Letters: Fix the Parking Situation in Miami the Right Way

To the Editor:

“Parking spots reborn for a day”, (Miami Herald, Sept 18, by Andres Viglucci) is another demonstration that Miami ranks dead last in park space and our position sank further during our recent  building boom.  Why?   Because the last Mayor and Commission failed to charge the proper impact fees for parks on new residential units. Great cities have Comprehensive Plans that require the Commission to collect impact fees and invest them in new park land in proportion to at least the existing inventory/population ratio.  Miami has added nearly no new park land with the meager impact fees collected so our park inventory has dropped from 135 square feet per person to 113 square feet, a 16 percent decline.

But we can correct this injustice. Miami residents will have opportunities during meetings in October to tell the Mayor and Commission again that we need to raise our park land ratio and impact fees.  Email  or call 305 416 1400 to learn of a meeting near you to comment on the Evaluation & Appraisal Report, (EAR) so the park section of the Comprehensive Plan can be property updated.  Only then, will current and future Commissions be required to add new parks as our population grows.

Steve Hagen
Parks & Public Space Committee
of Miami Neighborhoods United
Miami

Category: LETTERS