Critic Robert Fulford wrote of legendary civic preservationist Jane Jacobs that she "came down firmly on the side of spontaneous inventiveness of individuals, as against abstract plans imposed by governments and corporations."  With certain alterations, the same could be said of author and journalist Trisha Posner, who penned the popular Health Watch column in Miami's Ocean Drive magazine.  
Posner was fired for expressing her opinion on a YouTube video about regulations affecting her South Beach neighborhood.  Like many rejuvenated communities in the United States, Posner's historic south Fifth Street has become the Tribeca of Miami, a fashionable, trendy nightspot with a maelstrom of growth in hotels, restaurants and boutiques that have out-priced many long-term residents.  
Local activist Frank Del Vecchio asked Posner if she would appear in the eight-minute Close the Loophole video, directed by Emmy award-winning documentarian Robyn Symon, to state her belief that a loophole that allows popular local restaurants such as Prime One Twelve and Devito South Beach to exist in her residential neighborhood should be amended to limit the amount of seats in the establishments in proportion to their number of rooms.  Her segment began, "Hi, I'm Trisha Posner. I'm a journalist and columnist for Ocean Drive magazine. I am married to Gerald Posner, the author."  Within a few hours after her appearance, she was fired by Ocean Drive publisher Jerry Powers.  
Posner was aghast and bewildered.  Attractive and comely, as a health columnist she is an unlikely candidate as a civic instigator; but those qualities belie Posner's buffalo stance on doing what she feels is right for her community.  "I hate being in the public eye and I prefer to be low key," Posner told Wikinews in an interview.  "To do the  video I was nervous.  Only in person do I feel comfortable."  Wikinews reporter David Shankbone recently spoke with Posner.
DS:  What were the circumstances surrounding your dismissal?
DS:  Did you receive a call from Jerry Powers?
DS:  Had you informed the magazine of your appearance beforehand?
DS:  Did you ever have any other problems at the magazine?
DS:  Why do you think Powers fired you?
DS:  Has any other employee of Ocean Drive appeared publicly before and been identified as such?
DS:  Your husband, author Gerald Posner, wrote a piece in The Huffington Post about your dismissal.  Several of the comments to it state that since Ocean Drive is a large glossy magazine dependent upon advertising from the entertainment industry, that you bit the hand that fed you.  How do you respond to such criticism?
DS:  Some of the comments that were made in HuffPo were that even though it was despicable that you were fired for expressing your opinion on a civic matter, that you should have expected it. Do you think comments like that are par for the course of apathy in the United States today, where people disagree with something, but shrug their shoulders instead?
DS:  Another comment said, "The magazine itself sounds like a total contribution of everything that [is] wrong with America right now. Instead of promoting smart growth and longevity, it prostitutes itself to every new development, even at the cost of other developments (advertisers) who will lose out when this new one opens."  What are your thoughts on the magazine?
DS:  What are your feelings about Jerry Powers?

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Interview with dismissed Ocean Drive columnist Trisha Posner