Hialeah Landmark and Fountain
Year built: 2005
Cost: $411,848.56
What's dumb about it: You can't enter this building because it serves no other purpose than being a six-figure backdrop for a fountain.
Why it was built: Longtime Mayor Raul Martinez wanted a monument celebrating his power.
During the '80s and '90s, a coral rock fountain on a grassy patch at SE Fourth Street and Okeechobee Road was a rallying point for Hialeah political candidates. Signs for council contenders Jimmy Gunn and Silvio Cardoso as well as the city's then-on-the-rise mayor, Raul Martinez, littered the city-owned property, which is conveniently located at a major entrance to Hialeah. On weekends, Martinez, his allies, and their opponents would stand in front of the fountain and wave to passing, honking motorists. "In 1983, this was the place to be," Martinez says. "It was a prime corner." The site's political history gave el alcalde (now in a runoff to regain his job) the excuse to erect an expensive monument to greet residents and visitors entering La Ciudad Que Progresa.
Today, driving west on Okeechobee Road, you can't miss the two-story pale-yellow structure. The Mediterranean-style building, which features two sentry towers and a stone fountain, is an oddity among the rows of low-rent motels and warehouses. It is a gargantuan reminder of the generosity of Hialeah taxpayers. In the original budget, the city figured $20,000 was enough to cover the railings and other metal work, and $23,010 would buy all the stucco needed for construction. Wrong. The city council had to approve an extra $12,700 to finish the structure. Add expenses beyond materials, and the project cost more than $400,000.
When the plaza was completed six years ago, Martinez hailed it as a monument to the diversity of Hialeah's Cuban residents, from recently arrived balseros to older exiles. "We are proud of the city of Hialeah," he said, "and we sometimes tend to forget that." Yet the plaza is no visitor attraction. There are no sidewalks that invite folks to walk up to the structure to take pictures. There is no parking either. You can't even enter to enjoy the view from the second-floor terrace. It is a six-figure waste of taxpayer money brought to you by the city's once and future ruler.
Miami Gardens Park-and-Ride Lot
Year built: 2011
Cost: $1.8 million
What's dumb about it: Motorists rarely park at the lot to ride a Metrobus.
Why it was built: To persuade drivers to abandon their cars for the public transit system.
It's a balmy morning this past November 1. Bernardo Rodriguez peddles a red BMX bicycle on busy NW 73rd Avenue at Miami Gardens Drive past a chainlink fence with a banner that reads, "Park & Ride Lot now open, serving bus routes 73, 99, 183, and 286." One sedan, a truck, and a rusty station wagon are the only vehicles in the 150-space lot.
"Nobody here," he says. "Ever." During an hour that New Times spends at the lot during rush hour, a total of four people show up.
In 2006, taxpayers shelled out $1.8 million for the two-acre lot. It was supposed to persuade neighbors in this moderately affluent suburban neighborhood to abandon their vehicles and ride public transit to Aventura or Dadeland. A new express bus could even take them to the Palmetto Metrorail station or southwest Broward County.
It took five years to complete the project. Since July, when it opened, the lot has been virtually empty. The $1.8 million provides for an average of 36 riders per day, county records show. That's about $72 per day in fares, meaning it will take somewhere around 70 years to repay the expense, even if you don't account for the cost of buses. And that express bus to Broward? Killed due to budget cuts.
"It just went up, out of the blue," says Barbara Hagen, a 66-year-old Country Club of Miami homeowner. "The only people I have seen parking there go to the IHOP next to it." She and several neighbors protested the county's use of the two acres for a parking lot when the issue arose in 2006. "The transit department assured us the lot was going to serve the area near I-75 that was being developed," she says. "If they had express buses going to the airport and seaport in Fort Lauderdale or going to Naples, the lot would make sense. That would be revolutionary. But they don't."
Miami-Dade Transit spokeswoman Karla Damien explains it took five years to complete the lot because the county was required to get approval from Florida Power & Light to build on top of underground electrical utility equipment as well as near power lines.
Indeed, the Miami Gardens lot is the second-worst performing of 11 park-and-ride bus facilities that the transit agency operates. Thirty-six riders board buses here each day compared to the 2,107 who use the Golden Glades Interchange lot, nine miles away. The agency does not break down how many of those riders actually arrive in a vehicle. The worst one, by the way, is located at Kendall Drive and SW 150th Avenue, with only 15 riders a day.
The Miami Gardens spot could be a park or maybe used for YMCA parking overflow. "Right now, it's useless," Hagen says.
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Francisco Alvarado is a hypocrite! Why don't you do a news breaking segment on your friends or better said FRIEND who pays cops on the side to keep them from getting arrested for DUI's and cleaning up their boyfriends' drug record? WHy not them? I am sure you know who I am talking about,or maybe not if you have more than one friend doing this. Here is a clue this friend is what keeps you working, surely your writting isn't the cuase.
NEWS TIMES need to keep a closer look on who they hire! I say NEWS TIMES should do drug test on their so called writers. - DON't be scared Francisco
ITs Wonderful
Its wonderful to hear form the 5 people that use these facilities ...
