Earlier this month, with Parkland fresh on everyoneâs minds, the Florida legislature dove into the first real attempt at gun reform in decades. And we kept a close eye on their work, tracking their progress every day for two weeks.
Hundreds of you wrote in to share your thoughts and give us feedback on our coverage âââand weâre super grateful for that.
Some thought our standard for defining âprogressâ on gun reform was too low. Some thought it wasnât our place to have an opinion on what âprogressâ is. Some said we should stick to local events. (Man, do we feel you on that some days. đ)
But the thing is, we care about the future of Miami, and helping it move toward being a safe, inclusive, welcoming place for all of us. That means being unapologetic about things like furthering diversity, talking about climate change as a fact, supporting equality for LGBT members of the community, and responding to evidence about what keeps our communities safe.
In short: Youâre right. Weâre not neutral. And this is why.
Ouch. If you bugged out a bit when you rolled over and looked at your Uber receipts on Sunday morning, no, itâs not just you â it really is getting more expensive. Rates in Miami just rose about 10 percent. And no, that increase isnât going to the drivers. (Miami Herald)
WTH. The Miami Beach government put 115 employees on notice when they didnât report back to work immediately after Hurricane Irma, even if they were late because they evacuated out of town. It fired at least one of them. Now County Commissioner Sally Heyman is trying to make it illegal to punish an employee for obeying an evacuation order. Got thoughts? The public hearing is April 18. (Miami New Times)
History lesson. As some of South Floridaâs last remaining pine rockland habitat gets bulldozed to make way for a strip mall, lots of folks are asking, âBut how?â Hereâs how: Since the early 2000s the University of Miami has been trying to do something with the land, and in 2014 the university, then led by congressional candidate Donna Shalala, sold off a big chunk of it. That decision opened the rare bit of forest habitat up to the destruction weâre seeing today. (Miami New Times)
Celeb status. Soccer star David Beckham, who fought for years to bring a soccer team to MIami, has a message for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos: choose Miami. He makes a little cameo in this pitch video with City of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. (The Next Miami)
No longer the âGunshine Stateâ? For the first time since Florida passed new gun control laws earlier this month, a Broward judge ruled that police could temporarily seize a local manâs guns and ammunition. Called the ârisk protectionâ or âred flagâ law, itâs a clear sign that weâre in a new era for gun use in Florida. (Sun-Sentinel)
No more horsing around. The City of Miami Beach revoked South Beach club Mokaiâs license earlier this month after it brought a real live horse into the club on a packed night. No bueno. But the city is giving Mokai a second chance, with two very important caveats â no more live animals in the club and they have to give a hefty donation to a horse farm. (Miami.com)
It begins. Itâs official: one of the FIU bridge collapse survivors has sued FIGG Bridge Engineers and Munilla Construction Management (MCM), the two companies involved in the design and construction of the pedestrian bridge. (Miami Herald)
Follow the money. Weâre learning a lot more about MCM, which is super well-connected in Miami. How connected? Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenezâs recently departed communications director, Mike Hernandez, just became MCMâs crisis communications man. And last year, Gimenez intervened on MCMâs behalf when it didnât get a contract it wanted. Amid all this, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said criminal charges are unlikely â and interestingly, she said that before she interviewed any witnesses. Hm. Meanwhile, it looks like the water is getting a little hot for MCM â the company deleted its Twitter account earlier today. (Miami Herald, Doug Hanks via Twitter, CBS Local)
One little thing. In yesterdayâs newsletter, we wrote that âMiami-Dade chose to build a bridge to separate [pedestrians] from drivers,â rather than make the road safer. We werenât talking about Miami-Dade County Government; we were referring to various decision makers in the Miami-Dade area. Apologies for the confusion.