Miami is as desirable a destination as there is -- even to the homeless. Well, especially to the New York homeless.
Turns out NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg's new "homeless one-way ticket out of town" program has South Florida square in its sights as a marquee destination. Florida is one of the top requests from NY homeless families who are looking to either reconnect with family or find a new park bench, according to The New York Times.
New York will pay for air, bus or train fare to get homeless families out of the city. Now that's either cruel or ingenious. You decide.
Sure, Miami seems like prime homeless real estate with the sun, no snow, the all night, free Metro Mover and the expensive left overs from Brickell Ave. restaurants. But don't get it twisted. Floridians rank low on most homeless advocacy groups' lists because of their inability to tolerate, help or humanely treat the homeless.
We're sure Bloomberg's administration doesn't mention that while rushing people onto Greyhound buses with a "Welcome to Miami" brochure (by the way, no matter what Bloomberg tells you, that scenic picture of the homeless camp under the Julia Tuttle Causeway bridge is not really waterfront property).
So far, Bloomberg's administration has paid for 550 or so families to get out of town. Bloomberg says the idea saves his city loads of dough compared to the $36,000 cost to care for a homeless family in New York.
Who knows what's the cost on the city that now has to care for the homeless family if they can't reconnect with society. Miamians may be the first to find out.
