Half-full or Half-empty

A debate on the quality of Miami started last week with an article in Time Magazine that said in so many words that Miami was a dirt ball, glammed over by too many condos, too much traffic, too high a cost of living, and too much traffic.

Some of those complaints are valid.

A few days later Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Co.) lashed out at Miami calling it a "third world country" and blaming it for the country's illegal immigration problem.

Then George Gittoes, an Australian documentary filmmaker, released a documentary on Miami in which he declares the city is more dangerous than Baghdad.

My eds asked me to write a response. Keep in mind it's tongue-in-cheek. No one who lives in Miami (and who has good sense) thinks this area is problem free. I swear the traffic (and more so the bad drivers) are gonna send me to Rageaholics Anonymous. And property taxes are gonna drive me into the poor house. Folks here know it can get crazy, but it's a choice to live here or not. And for negatives, there are plenty of positives too. I gotta tell you, I'm not complaining, walking around today - in December - in a t-shirt. So I say to the critics, lighten up. And if you can't lighten up, then fully clean your own backyards before starting in on this yard.

Anyway, here's the response I wrote to Time, Tancredo, and Gittoes. It ran in today's Miami Herald.