New Year’s Shooting – A six-year-old boy is expected to recover … Will Miami? 
In times of need, you see what a city is really made of. Miami has been at center of global focus, and international scrutiny since New Years Eve 2010 … when a stray, celebratory bullet fired into the sky hit an Italian child whose family was dining at a restaurant in Miami’s Design District.
6-year-old Andrea Fregonese, ringing in the New Year with his parents, was hit in the stomach by a falling bullet that had been shot into the air on New Year’s Eve… and has been hospitalized since. An unbelievably tragic accident … like so many that occur every year around the world … as a result of guns being fired into the air, celebrating New Year. This six- year-old Italian boy is expected to recover… Will Miami?
I will tell you that what was immediately evident to me was how much Miami Cares. We got a phone call… one on a long list. Chief of Police Miguel Exposito and Mayor Tomas Regalado contacted pillars of the local community by phone, immediately following the accident, rallying the community and local diplomats, gathering support and pulling the community together on behalf of the Italian family visiting Miami … (tourists here for the holiday). Phones rang off the hook across the city. Both the Police Chief and the Mayor visited Andrea and his family in the hospital. An apartment was arranged for, for the parents… as was transportation back and forth to the hospital. Tell me… how can you NOT be proud to live in a community that rallies as well as Miami in a time of need?
Concerns over media coverage, tourism fallout, and a public relations nightmare? As a member of this community, I have seen Miami band together… so many times…and so well… when it really matters. New Year’s 2010 … once again… we saw Miami “care”.
