While I very
much appreciate greater Miami’s two ports – the sea one and air one – I wonder
if they have doomed us.
For two
decades, I have lived in South Florida, I have heard city, county, state and
federal elected officials talk about diversifying our economy.
Yes it seems
like we are reliant, to a terrifyingly high percentage, on what comes in via
plane (tourists and cargo) and by ship (cargo and tourists.)
No matter
who much we talk about creating better paying jobs, almost everyone works in a
low-paying job serving tourists or moving products. What there is of a middle
class works in designing, building, maintaining, etc. the roads, buildings,
houses, stores that support the service class.
Clearly,
about 20% of Miami workers have already lost their jobs and maybe up to half
(because our economy is so dependent on the jobs that disappear the most
quickly when crisis comes) will be hit with either layoffs, reduced hours,
reduced pay, reduced benefits, or paying higher share of their healthcare.
That is terrifying
but what scares me even more is the way I’ve seen the Redland and other agricultural
areas reduced for development. Real estate development is just about as flimsy
as depending on waiter/barkeep/maid/line cook/pool attendant to fuel your
economy.
And once a
chunk of the Redland is paved over for houses, apartments, strip malls – it is
gone forever.
Our leaders
have even allowed industrial park/warehouse distribution to be developed within
the area supposedly reserved forever as territory outside the urban development
boundary.
I’m no
farmer, but I imagine lots of things don’t grow as well in the subtropics as
the heartland, but I bet we could create five or tenfold more produce if we
hadn’t allowed sprawl in Homestead proper and the Redland in general.
(PART 2 -- CONCLUSION -- TOMORROW)
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