Construction crews continue work on the Coral Gables section of the Underline, a 10-mile linear park and urban trail beneath the Metrorail, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Coral Gables, Fla.
Carl Juste
cjuste@miamiherald
Underline’s future
I am moving to Coral Gables soon. After reading the Miami Herald’s Sept. 18 story, “Coral Gables balks as Underline asks cities to ramp up funding,” I was so disappointed. Having given time and resources to this project for years, including donating the Leesfield Family Garden along the corridor, I expected better from my soon-to-be hometown.
As a private donor, I continue to advocate for this project because I see Underline originator Meg Daly’s vision and want to help bring it to life. The Underline was built as a public-private partnership and I am proud to serve on the board and support its private sponsorship component.
Coral Gables benefits from The Underline’s pickleball and basketball courts, outdoor gym, plazas, free programming, positive publicity and rising property values along the corridor. It is only just for the city to do its part. To pull back and leave this project unmaintained and unsupported would be unjust.
Miami and South Miami deserve applause for stepping up with multi-year funding. Coral Gables should do the same.
Ira Leesfield,
Miami
Support The Underline
The Underline has transformed previously underused land beneath Metrorail into a vibrant public space connecting neighborhoods, encouraging walking and bicycling, supporting cultural programming and bringing residents and visitors together. It is a transportation corridor and a community gathering place. It’s an extraordinary civic asset that improves our quality of life while making Coral Gables more welcoming, accessible and connected.
The Underline can fulfill that promise only if it is properly maintained and operated. Without the same level of service provided in Miami and South Miami, the Coral Gables portion risks becoming less safe, less inviting and less useful, creating an inequitable and fragmented experience along what should be one continuous public space.
Miami and South Miami have already committed funding for The Underline’s maintenance. Coral Gables should do the same. I urge our city leaders to support the funding request and ensure that this remarkable public investment remains clean, safe, active and accessible to everyone.
Mitchell Kaplan,
owner,
Books & Books,
Coral Gables
Underline matters
After reading the Miami Herald article about Coral Gables balking when the nonprofit The Underline asked cities to contribute to a portion of operations and maintenance, I was stunned with the city’s non-collaborative tone.
The Underline was built because of collaboration, not dissention. Our grandsons have been to free events for dogs, Jr. HEAT basketball clinics, soccer classes. They have weeded and tended gardens. They have learned how the community works and that when we work together, we are better.
This matters to me, our family, our grandsons, our residents and the three million-plus visitors already using The Underline.
John Daly,
Coral Gables
Hard numbers
“How much could you save if Amendment 3 passes?” That Sept. 13 Miami Herald headline caught my attention, so I started digging. What I found was enlightening.
Municipal leaders are warning residents about the revenue they could lose if the amendment passes — understandably so. However, amid the news conferences and interviews, they’re failing to explain one critical thing: what does this actually mean, in dollars, to homeowners?
In today’s economy, that matters. Voters hear “$150,000 exemption” and then “$250,000 exemption” and may assume they’ll save far more than they actually will.
Local leaders must show residents the numbers. Provide clear, neutral examples of what homeowners at different property values could save, alongside what lost revenue could mean for police, fire-rescue, infrastructure, libraries and other services. No campaigning necessary. Give voters understandable facts and let them decide.
I ran the numbers and my savings aren’t enough to gamble with services like police or fire-rescue response when I call 911. Others may reach a different conclusion — and that’s democracy.
Now let’s work just as hard at getting people to vote. Those who show up, decide. And whether we agree with their vote or not, we should all be able to live with that.
Mayree Morin Fernandez,
South Miami
Popularity wanes
In South Florida, something is brewing, and it’s not a late September hurricane. Support for Donald Trump among Cuban Americans is slipping. A Miami GOP pollster recently said, “Support is just evaporating. The economy sucks and ICE is just out of control. People feel they didn’t sign up for this,” Axios reported.
The last part of that quote is most telling. Not just among Cuban Americans, the sentiment is brewing all over America. Voters did not “sign up” for ICE’s manhandling of U.S. residents; it’s also the high cost of living. It’s the war with Iran, of which few see any justification, nor any quick end to it. It’s the constant, never-ending lies coming from the man chosen to lead us.
It’s the chaos created by a president who fundamentally lacks even a modicum of impulse control. It’s his sexism and racism, which he barely tries to disguise. His corruption has added billions to his fortune, while the public struggles to achieve or maintain a middle-class lifestyle. It’s a president who makes an anti-democratic, ham-handed attempt to “buy” our vote with a $5,000 “bribe.” Lastly and most importantly for many, it’s Trump’s autocratic bearing and egregious power-grabbing behavior, more fitting to a dictatorial tyrant than a leader in a democracy.
Americans are increasingly aware of what Trump is doing. We do not like what we see. He has asked for the upcoming midterm election to be a referendum on him and his presidency. He may rue that day.
Ken Derow,
Swarthmore, PA
Life in Israel
In the Sept. 22 letter, “Only in Israel,” the author incorrectly states certain things about Israel. Yes, Israel provides “universal” health care, but it is not free. All people must contribute 3-8% of their incomes to one of four approved health insurance plans.
Also, higher education is not free, but costs about $4,000 per year in state institutions (comparable to Miami Dade College’s tuition) and more in private ones. And the military aid the U.S. sends to Israel is spent on American weapons, built in the U.S.
The U.S. could provide similar benefits to its citizens, but doesn’t.
Corey Mass,
Miami Beach
Israel bond rates
The Sept. 11 op-ed, “Miami-Dade raised Israel bond cap, then silenced residents who showed up to object,” builds its entire fiscal argument on numbers that are simply wrong.
The author claimed Israel’s 10-year bonds trade in the “high 3% to low 4%” range. However, at the time the op-ed was published, the interest rate on 10-year bonds offered by the State of Israel and sold through Israel Bonds, also known as Development Corporation for Israel, was 5.75% for the Jubilee bond and 5.60% for the Maccabee bond.
That’s too large of a gap to be a rounding error and undercuts the argument that “there is no fiscally sound reason” for Miami-Dade County to invest in Israel bonds.
Nathan Miller,
spokesperson,
Israel Bonds,
Miami
Cutting Obamacare
Last Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance cited fraud and abuse while gleefully talking about cutting off health insurance for 750,000 Obamacare recipients, many of whom live in Florida.
Contrast this with the universal healthcare provided by virtually all European nations, where healthcare is seen as a basic human right, not the privilege of those who can afford it.
The Trump administration’s heartlessness and lack of any kindness and compassion is breathtaking Its actions are abhorrent and laced with evil, putting it outside the human family.
This will only stop when those who believe in decency and a compassionate way of life take back the reigns of government.
Kenneth E. Barnes, M.D.,
retired,
Miami