So a lot has been said recently on other blogs and various sources about how the Southeast Florida area cannot handle any more development due to transportation, water and sewer issues…
However there’s one thing nobody ever seems to want to talk about these days …. We’ve got smog.
This is what happens on any day without a strong breeze off the ocean or Everglades (what’s left thereof).
This is the view of Miami from Okeechobee Station in Hialeah with no wind. The air reeks like hot garbage and tailpipe.
This is the same view on a day with a strong sea breeze. You can just see it starting to whip up the hotter wet air from over the land and generate some rain clouds.
Uh, we have a problem.
Decades ago, we got dinged by the EPA for this situation; a system of mandatory vehicle smog checks was put into place. As soon as a single set of air quality measurements showed our pollution levels to be in compliance, governor Jeb Bush saw to it that the inspections stopped, then promptly gutted the air quality monitoring and saw to it that future monitoring would require a certification that doesn’t exist.
Oh well. Just file it under “things that don’t exist”, just like climate change.
And now as a bonus, here’s part of why nobody can reliably use the transit system. These are Westinghouse train control tone couplers. They are used to take cab signal and automation commands onto the rail line. Missing signals = none shall pass. Check out what excellent condition they’re in!