Its so nice that the "government" can find the time to waste Millions $$ of taxpayers money so a small number of citizens that use their bikes ...
Lets see Millions of taxpayers .. How many use the facilities 10,000? 5,000? 2,000? maybe 100
WONDERFUL enjoy!
Miami (Dade County)may be in the lead in the corrupt dept., but this happens all over. Way to much is a bow to the extremists. e.g. the bike path which no one uses, why was it built? so the politicians can show how sensitive they are to environmental causes. Same holds true for Metrorail M-Path. Some useless politician pushed this because his girl friend's cause of the week was "Public Transit", Forget the initial building costs, each user could be given a free taxi ride for what the unionized maintenance people are paid.
Many, and I mean MANY of these "public works" projects are to create construction jobs for unionized workers, who then "donate" billions to mostly democrat politicians. Then we pay the cost to maintain these white elephants who also pay outrageous dues which flow right back to the politicians who control their jobs.
In the end however it's OUR fault for allowing these special interests, unions and wacko environmentalists, to name a few, to control corrupt politicians who WE vote to return to office while they thumb their noses at those of us who pay the taxes.
I'd like to echo some other comments and mine. The M-Path is not a waste of taxpayer's money. As a weekly M-Path to get to work from the bus station, I run into other bicylists (yes, that's plural) every time. The M-Path is less stressful to ride on, of course, at all intersections you should be careful just as you would riding on the street or sidewalk. A greater question is what would bicycling be like in Miami-Dade without it.
Mr. Alvarado, your findings of 'M-Path bicycle users' over the course of one rush hour evening in one given area, is a poor reflection of your researching skills. Let alone allowing it to merit a comment in your article is of bad taste.
Additionally, a crosswalk right by the entrance and exit of a highway would be a scary thing to even attempt to cross, which is why a bridge is being built. The pedestrian and bicyclist can cross without being hit by an oncoming cars entering the highway.
Betsey makes some good points. The location of the M-Path along the MetroRail route has definite advantages. It is safe, and it makes a swath of Miami territory accessible by bicycle - you can get on and off the MetroRail with your bike. I don't think you can have gotten opinions from a very large sample of users.
Furthermore, the M-Path doubles the functionality of public property already in use and so is an economical use of public funds. Instead of carping, maybe the New Times should publicize the M-path's benefits and promote more bike-riding.
The bike path under the metro rail (running from at least the Brickell area down to Dadeland) is NOT a waste of tax payers' money. For myself & others, it is not only a safe riding path that I use, but it also gives me the option of easily getting on & off Metro rail at every station. It is very well placed & thought out. I wish there were more such safe bike paths around Miami, raised or separated from the auto roads & safe for bikers. I recently got knocked off my bike on the bridge between NE 125th St. & Bay and Bal Harbour because there is NO bike path over the majority of the bridge area. (only one short area.)The policeman said I should be riding on the sidewalk over the bridge, but the sidewalk is not only too narrow but has encroaching built in obstructions that narrow it even further.
In Bal Harbour also, bicyclists are not supposed to ride on the sidewalk, leaving no safe bike paths adjacent to or near the streets reserved for autos. The police there tell you to ride on the beach, out of the way & not easily accessible to the commercial sites & over the bridges in Bal Harbour.
I wish there were more such bike paths as the one criticized here, or safer ones around Dade County. We are very backward about promoting/advocating safe alternative transportation methods, esp. re: safe biking paths.
Another great article. Good job!Can you imagine how many palms have been scratched while they fleece the taxpayers?
A lame analysis. There are many stretches of the M-Path that are quite pleasant - I'm a runner and have been using it for years, particularly the stretch from SW 15th Street to SW 17th Avenue in the Roads area. It's a well-utilized urban design touch for runners, pedestrians and cyclists in an otherwise automobile-oriented area and a great place to get in some urban exercise in pleasant surroundings. I'm with the previous posters - put as much money as is feasible into maintaining and expanding this hidden gem.
I use the M path every day to commute to work. Its amazing. I like the New Times. but you dont always have to be controversial to prove a point. sometimes you need to step back and ask are we sending out the right message. The M path is the best thing for cyclists we have. Throw all the money
M path is great - how about the palmetto expwy or 836 - permanent construction projects when east west metrorail should have been built instead.
Walk north or south on arterial road NW 42 AV from about NW 11 St to NW 36 St, Take several changes of underwear. This is not a limited access expressway. This was recently built with a lot of fancy landscaping and ornamental crushed stone pits for drainage and to look pretty. No sidewalk, no extra wide lane for bike use, no shoulder area. Thank FDOT district 6 & ask them why there is no sidewalk, or walk 1/2 mile over to NW 37 AV & half mile back to lejeune (NW 42 AV) , way safer but there will still be (much shorter) areas where you have to walk in the road, probably with your back to traffic some of the time. As for need, check the narrow areas of dirt path behind the barriers on the east side under the overpasses a few hundred feed south of NW 36 ST. Technical term for these artifacts of engineering malpractice against pedestrians is "goat path".
