UM’S DORM TOWERS

TARANTULA BRIDGE

One can only guess why the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is imposing upon our city — which has one of the most beautiful skylines in America — one of the ugliest bridges ever. How could this ridiculous-looking structure become a finalist, much less the winner, in the design competition?

We know FDOT is capable of building beautiful roadways — for example, the Tampa Bay Bridge and the replacement for the Seven Mile Bridge in the Keys. There are many other examples throughout the state.

How could it approve a design that looks like an enormous spider? Admittedly, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I believe that this design will bring far more ridicule than glory to our increasingly lovely city.

– Michael Peskoe, Miami Beach

Re the Jan. 13 story “UM’s four dorm towers, landmarks students love to hate, will come down to create residential ‘village.’”

As a 1973 University of Miami graduate, I spent my years there as a seventh-floor resident of what we referred to as “960” (one of the dorm towers), an air-conditioned place to sleep with spotless bathrooms that were frequently cleaned by janitors. I figured that the dorms with private/shared bathrooms were laden with germs and less desirable because they were cleaned biweekly.

I did almost all of my