Archive for the 'Miami' Category

Miami 21 Update

Published
by
Tony Garcia
on March 17, 2008
in DPZ, Miami, Miami 21 and Zoning
. 0 Comments


There’s movement on the horizon for Miami 21. You’ll remember that the last we heard about Miami 21 (way back in June of last summer) the City Commissioners sent DPZ back to do more work refining the code, & holding more public meetings. Among some of the criticisms the Commissioners had was that the plan was divided into quadrants (a request they made when DPZ first started the project) and would required concurrent zoning codes, and that there were several parts of the code that were not very clear (ironically the parts that came from the existing code regarding non-conformities).

DPZ spent the remainder of last summer holding 14 public meetings in the remaining 3 quadrants to educate the rest of the city on what Miami 21 is and what it is trying to accomplish (as if they didn’t already know). They reissued a new and improved code (addressing some of the concerns regarding height and development rights) and revamped the Miami 21 website. The City of Miami seemed to be ready once again to move forward with with the code by scheduling an April 8th special City Commission meeting. Unfortunately, that meeting was postponed so that DPZ could finish the atlas of the entire city.

The new website is helpful and will hopefully do away with the notion that the city and DPZ have tried coming up with this code in a smoke filled room with no public involvement. They have published several previous versions of the code as requested in the Question/Answer section of the website, and have provided readers with a thorough education on the idea of the form-based code. I would urge any interested party (developer, lawyer and citizen alike) to read through the code to really understand it. It is user friendly and streamlines the zoning process.

We urge the City Commission to recognize Miami 21 as the visionary code that it is, and hope that the work can move forward as quickly as possible so that new development can start to shape the city in a positive way.

Today’s Bike Proclamation

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on March 13, 2008
in Emerge Miami, Manny Diaz, Miami, Miami Commission and Proclamation
. 1 Comment
Sorry about the slow activity this week. We’ll be back to normal soon. Here is a scanned copy of the proclamation issued by Mayor Manuel Diaz today commemorating Miami’s Bike Month. I captured the whole presentation on video but am having trouble uploading it. I’ll have it up as soon as soon as possible.

Come Show Support for Cycling in Miami

Published
by
Ryan Sharp
on March 12, 2008
in Bikes, Cycling, Manny Diaz, Mayor Diaz, Miami and biking
. 2 Comments
Listen up livable streets advocates: this Thursday morning at Miami City Hall there will be a great opportunity to show support for cycling improvements in the City of Miami. At 9:00am, Mayor Diaz will be presenting a bike month proclamation, and the more support we show him the more likely our advocacy will be well received. This could be the genesis of a something much bigger, as we’ve been advocating for improved cycling conditions in Miami for quite some time. Now that we finally have the Mayor’s attention, let’s show him that we are very serious about making Miami a much more bike-friendly city.
If you are not familiar with the location of City Hall, click here for a map.

Are Pedestrians Invisible in the Urban Planning Process?

Published
by
Guillermo Gomez
on March 4, 2008
in Copenhagen, Miami, Pedestrians and Walking
. 0 Comments
Originally uploaded by Ping
This is the title of a paper, written by Lars Gemzoe, a Danish professor of urban design at the School of Architecture in Copenhagen. In this paper, he uses Copenhagen as a case study to illustrate the changes that helped change the Danish Capital from an autocentric city to a pedestrian friendly one.

During the first half of the twentieth century, Copenhagen didn’t have many outdoor gathering places. In the 1960’s Stroget, the main street of the inner city, was converted to a pedestrian only street. In the following years more plazas and spaces were also converted to pedestrian use only, and people started doing more than walking. They were strolling, sitting down to enjoy the weather, watching street performers, people watching, etc. It had become a destination — a high quality urban space.

The changes in the city came through a slow process, reducing parking 2-3% year, taking away traffic space and dedicating it to urban spaces, and implementing bike lanes, among other improvements.

