Some Municipalities Have All the.......Luck.

This past Sunday, I saw a Miami Herald Neighbors article about Miami Beach.  On Normandy Isle, at the confluence of North Shore Drive and 71st Street, there is an obelisk, and it's in the middle of what looks like an elevated pool.  Clearly, the intention was that this installation be a fountain.  The Herald article said this installation was in fact intended to be a fountain, but that it had never functioned as one.  There was something about plumbing or electric power that had never, apparently, been connected.

The great news for Miami Beach, though, is that the City Council has designated $350K to rehabilitate this fountain.  It sounds weird to me.  I don't think building my house would cost $350K today.  Are they being ripped off, because they're a municipality?  Probably.  It's an awful lot of money, just to fix a fountain that never functioned as a fountain anyway.

The State is in the process of improving 6th Avenue in the Park, from 121st Street to the bridge to Miami Shores.  They're resurfacing.  This is less than half a mile, right?  About $900K.  I know.  Crazy.  But that's what it costs, and that's what the State is spending.

Were you in favor of the new Florida Marlins stadium where the Orange Bowl used to be?  Me, neither.  And there was lots of wrangling over it.  The cost to build that useless thing was about $525M.  Yes, two of those, and you've spent over a billion dollars.  The only question was whence the money would come: maybe some from the State, maybe the County, certainly the Marlins.

I could give you plenty more examples, but I doubt it's necessary.  The fact is, we in BP are currently trying to raise about $5500 to buy ourselves a beautiful piece of public art, and it's not easy.  How can other places scare up hundreds of thousands, or hundreds of millions, of dollars, often for something no one wants or needs, and we can't easily collect $5500?  The cost of rehabbing the fountain on the Beach is clearly inflated.  So is the cost of resurfacing a few tenths of a mile of 6th Avenue.  I don't even want to think what a rip-off Marlins stadium was.  The sculpture we want to buy was cheap.  We got a wonderful piece at a deeply discounted price.  And it's not easy to raise $5500?

Let me be candid.  The sculpture didn't cost $5500.  It cost $6000.  But Chuck Ross, who laid out the money, and took a risk, is "leaving $500 on the table."  He only wants $5500 back.  And I'll match him.  There, now we only need $5000.  We have donations already, from some of our neighbors, and they total about $841.  I'll tell you one of the people who donated: Heidi Shafran.  We pay her, and she gives back.  This should not be hard.

Think it over.  Take a look at The Ballplayer.  It's in Griffing/Founders' Park.  Do you like it?  Do you want the Village to keep it?  Donate something.  And the more of your neighbors you find to join you, the less you have to donate on your own.  Let's wrap this up.