The next time you’re stuck in traffic, ask yourself why no one in county government leadership twenty or thirty years ago thought about planning. While Miami-Dade County is considered among the greatest metropolitan areas in the world, this lack of planning has brought us never-ending gridlock that threatens our continued growth and negatively affects the quality of our lives. The truth is that Miamians are sick and tired of being stuck in traffic. Worst of all, there doesn’t seem to be any relief in sight.
In West Kendall, the area I represent, developers built plenty of homes in subdivisions without thinking about job centers, restaurants, parks, theaters, and everyday destinations close by. This makes no sense. If one side of the county is oversaturated with housing and the other side has most jobs and amenities, it creates a domino effect where a lack of connectivity forces people to travel long distances just to get anywhere. Some would continue this madness by building more single-family homes outside the Urban Development Boundary, condemning us to more sprawl, more gridlock, and more of the same lack of planning and vision for the future.
What if we planned ahead for once? It all starts with embracing a vision that alleviates constant traffic—a smarter future where “living” coexists with more options for “working, learning, and playing.”…