Archive for August, 2007

MDT Transit Pass Conundrum

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on August 31, 2007
in Boston, Chicago, Letter, MDT, MetroCard, Metropass, New York and San Francisco
. 6 Comments
Transit Miami reader/contributor Dave sent me an excellent price comparison he composed on the cost of transit:
Listed are the comparable monthly passes (basic all purpose pass for busses, trains and transfers) and what the single cash fare would be for one trip. The number of trips listed is how many trips you would have to make in a month for the pass to be worth while for simple round trips.

Miami monthly metropass: $75, single fare $1.50 (50 trips)
Boston monthly metropass: $59, single fare $2 (29.5 trips)
New York monthly metropass: $76, single fare $2 (38 trips)
Chicago monthly metropass: $75, single fare $2 (37.5 trips)
San Francisco (Muni&some Bart stations) metropass: $45, single fare $1.50 (30 trips)

Maybe its because Miami-Dade’s transit thinks we need to pay more than other cities for our monthly pass because we use the transit system so much more often than these other cities do (sarcasm)?

News From around the Globe

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on August 31, 2007
in Barcelona, Beijing, Charter Flights, Congestion Pricing, IBM, Olympics, Shanghai, Subway and Vatican
. 0 Comments

Via klm_md11’s Flickr…

The Vatican has launched an airline of sorts offering passengers (on a chartered aircraft similar to the one above) seats to key pilgrimage sites. Initial plans call for flights to Spain, Poland, and the Middle East, however talks are in the works to fly to Mexico.

  • Beijing’s plan to limit driving in the capital city during the Olympics to curb air pollution, turned out be a big flop last week during the three day trial period. It goes to show that there is no “quick fix” to the detrimental effects of our oil addiction.

Bike-Sharing: Revealed

Published
by
Ryan Sharp
on August 31, 2007
in Bicycles, Bikes, Paris, Velib and bike-sharing
. 1 Comment

We’ve spent considerable time talking about the merits of bike-sharing programs, offering particularly high praise for Paris’s Velib. However, it may seem like a fantasy as most of these programs are only available overseas. Fortunately, here is a great video that shows bike-sharing in Paris is very real. It explains how it works, from security to maintenance and everything in between.

I definitely recommend checking it out, so you have a better understanding of the system and can clearly describe it at planning/bike workshops.

<— Sidebar Woes

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on August 30, 2007
in Bikes, Blog Updates, Blogger, Sunpost and bike lanes
. 0 Comments
Not Exactly sure what caused the Speaking Out! sidebar widget to lock up on us, but, I’ll be spending some time today pretending that I know how to edit the CSS to fix it… Till then, stay tuned, there’s a bunch of news out there for us to cover including Kirk Nielsen’s comparison between our sad bike infrastructure and that of Copenhagen’s….

Let’s go for a Ride on the Mumbai Subway

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on August 29, 2007
in Crowds, Mumbai and Subway
. 4 Comments

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on August 29, 2007
in Arthur Noriega, Downtown, Miami, Parking, Parking Authority and Public Transit
. 6 Comments
Continuing Flawed Miami Mentality on urban living and the needs of downtown:
“But if Downtown Miami develops into a thriving retail hub as local leaders and stakeholders plan, the parking authority, as well as private operators, she said, are “going to have to step up to the plate to create more parking facilities.”
Even now, merchants have “expressed concerns about the lack of enough customer parking,” she said.”

Beijing Aims to One-Up Paris

Published
by
Ryan Sharp
on August 28, 2007
in Beijing, Bicycles, China, Climate Change, Paris and bike-sharing
. 7 Comments


When Paris unveiled its massive bike-sharing program earlier this month, it was the largest in the world, proving to be the envy of other global cities.

Not for long.

Beijing recently announced its plan to have 50,000 bikes available for share by 2008, when they will be hosting the Summer Olympics. The bike-sharing program is expected to take a bite out of traffic congestion and air pollution, which are becoming increasingly damaging problems as more people drive in the city.

Fifty-thousand bikes in a city of 17 million may seem insignificant, but it’s all part of a larger transportation strategy, which includes expanding the subway system to be one of the world’s greatest. It may also include odd-even day driving privileges, where license plates would be divided by odd and even numbers so that only half of the city’s motorists could legally drive each day. This hinges on the success of a four-day pilot program that was completed with mixed results earlier this month.

