Howard Frank neglected to mention that the Miami Art Museum is planned for a site that’s currently a waterfront public park. Using comparable sales data from the recent Genting land purchase, the city of Miami is providing MAM with a site worth well over $150 million. While the county is expected to provide $100 million, the true cost to the taxpayers will exceed $400 million because you must calculate the cost of debt service. Therefore, taxpayers are contributing well over $500 million to MAM even though it is scorned in the art world.
The taxpayers of Miami-Dade County are the losers at every step of this embarrassing venture. How many small local arts groups will be defunded to pay for MAM and its new grandiose building on prime waterfront land? Peter Ehrlich, Miami
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/14/2546583/were-all-losers.html#ixzz1gcHisI6V