Don't shoot the messenger by gimleteye

Many real estate brokers and financiers attribute the collapse of Miami’s residential real estate markets to sensational news reports.

In fact, the mainstream media is late to the after-party.

We would all have benefited from regular doses of scepticism from the Miami Herald during the run-up of residential units in the city and county far in excess of historic “absorption” rates for new construction.

This would have given legs to planning initiatives like Miami 21 before plan and permit approvals for a thousand condos set like concrete.

But that’s the condo market. In the struggling market for production family homes, or, sprawl-- the Miami Herald has been very quiet.

There are some simple reasons why.

Underlying ownership of condos is usually distributed to big financial investors.

Tract housing, with the exception of Lennar, is a home grown industry dependent on decisions at County Hall, not city hall.

County Hall exists for zoning and re-zoning so production home builders can plow more houses into green fields abutting the Everglades and Biscayne National Park.

The biggest law firms in South Florida—take Greenberg Traurig for instance—built their practices on these zoning changes, otherwise known as hard currency of political office in south Florida.

Top lawyers in this field are pals with Herald executives and always have been. It is an exclusive circle, reinforced by the advertising dollars in the real estate section of the newspaper.

We are not getting the stories we need from the mainstream media: how historic low interests rates, that pumped up the housing bubble, are running straight into the hard reality of a weak dollar, massive federal deficits and the trade imbalance.

In time the story will unfold and many of those real estate brokers now blaming mainstream media will be looking for new lines of work.

When that happens, don't shoot the messenger.

"Miami Today" Strong Mayor by gimleteye

We don't know what to think about Michael Lewis, long-time publisher of the conservative Miami Today, where businesses flock to read about progress and growth and visionary leadership.

For this reason, we read it infrequently. We fundamentally disagree with news that reads like a Chamber of Commerce press release.

Nevertheless, we are always impressed with the publisher's tight-rope performance on the editorial page. We suspect that Mr. Lewis, like us wants the Miami-Dade county cesspit to be pumped out and doused with lime.

(Would some please just put the Miami Dade Ethics Commission down ... if county commissioners won't tighten its charter, and they won't, the fairest thing to do would be to put the Ethics Commission out of its misery.)

Like his brethren at the Miami Herald, Mr. Lewis is ever careful to nudge but never push or poke the powerful who advertise in his paper and are mostly responsible for the mess of Miami--as described for a national audience in the recent edition of Time Magazine.

No doubt, Mr. Lewis would cite the fiscal necessities of running a newspaper as a main reason for editorial caution. It is a business-friendly world after all.

But Mr. Lewis shares our disgust with the county commission--which we have nicknamed astringently: the Parrot Jungle County Commission.

In a recent editorial, Mr. Lewis lambasts the county commission for one delay after another, at taxpayer expense, of the vote for a strong mayor.

In its pervasive incompetence, corruption, and mismanagement of the public health and welfare of Miami Dade county-- Florida's largest county-- a parrot-like majority the thirteen commissioners have made a better argument for a strong mayor than Mayor Carlos Alvarez could ever make himself. On this, we agree.

But we disagree that a strong mayor will only further politicize county departments.

In reality, the pressure on county departments right now, under the supposedly "professionalized" selection of county department heads, could scarcely be more extreme.

The influence of lobbyists on behalf of meddling county commissioners-- the worst of whom is Natacha Seijas-- has created a pervasive climate of fear, especially among agencies and staffers charged with regulatory responsibilities. That is how commissioners like Seijas want it.

Mr. Lewis does not begin to understand how destablized county departments are today.

The problems didn't begin with the current county manager, George Burgess. Not at all. Steve Shiver, former Mayor of Homestead, county manager, and now a lobbyist for developers, can claim that responsibility. What Shiver proved to county department heads was that all local government is political.

Miami's mainstream media executives, like Mr. Lewis and executives at the Herald, imagine they are part of a delicate balancing act with big law firms, big developers, and the public interest.

But the balance to which they are committed is a construct imposed by a wealthy, insulated elite.

