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Opinion piece by Michael Miller, Editor
We get it, Palmetto Bay Mayor Karen Cunningham is opposed to the bridge on SW 87th Avenue.
Mayor Cunningham is supposed to represent her constituents and she might think she is doing just that by speaking out against it.
Some other elected officials have some thoughts about that too.
Cutler Bay Mayor Tim Meerbott believes that having a bridge on 87th Avenue is a good idea, since it would help relieve traffic congestion.
And Miami-Dade County Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins, who represents the area and lots more, wants to do the right thing with this bridge, which is on a county road, in Palmetto Bay.
When people disagree, especially public officials, they are supposed to act appropriately and not get so upset that they pick up their toys and leave.
That’s what Mayor Cunningham has done.
Here’s the back story: County Commissioner Cohen Higgins created a Community Connectivity Committee in an attempt to assess community opinions and gather a diverse range of opinions about building a bridge on 87th Avenue. She invited Mayors Meerbott and Cunningham to appoint members to this committee, which could invite experts to present research and testimony, as well express their opinions and put together a report and present it to the Miami-Dade County Commission.
Like many things in the Zoom era, the meetings were far from perfect and that’s just fine, but at some point in this process, Mayor Cunningham didn’t like the direction that the committee was headed and summarily dismissed the committee member she herself appointed.
Yup. Done deal. You can go home.
The thing is, Meerbott’s appointees stayed and continued their work.
Gotta tell ya, Cunningham lost big time with this very amateurish stunt. She did a walk-out, just like little kids sometimes do when they can’t get their way. By dismissing her appointees, she denied them the opportunity to have their voices and opinions to be memorialized in the committee’s final report.
Another lost opportunity to be heard.
Meanwhile, in the worst kept secret, Mayor Cunningham continues to show her disregard for County Commissioner Higgins, who is also trying to serve the people she represents.
We recognize that Mayor Cunningham is still popular in Palmetto Bay and might use her present seat to bounce into a new one down the road. But we wonder whether she could learn a better way to deal with her very thin skin and her overreactions, instead of picking up her toys and going home.
