe it’s our job, on behalf of voters, to hold the powerful to account.
Below is a preview of each promise as well as a way for readers to submit their own. Click the links to read each editorial in full.
Parcel B
In 1996, Miami-Dade County voters were promised a “fantastic new waterfront park” on Biscayne Bay if we agreed to put the Miami Heat arena on public land.
Voters bought the rhetoric. But we were played. An unbelievable 26 years later, we’re still waiting for that park to become reality. Parcel B, a small slice of land also known as Dan Paul Plaza, is mainly used by Heat for a VIP parking lot. The arena, meanwhile, was built long ago.
But we haven’t forgotten.
For those of us who have lived here for more than a handful of years, things like Parcel B really rankle. Are we going to let developers and sports teams and politicians make promises and just never make good on them? It’s unfair — and just plain wrong.
READ MORE: Broken Promises: How long must Miami wait for a park at Heat arena? 26 years and counting
Metrorail extension
For almost 40 years, the Black communities in the northern end of Miami-Dade County have been waiting for the rail line that leaders promised them if they voted for mass transit back in the late ‘70s. Residents have been shafted for so long, children have been born, grown up and had children of their own.
The North Corridor Metrorail extension isn’t just late. It’s a generation or two late.
The Miami Circle(s)
In the two decades or so since archaeologists uncovered traces of prehistoric Native American life right in the middle of the city, the Miami Circle and two other Tequesta sites have become all but invisible, another failure of the private and public sectors to fully honor much ballyhooed agreements with taxpayers.
Rome has the 2,000-year-old Colosseum. And Miami? We have what amounts to a 2,000-year-old dog park and a couple of unmarked circles dwarfed by glass-and-concrete high-rises.
Virginia Key
The 1,000-acre, natural island just off Miami’s coastline could be a world-class jewel of a park and recreational area. Instead, it remains a faint shadow of that grand vision. Public officials have vowed for years to undo the abuse and neglect of Virginia Key. Some work has been done, and more is promised. But for the most part, progress has been painfully slow as millions of taxpayer dollars set aside for Virginia Key remain unspent, some 18 years later.
READ MORE: Broken Promises: Island off Miami could be our Central Park. Politics got in the way
Coconut Grove redevelopment
Grand Avenue was once the vital economic engine of the historically Black section of Miami’s Coconut Grove. It’s now mostly shuttered stores and empty lots, gutted by a combination of broken redevelopment promises and decades-long neglect. But with the decline of Grand Avenue, there’s also a more insidious loss happening: the slow but effective blotting out of the physical traces of the largely Bahamian community that settled the West Grove before Miami was even a city. An important piece of Miami’s Black history is being erased before our eyes. And there’s no real drive to stop it.
There are lots of other broken promises in this town, of course. (The financing of Marlins Park tops most people’s list.) And there has been some progress on a few, which is good to see. But the voters and residents of Miami deserve to see these five promises, specifically, made good. Just because it’s been years or even decades doesn’t make those promises less important to fulfill.
Now that you’ve read through our project, tell us: What’s a pledge or promise made by government or developers in your town that has remain unfulfilled many years later? Share your story by filling out the form below.
This story was originally published December 30, 2022 at 12:31 PM.
