HomeMy WebLinkAboutSubmittal-Letter of Endorsement-Dr. Charles C. BohlAugust 6, 2009
Letter of Endorsement in Favor of Miami2l Submitted by Dr. Charles C. Bohl
Submitted at City Chambers and via e-mail to Mayor Diaz, Commissioner Angel Gonzalez,
Commissioner Marc Samoff, Commissioner Joe M. Sanchez, Commissioner Tomas P. Regalado, and
Commissioner Michelle Spence -Jones
Dear Mayor Diaz and Commissioners,
The City of Miami has the potential to become a great urban city of the 21st century to take its place
alongside New York, London, Chicago, Paris and other cities as one of the premier urban Da*16
The failure of the existing codes and regulations, cobbled together over many decades and never
conceived in a comprehensive manner to guide the city's development, has resulted in a fragmented and
often hostile public realm of unpleasant streets, exposed parking garages, poor transitions between intense
high rise development and residential neighborhoods, disconnected and poorly integrated public gathering
spaces, and frankly ugly commercial corridors.
Critics will come before you today presenting many complaints and throwing everything they can against
the wall to see what might stick, including the indefensible suggestions that the status quo is acceptable,
or that existing regulations could be "tweaked" to produce different, better results, an experiment that has
already been carried out over previous decades with often disastrous and regularly disappointing results.
There are special interests, individual interests, and NIMBY interests very adept at arguing against
change, but Miami2l represents the collective public interest. Miami2l will provide a new beginning, a
comprehensive yet flexible guide for the future development of the city and a fair compromise between
extreme positions of opponents that are at odds with one another. Miami2l will provide the guiding
framework for the city of Miami to finally blossom into a beautiful, walkable, tropical urban destination
in which private and public investments are coordinated to produce an outstanding public realm equal to
its growing importance as an international city of business, the arts, culture, and tourism.
I urge the commissioners to reject the special interests and vote in favor of the collective civic interest of
the city and approve Miami2l.
Sincerely,
Charles Bohl
PUBLIC RFOR
Dr. Charles C. Bohl, Director ITEM / aP3
Graduate Program in Real Estate Development and Urbanism '
0N
University of Miami
http://arc.miami.edu/programs/mredu
Dr. Bohl is an expert in community building, place making, planning and urban design. He is the author
of the best-selling ULI book, Place Making: Developing Town Centers, Main Streets and Urban Villages.
Director, Master of Real Estate Development and Urbanism Program, University of Miami where he is a
tenured associate professor. Vice Chair, Urban Land Institute South Florida & Caribbean District Council
and national ULI in the Community Advisory Committee, and a member of the American Institute of
Architects, the American Planning Association, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
08 0/,3 ict — SL,�6►n►tak Letter of Endo rserrev,Z Tr Gur(efS
09 - 0/07 Z`t'