Should we sue the City over city charter violations?
Recently I read about a 30-year-old First-Amendment attorney, Justin Wales who would like citizens to be able to sue the City of Miami when it comes to over-development.
From the New Times article: "Give the people the right to sue the city and be heard in court when elected officials violate the city charter. If you live in Miami, you can vote on this proposal November 8. It will be ballot question number 4."
It goes on: "The biggest danger of that, Wales says, is in the area of real-estate development. If citizens can't sue, there's no way for them to challenge the improper handout of public money, land, and privileges to developers, or other forms of corruption."
"Just look at our skyline and imagine what's going to be there in five or ten years. If the public knew the extent to which some of those buildings were pushed through, I think it would reflect poorly on the city and the City Attorney's office," says Justin.
That ship has already sailed, I don't know of anyone who doesn't think poorly of the city and the City Attorney's office. And Planning & Zoning, I might add.
People who purchased condos downtown who had hoped to flip them are not making any money at all, the condo glut has them losing money. The only ones making money are the developers. All this excess housing is not needed.
The younger generation is now getting involved and the developers may have to start making changes. Miami is the only city that allows this rampant non-stop growth. There is a bubble and a bust and then things look good, so building goes on. Then there is another bubble and a bust and then things look good. Doesn't anyone see that there is something wrong with this? The people who should be protecting our quality of life are all about money. It's all about money. Greedy people run our city.
There's a beautiful photo on Justin's Twitter page, it's from @EngageMIA's page. It shows about 30 young people at a meeting, who want to make a change. It says, " Leadership meeting disrupting Miami politics. Be a change maker. Be an activist. Be a leader."
From the New Times article: "Give the people the right to sue the city and be heard in court when elected officials violate the city charter. If you live in Miami, you can vote on this proposal November 8. It will be ballot question number 4."
It goes on: "The biggest danger of that, Wales says, is in the area of real-estate development. If citizens can't sue, there's no way for them to challenge the improper handout of public money, land, and privileges to developers, or other forms of corruption."
"Just look at our skyline and imagine what's going to be there in five or ten years. If the public knew the extent to which some of those buildings were pushed through, I think it would reflect poorly on the city and the City Attorney's office," says Justin.
That ship has already sailed, I don't know of anyone who doesn't think poorly of the city and the City Attorney's office. And Planning & Zoning, I might add.
People who purchased condos downtown who had hoped to flip them are not making any money at all, the condo glut has them losing money. The only ones making money are the developers. All this excess housing is not needed.
The younger generation is now getting involved and the developers may have to start making changes. Miami is the only city that allows this rampant non-stop growth. There is a bubble and a bust and then things look good, so building goes on. Then there is another bubble and a bust and then things look good. Doesn't anyone see that there is something wrong with this? The people who should be protecting our quality of life are all about money. It's all about money. Greedy people run our city.
There's a beautiful photo on Justin's Twitter page, it's from @EngageMIA's page. It shows about 30 young people at a meeting, who want to make a change. It says, " Leadership meeting disrupting Miami politics. Be a change maker. Be an activist. Be a leader."
posted by Tom Falco at 5:00 AM
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1 Comments:
The City of Miami is hugely over-zoned. Far too much development is possible. Overcrowding, traffic, potable water supply, sewage treatment capability, parks capacity, transportation infrastructure, traffic congestion, school capacity; these are all problems caused by short-sighted planning.
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