The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts is the diamond in the cultural jewelry box of Miami-Dade County. Like the sun in the center of the solar system, all the other gems circle its orbit.
(Emily Cardenas for Biscayne Times)
Catching a show at the Arsht recently resulted in a $40 parking fee.
The problem is, the ever-shrinking and overpriced area parking options are making the Arsht more and more out of reach.
To be clear, this is not their fault.
Ground broke on construction for the performing arts center in 2001 on land donated to Miami-Dade County. Preservationists cried about the need to save the Art Deco tower belonging to an old Sears store, so world-renowned architect César Pelli had to design around it.
There are a lot of things I remember about the design phase in the 1990s. Many people warned county officials at the planning helm about the necessity of allocating enough space toward parking. Nobody listened. Between the issue of land availability and cost overruns, everyone decided it was better to just get the thing built and worry about parking later. There were private lots in the area, after all. There was Metrorail. Eye roll here.
County officials and philanthropists spun a tale about how arts lovers would do whatever it took to get to their center, parking or no parking.
Well, so far, they’ve been right, but for how much longer? Arts patrons are being taken for granted, they are aging and they are getting tired.
We’ve lost the immense lot in front of the Ziff Ballet Opera House thanks to the eyesore of a construction site for the new suspension bridge now targeted for completion in 2024. A lot close to the Knight Concert Hall was eliminated a while back. All that’s left is a small lot that’s catty-corner to the Ziff run by a private operator who’s gouging Arsht patrons. When that gets easily filled, we are left to park blocks away at the old Omni Mall and walk dark streets to the theater with no security. Not what I would call safe.
(Emily Cardenas for Biscayne Times)
The view in front of the Arsht Center of the old parking lot, which is now a construction site for a suspension bridge.
In a period of 30 days, I’ve been charged $15, $30 and $40 for three hours of parking in that remaining tiny lot. I can’t prove it, but it seems to me they’re following the show schedule to reprogram parking machines according to how big of an audience they are expecting – with Broadway Across America shows triggering the highest parking fees.
This is an abject failure of Miami-Dade County government, which has left the Arsht Center to its own devices without finding a permanent solution to the parking nightmare of their own making.
The neglect is doing great harm, not only to the Arsht, but also to the anchor cultural institutions with residencies there who depend on easy access to the venue for their patrons. Between bridge construction and roadway detours, rock piles and cranes for a view, next-to-no parking and runaway parking fees, people’s tolerance is being sorely tested.
Inflation is out of control, but nobody can blame inflation and supply chain issues for why parking rates are souring at the only parking lot left closest to the Arsht. That’s just greed.
The Arsht is doing everything in its power to help patrons, like pushing valet parking and striking an arrangement with a residential tower around the block. When buying a ticket at the box office you can pre-pay for parking in that garage. Unfortunately, it’s not nearly enough to solve the problem.
Performing artists couldn’t work for nearly two years when the institutions they depend on for their livelihoods were shut down thanks to COVID. The Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs did a heroic job keeping the cultural community afloat, but now it’s time to deal with the elephant in the room – parking. It’s not going away.
(Emily Cardenas for Biscayne Times)
Emily Cardenas is the executive editor of Biscayne Times
We will gladly keep showing our vaccine cards and keep masking up for as long as it takes. We will put up with the metal detectors, purse checks and body wands. Arriving an hour early to be fortunate enough to snag a $40 parking spot, however, is simply abusive.
It’s time for arts patrons to raise their voices in disgust. The arts institutions aren’t doing it because they’re afraid to bite the hand that feeds them.
Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and this county commission inherited this mess, but they can fix it. The sustainability of the world-class arts community their predecessors built depends on it.
In case you didn’t know, parking at the garage built for the Broward Center for the Performing Arts costs $15 all the time.
Miami deserves better.
Emily Cardenas is the executive editor of Biscayne Times. She previously worked as a producer at WTXF in Philadelphia and at WSCV, WFOR and WPLG in Miami.