Category Archives: Miami

They closed the public schools, but (barring something strange, and an announcement at 8:30 tomorrow morning) the law school is not closing tomorrow.

I think both administrations are right. The storm track has shifted a tiny bit away from us, but there's still a lot of uncertainty. We're going to be ok in the morning, but there is an appreciable chance of road chaos in the afternoon, in the unlikely event Fay strengthens and zags. There's often no way for parents to hear about early closures of the schools while at work, nor to get their kids. Law students on the other hand are far less numerous, and generally self-propelled.

We can close the place a lot faster than a public school if we need to. And we probably won't need to. If anything Tuesday looks dicier than Monday, and that too is not looking so bad at present.

Folks in the Keys, or on the west coast of Florida seem to have more to worry about.

Meanwhile, on the home front, we've done almost all our laundry. But we'd have done than anyway.

WHEN FAY IS OVER WATER…IT APPEARS THAT ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR STRENGTHENING THROUGH 72 HR. THUS…THE INTENSITY WILL BE CONTROLLED BY LAND INTERACTION AND THE RESULTING IMPACTS ON THE STORM STRUCTURE. ALL GUIDANCE FORECASTS STRENGTHENING…AND THE INTENSITY FORECAST FOLLOWS SUIT IN BEST AGREEMENT WITH THE SHIPS MODEL. HOWEVER…THIS IS A LOW CONFIDENCE INTENSITY FORECAST. FAY COULD STRENGTHEN RAPIDLY IF IT BECOMES WELL ORGANIZED OVER WATER. ON THE OTHER HAND IT MIGHT NOT STRENGTHEN MUCH AT ALL IF LAND INTERACTION PREVENTS ORGANIZATION.

(from Tropical Storm Fay, Discussion Number 4)

They moved the track just enough east to make it more likely Miami gets roughed up a bit; we're now at a 50% cumulative probability to get hit by at least tropical storm level winds, up from about a third last night. Tropical Storm level winds knock down trees, cause some flooding, but other than losing power (almost none of our region's cables are buried, everyone is too cheap to pay the upfront cost, not to mention the higher maintenance), we tend to be fine. True hurricane winds do more, depending how strong they are, although the weakest technical hurricane isn't that much worse that tropical storm.

So we face two known unknowns: the track — which is always uncertain, as hurricanes zig and zag in ways we don't yet know how to predict (and a tiny difference is huge to the people underneath) — and, more unusually, great uncertainty about intensity. There's often some, but not this much. I hear via the grapevine from the hurricane experts at RSMS that the envelope of possibilities stretches up to a category three hurricane, which would be a pretty nasty one.

We filled up the car; did some shopping last night. I got some gas to run the generator. Roads seem a little busier than usual, but that could have been true just with back-to-school (public schools start Monday, as does the Law School). The gas station had no queues. We have hurricane glass now, so my major per-hurricane activity of putting up metal shutters is a thing of the past.

We don't have a giant ton of food, but we have enough to get by for several days. I feel like I should do more to prepare, but can't think what.

Someone sent me a link to this kicky, kitschy, video of Coral Gables in 1950, from an ad promoting Chevrolets.

Many of the scenes are recognizable today, although Parrot Jungle has moved from its wonderful nearby location.

UM features at the beginning; campus attire has changed even more than the buildings, most of which are still around if not so spanking new any more.

Eye on Miami, increasingly the hot local government blog in Miami, offers us a big dream in, Humanity's last innings:

In Miami, politicians like the green Mayor of Miami Manny Diaz have circled their wagons around a $3 billion plan to build more attractions, including a professional baseball stadium at terms that guarantee a financial windfall for the private owners of The Florida Marlins.

I wish our coral reef were a baseball stadium.

It really is amazing that with all the things Miami needs — paying for better schools, paying for cleaner water & waste disposal, that the big project being pushed by the Mayor is a new baseball stadium and a tunnel to the port. Unfortunately, the lawsuit seeking a referendum on the the $3billion project rushed through city government at the speed of lightening seems to be running out of steam. I would have liked to see at least a referendum on this project, which while it may have some good parts seems dubious over-all.

At neighboring FIU, founding Dean Leonard Strickman has announced his resignation, effective a year from now. (This is the usual heads-up to allow a school to find a replacement.) Strickman's tenure was noted by several achievements, notably recruiting a serious faculty and steering FIU law to accreditation in the shortest possible time.

Interestingly, the announcement appears in FIU Law's online newspaper which appears to have a thriving comments section. One of the goals of UM's draft strategic plan is to create an online space for student-faculty and student-student interaction. Whether ours is going to be purely student-run, or have a dose of administrative intervention remains to be determined as do many questions about focus, access and comments policy. Perhaps here UM can learn from FIU's example.

Personally, whoever rides herd on it, I hope we create a forum that is as open as possible — while having some sort of mechanism to promote civility.