In this behavior, we are reminded of Jared Diamond's excellent book, "Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed" and evidence that a repetitive pattern of failure is the presence of an elite insulated from criticism and unwilling to adapt.

Miami Today reinforces that pattern, along with its companions at One Herald Plaza soon to be another condo in the sky.

Miami Herald's Oil Slick Reporting and How About That Rebecca Wakefield?

Speaking of lack of follow up by the weak paper, The Miami Herald (read previous post and comments to that post):
Whatever happened to that land deal that County Commission Chair (and bully) Joe Martinez’s wife made that Scott Hiaasen reported? The Herald’s hotshot lawyers should have cracked that one by now and got the news to the readers. We need to know about that deal, since they signed a joint return they are both expected to have done their due diligence. The IRS doesn’t take that innocent spouse crap so why should we. He can’t claim he didn’t know about the details of her deal nor can he claim it is not part of the public record. He profited from the deal and he had to pay taxes on the deal — I submit to you it should be of public record because it is a joint return so it is his deal too.

Specifically in Schedule D for Martinez’s wife, she claims she had 1/3 of a land contract for a little over a year. She paid $50,000 for her share. She sold her share for $194,000. If she had 1/3 share -- the whole piece was a $150,000 purchase and sold for almost $600,000????????

Something does not seem kosher. Real estate does not escalate that much in a year even under the best of circumstances. Unless you know someone or something. What gives Herald how about some follow up? Who were the partners on that deal?

On another note, have you been checking out Rebecca Wakefield weekly in the Sun Post? She can really turn a phrase. Rebecca is one of my favorite writers, very funny, here is a quote from a recent Haskins/Sarnoff column but you really have to read the whole thing to appreciate her writing:

“You would think Marc had torn the heads off all Linda’s Barbie dolls and peed in her cocktail. You’d think Linda had stolen Marc’s best friend and fed his dog to an alligator. Not only that, the level of personal vitriol injected into this race is accompanied by grand pronouncements that the fate of the free world rests on one of these two little heads. Last I checked, it takes three votes to make a decision on that commission.”
Check out Rebecca

YES I KNOW IT IS A HOLIDAY But That doesn’t Stop the Crap in Miami: Zapata

Dear Readers: Waking up alive (glory to God and all that) made me more charitable – I am not serving the mystery food to my guests (see last night’s post). I am writing to tell you not to miss Scott Hiaasen’s article in Today’s Herald. He is uncovering a lot here in Miami...good reporting Scott.
WEST KENDALL
Nonprofit files ethics complaint against lawmaker

First don't count on the useless Ethics Committee to do anything. Filing an ethics complaint is like blowing air on a problem.

I don’t quite understand the article and never heard of the charity -- the Zapata/CASA Charity -- but here is what I don’t like.

These crappy politicians getting involved with non profits. That stinks. Whether it is Commissioner Rolle getting paid with County Funds by Jesca -- the non-profit he heads or any other — there is something wrong when the politicians doling out the money are involved getting salaries or whatever. I noticed the second or third worst Miami Dade County Commissioner (depending on how your rate Souto and Rolle): Martinez was mentioned in the article. Martinez is a little bully with a big head who gave the Miami “Checkers Speech” (his own version of Nixon’s I am not a crook speech) a few months back. You can watch the clip of him on Jim Defede’s channel 4 website. Very funny but I digress. Here is a quote from the article:
“Attempts to reconcile fell apart this summer. Zapata then asked the state Department of Children and Families for a ''rigorous audit'' of CASA, and asked Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Joe Martinez to cut CASA's county funding.

The commission slashed CASA's funding by $75,000 -- and it also gave $75,000 to a new nonprofit Zapata started.”

Stinky isn’t it? NOW WE HAVE A NEW NON-PROFIT!

Anyway, you Miami politicians trying to milk the people: don’t disguise yourself as non-profits or use your clout to get money for your favored non-profits you are a part of. Let the independent non-profits fairly get the money, let’s not let favoritism dictate where those dollars go. There are so many non-profits that really need money and they don’t have a Zapata to give and taketh at their whim.