Miami has its own success story, Lincoln Road. But maybe things shouldn’t stop there. Miami-Dade County could be more pedestrian friendly. We have the weather and tourism as an advantage. Up and coming areas like Downtown and the Design District would be ideal areas for pedestrianised areas.

Find the full paper here.

Downtown Power Failure Mayhem

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on February 26, 2008
in Downtown, FPL, Miami and Power Outage
. 0 Comments

All part of today’s massive power failure…Image Via Miami Herald…

Enrique Penalosa Shares His Wisdom

Published
by
Ryan Sharp
on February 22, 2008
in Bogota, Congestion Pricing, Enrique Penalosa, Miami, New York City, Streetsblog and livable cities
. 2 Comments

Former Mayor of Bogota, Colombia, Enrique Penalosa, is internationally renowned for his progressive transit and bike-oriented urban planning policies that have helped transform the Colombia capital from a congested car-centric nightmare to a much more livable city in less than decade. Earlier this week, Penalosa came to New York to speak in support of Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing proposal that holds the power to make NYC an even more livable city by forcing cars to pay $8 to enter Manhattan anywhere below 60th St from 6am-6pm. Thanks to our friends over at Streetsblog, who created this video, we can see that from Copenhagen to New York, Vancouver to Bogota, the livable cities movement is in full gear.

To see the video above in its entirety, click here.

To see the video of Penalosa’s recent NYC speech supporting congestion pricing and transport equity, click here.

Miami 21 to be Unveiled for Whole City

Published
by
Ryan Sharp
on February 21, 2008
in DPZ, Miami, Miami 21 and Zoning
. 2 Comments
After more than two years of work, it seemed that Miami 21 was finally set to arrive late last year. However, some officials and many residents were upset and confused by the way Miami 21 was to be implemented, one quadrant at a time instead of the entire city at once. According to the Miami Today News, though, Miami 21 authors Duany Plater-Zyberk (DPZ) have now decided to unveil the zoning code for the entire city at once.

According to the Miami Today News piece,

City Manager Pete Hernandez told commissioners last week in their first public update since the summer that city staff and the consultants “have had an extensive number of meetings” and will be ready to post the latest draft of the code on the Web early next month.
This is good news overall, as I believe this makes Miami 21 even stronger while appeasing residents and officials concerned over the original quadrant-by-quadrant implementation plan. The downside? It looks like we’ll have to wait at least another eight months before the new code can be implemented. This will make Miami 21 a three-year process, but if that’s what it takes to get it implemented, and done right, then so be it; this is too critical for the city’s future to let another eight months get us down.

Article: "As Many as 60 American Cities are in Some Stage of Streetcar Planning or Development"

Published
by
Ryan Sharp
on February 8, 2008
in Miami, Portland, Streetcars and Transit
. 6 Comments
Speaking of streetcars, this recent article makes it abundantly clear that this form of transit is again becoming very, very popular in US cities. You still don’t believe me? Check out some snippets from the article (or read the whole thing):
But they are making a comeback in several American cities, and more have plans in the wings, projects largely development-driven to revitalize sagging urban areas, and to serve a population segment, often baby boomers, choosing to move back to the cities and to simplify their lives when they do.

The streetcar Renaissance stems from planners who see them not only as people-movers but as engines of urban development dealing with, and encouraging, a gradual demographic shift back to cities by people, often older, who like the convenience, miss interaction absent in the suburbs and want to rely less on cars.

Charles Hales, senior vice president of the engineering firm HDR, which works on many streetcar projects, says as many as 60 American cities are in some stage of streetcar planning or development, “depending on how you count it.”

Portland ridership, initially projected to be 3,500 a day, now tops 9,800 and is growing at about 17 percent a year. The city is putting together about $75 million to match federal money to expand the lines from Downtown to the city’s east side, on the other side of the Willamette River.

The new lines no longer are the commuter systems they once were. They are designed to lure people back into cities, keep them there, and perk up decaying, underused and undertaxed, former industrial sites and similar areas. And it seems to be working.

