Letters

Lord, Govern Yourself Accordingly
Regarding Jacob Bernstein’s “Shhhhh: Nature in Progress” (May 13), here is a draft letter to God the Almighty, from lobbyist Miguel DeGrandy:

Dear God,
Reference the natural treasure Biscayne National Park you put next to South Dade. It is in the wrong place and must be moved immediately as it is blocking my clients from making handsome profits on public land. This is simply bad planning on your part. If it’s not moved within seven business days, we reserve our right to sue.

Yours in litigation,
M. DeGrandy
Barbara Lange
Sierra Club Miami Group
South Miami

Vivian: Victimized by Her Own Government
Vivian Rolon, the late subject of Kathy Glasgow’s articles “Down and Out in Dade County” (Part 1, April 15 and Part 2, May 6) is not the first and only victim of disrespect toward HIV and AIDS sufferers. The U.S. government has consistently failed to fight the HIV and AIDS epidemics and has looked the other way where its victims are concerned. That is outrageous.

The disease rages on and threatens the lives of millions of Americans and millions more worldwide. The real fight against HIV and AIDS is being waged through private donations to groups such as Health Crisis Network and the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Let’s continue to fund them until this dreaded disease is finally conquered and eliminated from the face of the Earth.

Alan Gittelson
Miami Beach

Vivian: If They Only Had a Heart
While the evangelical church gets ready to do battle with the evils of the new millennium and the Y2K bug, Kathy Glasgow screams out for the underprivileged suffering from AIDS. Because many serving in (and influencing) our government are religiously traditional, we can continue to count on the needy not getting help.

The deductive approach used in the past as a means of helping people like Vivian Rolon must now become experimental and inductive. We must, as Rolon suggested, convert to a piecemeal approach, and/or become more visceral than theoretical. In short we need people with less talk and more heart. I say we use our vote to make this vision a reality.

Manny Losada
Miami

Still No Action, Still No Plan
I am writing in response to Jacob Bernstein’s article “Born to Lose” (April 1). As one of the architects of the Metro Miami Action Plan (MMAP) in the early Eighties, I offer some historical perspective. As county manager working with Dick McEwen, chairman of Burdines, we first formed Greater Miami United in the early Eighties and subsequently hired Ms. Toni Gary as executive director. Our objective was to bring leadership from the African-American community together with Anglo and Hispanic business and community leaders to formulate aggressive strategies to attack the huge economic disparity that existed within the African-American community. Over time the organization suffered from limited, often personal perspectives and agendas. People lost interest as the organization lost its perspective of overall planning and advocacy.

In recommending to the mayor and board of county commissioners the formation of MMAP, my objective was also to bring together a broad base of community leadership to develop an annual action plan that could be presented not only to the county but to cities, the school board, chambers of commerce, and other organizations to address African-American economic disparity. While I often had to pick up the phone to urge certain leaders to participate, we were successful in bringing hundreds of community activists and business leaders from all races and ethnicities to an annual meeting. Essentially it was a strategic planning process, not unlike the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce’s annual goals conference.

I never looked upon the MMAP as “the” action agency. Rather it had a strategic planning and advocacy role. I am not aware of any other forum that brings people together to address this issue even today. Unfortunately initiatives require leadership and commitment and, sadly, MMAP over the years didn’t have the support it had in the early and mid-Eighties.

The need is still there. I have long said that African-American economic disparity is the Achilles’ heel of Miami-Dade’s economy. Whether MMAP can resurrect itself through effective strategic management and leadership remains to be seen. Now in my second life as county manager I am committed to those original initiatives because, while some progress has been made, the overriding inequities have not been corrected.

Merrett R. Stierheim
Miami-Dade County Manager