THE PEOPLE OF MIAMI DESERVE BETTER FROM FLORIDA POWER AND LIGHT

IF FPL INVESTED HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS IN "HARDENING" ITS SYSTEM FOR HURRICANES, THEN I'M THE KING OF SPAIN.

THE REALITY IS MOST OF MY NEIGHBORS ARE SUFFERING BEYOND BELIEF WITH NO POWER FOR A WEEK AND COUNTING.

PLEASE, ELECTED OFFICIALS, BACK A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT TO STRIP FPL OF ALL PROFITS FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS.

USE THAT CLAWED BACK MONEY TO FUND UNDERGROUNDING OF LINES

Forcing FPL to do better is something every elected official -- from US senate down to commissioners of the smallest village in Dace County should get involved in.  Whether you are Republican, Democrat or Independent, or in a nonpartisan seat -- you must be a leader who demands this.

FPL is a monopoly. It is regulated (should be regulated much more heavily) by the state.  The stuff it claimed about spending billions "hardening" the system against windstorms the past dozen years is clearly the biggest crock of BS ever dumped on South Florida in history.

I think there should be a class action, claw back lawsuit.  The past 5 or more years of profits should be stripped from FPL and put into undergrounding of lines.

If this abusive utility is left to its own devices, it will claim to be spending our hard earned money on improving the system.

We all know darn well that is a total crock. Their upper management is getting rich, their shareholders are making zillions and their lobbyists bill hundreds of thousands to make sure profiteering -- not people -- come first in Tallahassee and at every local city hall.

The only way I can see my loved ones and neighbors going only 48 hours (this was a tropical storm in Dade, folks, not a Cat 1, not a Cat 2, not a Cat 3) instead of a soul-klling week and counting -- is to strip hundreds of millions in profit from FPL.

Then dedicate that money to undergrounding and reliable rewiring.

Mayors Bloomberg of NYC, Norquist of Milwaukee and Diaz of Miami all dedicated them to people-based causes after being termed out of office.

I challenge Mayor Regalado, soon to leave office, to dedicate the remainder of his life to forcing FPL to make things right...or suing in the courts (since we cannot trust FPL to make things right) and using the multimillion, maybe billion dollar settlement to create an infrastructure that holds up to the heart of hurricane territory.

I challenge future Mayor Suarez to dedicate a part of his leadership of Miami to building a bipartisan front -- from our US senators to our state reps and senators to all local leaders including Mayor Gimenez -- focused on holding FPL responsible. 

Our next governor must make undergrounding of public electricity lines a top part of his/her platform.

Our elected officials, from the smallest local level up to the highest statewide and federal, should pledge to take no campaign contributions from FPL or any other monopoly energy utility.

Please feel free to share these thoughts, with credit to me, on FB, twitter, blast emails and any other online format.

PLUS URBIA DESIGN PRESENTS FRANCIS SUAREZ FOR MAYOR OF MIAMI

GREAT TO WELCOME OUR DEAR FRIEND FRANCIS SUAREZ INTO THE HOME OF JUAN MULLERAT AND MEGAN MCLAUGHLIN -- CO-HOSTED BY STEVE WRIGHT AND HEIDI JOHNSON-WRIGHT TO HELP LAUNCH HIS CAMPAIGN FOR THE ELECTION IN 2017

Francis grew up just blocks from Juan & Megan's restored historic home in Miami's incomparable Shenandoah neighborhood.

We live in a restored 1920 Spanish Mission style on historic William Jennings Bryan Park.

Francis, when he was a rookie commissioner for District 4, spearheaded a compromise that brought a properly-scaled park office, mini community center and ADA-compliant restrooms to the developed side of Bryan Park.

The park, once in peril of being completely paved over for a competition tennis center that would have destroyed the neighborhood with noise, cars and lack of green space, survives.

Francis showed his leadership by preserving the western half of the 2-acre park as green space in perpetuity.

Each day, we look out our huge front windows and see dozens upon dozens of children and families playing on the green grass that almost became a sea of concrete.

We look forward to Francis' leadership -- on parks, job creation, affordable housing, safety, crime reduction, corridor enhancements, the arts, attracting innovative companies, historic preservation and reinventing Calle8 as a livable main street with 2-way, calmed traffic -- as mayor of Miami.

WE ALL DESERVE A BETTER CALLE OCHO

MORE THAN 100 INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE AGREE THAT CALLE 8 SHOULD BE 2-WAY

MIAMI – More than 100 Little Havana stakeholders crowded into the Futurama gallery space to share a vision for a better Calle Ocho during an open forum Saturday Oct. 17. A diverse group of urban and transportation design experts worked interactively with the audience to empower the growing grass roots movement for calmed traffic and a better pedestrian experience on SW 7th and SW 8th streets.

FDOT will soon launch a $2 million study to redesign SW 8th and SW 7th streets, between SW 27th and Brickell avenues as well as their interchange with I‐95. The overwhelming opinion of those in attendance, inlcuding three elected officials, is that Calle Ocho and SW 7th must be Complete Streets
that serve pedestrians, cyclists and public transit equally with automobiles.

Residents, merchants, investors, artists, visitors and more came together to look and renderings that do away with the dangerous, three‐lane, one‐way traffic that exists on present day “Highway Ocho.”

Carlos Cruz‐Casas, PE, Transportation Strategic Planning Group, Miami‐Dade County Transit, spoke of a vision for “livable transportation” that serves pedestrians, bikes and transit – not soley autmobiles.

County Commissioners Bruno Barreiro and Xavier Suarez and City Commissioner Francis Suarez pledged to champion the cause of calmed traffic, wider sidewalks and economic prosperity for SW 7th‐8th streets.

“This meeting is an historic turning point for Calle Ocho and Little Havana. From elected leaders to artists to everyday residents, this brought together more than 100 people who will work with thousands of their neighborhoods to transform Calle Ocho and SW 7th into complete streets that are safe, vibrant and walkable,” Juan Mullerat, APA, AIA Assoc., Plus Urbia Design principal and resident of Shenandoah.

POLITICAL LEADERSHIP CAN CREATE A BETTER CALLE OCHO FOR ALL

MY CALLE 8

As Communications Manager for PlusUrbia Design, I had the pleasure of organizing an incredibly successful community forum to create a vision for Calle Ocho in the heart of Little Havana.

Several elected officials attended and spoke.  Others, who were traveling or had conflicting commitments, sent representatives and have pledged their support.

For far too long, Calle 8 has really been Highway Ocho, a dangerous, three-lane, one-way speedway into downtown Miami.  It serves commuters, not the neighborhood.  It acts as if there is nothing worth slowing down for to enjoy in Little Havana.  The defacto highway ignores all the adaptive re-use, all the great local shops, restaurants, bars, cultural centers and more.

Present day Calle Ocho, and its twin SW 7th Street with three lanes of dangerous one-way traffic westbound to the suburbs, favors cars over humans. Economic prosperity, despite all the authenticity that draws 3 million visitors per year, will not return to Calle 8 until it is redesigned as a complete street.

Tomorrow, I will post a press write up about the event.  We hope you can forward this to other people in greater Miami who want Calle 8 to be as calmed and fun to walk along as Miracle Mile.

It might require the City of Miami taking responsibility for the core SW 7th and SW 8th Streets from FDOT, once the state agency has designed and made pedestrian-featured improvements.