ways you would improve miami (Orlando, Port St. Lucie: vehicle registration, felony, unemployment)

[CiXeL]

yes hell has frozen over. i have started a positive thread.

we all have complaints about miami but what would you say would have to happen to fix miami?
(short of nuking it or killing everyone and starting over)

one thing i would really like to see would be concrete established lookout points where you can view miami's skyline or ocean and clouds. theres some really beautiful vistas here but theyre usually from the road when youre trapped in a car and no place to turn off and just see it or take pictures. the last few days of watching the skies and sunsets has made me want to take up oil painting but i realize theres usually very few places to witness the stuff i see from my car.

i imagine a look out point from the julia tuttle causeway would be spectacular especially if it were elevated in some way as when you go over the bridge.
a small parkinglot with free access.
you want to inspire artists and creative types to come here while right now they're all leaving.

another thing that is presently getting better is traffic enforcement. im seeing alot more motorcycle cops and alot more state troopers pulling over people cutting into lines at the exits. keep up the good work guys!

now i ask you - what else do you think could be done to improve miami?

[tao]

A better mass transit system would improve things dramatically. I wish there were trains or some kind of light rail system from Miami to the Keys, Miami to the Treasure Coast (Jupiter, Stuart, jensen Beach, Port St. Lucie, Ft. Pierce, Vero Beach), and Miami to Orlando.

[Derek1]

Originally Posted by CiXeL

yes hell has frozen over. i have started a positive thread.

we all have complaints about miami but what would you say would have to happen to fix miami?
(short of nuking it or killing everyone and starting over)

one thing i would really like to see would be concrete established lookout points where you can view miami's skyline or ocean and clouds. theres some really beautiful vistas here but theyre usually from the road when youre trapped in a car and no place to turn off and just see it or take pictures. the last few days of watching the skies and sunsets has made me want to take up oil painting but i realize theres usually very few places to witness the stuff i see from my car.

i imagine a look out point from the julia tuttle causeway would be spectacular especially if it were elevated in some way as when you go over the bridge.
a small parkinglot with free access.
you want to inspire artists and creative types to come here while right now they're all leaving.

another thing that is presently getting better is traffic enforcement. im seeing alot more motorcycle cops and alot more state troopers pulling over people cutting into lines at the exits. keep up the good work guys!

now i ask you - what else do you think could be done to improve miami?

Good positive well thought out post ...... no sarcasm , no cynicism . I enjoy seeing both negatives and positives it is the only way to engage in productive discussion . Miami does have some spectacular skylines and views again too bad some of the people ruin it .

[miamiblue]

I agree that better traffic enforcement (even down to the minute little nitpicky things like using turn signals and improper turns/lane changes) and a more functional mass-transit system would make a difference. I agree that scenic overlook type places also might encourage a more "stop and smell the roses" mindset that could perhaps change attitudes a little.

I also think people need to be held accountable for their actions more, starting in the schools. When I was in high school I saw too many ill-behaved, poor performing kids just getting shuffled on to the next grade because no one wanted to deal with them. There were literally no consequences for your actions - detention was a joke because the security guards were thugs just like the students they were supposed to be supervising. Not to mention that parents have more influence than teachers on the rules of the schools, and teachers are afraid of disciplining students because of parental retaliation and knowing that rules won't be enforced and the school will run tucking their tail behind their legs for fear of lawsuit - mostly from parents who think their truly disrespectful, misbehaving children are saints and can do no wrong.

It is difficult to necessarily pin down magic bullets for an attitude adjustment for the general population, but I think true enforcement of rules and laws are a necessary place to start.

[eufo]

There are literally too many things to list, but I'd like to see:

1) More efficiency in the vehicle registration system and traffic enforcement regarding registration. Somedays it seems like 50% of the cars on the road are rolling around on "temporary" tags. After examining a few of them, many are even expired. Why aren't these people getting pulled over? Is there anyone living here that hasn't been nearly slammed into by some idiot in a hooptie with temp tags?

2) Better Road Design. I think its time to just "start over" with the Golden Glades. I mean, what kind of messed up interchange is that? Try going from the Palmetto on to I-95 N. You actually have to get off the expressway and go through 2 stoplights before having to cut-off other people a few times (lest you be cut-off yourself) before finally managing to weave your way finally over to I-95 N.

Also, the mess that happens where the 112, Le Jeune, 36th St, and Okeechobee all meet is just pathetic. To us seasoned drivers that pass through there many times, we can manage it, but to any n00b passing through there, they get confused and try to turn where they can't and cause accidents or traffic backups. And if you go the wrong way (like Okeechobee or 36th St West) good luck making a U-turn, they aren't allowed. It's just not very driver friendly.

