Miami Misuse of Funds–How Unusual

And one wonders why the citizens of this county are not more disgusted with the pervasive corruption of its government.  I can only conclude that they think that the rest of the world behaves to same way, and it’s a simply part of the cost of doing business here.  I can assure you that many cities and counties that are well run in this country.

The city of Miami, already deep in the throes of a federal investigation into bond sales and questionable moves used to prop up past budgets, used nearly $7 million in restricted public works money to balance its books to close out the 2009 and 2010 budget years, according to yet another stinging city audit released Thursday.

via Audit: Miami misused millions in public works funds – Miami-Dade – MiamiHerald.com.

Recommended: “Transit Miami” on the FDOT

Any “idiot” (I guess, including FDOT designers) could have driven along Brickell Avenue downtown and have known that this is the most pedestrian and bicycle unfriendly area in the county (I personally think it is also auto-unfriendly).  Fortunately, we have people like the writer of Transit Miami who have take the effort to mobilize the community.

Herein lies the problem with FDOT. Why does it take an entire community to beg for overdue improvements?  Shouldn’t FDOT have been proactive and taken the initiative to introduce improvements from the beginning? Why didn’t FDOT reach out to the community to get their input?

Together we will make a difference on Brickell Avenue, but only because so many people are directly affected by this poorly designed road.

via FDOT is Broken. How Do We Fix It? | Transit Miami.

This same culture of having to beg the government for change (without many results) applies to the city government of Coral Gables.