Gables living

I’ve lived in Coral Gables for 40 years, and Miracle Mile is being remodeled — again. Families still struggle with where to send their kids to school, cars continue to clog the neighborhood streets, construction cranes still rise all over the place, and everyone worries about safety and whether our fine quality of life will be paved over by developers.

While I don’t like every new building that’s gone up, overall, the city is a better place to live than it was 40 years ago. The things that matter to me on a daily basis are taken care of. Garbage gets picked up, trees are trimmed and maintained, crossing guards make sure children get safely to school and abandoned properties are cleaned.

One commissioner, Patricia Keon, has been particularly attentive to these day-to-day issues. Thanks to her persistence with the developer, the abandoned lot on my street is getting cleaned and sodded.

I love living in Coral Gables, and I’ll bet George Merrick would be amazed — and pleased — by how well his city has adapted to the needs of the residents.

This story was originally published March 16, 2017 at 11:38 PM with the headline "Gables living."