Happy Thanksgiving Fellow Wacky Miamians

Check out this article from Time Magazine about Miami: There's Trouble--Lots Of It--in Paradise
Two of my favorite quotes from the article:

"Imagine Miami, a private community-development project, recently asked some 1,600 randomly selected residents to list what they thought were the top "Miami values." What was the No. 1 value? Corruption. "[Miamians] don't trust their leaders or each other," says the group's founder Daniella Levine."

“And a majority of Miamians support Alvarez's efforts to reduce the inordinate powers of their county commission--which include housing-agency oversight--especially since its members have long run Miami-Dade like a collection of venal fiefdoms. A judge has ordered the commission to schedule a referendum on the issue.“

These articles don’t stay on line for long so check it out sooner rather than later.

Thanksgiving story: I sent my spouse out for turnips. Not knowing what a turnip looked like I started to prepare it. I peeled it with difficulty. I boiled it for an hour and a half and it never got soft. Wise at last, I googled pictures of turnips and it is not what I cooked. Being a very stubborn person, I am going to feed it to my guests because I cooked the damn thing. It is very crunchy and tasteless so I will throw a lot of butter on it. I tried to mash it but it is rubbery and wouldn’t mash. Yes rubbery and crunchy seem opposite but that is what this is: both. I tasted some so if I don’t make it till morning, I will post tonight. Have a Happy Thanksgiving from your grumpy, angry blogger who is going to make the Thanksgiving guests eat mystery food. Aren’t you lucky you aren’t coming over?

Comment on: A superb column by Michael Putney today.

Who’s Minding The Store at County Hall by Michael Putney
I only wish the Herald didn’t remove these columns after a week. This column rocks!

What is going on with Burgess anyway? I like him...he is very nice to me. I think he is between a rock and hard place: trying to make all these commissioners happy. But all this crap at the county, what gives? The two million we pay to Japan to exercise a train we have no tracks for --- how do these kinds of things happen?

DISTRICTS!!!!!!!!

I blame districts. As long as they keep their little fiefdom's happy, the whole of the County be damned. Did you know that the vile Natacha got elected with 12,989 votes? Mayor Alvarez got 396,798 votes in the election. Who has more power: Yes the vile, boxy, fireplug (Natacha Seijas). In 2004 there were about a million registered voters in Miami Dade County, yet someone with 13,000 votes runs the County but hides along with the other 12 when things go wrong -- and that is often!

To quote liberally from Michael Putney’s column today:
"The buck never seems to stop with anyone. This huge and sluggish bureaucracy just churns along, propelled by a very few competent people who have a sense of urgency about their responsibilities and oversee the monies entrusted to them as if they were their own. But their dedication is dragged down by the many others who don't care if money is misspent or, worse, stolen."

City of Miami Runoff Election for District 2: by the numbers

Commissioner Linda Haskins, according to the Anemic Herald, raised $729,000. She got 1,943 votes -- and lost the election. That comes out to $375 a vote. I am sure many people would have voted for her if she gave them that $375. That could buy some nice Holiday gifts. If she ran on: Free Ipod for your vote, well, we would be looking at different results. Sarnoff’s $182,000 netted him 3,524 votes which translates to $51 a vote. That couldn’t even buy a 1/3 of an Ipod Nano. Usually money can buy you an election in Miami-Dade County. All I can say to this exception to the rule: these must have been some pretty angry voters! Watch City of Miami politics: Sparks will be flying.

The 15.08% voter turnout was indeed awful. Who are all these people who register and never vote? I would like to meet some of them. Probably dead. When calling voter roles of 4’s and 5’s (voted in last 4 or 5 elections), there are many people in their 80’s and 90’s who are MIA. They must be skewing the numbers.

In Miami Beach the runoff turnout was even worse: 9%! NINE PERCENT! And that is just 9% of voters, not the entire population.

Miami International Airport and the gag reflex by gimleteye

As Thanksgiving draws near, we suppose that in some quarters there will be special thanks for Miami International Airport.

No dairy ever had a cow that milked so profusely, no tree ever yielded a golden harvest as the airport has for lobbyists and the politically connected.

