Letters from the Issue of January 3, 2002

Editor's note: Last week's letters sectioncomprised a sampling of unpublished correspondence saved from the past year. Included was a letter from Miami resident Maria Gonzalez, which first appeared April 12, 2001. It was supposed to be followed by several replies it elicited. Owing to an editing error those replies did not appear. Below we reprint Ms. Gonzalez's letter (headlined, "Surely They're Not All Nut Cases, Right?") along with a number of responses.

Strolling Along, Arm in Arm, Just Me and My Bazooka
Giving new meaning to the term "street scene": Kirk Nielsen's article "Terrorists, but Our Terrorists" (December 20) was great. At last we seem to have a reporter who is not afraid to write the truth about a group of people that has enjoyed a kind of special protection. We cannot tolerate that while we are saying to the world: Do not help terrorists. We have our own terrorists walking down the streets right here in South Florida.

Luis Garcia
Miami

Calling All Stout-Hearted Journalists
A grateful nation awaits your work:As an honest Cuban American I would like to congratulate Kirk Nielsen for having the cojones to write an article such as "Terrorists, but Our Terrorists." I hope more honest journalists will come forward and tell the American public what's been going on in this city for such a long time.

I don't mind giving my name but my wife is afraid, so please don't print it.

Name Withheld by Request
Miami

Cityhood by the Numbers
More people and fewer cities than you might think: Regarding Jacob Bernstein's article on the formation of the proposed new City of West Dade under the sponsorship of Commissioner Miriam Alonso ("Now Entering Miriamville," December 6), I want to point out what I believe is serious misinformation given to Mr. Bernstein by Miami-Dade County staff regarding the number of potential new municipalities that may be formed in the ongoing incorporation process.

Mr. Bernstein has given his readers the most accurate information to date on the history of recent municipal incorporation efforts and the county's reactions to these efforts. In fact he has attended several meetings of my organization, LINC (Let's Incorporate Now Coalition), in the past, so he is certainly no stranger to the incorporation movement. But his statement that, according to county staff, "were the trend to continue, the county would end up with an additional 40 cities if all areas incorporated" is just not credible.

For instance, LINC is composed of eleven member communities at present, which represents about 720,000 residents or 60 percent of the 1.2 million residents in the Unincorporated Municipal Service Area (UMSA). The smallest population of these proposed new cities (16,000) belongs to the Redland, but it has the largest land area. The largest in terms of population is the proposed new city of West Kendall with a population of around 200,000. Kendall's population would be 98,000 and Westchester's is close to that. Most average 40,000 and above in population. With the exception of the Redland, none of these proposed new cities has a population of less than 20,000.

If you subtract the 720,000 UMSA residents wishing to form a total of eleven new cities from the 1.2 million UMSA total residents, you end up with only 480,000 residents left in the UMSA to form 29 new cities in order to reach the county's estimated total of 40 additional cities. These new cities would then average less than 17,000 each in population, contrasted with the average population of at least 40,000 or more in most of the proposed new incorporations now moving through the process.

Beverly Gerald, president
LINC
Palmetto Bay

Surely They're Not All Nut Cases, Right?
Diabolical free weekly screens correspondence, distorts reality: Please tell me that all those ignorant and biased letters from Anglo-American readers are not representative of the letters New Times receives from that segment of the community. I cannot believe those letters, full of hate and envy directed at the Cuban community, are representative of South Florida Anglos. I am Cuban, and a significant number of my friends are Anglos. They do not share those paranoid and ignorant views. So please tell me you're publishing just the outrageous ones.

To all those ignorant people out there, I say please come to grips with the Cuban community. I know you have been accustomed to feeling superior to Hispanics, and I know that because the Cuban community outperforms all other Hispanic groups, and even Anglo Americans, that you are threatened by our success and prosperity. I know you have traditionally been accustomed to Hispanics of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Central American, and South American descent underachieving in society, economics, and the classroom. Apparently before the Cubans arrived, you liked your Hispanics somewhat dumb and docile, inferior to you economically, educationally, and culturally. For the most part, you were correct. Hispanics underachieved in every way. We Cubans haven't, however. Second-generation Cubans have prospered with higher levels of education, income, business ownership, and home ownership than any other minority group -- even Anglo Americans.

If reading this offends you, then again, please get a grip. We will continue to prosper and help others to prosper as well. It's no secret why today there are more non-Cuban Hispanics in Miami than Cubans. They want to achieve the same success we have. I hope that in the near future Cubans begin to invest in the black community as well, and help them achieve the prosperity that has eluded them long before there was ever a Cuban in Miami.