Transit Miami

I blame the disappearance and migration of the middle class on two main points- education and urban planning. Bold? Yes. But, I have come to realize that many of our issues boil down to the education available in the immediate area. See, the South Florida higher education system is weak at best. Now, I am not at all ragging on the individual schools, but rather the amount of them both public and private available in the area. The lack of a solid and large education structure deters many mid-level jobs from coming to our area. Large companies tend to stay away from our region as well because of the difficulty they face in staffing their company with educated individuals. A large concentration of educational and research facilities will be a further draw to our region and will provide us with a steadier stream of educated minds rather than the immigration influx we have been surviving on until now. />

UM is already a major economic engine for our community. They have recently stated plans to create a biotech research center in the heart of the health district. I’ve seen this successful model elsewhere (Cambridge, Ma. around the MIT campus) where large biotech companies have set up shop around the campus area to take advantage of the fresh minds the universities are putting out. Many biotech companies have been relocating to the state recently, however, it seems that our government officials have done little to nothing to try and entice them to move into the health district. There isn’t much in renaming the district if we aren’t going to try and use it to our advantage… />

The second major cause of the sudden collapse of the middle class is attributed to the lack of urban planning and alternative means of transportation (What a surprise!) Seriously, the American dream is for everyone to live in a 3+ bedroom house with a spacious backyard and a garage large enough to hold an army tank. This mentality induced sprawl and has yet to change especially here in Florida. People have not adjusted to the urban lives that are experienced elsewhere (NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Toronto, Heck even Houston and Atlanta.) There is an inherent refusal on the part of Floridians to give up the sprawling half acre homes for a denser life more suitable for a metropolis like Miami. With a denser community we may have seen better planning for public transit and better traffic situations. Traffic is after all, one of the main frustrations atop of all South Floridian’s lists of pet peeves. The amount of congestion we face in the coming future will continue to degrade our quality of life, leaving Miami a city for the extremely wealthy seasonal visitor or for the service individuals of the low wage echelons…