THE FUTURE OF MIRACLE MILE ZONING: Statement for Coral Gables Commission Workshop, February 24, 2021

I lend my voice to this who favor keeping Miracle Mile at its present scale and to absolutely restrict building scale and height.  I favor three stories, not seven stories.

The overgrowth and overdevelopment of many business areas of Coral Gables is still going on and moving ahead, especially along Hwy 1 and Ponce.  

The current scale of Miracle Mile conveys a friendly, traditional, lasting historical image of the city.  We are very late in considering the conservation of Miracle Mile.

Preservation is so important that we should favor strong measures of inflexible height limitations and the provision of incentives, subsidies and other conditions to protect the Miracle Mile environment.   Money from the overbuilt areas of the city should go to protecting Miracle Mile.  Residents helped pay for the Miracle Mile streetscape, which has not been that successful.

A new way of thinking about development is needed.  Many candidates for the Commission Groups 1, 2 and 3 refer to SMART DEVELOPMENT— a vague term at least.  SMART DEVELOPMENT, in practice, has  meant overbuilding, overdevelopment, traffic congestion and pollution.  That’s what we have now. 

I wish the term “smart development” meant limited, controlled development which maintains the traditional culture of Coral Gables and not producing a mountains of overbuilt areas.   We know that money and land interests push the end of Miracle Mile, but this should be resisted before it is too late.

I am not that optimistic.  But I applaud commissioners and candidates who envision a SLOWER, SCALED DOWN DEVELOPMENT— not a city of McMansions and giant apartment buildings, parking building  and malls.

Stephen E. McGaughey

Billions of dollars for Medicaid expansion dangled in front of holdout states, including FL | Florida Phoenix

“Even though states still pay 10 percent [for the new patients], they would still come out ahead,” said Robin Rudowitz, the co-director of the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured. “I think that changes the math.” An analysis by the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows that states would gain substantially under the Democratic proposal: Florida could receive $3.5 billion. North Carolina would be in line for $2.4 billion. Georgia could bring in $1.9 billion. Tennessee could collect $1.7 billion. Wisconsin could gain $1.3 billion. Missouri could receive $1.7 billion. Kansas could bring in $330 million. Texas stands to gain the most, with a potential of bringing in nearly $6 billion. The extra money would end after two years.

Billions of dollars for Medicaid expansion dangled in front of holdout states, including FL | Florida Phoenix

Billions of dollars for Medicaid expansion dangled in front of holdout states, including FL | Florida Phoenix [2]

U.S. House Democrats are trying again to entice a dozen holdout states—many of them in the South—to expand Medicaid coverage with the prospect of billions of dollars in federal cash. The new offer, included in a massive $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that House Democrats are pushing through committees this week, could help provide health coverage to more than 2 million Americans. They are falling between the cracks in government programs in the midst of the pandemic and economic downturn. Most are childless adults who earn some money but still fall below the federal poverty level. In the vast majority of states, people in that situation could qualify for Medicaid, a public program that provides health insurance to low-income people and people with disabilities. But in 14 states that have not yet expanded Medicaid, they are still ineligible for that program. Meanwhile, they are still too poor to get subsidized private coverage through insurance exchanges.

Billions of dollars for Medicaid expansion dangled in front of holdout states, including FL | Florida Phoenix