According to experts, eliminating 1.3 million cars from the streets of Beijing would translate into a 40% cut in carbon dioxide emissions. How does this relate to Miami? Well, beside serving as another example of a another city implementing bike-sharing, it’s very important in the global context of climate change. If China, which per capita only emits a tiny fraction of carbon dioxide that the United States does, continues to rapidly increase vehicle miles traveled, it will make it almost impossible to stabilize global CO2 levels at 550ppm (the largely agreed upon threshold for stemming the worst effects of climate change). Given the geography of South Florida, we should be very much concerned about Chinese emissions and sustainability.

It’s all interconnected.

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on August 28, 2007
in Airport, Architecture, Hotel, Kobi Karp, Marriott and Urban Design
. 2 Comments
Renderings of the new Kobi Karp designed towers soon rising at the Miami Airport Marriott Complex:

MIA South Terminal

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on August 28, 2007
in Aeromexico, Airport, Emirates, Ft. Lauderdale, MIA, Metropolitan Miami, Miami-Dade County, Parsons/Odebrecht, South Terminal and Terminal
. 4 Comments
Miami International Airport’s new South Terminal (H & J) is slated to begin opening for travelers tomorrow, beginning what will become a two month transition process for 19 of the airport’s airlines. This terminal is state of the art, a masterfully designed showpiece in an otherwise outdated airport. If there is ever a time to use that ridiculous phrase that seems to be constantly misused, some would say this terminal is “world class.” Yes folks, it could be that impressive. For once, it seems that MIA will no longer sit high among the worst airports in the Nation list. The $1.1 Billion terminal is designed to process 2,000 passengers an hour through 3 security checkpoints and advanced (post 9-11 security measures) baggage handling and receiving stations. It will also feature $9.4 million of art and 49 new retail/dining facilities.

See it for yourself:South Terminal Baggage Claim Area.Art:Everglades floor art (Mysterious how they keep disappearing as we continue to pave over them isn’t it?)

Also, the Iconic MIAMI wall…

  • Meanwhile, Aeromexico, one of the South Terminal’s new inhabitants, recently announced it would end its Ft. Lauderdale service…
  • Emirates Airlines will be visiting MIA on September 6th…Miami-Dubai Service coming soon?

Update: Alex’s View, though he clearly hasn’t visited the disaster known as Heathrow or walked the infinite corridors throughout Barajas…Not two of the airport’s we’d use to compare ourselves to…

Marlins at OB, Another Bad Idea

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on August 27, 2007
in Downtown, Larry Lebowitz, Little Havana, Marlins, Miami, Orange Bowl, Pedestrian, Public Transit, Stadium, Streetcar, Streetwise, Tri-Rail, UM and Urban Planning
. 8 Comments
There is a great read today up on the MiamiHerald by Larry Lebowitz titled: Why OB is a Lousy Site for Marlins. Take a second a check it out, he voices many of the same positions we’ve been pushing here on Transit Miami… An excerpt:

Tri-Rail isn’t much of an option. It’s a pain to get from the Miami Airport Station to the Orange Bowl today. Even if Miami-Dade Transit created a straight-shot, game-day shuttle from the Tri-Rail station to the OB, how many baseball fans to the north would use it?

Metrorail will only appeal to hard-core urban dwellers. It’s a little over a mile — too far to walk for most pampered, crime-fearing locals — from the closest Metrorail stations on the north side of the river to the Orange Bowl.

Barring some unlikely seismic political changes at County Hall, no one will be trying to shift billions of transit dollars to expand Metrorail near the OB in the near future.

What about a streetcar that could shuttle fans from downtown transit hubs?

Right now, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz can’t muster a three-vote majority of commissioners to support a streetcar in downtown, Wynwood, the Design District and Allapattah — all on the opposite side of the river from the stadium.

A ballpark in downtown would be closer to I-95, Metrorail, Metromover, and a proposed light-rail system on the Florida East Coast corridor that one day could shuttle fans from Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

The economics and politics might be tougher, but an accessible, pedestrian-friendly downtown stadium makes the most sense.