Portland has seen about $2.5 billion in new construction, including 7,248 new housing units within three blocks of the line since the plan was announced in 1997.

In Little Rock, the figure is between $300 million and $400 million.

“It is not the only reason (for the construction) but most developers admit the streetcar is one of the reasons,” said Keith Jones, who helped design the system there.

“The line defines areas where things in the city are happening.” It extends to North Little Rock, which was suffering downtown decay. “It is having a higher impact there than in Little Rock, where things were happening anyway,” he said.

“We got 80 percent federal funding, something that’s virtually impossible to do now with the federal government generally limiting funding to 50 percent,” he said.

The 2.5 mile-line has carried about 400,000 passengers, beyond projections, since it opened in late 2004, and an extension is planned to the Clinton Library.

“Developers see streetcars as an indication of permanence when they make investments,” said Len Brandrup, director of transportation in Kenosha, outside Chicago. That’s not the case with buses, he said.

He said the past century has seen an “unhooking” of land-use decisions and transportation planning.

“Portland is ahead of the country in trying to rehook them,” he said, reducing auto use and parking space demands.

Myth Busted: Streetcar Infrastructure is Not Designed to Handle Hurricanes

Published
by
Ryan Sharp
on February 7, 2008
in Bay Link, HDR, Hurricanes, Miami, Miami Beach, Myths, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Streetcar and Transit
. 16 Comments
Unfortunately, there are still some opponents of the Miami Streetcar who believe (or at least are arguing) that the overhead catenary wires won’t be able to hold up under hurricane-like conditions. As a result, they claim, the whole streetcar system is volatile to destruction and costly, time-consuming repairs. Some have even gone so far as to claim that the overheard wires would be hazardous during a hurricane. Well, today I’m happy to bust these myths once and for all.
First of all, it’s important to note that unlike historic trolleys and streetcars from the early twentieth century, which had complex webs of catenary wire strung above the streets, modern streetcars only need one, yes one, catenary wire on each street. With that in mind, there are much fewer wires to even consider when addressing hurricane compatibility concerns.

Without further ado, here’s a quote from the Miami Beach-sanctioned report for Bay Link, created by urban planning/engineering consultant firm Henningson, Durham, and Richardson (HDR):

“In places with LRTs and Streetcars that experience hurricanes (e.g., Houston, Tampa, San Juan), there has not been an incident where live catenary wires have injured anyone during high winds. The protocol is to turn the power systems off when winds reach sustained gusts of 50 mph, and the poles holding the wires in place withstand hurricane winds of 110 mph, nearly twice the design standard for most light poles, telephone poles, street poles, etc.”

Keep in mind that HDR was hired by Miami Beach so the city could basically get a second opinion about the Bay Link corridor, since a select group of officials were so upset that world-renowned firm Parsons Brinckerhoff advocated an LRT option in the original Bay Link corridor report.

Now let’s take it a step further; here is a quote from the Miami Streetcar website FAQ section concerning fears about hurricanes and overhead catenary wires:

The streetcar infrastructure is subject to the hurricane code requirements required for roadway utilities. In the event of a hurricane that might impact the overhead catenary system, damaged cables will need to be replaced or repaired. Repairs of isolated breaks in the wire can be made within a couple of hours by splicing the two broken ends. Replacement of damaged hardware or wire can take longer depending on the extent of the damage. The City’s future Operations & Maintenance contractor’s compensation will be linked to streetcar system performance requirements intended to minimize and avoid service outages.


So there you have it. All streetcar infrastructure, including overheard wires, are required by law to be built to hurricane code for roadway utilities. If the streetcar wires go down, it’s a good bet that telephone wires did as well. Moreover, most often repairs can be easily fixed within a few hours. Sure, one could make the case that a category 5 hurricane could cause much more severe damage to the overhead wires, but a storm of that magnitude will also wipe out your home. The threat of catastrophic natural disasters is always present, but instead of succumbing to fear and a fortress-like mentality, we should design our infrastructure to be able to sustain mother nature’s blow and bounce back fast. The threat of an imminent major earthquake has certainly not stopped San Francisco from using trolleys.

