look at the videos to see the existing and projected housing and job locations.

A centralized city like New York City has commercial and [formerly] industrial zones adjacent to residential zones (many of these residential/commercial mixed sites). The suburbs are mainly bedroom communities with barely no destination points to lure most city traffic.

This creates routes, in and out of town, that are established and reliable for permanent placement of bus/rail lines. And it makes the dense core of the city open to mass transit treatments of any configuration. Which means you can place a rail or bus line virtually anywhere and it will get good ridership numbers.

Miami-Dade is not doing this. County government pushes the outer boundaries then can’t figure out where rail and bus lines should go. It proposes a north corridor or a south Dade rail line but doesn’t have the density in those areas to support the line. The government then ignores its urban core where there density (even if it’s currently based on weekday business activities).

Most people believe the urban core design to be obsolete. However, businesses continue to thrive downtown for 100 years. Proof that the traditional city layout is the only one that works consistently.

Ahh okay, I see what you mean now. I thought when you said decentralization, you meant a bunch of business all over the place with out any form of centralization. I agree with you and I am not implying that Miami can’t have a FEW downtown areas with centralized business areas. However, this isn’t the case now but something that most be done as I think you said in your first post.

Have you seen ANY seen of business district centralization in Miami? I don’t mean just words but policies to really make this happen?

I am not sure what you meant by decentralized, could you clarify? The city is still very centralized as far as its business districts go. Now, they did lose some corporations from Manhattan post 9/11 but that was because of the economic impact of that 9/11 tragedy. The biggest recepient of that mess was Charlotte N.C. Check out PLANYC if you have time. The smart growth in that city is unparalleled in the U.S. and it must be if mass transit is to be effective. I mean, the way S. FLorida is sprawled out, I dont really see a sensible solution to its current mass transit problems. You are going to have tons of inefficiencies and tons of half empty buses. The population trends need to change and clear and easily accisble business districts need to be developed. Not just in downtown Miami but even say a downtown coral gables or where ever else would be prudent.

I could be wrong but I don’t think all of the present neighborhoods in South Florida are going to make it back from this economic downturn (which I predict will take a decade to over come). So I think, who ever comes to power needs to be strong willed and forward thinking enough to make the tough decisions. By this I mean they need to get corporations out of sprawlsville and into the urban core.

As for Guliana, take it from someone born and breed in that city. People hated that so and so until 9/11. It was after 9/11 when he was some how transformed into a hero. Before then that, this guys policies were some of the most hated. He really crapped on the little guy in that city. One example is how he attacked and dismantled many community gardens. Another instance is when he was pushing the policy departments to hand out citations for the craziest and antiquated crap. One pregnant lady was given a ticket because she was taking up to much space on a public bench. Another guy was given a citation for sitting on a milk crate in front of HIS bodega. I remember this cop took out a ad in the NYTs that said “don’t blame us for these crack down, blame city hall” lol. This one artist painted caricature of rudy giuliani as Hitler. He did pave the way though. He came in and cleaned up a lot of crime and Bloomberg came in and made the city a bit better financially. I also appreciate his honesty (bloomberg). A year ago he came out and said NYC was facing one of the toughest periods it has faced since the 70s because of the economy.

Either way, Miami needs a new approach. From what I have seen, the current mayor has done a lot but Miami needs a rudy giuliani to come in, clean up corruption, then they need a business man to guide that city toward prosperity.

Again sorry for going a bit off topic. But this is one of my favorite subjects. Appreciate the discourse!

Here is my thing though. I have been researching Downtown Development Authority. It seems they have done f. all to get large corporations to relocate to downtown Miami. To me, it seems like they are building tons and tons of condos and retail down there and not luring large corporations. I guess me being a New Yorker, I expect cities to do better than this.

In my discussions with my wife about moving back to NYC or remaining in S. Florida, I tell her the outlook for Miami is MUCH brighter than the rest of S. Florida. I mean, they already have a skeleton of a mass transit system i.e. metromover, metro rail and tri rail. Expanding the train system INTELLIGENTLY is doable. Until I started doing research, I didn’t realize the large number of corporations they have in Miami. They also have great waters and ports for which they could easily develop a first class fishing industry. Why not throw a Pike’s Market (ala Seattle) sort of place in Downtown Miami?

Tons of promise but then I look at whats being done, and its a joke. They are not giving people the slightest reason to want to live close to the urban cores. Heck, if they invested all their money in building first class mass transit from Miami shores down to Coral Gables (all east of I-95) AND centered their corporations in the downtown areas, you don’t think the masses would get the picture? They would definitely move in closer, their wallets would tell them too.

To me, Miami’s problem is. The powers that be want it to be some top notch play ground for the rich and famous and tourist. Lets throw up TONS of condos, bring in little to no jobs except those that service the wealthy. Problem with that is, you still need to have people who work and create goods and generate sizable incomes. Not these low wage service jobs either, I mean highly skilled jobs. But then you have the problem of to many unskilled low wage workers in Miami. You have to diversify your economy. This way, during downturns you can weather storms better. Reason being is your economy is diverse enough to have industries that will not be affected as much. Heck, they should even be promoting local farming (peak oil anyone).

I can go on for days about what Miami should be doing!

I think the chicken/egg issue boils down to voting out commissioners and mayors who do not have the head for business. Man, when Bloomberg finishes up in NYC people should beg him to move here and run lol.

Sorry for veering off topic a bit, its the economist in me. It really disgust me to see such untapped potential go to waste because of corruption and ignorance.