SAND IN OUR SHOES

SAND IN OUR SHOES

We first visited Miami in 1997.

The thermometer read 4 degrees Fahrenheit when we lifelong Ohioans boarded a flight to MIA to visit South Beach, the Magic City and take a brief Caribbean Cruise before flying back home to the frozen water pipes and gray skies that awaited back in the Buckeye State.

Like so many Ohioans before -- the Knight, Firestone, Brickell, Cox, Tuttle families -- the sea, sun and sand proved too enchanting to resist.

By 2000 (we moved in on the fabled Bush-Gore election day), we were renting in South Florida and figuring out how to recreate ourselves among the diversity and opportunity of 21st century Miami.

An award winning veteran reporter with the Columbus Dispatch newspaper in Ohio, I turned on the charm and soon was providing writing and editing services to a university, a famous planning firm and a former mayor.

My wife Heidi, an Ohio State Law School graduate and longtime lawyer for the State of Ohio, found her dream job with Miami Beach as the City's first full-time Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinator. Heidi has used a wheelchair for mobility since age 9.

In 2002, I shuttered his boutique communications business when a friendship with Miami City Commission Chairman Joe Sanchez turned into a nearly 8-year stint as Sanchez's Senior Policy Advisor.

We bought a 1922 house in the heart of Little Havana. We live just blocks from Calle Ocho and have been active in the preservation of William Jennings Bryan Park.

Three years ago, Heidi was honored to accept an executive position with Miami-Dade County as the Director of the Office of Americans with Disabilities Act Coordination.

Can you imagine a couple of Midwesterners in their late 30s up and moving to Miami with no jobs, no insurance and no connections – then within a few years cumulatively holding prime positions with Miami Beach, Miami and Miami-Dade County? -- I still marvel to myself

"What could be more gratifying than giving up everything you know and adopting a hometown that rewards you with once-in-a-lifetime opportunities in public service?" asks Heidi.

Today is my birthday.

I have re-opened Steve Wright Communications, Inc. and have concentrated my practice on providing editorial services for planning, architecture and engineering firms as well as transit and other public agencies.

I continue to write about Smart Growth, New Urbanism and Sustainability for several of the leading magazines, newspapers and websites in the U.S.

I love helping clients tell their story about building better cities for a changing America.