Lastly, I want you to think about one more thing. Can you remember the last time that a hurricane squarely hit Miami, and didn’t wreak havoc on auto-oriented infrastructure (i.e. traffic lights, stop signs, road signs, etc - the critical and basic elements to a functional roadway system)?

Photos: HDR

Miami New Times: Miami Should be World-Class Cycling City

Published
by
Ryan Sharp
on February 6, 2008
in Cycling, Miami, Miami Beach, Miami New Times, bike lanes and biking
. 6 Comments
Photo: Jacek Gancarz, Miami New Times

A recent article by Isaiah Thompson of the Miami New Times serves as yet another source showcasing cycling and why it should be a major mode of transportation in Miami-Dade. Below I’ve pasted some key points from the article, but if you have the time the entire piece is worth the read.

At first glance, there is nary a place on God’s green Earth better suited to biking than Miami. It’s utterly flat, with weather that lets a cyclist pedal year-round without donning so much as a scarf in January. Its streets are wide and, for the most part, arranged in a tidy, easily navigable grid.

Meanwhile, as Miami totters in place, more cities are looking to bicycles as an answer to everything from traffic congestion and air quality to fitness and green transportation. Paris recently unveiled the most ambitious bike-sharing plan in history, making more than 10,000 bikes available to borrow citywide for anyone with a credit card. American towns like Portland, Denver, San Francisco, and, closer to home, Gainesville, have transformed themselves in a few short years into some of the most bike-friendly places on the planet. New York, already boasting some 200 miles of bike lanes, plans to double that number in the next two years; Chicago proposes that by 2015, every one of its three million residents will live within half a mile of a bike lane.

Despite Miami Mayor Manny Diaz’s grandiose calls for the greening of Miami, the city possesses not a single finished bike lane; the only one under construction, on South Miami Avenue, is less than a mile long. And the county’s plan, adopted in 2001, states no specific targets whatsoever.

“We’re so far behind and in the dark with bikes it’s absurd,” says Chris Marshall, who owns the Broken Spoke bicycle shop at 10451 NW Seventh Ave. Marshall spent years campaigning for bike lanes and “greenways” to connect the beaches to the mainland, before finally throwing in the towel. “I’d say we’re stuck in the Sixties, but it’s worse than the Sixties,” Marshall says bitterly. “In the Sixties you could still get around by bike.”

A county map produced in 2001 grades every major Miami-Dade roadway based on traffic speeds and shoulder widths. Streets that receive an A for bikeability are drawn in black; those that get a D or worse are in red. The map is blanketed in red. From the largest six-lane monstrosities running like swollen rivers through the county, to the crowded, narrow streets of downtown, virtually every roadway is deemed unsuitable for biking. Of the 1.3 percent labeled A streets, the closest one to downtown is more than six miles west, a small forgotten residential byway that dead-ends at the Palmetto Expressway.

In Miami-Dade’s 2001 Bicycle Facilities Plan, 12 projects are deemed “Priority I” — read: “remotely possible.” In the seven years since the plan was drafted, only two of those 12 have been implemented: the first half of the Venetian Causeway and the second half of the Venetian Causeway.

“It’s a question of commitment,” concedes BPAC Chairman Theodore Silver, who presides over meetings with the dry, mechanical patience of a man crossing a vast desert. “And it’s difficult to get governments to commit to a minority that’s not very popular.” BPAC’s monthly minutes read like the drafting of surrender papers. During a presentation on an upcoming resurfacing of Flagler Street, the group asked a Florida Department of Transportation engineer if a three-foot-wide bike lane might be installed along the massive three-lane one-way road. The answer, which lasted more than an hour, was: probably not.

Ricardo Ochoa, who owns the Cuba Bike Shop at 2930 NW Seventh Ave., arrived two decades ago from Colombia. He worked for most of that time as an accountant before taking over the shop five years ago. Working with bikes, he says, showed him a different America.

