Has the Planning Department run amok?
This is a letter to The Miami Herald (not yet published):
It was not only because one of the City's planners' names is "Hal" that I was reminded of the movie Space Odyssey 2001 at last night's Commission Hearing. In discussing the 7-year amendments to the City's Comprehensive Plan, it became clear that the "machine" that is the Planning Department had finally transformed itself from serving the Commission into an independent actor, aggressively working to further its own interests.
Final documents were provided to Commissioners less than five minutes before the hearing. They were later told, as they considered a continuance, that if they did not approve the amendments that night they risked "being out of compliance." In direct competition with the amendments passed unanimously by the City’s own Planning Advisory Board, Planning proffered its own version.
An army of black-suited staff members "rebutted" public speakers’ testimony as it was delivered. The meeting was a chaotic mess. Truly, the Planning Department has run amok. It is time for the Commission and the City Manager to pull the plug, installing new leadership and putting staff in its correct place, carrying out the will of the Commission, not substituting its own.
-- Wendy Stephan, Miami
It was not only because one of the City's planners' names is "Hal" that I was reminded of the movie Space Odyssey 2001 at last night's Commission Hearing. In discussing the 7-year amendments to the City's Comprehensive Plan, it became clear that the "machine" that is the Planning Department had finally transformed itself from serving the Commission into an independent actor, aggressively working to further its own interests.
Final documents were provided to Commissioners less than five minutes before the hearing. They were later told, as they considered a continuance, that if they did not approve the amendments that night they risked "being out of compliance." In direct competition with the amendments passed unanimously by the City’s own Planning Advisory Board, Planning proffered its own version.
An army of black-suited staff members "rebutted" public speakers’ testimony as it was delivered. The meeting was a chaotic mess. Truly, the Planning Department has run amok. It is time for the Commission and the City Manager to pull the plug, installing new leadership and putting staff in its correct place, carrying out the will of the Commission, not substituting its own.
-- Wendy Stephan, Miami
posted by Tom Falco at 10:56 AM
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4 Comments:
A planning department that simply 'carries out the will of the Commission' sounds like a recipe for disaster! Most elected officials have little or no background in urban planning and design-related issues. I'm thankful that the Planning Department can have its own voice. The Commission ultimately can decide to listen to them or not...
Could it be the will of the Mayor that they follow, then followed by the Commission? The process was a public process with consultants and an attorney, hired by the City. Why hire them if they will only hear the Planning Department?
Then why bother to have a Planning Advisory Board or a Zoning Board? It is like everything else in this city -- by the time something is presented to the residents, it is a done deal.
OK. Here is the plain truth. Miami government has always been largely shady and confusing. I contend that 25% of city employees could be terminated, and there would be no difference. Good job Wendy for reporting on the Commission meeting, although it would be good to hear the other side.
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