💩 Miami Beach Is Reopening Ocean Drive to Cars
Feel free to add expletives throughout this newsletter as you see fit
In 45 days Ocean Drive will be reopening to cars, following an impromptu vote that took place on Wednesday during what should have been a discussion item at City Commission.
The vote happened on the sly, late in the evening. Watch it here to ruin your Friday.
So, who voted in favor of cars? Commissioner Góngora, Commissioner Richardson, Commissioner Meiner, Commissioner Steinberg, and Mayor Gelber. With City Manager Alina Hudak strongly recommending the car-forward approach.
Props to Commissioners Samuelian and Commissioner Arriola for continuing to fight for people over cars. And to Commissioner Higgins, and the county, for their continuous collaboration with the city.
The vote was largely driven by two factors – the lawsuits filed against Miami Beach, and the fear that the county could force the city to re-open the street because of its expiring permit. The latter was promptly dismissed by Commissioner Higgins, who made it clear that the county will not make any kind of a decision contrary to the will of the city of Miami Beach, essentially calling hogwash to any insinuations that it would force the city to revert the street to its pre-pandemic configuration.
The treatment of such an iconic street sets the tone for the city’s transportation priorities. Reclaiming space from cars makes cities healthier, improves the quality of life of visitors and residents, and creates urban spaces that attract business and talent. Rather than map out a comprehensive approach and focus on addressing the hotels and residents’ concerns through better design, Miami Beach commissioners defaulted to the status quo, plowing headfirst into the car fanatic policies of the last century and setting the stage for transportation decisions to come.
The environmental irony. On Thursday, the US government unveiled the framework for a landmark infrastructure and climate bill, with over half a trillion dollars to be spent to slash the USA’s CO2 emissions in half over the next nine years. On the same day, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava released Miami-Dade County’s Climate Action Strategy, committing to cut greenhouse gas emissions in Miami-Dade County 50% by 2030 from 2019 levels – with the reduction of transportation-related fuel consumption having the largest impact on the communitywide emissions.
None of us need to be reminded that Miami Beach is imperiled in the face of climate change. While our county and the rest of the world focuses on the COP 26 Climate Summit, our city government signals indifference and ignorance over the climate emergency by undoing the handful of pedestrian and bicycle-friendly projects it’s built, rather than focusing on their expansion.
There’s still hope! Next week we’ll be voting for a new board of City Commissioners, perhaps some of the new faces will have the vision and the courage to reverse this decision, signaling to the world that we value safe, sustainable, and economically productive streets.
What can you do? Go vote!
What’s next? The fight for safe sustainable transportation on Washington Avenue.