Dueling Column: Our destiny: take over the fairgrounds

Fabienne Fleurantin/ Staff Writer

I’m pro #ExpandFIU.

Even America had their own Manifest Destiny and had to expand all the way to the west.

If not, where would California and Nevada be? Non-existent.

But in all seriousness, there are many benefits to expanding Modesto Maidique Campus. You know all those parking complaints that students have? Maybe now they can stop if we relocate the Miami Dade Fair and Exposition to someplace more convenient. Better yet, a place that will not interfere with any public territory.

Public Relations Senior and Creative Director of Public Relations Student Society of America, Kesha St. Louis, thinks expanding onto the fairgrounds would give the university a lot more potential.

“I’m for the campus being expanded. There’s a lot of landscaping here. I read an article online on the reason why they wanted to expand the university. It’s unfortunate that the Fair is only here for a month throughout the year and the rest of the year, the fairgrounds stay empty,” St. Louis said.

Some reasons why the relocation of the fairgrounds would help the university are because of academic and research space, incubator, entrepreneurship, and data research, undergraduate student housing facilities and support space, according to expand.fiu.edu.

With this new land, we could build a few parking garages and lots so that faculty, staff and students can find parking spaces comfortably without having to tear each other’s heads off — literally.

Plus, the added bonus of having more housing on campus! How great would that be? No more waiting lists for those eager students who are excited to live on campus, but can’t because it takes forever. Living on campus would accommodate some students better because it would cut costs on commute and gas, which could be invested towards living expenses and meal plans.

Even the voters of Miami-Dade county are with it!

“Miami-Dade County voters approved a plan from Florida International University that would let the school expand onto part of the fairgrounds on 107th Avenue in Miami-Dade County,” according to nbcmiami.com. “With 62 percent of the precincts in Miami-Dade County reporting, the yes vote garnered 65 percent support, while the no vote came in at 35 percent.”

President Mark B. Rosenberg was even quoted by NBC, stating his excitement about this upcoming venture.

“The voters have spoken and they have said ‘Yes’ to FIU,” said FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg. “We are thankful for the support of Miami-Dade voters, including FIU students, alumni, faculty, staff and the entire FIU family. We also would like to thank the county commission and Mayor Carlos Gimenez and his staff for their hard work and the vision they have shown for the future of FIU and Miami-Dade County.”

It has even been reiterated, for those who are concerned about the cost of this relocation, that “FIU said no county money will be used for the expansion work.”

The problem is though, the Fair refuses to move. They still have 70 years left on their lease and will only be removed if the event is evicted from the premises.

“In a letter to County Hall, the fair dismissed as “unacceptable” a proposal that it move to fairgrounds equipped with only temporary buildings and structures that could be removed once the four-week event ends every spring. That scenario called for the fair to continue using a collection of buildings at the Tamiami site for a year-round schedule of smaller collectible shows, consumer expos and banquets that account for about 9 cents of every dollar the fair’s parent organization earned last year,” as stated on miamiherald.com.

Yes, it may be a hassle to find another location to put the Fair, and I know that the territory is used for other events besides the Fair, but the ends justify the means. A university is meant to expand. It’s just human nature. The population will never remain the same. It’s steadily increasing and with that growth comes the possibility of change and hence, expansion.

I’m pretty sure that no matter the distance, the impact that the Fair has on the people who’ve attended it will not cease and that love will move with the Fairgrounds.

 

Read the other side: Students living in pro-expansion bubble

 

DISCLAIMER:

The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of Panther Press Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.

 

Photo taken from Flickr.