Er, ah ditto the M-Path users who have commented.Most of the bicyclist who would be using the M path are 40' up in the air on the last car of a metrorail train. I personaly think the bike path, kind of an economy model at that, is better use than just landscaping, and it gives the cyclist a bit of north-south travel path with reduced conflict with Miami's ever so courteous and cautious drivers when the cyclists get off the train.
This brutal honesty of most of this article makes for a painful, but very necessary, read.
However, I must strongly disagree with the inaccurate picture of the M-Path that's been unjustly painted as a waste.
I ride the M-Path regularly, and I know many other bikers who actively use, appreciate, and love the M-Path in a community that’s otherwise devoid of any multi-use urban trails. I think the M-Path, while far from perfect, should be one of the most celebrated pieces of non-motorized transport infrastructure in our county, even if for no other reason than its sheer existence in a community that lacks any comparable facilities.
Some of the specific criticisms aimed at the M-Path are irrefutable and important.
Is the M-Path highly disjointed? Unquestionably.
Does the M-Path have adequate signage. Absolutely not.
Are many of the M-Path crossings dangerous? Extremely so.
Does the design of the M-Path reflect a planning/design/construction bias toward automobiles? Regrettably so.
Does the M-Path have adequate lighting? No way.Is the M-Path wide enough? Not yet.
Should the M-Path be regarded as a waste of public monies simply because of its far-from-ideal design flaws – no way, José!
To suggest that the M-Path is a waste of money is a terrible falsehood. I’m personally very grateful to have the M-Path at my disposal. I use it regularly to access all the same destinations accessed by the Metrorail.
We have to remember that the “M-Path” refers to the “Metrorail-Path”, and the property on which the M-Path is located is actually county property. It’s a great use of otherwise neglected space, although, admittedly, it could be doing much more to serve the pedestrian and biker communities.
Is the M-Path ideal? – no way, but I must prefer having the M-Path than just a wasted scrubland occupying the space along the linear Metrorail.
Regarding the soon-to-be-finished multi-use footbridge and M-Path connection running through the Dadeland North Metrorail station, this is absolutely the right idea. The reason crosswalks were decided against is because the westbound traffic on the Snapper Creek expressway (SR 878) is free flowing (i.e., there is no stoplight there to allow for pedestrians or bikers to cross the Snapper Creek expressway. I’ve done that route many times (I did it just this past weekend!), and riding southbound down US-1 is quite an adventurous undertaking. That multi-use bridge will give walkers and bikers the necessary feeling of safety when crossing that expressway and continuing on through the newly widened sections of the M-Path.
Also, the new section of the M-Path will be widened and striped with two lanes.
The New Times would do better advocating for improvements to the M-Path to rectify its design flaws rather than inaccurately labeling it a rarely used waste of tax-payer money .
Yes, the M-Path is flawed, but it’s basically all we’ve got, and, to quote a famous British rock-band, “It’s getting better all the time”!
I respectfully disagree on the M-Path issue. Is it perfect? Absolutely not and there is valid criticism to be made, as pointed out by Rydel and Tony. But is it a decent solution for those having to travel in a direction (Grove - UM) that is otherwise incredibly busy and dangerous? Yes. And as for three cyclists, I see them every day while I'm commuting, so if you stick around for longer, I'm sure you will encounter more people. Its location is actually good as a connector - yes, it needs to be improved, but I for one am very glad it exists.
I know lots of people who use the M-Path. It is a great bicycle route from East Kendall to Downtown that also provides access to the UM and Coral Gables. It is far from perfect, but it is the best we have in off road facilities that connect with lots of useful places. Plus it has the redundancy of the rail, which is a good thing if a cyclist has mechanical or physical problems. Investing in the M-Path is a wise use of tax payer dollars and not very expensive in comparison with other transportation projects, like the 826/836 connection.
The bike/ped bridge over the Snapper Creek expressway was a strategic need. It enabled closure of a gap in the M-Path that existed since it was built in 1985. Up until this project is completed, the M-Path ends/ed at Ludlam Road. This project connects it with Dadeland South which also provides a connection to the Busway's wide sidewalk path all the way down to Florida City. When this project is completed next month, a cyclist will be able to ride off road from about 15th Road near Brickell Avenue all the way down to Florida City. The bridge in the project was needed because the entrance to the Snapper Creek Expressway includes two go at all times lanes - an impossible hazard to bikers and walkers. The presence of a goat path worn by bikers and walkers showed for years that people needed this connection. The bridge was the cheapest way to rectify the problem without disrupting traffic flow.
Sorry, but your reporting is sorely lacking on this item. You completely missed the significance of this project.
As gas prices rise and congestion gets worse, anything we do to improve transportation alternatives will be good for the community.
In Broward County they have wasted 6 million dollars on the "greenway" along 595, this is impossible to use as a bicyclist and very poorly thought out and very dangerous, not to mention a waste of money.
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