-Larry Lebowitz

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on August 27, 2007
in Flickr, Miami, Photography and Skyline
. 2 Comments

Via Mariuspopvici’s Flickr…

Lessons From Portland

Published
by
Ryan Sharp
on August 23, 2007
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment
Whenever you are involved in planning, one of the best tools you can use is benchmarking. By benchmarking, I mean examining how other planners and cities have implemented successful policies that align with your own local goals (hopefully a sustainable city). After studying enough places, it makes it possible to conclude what the “best practice” in your field is, which should translate to better success with local implementation. Of course, this concept has been entirely foreign to Miami for decades.
So how does this relate to urban planning in Miami? Well, believe it or not, some American cities that used to rival Miami with auto dependence and unsustainability have been able to make critical transformations with the help of good planning and an educated, caring public demanding more livable streets. Probably the poster-child for such transformation is Portland, Oregon. Through transit-oriented policy (see: streetcars and light rail) and willingness to accept more intensive land-uses (see: higher density and mixed-use neighborhoods), Portland has gone from a typical auto-centric American city to one that is now defined by livable streets, transit, and quality public spaces.

Miami certainly has a lot it can learn from Portland, and there’s absolutely no reason we cannot make similar transformations. So, because it’s never a good idea to completely rely on planners and officials to make the right decisions, and citizen advocacy is easily as important a part of the equation for change as planning, I highly recommend watching this video on Portland. I think it does a wonderful job showing how the city has made their transformation. If nothing else, it gives us some idea of what is possible when we demand change. It’s very encouraging, so check it out when you have a few minutes.

Thanks to Streetsblog for the video!

A Letter from Donna Shalala

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on August 22, 2007
in Dolphin Stadium, Dona Shalala, Hurricanes, Letter, Orange Bowl and UM
. 3 Comments
August 21, 2007

To the University Community:

We have an extraordinary history and tradition at the Orange Bowl: The players running through the smoke tunnel. “Touchdown Tommy” and his cannon. The Ring of Honor. An incredible winning streak of 58 consecutive home wins. And three of our five national championships were won on that field. I love the Orange Bowl—we all do!

As many of you are aware, the University has been working closely with the City of Miami to assess the feasibility of making much-needed renovations to the Orange Bowl. It has long been our goal to have a first-class football stadium.

The City of Miami has been a wonderful partner with us at the Orange Bowl for many years, and they understand how hard we have wrestled with a very difficult decision. Mayor Manny Diaz has been heroic in his efforts to meet our future needs. After much thought, analysis, and discussions with many, many of our trustees, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and fans, we have concluded that we must move our football games to a better facility. The more than $200 million in renovations that the city has proposed would only provide basic and mostly infrastructural upgrades. A part of those funds are not in hand and may or may not be determined until after the proposed construction would be well underway. Overall, the renovations clearly would not address the long-term needs of our athletes and our fans.

The Orange Bowl chapter of our history—in which we can all take great pride—will never close, and we are confident that the legacy of Miami Hurricanes football will live on and thrive as we move to a new location. After an assessment of all options available to us, we have decided reluctantly and painfully to move to Dolphin Stadium for the 2008 season.

Dolphin Stadium is one of the premier football stadiums in the country. At our new home, our student-athletes will have the opportunity to compete in a first-class facility that plays host to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, the FedEx Orange Bowl, BCS National Championship Game, and that has been the site of recent and upcoming Super Bowls.

Our fans will experience outstanding amenities including one of the world’s largest plasma TV displays, high-definition video boards, club seating and suites, chairbacks on every stadium seat, approximately 14,000 parking spaces, and a large variety of concessions and restaurants.

The end zones will be redone so that our shared home will reflect both Miami teams’ pride. The Dolphins are actively pursuing a corporate sponsor so that by 2010 the stadium will have a neutral name.

I want to assure all members of our University community—students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees, donors, friends—and the tens of thousands of fans who regularly cheer us on, that we looked exhaustively into every aspect of the choices in front of us, and that your needs figured prominently in our final decision. The quality of your experience at our games is of the utmost importance to us.

As always, we would like to hear from you. Please contact us at an e-mail address we have established for your comments: umfootball@miami.edu. If you have any further questions, please go to the Official Athletic Department Web site at hurricanesports.com or call 1-800-GO-CANES.

