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Last week, Riptide reported the unveiling of two new bus “shelters” (think benches with roofs) outside the Miami U.S. Veterans Medical Center at 12th Avenue and 16th Street. Mayor Diaz himself cut the ribbon, with three city commissioners, one city manager, and a small flock of corporate flacks from Fuel, the contractor responsible for putting in the other 598 shelters promised around the city.
Riptide made fun of them all, because the shelters are so small.
Yesterday, a comfy week later, the Herald ran its own story about the modification with the headline: “Dade bus riders score victory with shelters.”
It’s too bad the Herald used a week-old picture to accompany its week-old news. Had they checked-in more recently, they might have seen fit to run gloomier story: last time we checked the shelter outside the VA at around noon on a weekday, we found its four seats occupied and – surprise of surprises – about twelve more people standing outside the shelter, waiting for bus in the full brunt of the South Florida sun.
We don’t disagree that somebody “scored” – but it’s probably not the riders. Or city tax-payers. — Isaiah Thompson
