Biz writer Fields says goodbye to Miami Herald

Miami Herald economics reporter Gregg Fields, who is leaving the newspaper to head the new business journalism program at Florida International University, said goodbye in Monday’s newspaper.

Fields wrote, “Roughly 20 years ago, I walked into 1 Herald Plaza.

“It was the era of Miami Vice, and I soon learned it was only slightly fictional. The first night in town, my car was broken into. A stroll in Bicentennial Park ended when some homeless people chased me out. Shopping on Lincoln Road? My choices were wigs and beads.

“But Miami’s murky underworlds and dazzling sunlight soon worked their wizardry.

“I decided to settle in Northeast Miami, in a ZIP Code recently dubbed one of the country’s hottest. In 1987, it was considerably cooler. The late business columnist Larry Birger begged me not to buy near Biscayne Boulevard. The owner wanted 10 percent more than he’d paid seven years before — outrageous.”

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