Thank you, and Go ’Canes!

Sincerely,
Donna E. Shalala

Loss of the Hurricanes - Not Just Disengaging a City, but a Community

Published
by
Ryan Sharp
on August 22, 2007
in Dolphins Stadium, Hurricanes, Little Havana, Miami and University of Miami
. 2 Comments
While Gabe did a great job lamenting the loss of the Hurricanes from Miami, I felt compelled to add a few things, being dually a Canes fan and a fan of the City.

Let me start by saying, while I suppose it’s justifiable from the perspective of Shalala and the University, as they will be making more money, playing in a nicer, more modern stadium, and perhaps even helping recruiting, the impact of leaving the OB is tough to quantify in numbers.

For one, Gabe mentioned how the OB is special, almost because of its grit. It was miserable for players and fans because it was old, hostile, and fundamentally “Miami”.

Also, for so long football Saturday (and don’t forget Sunday) was known for the marriage between this part of Little Havana and the OB. The tradition we all speak of is certainly not confined to the smoke-filled tunnel entrance or the wide-right mystique. It’s also just as much the tastes, sounds and smells of the neighborhood that made it special.

Unlike going to some far-flung suburban stadium in “could-be-anywhere-ville”, when fans and opposing teams came to the Orange Bowl they were entering the heart and soul of inner-city Miami. There was no mistaking where you were - Latin styled sidewalk BBQ, Spanish signage and street names, block after block of pre-game parties - you were in Miami. It was this authentic local neighborhood character that inspired so much tradition, which will now be lost.

Now, the Canes are being outsourced to the banal suburbs, where everything that made playing at the OB so unique, so quintessentially Miami, will now be relegated to traffic jams, $20 parking fees, and sipping beers in a giant sea of asphalt. If it wasn’t for signs, you could cut and paste the Dolphins Stadium area and be just about anywhere where there’s expressways, uber parking lots, and cookie-cutter stadiums.

Alas, talk about an identity crisis. The University of Miami Hurricanes, based in Coral Gables, whom play football in Miami Gardens. Is this not emblematic of Miami’s hyper-fragmentation?

Can we call them the Miami-Dade Hurricanes, now?

Forecast: Hurricanes Downgraded to Tropical Waves

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on August 22, 2007
in Disaster, Dolphin Stadium, History, MLB, Marlins, Orange Bowl, Stadium, UM and Urban Planning
. 9 Comments

It’s a sad day for Miami; a loss for our sports history, the loss of a national icon, it’s the end of an era. The University of Miami has committed a grave miscalculation today. Giving up the Orange Bowl for the sake of what will ultimately become a pittance in increased revenue will prove catastrophic. You don’t trade in years of tradition on a whim (they don’t come back so quickly either.) I’m not a hurricane, in fact far from it, I’ll be there at Joe Robbie (I’m going back to its original name seeing that Huizenga announced an upcoming name change again) in 2008 cheering on my beloved Gators. But if there is one piece of advice I could extend to the University of Miami, it’s that you should never underestimate the power of tradition and the home-field advantage of a raucous crowd. The stands of Joe Robbie will barely quiver. The 76,500 seat stadium will appear cavernous and the once venerable Miami Hurricane Venue will no longer serve as a source of agony for opponents.

What’s more, with the loss of the UM presence at the Orange Bowl, the venue will no longer serve a useful purpose since its inception in 1936. Already discussions are underway to tear down the legendary stadium and construct a new home for the Marlins. I cannot begin to explain how terrible of a location this would be for such a demanding scheduled sport such as baseball. Conveniently isolated from urban transit and existing downtown parking facilities, the new ballpark would be secluded in a predominantly residential neighborhood. Close enough to entice downtown workers to want to attend games, but just far enough from preventing them from walking down the street or hopping on the Metromover. Plans aren’t even on the drawing boards to bring reliable transit into the area anytime soon and I can imagine any further Miami Streetcar plans would be sabotaged. We’ll be left with a massive new stadium for the Marlins, accessible only by vehicle and surrounded by suburban like structures. Continuing our legacy of urban planning disasters built by politicians with no legitimate foresight…