The partial parade includes Sergio Pino, who used his grip on airport concessions to bankroll housing starts, Alex Penelas, former Mayor of Miami Dade county, Chris Korge and Rodney Barreto, Courtney Cunningham, Barbara Carey Shuler, Art Teele, Pedro Reboredo, and Natacha Seijas—their banner reads: the tree exists to be shaken, the cow lives to be milked.

Some are now developers pushing single family homes into wetlands, piling burden atop existing residents and taxpayers, meekly spread-eagled in traffic as their lives pass by.

It occurs to us, that certain arrangements between airport lobbyists and their clients are on-going, based on contingency fees and percentages of gross business.

The Miami Herald reports today that the cost for the airport reconstruction has ballooned to more than $6 billion. We wonder, are cost over-runs at MIA the gift that keeps giving, and giving… and giving to powerful lobbyists?

We don’t know for sure, because time after time the county commission has refused to require that lobbyists disclose contract terms with clients doing public business. A shame.

The memory of political corruption at Miami International Airport makes us gag.

Today’s story says that the North Terminal—that’s the American Airlines terminal—scheduled to be completed in 2010, “will now cost $2.66 billion, up from $1.94 billion, airport projections show.”

But the original cost projection for the North Terminal, approved by the county commission, was NOT $1.94 billion. It was just over $1 billion.

Here is more than twice the shame: you will never read in the Miami Herald the salient question, just how wise was it for the county commission to bet its airport fortunes on American Airlines?

We're not sore, only because we have to wait forty five minutes to claim our baggage on every American Airlines flight that brings us home.

The cumulative losses for the airline industry, in just the past five years, is more than $14 billion.

We guess it makes perfect sense to throw $6 billion, or $3 billion for the North Terminal, to chase an industry that is one fuel crisis from bankrupcy. Don't you just love this business?

What would Miami be without American Airlines, the company that forced its employees to cough up $1.8 billion in pay and benefits concessions in 2003 while executives richly rewarded themselves with stock and options, whose parent company lost $861 million in 2005.

Well, enough of this niggling negativity. Who are we to pour bad milk on the steaming tarmac of our fine airport? Happy Thanksgiving, Miami!

M. Athalie Range – The Memorial Service

I didn't know the "M" stood for Mary.

Ministers were in abundance - ten or twelve - with Bishop Victor Curry of New Birth Baptist Church presiding. Curry mentioned that he was the new head of the Miami NAACP. County Mayor Alvarez and City of Miami Mayor Diaz spoke. Alvarez said Athalie told him: "I'm keeping an eye on you."

Patrick Range, Athalie’s grandson (who works with longtime lobbyist/lawyer Lucia at Greenberg Traurig) spoke eloquently as the representative for the family. Gene Tinnie did a wonderful powerpoint of photos from Athalie’s life. Former Commission Chair Barabra Carey-Schuler spoke briefly, she now owns two funeral homes in Palm Beach. Carey-Schuler said once when she was on the dais giving someone hell, an aide brought her a phone. It was Athalie. Athalie told her to stop talking. Carey-Schuler said she did.

Near the end of the memorial service I heard this rumble come down the aisle and it was none other than the boxy, vile Natacha Seijas walking with a thud-a-thud accompanied by her dutiful Chief of Staff Terry. She walked to the front row. Terry retreated a few rows back. County Commissioners Gimenez and Edmonson were there. Didn't see Jordan or her brother: Mayor for Life Otis T. Wallace.

Two wonderful singers deserve a mention: Velda Virgil and Ashley Howard Wilkinson. It was sad, but most there saw it as a joyful celebration of a life well lived. Goodbye Athalie, we will all meet up with you sooner or later.

On the Great Miami Chop Shop from gimleteye

Retaining businesses in Miami-Dade County is a foremost goal of the new Beacon Council chairman, Regions Bank executive Angel Medina Jr.

We doubt he is serious.

If he were, he would take prior generations of Beacon Council leadership to task. Never mind the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Medina might start with his predecessor. That would be the former mayor of Miami Beach, Neisen Kasdan, whose client list includes the Latin Builders Association.

