There are already 35 incorporated municipalities within Miami-Dade County, and if the county commission lifts a ban on incorporating others, five new ones could pop up. Some people say a government can be held more accountable the more local it is. From our point of view, more governments just mean more elected officials and more chances for corruption, which is really great for our line of work!
The county five years ago placed a ban on letting unincorporated areas officially become cities. By then, the county was already home to 20 cities, six towns, and nine villages, but three more areas were looking to branch off into their own cities.
According to the Miami Herald, those areas include the Sky Lake and Highland Lakes areas near Aventura; Fontainebleau; and an area just east of Hialeah. Residents of Fisher Island and Biscayne Gardens have also discussed striking out on their own.
"It's a matter of controlling your own destiny," Ken Friedman, head of a Northeast Miami-Dade incorporation study group, tells the Herald. "There's a wall on Ives Dairy Road that's four different colors, five different heights, four different textures. We can't beautify our neighborhood."
At least three commissioners seem open to lifting the ban, but others are worried about the impact to the county's finances and other fiscal issues. There's also the matter that new cities tend to conveniently leave poorer areas outside of their boundaries:
Oh, that old ghetto? Guess we forgot about it. You can just keep dealing with it, Miami-Dade County, thanks. We have bigger problems to deal with -- like walls that are four different colors!
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