Monday, November 13, 2006

Parrot Jungle County Commission by gimleteye

Today the Herald reports (page 3B) that the county commission is moving toward solving the woes of mismanagement, incompetence and insider dealing by increasing the number of committees from six to twelve.

That way, every commissioner will have his or her own committee/fiefdom, instead of the divisive smaller number that parcels out influence to the best of breed in the Parrot Jungle.

How does the doubling of committees not also double opportunities for graft and influence peddling?

The suggestion is made by Carlos Gimenez, one of the more astute members of the county commission. Commissioner Gimenez deserves praise for attempting to address the underlying dilemma: how the competition for influence results in the pre-arranged selection of a new chair of the PJCC.

With every passing day, the Miami Dade county commission makes the case for a strong county mayor all by itself.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

With an election for a strong mayor, at least Miami Dade will have a conversation about which community and whose future we want, instead of 13 separate conversations that rarely overlap.

Anonymous said...

What does parrot jungle have to do with the county commission? I don't get it.

Anonymous said...

Gimenez may be doing good things re chairperson and committees but he is not good on large billboards on buildings in d/t Miami. He should hear from us about this. He favors them and the County is in charge.

Anonymous said...

Murals and/or Wallscapes are not a problem. Those in downtown do not mind them in the slightest. The City of Miami is pushing for it, and, by the way, even Katy Sorenson drafted an exemption area in her district along the busway.

As to the height of the buildings downtown, that is the high density district, and unless you want to move the UDB, you need to have infill someplace. Furthermore, right now, dt is not 24 hours. With the new mixed use towers coming in, bringing residents, that will change over the next few years brining economic opportunity to the area.

Contrary to what you may believe, some people actually like to live in a busteling downtown (see Manhattan), and you can have one and still maintain established residential neighborhoods. They are not mutually exclusive.

Anonymous said...

Not all billboards are bad. When done tastefully and artistically, combining the right elements of color, lighting, and artistry, they are absolutely amazing. I for one, would love to see an entertainment district like Times Square somewhere in mainland Miami. Or better yet, like Tokyo's Shibuya District. What a great way to add to Miami's urban character and feel.