AS A DEFENSE AGAINST FLOODING
This
is a picture of historic Bryan Park in Miami's Shenandoah section of Little
Havana.
More
than a decade ago, my wife pretty much sacrificed two-plus years of our lives
to protect the rare 2-acre green space in the heart of a densely urban area.
An
incredibly ill-advised plan proposed to pave over all but about 5 or 10 percent
of the park to put in a tennis center.
About
100 kids who played competitive tennis would have benefited. About 10,000 --
who play dozens of improvised games on the soft, safe grass -- would have been
driven into the streets for life. Over the decades, perhaps 100,000 people
would be denied a safe, green oasis in the heart of the city.
And
the plan almost became a reality. A grant was written, contracts were put out
-- all with zero public notice. The power play for the few almost ruined
recreation and open space for the many.
More
times than I can count, my wife and I were shouted down by selfish tennis
parents who could only think of their kids and not of the community.
We
made power points and handed out flyers listing the dozens of reasons why a
park -- already half paved over for tennis courts and park equipment, needed to
preserve the roughly one acre of green space remaining.
We
got threaten phone calls, dirty looks and worse. At one meeting, my wife
and I mentioned that a recent heavy rain -- not a hurricane, not an end of the
world rain -- had flooded the area around the park.
We
had water in our garage and several neighbors suffered damage. This was before
anybody was talking about sea level rise in Miami.
I
suggested that the acre of green grass was a sponge that could save our nearly
100 year old homes. I said endless impermeable surface will result in
flooding even when it rains only an inch. Far too many house lots
featured almost zero grass, as people concreted over their back yards for patios
and paved their entire front yards for parking.
My
wife and I pleaded for a few more stormwater drains plus the preservation of
the big, grassy area that could absorb water that would otherwise flood us.
An
official obsessed with building a giant, out of scale, revenue-producing tennis
tournament center dressed us down. He said we were grasping at straws to save
our view of the park.
Well,
I'll spare the reader of all the thousands of hours we spent dedicated to
preserving parkland -- in the city that has the least amount of parkland per
person in the U.S. Suffice to say, after many setbacks and attacks on us,
the tennis center finally went away.
When
Francis Suarez became the District 4 Commissioner, brokered a deal to build a
compact community center, but to preserve the park for people and green space.
That is why, among dozens of other strong reasons, we will vote for him
for mayor this fall.
Francis
later created a covenant to protect the land. But Miami City parks are
still vulnerable. Not a year goes by when some city official, elected
person or community leader suggests paving over our precious little park space.
Fire
stations, revenue-generating events/facilities, bigger swimming pools,
community centers that could be on lots not used for parkland -- all of these
are suggested. They all might be good uses, but not at the expense of reducing
the green grass that gives life to our children and protects the homes of their
parents.
Yesterday,
it looked like about half of Miami and Miami Beach was under a foot or more of
water. Our area was very hard hit by relentless rain.
When
I came home, the nearby traffic circle at SW 24th Avenue and SW 14th street was
a lake. A pair of low-lying house lots on SW 23 Ave at SW 13 Street were
flooded up to the doors of the houses. But the rest of the area around Bryan
Park was wet, but not severely flooded.
I
looked out. Bryan Park was a lake. Just a few inches of water, but a
lake. All that water that would be displace by concrete, was percolating
through to soft, green grass and into the soil. It is how nature intended
it.
I'm
no engineer, but I'm sure some slight modification of the grading of SW 13
Street and maybe a few more French drains -- and Bryan Park would be even
better equipped to serve as an inexpensive, brilliant flood control device.
Thank
goodness my wife and I had the courage and conviction to fight for our park.
Had we not, I think half our neighbors would have suffered tens of thousands of
dollars in flood damage.
I'm
not saying this to boast. I'm sharing it as a cautionary tale. Please,
fight for your green space. Push city officials to buy more park land.
Even a single house lot-sized pocket park may be enough grassy area to
channel flood water into.
Sea
Level Rise is real. It will take billions of dollars and genius technology not
even yet developed to save greater Miami. In the meantime, let's realize that
park land is our most valuable asset. And park land that doesn't have parking
lots, concrete courts and roof lines on it -- is the parkland that's best
prepared to safely handle runoff stormwater.
