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Japanese have a saying: the things that you do every day you should do well. So they eat, sleep and bathe well. Americans say: eat, drink, and be merry. Tank and the Bangas say: smoke, Netflix, chill. Showing great respect for cultural philosophy makes the world go around.
Everybody is different. Tourists go to New York to enjoy Broadway plays. People visit LA to see TV studios. Everybody goes to Orlando to visit Disney. Everyone travels to Miami to see South Beach. But for those of us who live here. What about us?
We eat, we drink, we bike, we beach, we pickleball. We film festival, seafood festival, salsa festival, reggae festival, and Ultra festival. We go to concerts, plays, museums, stadiums, and arenas. We traffic on the way to work. We cortadito at our ventanita. Is anything missing?
Miami needs more experimental outdoor spaces for the arts, for plays, for dancing, for barbecuing and for meeting up. Of course, we do have some parks and a lengthy stretch of public property on Miami Beach. But according to the Trust for Public Land, Miami ranks 36th in park excellence. Though we have South Pointe Park and Matheson Hammock to be proud of, and there might be some hope for the Underline directly beside car strangled US1, most local parks are just ballfields and walking paths. Like, whatever happened to the Ludlum Trail?
But more than parks – we need public spaces, or at least spaces where the public can do things, theater can perform, and citizens can congregate without going broke. Lifetime in the Falls turned Bloomingdale’s into an amazing space, albeit primarily for rich, beautiful, muscular sexy types and those who hope to be rich, beautiful muscular sexy types. Why can’t our villages create better public spaces? Our low taxes may give us financial benefit, but few public spaces make us lonely and isolated.
Why can’t South Miami figure out something creative and aesthetic with Sunset Place beyond the charette like the Gables accomplished with Giralda? Instead of solely allowing developers to develop and restaurant groups to do their thing, why not incorporate some private public partnership into public space. Must 100 percent of what cities do be related to profit? Who is in charge?
I love Miami, but Miami needs to do a better job with this. We have beautiful outdoor potential. We have an abundant waterfront. We have spaces. But when a city loses treasures like the Wynwood Yard, the Wharf, Scotty’s Landing and buildings like the Herald, then allows these spaces solely to be developed commercially, it isn’t right. Miami – we have a problem.
Please encourage artists, musicians, and dancers to use more of our existing space without creating events. Use our squares, circles, lobbies, warehouses for some public good instead of just building. Developers, can’t you do something for your city? We have no Central Park. We have no Zocalo. Why not more public things happening on garage rooftops.
Five years ago I saw Jay Z and Beyoncé outdoors at Hard Rock Stadium on August 3. There were thunderstorms. Nevertheless, thousands of people showed up. I attend the Chef Showdown on the Beach, and though the weather is often bad, the crowds are always good. Why? Because we love to be outside. Winter will come and we need more public love.
Come on! Public is not a dirty word.
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