THE NOIR SIDE OF RAILROADS PART II (MIAMI EDITION)

 Miami is not known for its dark images.  When one thinks of railroads, the Sunshine State is not on the list.  And that is the way the Chamber of Commerce wants it to be.  When the average rust belter thinks of Florida, and more particularly, South Florida, these are the preferred images or, ahem, propaganda.  

Contrary to popular conceptions parroted by the media, there are people in Miami who do not own $100,000.00 sports cars or live in mega million dollar manses along the ocean.  

Better to believe the illusion than experience the reality.  And a hard, cold reality it is.  Forty years ago, Miami Dade County or "Dade" County back then, built or created what every large American city thought was the panacea to a perceived urban problem:  congested highways.  Why not provide a rail system from the suburbs to the city and persuade (i.e. hoodwink) gullible taxpayers into paying for such  a boondoggle.  The local, state, and federal government would provide a small subsidy and the fares would cover the rest.  Optimism was high.  After all, every mass transit rail project in America has become a rat hole down which is sucked trillions of dollars so why let the truth get in the way.  So Metro Rail became Metro Fail.  And with good reason.  Americans love their cars.  Almost as much as government planners love to control people's lives.  There are of course secondary and tertiary benefits to mass transit not reflected in the raw costs.  But Miami's version of mass transit provides some images not normally associated with the Magic City.  Let's face it.  Can you imagine Don Johnson in the '80's or the Miami Heat of recent vintage posing around these lovely railway visuals?