The Talk of Downtown
The Sad Story of Lights Gone Dark
How many agencies does it take to change a lightbulb?
Hurricane Irma destroyed many things when it hit Miami two years ago — mild as it was. “Our park lost the lights surrounding it, and darkness has reigned ever since,” lamented one neighbor, Nicola.
Months went by and the lights still lay in disrepair. Nicola eagerly started a campaign to restore them but underestimated its complexity. In the course of months of sending and receiving emails, profound meditations on the nature of lightbulbs and bureaucracies, and a recognition walk around the park, a few trends emerged. For example, linguistically, the mañana syndrome — why do today what can be done tomorrow — had been replaced by the Next Week Syndrome — why do this week what can be done the next.
Patience, Nicola, patience, friends advised. Patience, no matter how elastic, has its limits. Two years to repair lightbulbs is a stroke that would break any camel’s back. Changing the park’s name proved easier, even though it required the City Commission’s approval.
When the ordeal began, the Maurice Ferre park was still Museum Park. Nicola hoped, with reason, that before the park’s rechristening ceremony, convening all the city political luminaries, the lights would be restored to their full brilliance. Alas, when the celebrations subsided and night fell, darkness returned to uglify the park’s smile like missing teeth.
Online Investigative Reporting
Exhibit 1
Nicola’s rhetorical email from March 3, 2019:
No lights still, almost 2 years since Hurricane Irma. Is this possible?
Exhibit 2
Back a few months. Nicola, like any reasonable downtown resident, resorted to the Downtown Neighbors Alliance, the DNA.
Good evening:
Zero lights at bottom of the palm trees… They took 1 year to repair and lights are not working. This is really interesting.
The DNA consults the Bayfront Park Management Trust, BPMT, responsible for the Maurice Ferre Park.
A week later, Nicola insists:
Good evening:
More than a week and still no lights in the park. I think that something very very wrong is happening in managing the repair.
Please let us know
Thanks
The DNA escalated the complaint to the DDA, the DDA to the FPL, FPL to DOT, and back to BPMT. It’s like code, yes. Another resident complains, showing me the broken lights. And adds philosophically: Whatever happened to the famous Truman expression, the bucket stops here? “What bucket? I didn’t take any bucket,” protested a homeless man waking up from a nap in the park.
DDA’s Jennifer responded:
Good afternoon,
See update below. FPL is working on resolving the issue.
Have a great afternoon.
Update:
Good morning, Jennifer.
There is an FPL issue with the electric feeding the park (and PAMM). FPL has been addressing the problem since Saturday morning and continues to do so.
Thank you,
Jose Gell, Interim Director, BPMT
On November 15, FPL, our powerful power monopoly, responds through a Mr. Fernandez:
In reading Mr. Gell’s response it states no FPL maintenance related issues, he did note there may be some Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) lights that may need to be addressed, those are reported to the County’s Public Works department as they are not maintained by FPL.
Exhibit 3
December 5. Update from Nicola:
Only a couple of lights under palm trees are working. More speechless every day …
Maybe, just maybe, the solution is to improvise a commission to inspect the problem, or as they used to say, get to the heart of the matter.
The Walkthrough
They met under the palm trees in front of the Frost Museum of Science, the breeze blowing east to west. The “couple of lights” had returned to darkness. Nicola guided the members of the Improvised Recognizance Commission (IRC) pointing out the obvious: the lights were out.
Early the next day, January 10, the Interim Director replies:
Good to have met you.
To update you on my meeting this morning, it does look as if the City is moving forward with the new contractor, David Mancini & Sons. Mancini will be proving a proposal within the next few days. The first phase would be to prepare the front area leading to the floating dock in time for the boat show.
He hopes to have a better idea of the repairs the following week.
On January 27, Nicola, somewhat desolate:
Good Sunday! Please let us know if there are some updates… It seems the lights got worst instead of better… Sad… And the Cuban Sculpture, Flora, the Collector of Dreams, no work has started to fix the base.
The Interim Director did reply on Monday, January 28.
Good morning, Nicola.
Thanks for the e-mail and photo…. That is worrisome.
I finally found the specifications for the correct light fixture (LED flood light), after the old one was discontinued, and the cost is $880 per light. After my initial shock, I am asking the experts to find me a suitable replacement that is more cost effective.
Flora sculpture: received a good quote to repair — more to come on this.
Best regards.
Exhibit 4
On March 1, 2019, another resident threw her hat to the ring:
Hi All,
Just curious if they checked to ensure that the fixture is the problem. Being that there are so many lights that are out and that they were functioning one day and not functioning the next (as a group), it sounds like the wiring may have a short as opposed to any individual light. What do I know, I’m not an electrician, but just curious if the root of the problem had been thoroughly assessed.
By Now Nicola’s disposition had reached a jazzy cynicism:
Dear J.
The brightest minds in Miami tried to solve this problem for almost 2 years (you read correctly, 2 years) so I am sure they now know what is the problem.
Have a great night.
If I were a superstitious man, more superstitious, I would say the poor lights have been cursed. Then it hit me, that was it, etymology had come to shed light on the case. Hurricane is a Taino word for the evil spirit of the sea.
Final Update Before Publication
The Interim Director has resigned. And the lights? It’s sad, very sad… Wait… A last-minute dispatch from Nicola:
The fixtures have been repaired but the lights, alas, are still out.
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