Miami’s New Year’s resolutions: Affordable housing and public transit

Picture Miami on New Year’s Day, with partiers leaving Space at 10am and your next-door neighbors launching leftover fireworks from their backyard.

• Do you think the city skyline ever gazes down on us and wonders how it can improve? If these seawalls could talk, we think these would be some of Miami’s New Year’s resolutions for 2023.

Expand public transit

Miami-Dade County announced two major expansions of its public transportation system last year: fast-tracking the construction of a Metrorail connection in North Dade and building a Metromover extension between South Beach and downtown Miami.

Details: The Metrorail plan will expand the rail system from 79th Street north to Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens and then building out seven other stations in the second phase of construction.

• County leaders believe they can begin construction on the Hard Rock line as early as this year, though they need to secure federal funding to do it.
• The Metromover plan will start to take shape this year. Construction could begin as early as 2025.

Rename the Heat arena

Miami can take a joke. Whether it be about our ham-fisted fraudsters, colorful politics or speedo-wearing bicyclists, we like to laugh at ourselves.

• But some jokes get old — especially when the three-letter punchline is permanently emblazoned on our NBA team’s stadium.

State of play: FTX Arena is due for a name change after the cryptocurrency exchange declared bankruptcy and its founder was arrested late last year.

What we’re watching: Who might court Miami-Dade for a new deal.

• Of course, porn company BangBros has already re-introduced its offer to pay $10 million for naming rights on the arena.

Provide more affordable housing

Miami is the least affordable housing market in the U.S., according to RealtyHop’s December Housing Affordability Index of 100 of the most populated cities.

What we’re watching: Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava last summer announced an ambitious plan to get 18,000 new and rehabilitated affordable/workforce housing units in the pipeline this year.

• The county also recently started offering zero-interest loans for condo owners hit with special assessments.

Clean up Biscayne Bay

Pollution — largely from human waste entering the bay from faulty septic systems and sewer line breaks, as well as fertilizer runoff from lawns — has led to massive fish kills, the disappearance of seagrass beds, starving manatees, and a dwindling dolphin population, according to Local 10.

What we’re watching: About $45 million has been made available for improvements to the bay, including funding for home septic systems to be converted to sewers.

• A Miami Beach educational campaign encourages people to pick up dog poop — another source of contamination of the bay.