More to come...

[eufo]

Originally Posted by miamiblue

It is difficult to necessarily pin down magic bullets for an attitude adjustment for the general population, but I think true enforcement of rules and laws are a necessary place to start.

It's like you read my mind. A shift towards justice, integrity, and responsibility would be of great benefit to not only Miami, but the entire world! I'm all for an increase in enforcement of laws at all levels of society. Corruption and apathy have allowed a lot of the decay we see on a daily basis.

[Miami Vice]

Traffic/Law enforcement the way it should be done won't happen in this county for a long time. You should drop in any Miami-Dade district station at any given time and day and ask how many uniform road units are in that specific area. If you are lucky you'll have four per area. Each district has three areas. In other words, you have approximately 12-15 officers covering the whole district. Does it sounds like a lot? To give you an example of a district, Station 5's boundries go from SW 40 St. to SW 152 St. From SW 57 Ave to SW 137 Ave. You do the math in calculating how many city blocks. We go call to call. From the burgalr alarm ringing, which takes 2 officers 20 minutes just to get there in heavy traffic, to the 4 juveniles in custody at the mall which will tie up an officer for atleast 4 hours. Who ever doesn't believe me, could go to any of our disrtict stations for a ride along. It would be nice to hear your experience and point of view after you get back. You must be 18 and not have a felony record. You must also sign a hold harmless agreement in case you get shot or die in a wreck in the police car. The director asked for more academy classes for the next fiscal year and only got approved for half. Probably more people will retire than get hired. If you go back 25-30 years which is when we hired the most people due to the influx of immigrants, you'll realize that all those people are all retiring. We usually work between 25-30 years so the next 3-5 years is going to be interesting. Also, they were holding us over our 8 hours to clear calls holding, but with the overtime cuts, now calls just hold until we get to them.

[tallrick]

I have no desire to see more police getting their ticket quota. In the past I had recieved tickets from officers hiding near obscured signs, defective traffic signals, and all that happens is I have to waste my time doing research, getting copies of work orders and going to court. Before thinking of enforcement the traffic flow needs to be restored. It is a good idea to capture drunk or impared drivers, and stop all vehicles with expired registration. As for those temporary tags I agree, they should be no more. Yet the police have their hands full with real crime, why burden them with the nonsense of sitting in school zones and behind stop signs?

To make Miami better you have to figure out how to balance the economic scale. This is all but impossible. Second you have to control illegal immigration, also impossible. What can be done is to open up the political process and expose how your money is spent, and who benefits. Make the county government responsible for its actions. If your commissioner will not help you, expose that too. My solution is to expose as much of the city as possible, review its history often and replace local politicians who do not serve public interests.

If they want to spend money, stop building the traffic circles and get rid of the unneccesary stop signs. Build a metro-rail from Miami Beach to the airport, and connect the port of Miami to the rail system. Reclaim the old right of way from Dadeland to the airport and run the train there too.

[mrodr001]

Originally Posted by tallrick

I have no desire to see more police getting their ticket quota. In the past I had recieved tickets from officers hiding near obscured signs, defective traffic signals, and all that happens is I have to waste my time doing research, getting copies of work orders and going to court. Before thinking of enforcement the traffic flow needs to be restored. It is a good idea to capture drunk or impared drivers, and stop all vehicles with expired registration. As for those temporary tags I agree, they should be no more. Yet the police have their hands full with real crime, why burden them with the nonsense of sitting in school zones and behind stop signs?

To make Miami better you have to figure out how to balance the economic scale. This is all but impossible. Second you have to control illegal immigration, also impossible. What can be done is to open up the political process and expose how your money is spent, and who benefits. Make the county government responsible for its actions. If your commissioner will not help you, expose that too. My solution is to expose as much of the city as possible, review its history often and replace local politicians who do not serve public interests.

If they want to spend money, stop building the traffic circles and get rid of the unneccesary stop signs. Build a metro-rail from Miami Beach to the airport, and connect the port of Miami to the rail system. Reclaim the old right of way from Dadeland to the airport and run the train there too.

You forgot North Miami and North Miami Beach. (Railway) Not all of us live down South or Central Miami Dade.

[CiXeL]

bring on the ticket quotas!
beat these people into line and make them obey the law.
honestly id pay a state tax if thats what it took.
theres something to be said for lack of a state tax. its amazing the number of social services that dont work without one.
no functional unemployment service, terrible law enforcement.


i think what seriously would improve miami though is if there was a major trend towards public transit. there really should be a train going all the way down to key west. flagler did it right the first time.