Let the Circle be free

Miami Circle rounds a corner toward public view

After nearly a decade of delay, the public soon might be able to visit the Miami Circle, the prehistoric artifact saved from downtown developers' bulldozers.Nearly a decade after its discovery on prime downtown riverfront real estate, the 38-foot-wide circle remains fenced off, reburied under a layer of weeds, nearly engulfed by the concrete cliffs rising around it--utterly inaccessible to the taxpayers who bought it for $26.7 million.

Now, government officials and a South Florida museum are seeking public comment on four detailed proposals, part of a reenergized effort to open the prehistoric site to the schoolchildren and other South Floridians who rallied to save it from bulldozers.

The new target dates: open access by the end of 2009 and limited tours later this year, which would mark the 10th anniversary of the circle's serendipitous discovery.Comment:  For more on the Miami Circle, see America's Stonehenge No. 3.