Dan Paul
First Amendment attorney
"Red sidewalks came into Miami Beach when some public-relations man got the idea that this was like rolling out the red carpet for tourists. But he overlooked the fact that the red dye fades in the sun, and the sidewalks have come to look very ugly. They put red dye in concrete, and it costs more than if they poured the concrete white. A simple solution would be to leave out the dye, like on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach. There, builders put a little mica in the sidewalks and they sparkle in the sun - gently, not glitzy - and it looks fabulous. In a nutshell, red sidewalks are just in bad taste. I've seen it only in Miami Beach, which is in some respects the bad-taste capital of the world."
Dr. Joseph Davis
Chief Medical Examiner for Dade County
"Every year the Miami Herald goes on a campaign for a bottle bill. That has been a peeve of mine, to see those editorials in the Herald. The industries - the grocery industry and the bottle industry - rise up and shoot it down. Rather than a bottle bill, let's have a plastic and paper bill. I see fewer bottles and cans than unsightly globs of plastic and paper all over the place. All this editorializing that we should have a bottle bill is like whistling Dixie in the dark. All the aluminum cans, soda pop cans, and beer cans are already scarfed up by the aluminum salvagers. As far as glass and tin-plated cans and bottles, they've gone the way of the Dodo bird. If we're going to talk about the environment being clean, let's put a tax on paper. All these short-order food containers you see all over the place, that's what makes up 90 percent of the highway litter. I would urge any citizen to look on their way to work. Is it bottles and cans? Or is it short-order food containers?"
The Rev. Walter T. Richardson
Pastor, Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church
"I don't see very many white people willing to worship where there are black pastors. I have a few whites, but I think proportionately there are more blacks that belong to my white contemporaries' churches than whites that belong to mine. Our image of God, our perception of authority, is tainted. Whenever we see God personified, we see God as male and white. Anything that's male and white becomes easy to accept as a symbol of authority. I think that whites ought to go to black churches some time, even though it might involve some discomfort. Sharing pulpits would be one way of starting. We've talked about it but it's really gone to the talking stage and died. Sharing congregations would be good, having a group visit. For a month we had a group of 150 German tourists coming every Sunday. That was very empowering. We've gotten the pastors to pray together, but I don't know if we'd be able to get the congregations together. It would certainly contribute to improving race relations in this city."
Jim Pavilack
Windsurfer; owner, Sailboards Miami
"All those quirky Miami things that other people don't like are appealing to me. It's hilarious to me when someone receives a cellular phone call in a movie theater. Or when you're in traffic and someone zips across two lanes to make a right turn and cuts you off. I love to turn out-of-towners on to this sort of thing. Or going to a convenience store and, for a joke, trying to ask for something in English, in eloquent terms, and they send you to all these different aisles. That's the kind of thing that brings tears of joy to my eyes. But one aspect of Greater Miami life that really bothers me is that there's nowhere really to get a great breakfast in Miami. Miami doesn't take breakfast seriously enough. For me, my dream breakfast is like, nutty-fresh whole wheat toast, an overabundance of hash browns, fresh fruit, avocados, an omelet with a lot of spinach and cheese, top-quality coffee, all in a pleasant environment. The solution would begin with the local breakfast establishments. It's not like someone has to open a completely new restaurant. Now there may be a place that already has espresso, but you can't get good fruit or a good omelet there. For a few extra dollars, they could get really good produce and make really delicious omelets.