Ochoa’s theory is that cars have isolated Americans from each other, especially in Miami. “Here people drive all the time, and it makes them lonely,” he says. “It’s like a cloud of loneliness hanging over the city.

I think Ochoa’s theory is quite accurate. It’s just incredible how much more your neighborhood and city feels like home when you’re experiencing the sights, sounds, smells, and sensations on foot or bike - not isolated by a couple thousand pounds of glass and steel.

Bicentennial Kickball

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on February 1, 2008
in Bicentennial Park, Downtown, Gordon Biersch, Homeless, Kickball, Miami, Paul George, Revitalization, Revival and WAKA League
. 1 Comment
Last night I was in downtown Miami’s Bicentennial Park playing for the first time in the WAKA Kickball League with a group of friends. The park was packed around the four makeshift fields as over 16 teams played. The event is sponsored by Gordon Biersch in Brickell where most teams returned to after for discounted drinks and food.

Downtown was already abuzz due to the Hanah Montana concert next door, but to me it was simply amazing to see this neglected park come full of life after hours. Whatever becomes of Bicentennial/Museum Park, we must ensure that space is left for after hour activities. In addition to our crowds of spectators, we also had a few local homeless folks watching, laughing, and having a great time. I couldn’t agree more with Paul George; Miami’s “Front Porch” is ready for a revival…

New Name for Overtown Station

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on January 31, 2008
in Circulator, Lyric Theatre, Metrorail, Miami, Miami Arena, Overtown, Station and bus
. 0 Comments

Vacancies, originally uploaded by ImageMD.

The urban metrorail station in Miami’s Overtown district has been renamed the Historic Overtown/Lyric Theatre station. The recent sale of the Miami arena and the revival of the Overtown historic district prompted the name change. The station name change will be officially dedicated today (1/31) along with the inaugural bus service of the Overtown (211) circulator…

Via CM…

Auckland, City of Cars, Pt.2

Published
by
Ryan Sharp
on January 29, 2008
in Auckland, Cars, Miami, Sustainability, Transit and peter newman
. 2 Comments

This is part II of a three-part series on Auckland, New Zeland’s struggle toward a more sustainable transport system. There are a lot of parallels with Miami, so it’s definitely worth taking a look.

In case you missed part I (or if you loved it so much you want to see it again), click here.

What Empty Condos?

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on January 29, 2008
in Blogger, Blogs, Blogsphere, Condos, EWM, Lawsuit, Miami, Opera Tower, Real Estate and Tibor Hollo
. 5 Comments
Apparently blogging your opinion on a local condo development could get you fired, sued, or both! Lucas Lechuga, of Miami Condo Investments, was the lucky recipient of a $25 million defamation lawsuit from Miami developer Tibor Hollo for writing:
”My opinion is that this development is doomed…”

And:

“This developer went bankrupt in the 1980’s and I think we’ll see a repeat performance within the next 6 months. What do I know, though? I’m no real estate oracle.”

Apparently Hollo didn’t go bankrupt in the 80’s and wants to set the record straight. Meanwhile EWM’s Ron Shuffield felt the blog illustrated a negative connotation and plans to review with their 800+ Realtor staff the do’s and don’t of blogging…

I believe this whole thing has been blown disproportionately out of the water, starting with an exorbitant $25 million for defamation. How can anyone quantify that much in damages to begin with? Luckily for Lechuga, the lawsuit likely won’t hold much water in court according to herald interviews with local attorneys. From what I can tell, this has the appearance of a glorified publicity stunt amid a crumbling housing market. Who am I to say anyway? Only time will tell…

Monday News

Published
by
Ryan Sharp
on January 27, 2008
in Climate Change, Miami, News, Parks, Transit, WiFi and bike lanes
. 0 Comments
  • Free Miami Beach WiFi to Launch by Spring…sort of (Miami Sunpost)
  • Miami Beach Planning Commission Makes Big Changes (Miami Sunpost)