Free Parking – Is the new Miami juvenile courthouse really more accessible?

Alan Mishael has been up to some provocateuring for justice with his Request for Information on Free or Reduced-Rate Parking For Volunteers and Poor People at the New Juvenile Courthouse, and the AOC’s soon-to-be-famous response of “let them valet.”

I am very excited about the new courthouse. I have never missed an opportunity to point out that the current Juvenile Courthouse stands as a dilapidated architectural witness to the benign neglect of the families and children that pass through the dependency system. I applaud everyone who has worked hard to get this accomplished, because many thought they would never live to see it.

But, I think the parking question is a valid one: for all its warts, the current JCC at least has some kind of parking law immunity that allows people to leave their cars on any reasonably flat surface and have nobody say anything about it. (Just don’t park in the circle in the front because blocking access to the churro cart will get you towed faster than whatever period of time the clerk’s office is answering the phones these days.) It’s not just court personnel who go there daily: volunteer GALs, case managers, police officers, pro bono attorneys, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, and parents. This will add a $6 surcharge for each court trip, sometimes just to have their hearing reset.

Much was made in the AOC response letter about the fact that the new courthouse is right on the Metrorail line. (Also: they recommend you use jitneys? lol.) I wondered how much time that would actually save parents and relatives coming from all over our unnaturally (or naturally, which is the problem) shaped county. The answer: some, but not much. Using Google Maps as a reasonable estimate, I calculated the travel schedule required to get someone to a 9:00am hearing at the New Courthouse versus the Old Courthouse. As you can see below, the biggest winners are those in Kendall, Homestead, and North Beach, who save 26-28 minutes. The biggest losers (or non-winners) are those in Carol City and Liberty City. Hialeans kind of break even. Thirty minutes is no small amount, but it won’t prevent someone from losing their job(s) when they still have almost two hours of travel time each way. Case managers from His House Children’s Home in North Miami would spend two hours in transit each way (sometimes having to take a bus, the Tri-rail, and then the Metrorail), versus 25 minutes driving.

* Time you would have to leave in order to arrive at the courthouse by 9:00am. 

Students of South Florida geography will immediately note that the New Courthouse seems to have become more accessible to people based on their race and social class. That says more about public transportation in Miami than any prejudice by the courthouse planners. Maybe this will be an opportunity for MDT to recalculate some routes to make the courthouse more accessible.

Still, having a courthouse nearly two hours away from a community it serves seems indefensible. It has been floated for years and I float it again here: dependency court should have satellite hearings. Once the files are electronic (hahaha), there is no good reason not to hold court in Homestead and North Miami once a week and conduct motions hearings and other non-witness hearings by teleconference. This will require a lot of planning, yes, but we will have plenty of time to do that while we’re sitting in our jitney at 7:13 in the morning.

Conclusion: The New Courthouse is good. The lack of low-cost or free parking is bad. Miami public transit is rotten. We can always do better and should try.