The LBA is the premier lobbying group in south Florida, raising enormous amounts of campaign cash for favored officials and political parties.

Within the LBA, there are plenty of opinionated people, but when it comes development and construction all voices speak the same language: all building and all development is good.

What does this have to do with the Beacon Council?

Smart Beacon Council leaders would have taken the LBA to task long ago, because it is the LBA hegemony of suburban sprawl that driving businesses away from Miami Dade county.

The arithmetic of sprawl subtracts from public funds that would otherwise be available to invest in our cities.

But inner city residents are poor and powerless to complain, and their public officials are mostly happy to cut deals in other districts to ensure their incumbency. Who can begrudge them their claim to a few drops from the titty.

Builders making money on infill development should be crying out against the inequity of using taxpayer dollars to fund the expansion of services in outlying areas that serve only the interests of production home builders.

In Miami Dade, business life is choking to death the same way people are: on too much traffic, on schools that don’t meet the grade, on poorly funded parks and public spaces in neighborhoods where people live.

But don’t expect the Beacon Council to complain about the LBA and don't expect LBA members to ever confess to any kind of development fiasco—even high rises providing shelter for crack addicts in their shadows—until the last drop of profit is wrung from the last buyer.

If buyers were mostly local, Miami could count on some corrective force. But buyers of new construction are often from other places, where the price of making a mistake is usually within the tolerance of currency exchange rates.

In other words, as expensive as Miami seems to most of us, to foreign buyers Miami is cheap. And beneath the glitter and gloss, Miami is cheap.

We’re all for jobs. We’re all for growth. But at some point, you have to wonder whether Miami has turned into a chop shop. Instead of stolen autos, the Great Miami Chop Shop takes apart people’s quality of life and sells the pieces to the highest bidder.

If you want to know who and what business interests like it that way, check out the contributor list to stop voters from recalling the county commissioner, Natacha Seijas.

As Mr. Medina undoubtedly knows, Commissioner Seijas is queen of the Great Miami chop shop.

Affordable Housing Crisis, the Miami County Commission, and the case for a Strong Mayor by gimleteye

There are several patterns worth noting, in the excellent investigative report that continues with a "A Pattern of Neglect" in today's Miami Herald, by Debbie Cenziper. (you go, girl!)

Over the years, the safety net to protect the health and welfare of Miami Dade county citizens has been cut, widenened and frayed by special interests so that it is a relic drifting aimlessly in the tide.

The safety net, including such programs as affordable housing, has a few loose strands tied together so that it appears to be a net but it doesn't catch much at all.

Another strand of the safety net: Public education for under-served inner city children. Last week the Miami Herald reported how private charter schools are enriching developers at the expense of taxpayers. Another report showed how accountability and standards are simply being ignored by some charter schools.

Aside from the enrichment of campaign contributors, there is another purpose for the safety net that has holes so wide, anything gets through.

The appearance of a safety net is for members of the Parrot Jungle County Commission (that's the parrots on the county commission) to stand next to, to pontificate next to, and have their photos taken for the newspaper (again, the Miami Herald) that a few profess never to read.

But there is another pattern, too.

The Miami Herald consistently endorses incumbent members of the county commission when a mountain of evidence written by the paper's own excellent reporters points to county commissioners standing by while one crisis after another has unfolded in our county.

The Parrot Jungle County Commission may be hopeless and reason enough for a strong mayor, but that hopelessness, too, is also reflected by the Miami Herald, in failing to call for action.

In the last election cycle for local elections, the Miami Herald urged voters to resist the urge to "throw the bums out" and scarcely mentioned who was behind the destruction of the safety net.

The Herald could have published one story after another how challengers are at a terrible disadvantage routinely 10 to 20 times below the amounts raised by incumbents.

So there is another pattern, too.

Smart people at the Miami Herald know that the safety net intended to protect the public interest is a net in name only. And they are satisfied to stand by and report on the aftermath like rubberneckers at a car crash.

I suppose the reason the top managers don't push harder is that it is bad for advertising business. I can't think of another reason. Maybe you can.