Thanks, Mayor Ferré for fighting for green spaces
Thank you to former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferré for acknowledging in his Opinion piece in the Miami Herald on Wednesday — and in his letter to the current Miami commission — both the wrong and non-green path he took as mayor. And also for speaking up for Miami’s continuing need for more parks.
I hope current Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and our city commissioners open their eyes and start to see green parks instead of just green bucks.
If Miami truly has aspirations of becoming a great city, it must have green spaces, not just on the bay, but throughout the city.
The Underline is a long term concept that has met with great public support.
Making Virginia Key Miami's “Central Park” was the long term concept of the Virginia Key Master Plan developed with public input in 2010.
Short term interests have made a travesty of that master plan.
Instead of environmentally friendly natural green and blue (the Marine Stadium Basin is part of the Virginia Key Master Plan) spaces, we have a huge cement event space for the likes of the Boat Show, the Ultra Music Festival and power boat races.
God forbid we should also have amusement rides to honky-tonk up Miami.
As Mr. Ferre so well put it, the city seems to be on a quest to “monetize beauty.”
I would change Mr. Ferré’s concluding sentence to read, “Please reject these and future requests to further intrude by again improperly monetizing our beautiful parks throughout Miami, including its river, waterfront and Virginia Key.”
– Sunny McLean, Coconut Grove