One hesitates to say there is anything “good” about the disgusting story in the Miami Herald about City of Miami officials, including Mayor Manny Diaz, who have been sitting on a scandal every bit as depressing as the Pulitzer-Prize winning version.
Today's front page story discloses thievery and corruption of city investments in affordable housing.
Eyeonmiami believes there is a lot more to be disclosed and not just the affordable housing sector.
When the first House of Lies story came out, our blog noted the hesitancy of the Miami Herald to assess blame where it belongs: with the development community and local elected officials who chased the building boom and wealth at the expense of our community’s needs—which include responsibility to the most needy.
Big builders dominate local zoning councils, employing squadrons of lawyers, consultants and lobbyists. While the top of the food chain focused on moving the Urban Development Boundary, the bottom of the food chain pillaged the poor and powerless.
As a result, Miami both failed its poorest citizens and, also, the quality of life for millions of Miami Dade residents: these are not separate stories. These are threads of the same story.
It is no wonder that Arthur Teele felt singled out, before he committed suicide in the lobby of the Miami Herald.
What 'House of Lies' reminds us, is that Teele sought advantage in a milieu of corruption and City Hall’s grab-bag allotment of funding to favored insiders, sycophants, and hangers-on.
Teele was no angel, but let's be clear: his undoing was not a confrontation with undercover police on Route 95 who had been tailing him. It was a dizzying volume of corruption at City Hall that went on around him and, without him.
In the story of millions of dollars stolen to the benefit prominent political insiders, the House of Lies seems confirms that Art Teele had plenty of reason to be paranoid. Teele knew what was happening in the vacant lots in his district, where millions of dollars were allotted and simply disappeared into private pockets.
The House of Lies is a credit to the Miami Herald. But there are an encyclopedia’s worth of lies trailing from the housing boom, now bust, that need to be exposed in the manipulation of mortgages in the financial food chain.
Eyeonmiami has documented several cases of bizarre activity in real estate transactions that seem to be the tip of an iceberg in fraudulent property transaction. These are not scandals in affordable housing. To the contrary, these are transactions that suggest pervasive fraud at a much higher level of the housing market.
They are threads from the same story as the affordable housing scandal. We hope the Herald goes wherever those crumbs lead.
6 comments:
What is going on over at US Century Bank, where Sergio Pino is stashing all of those millions he makes from subdividting the Everglades?
The Herald doesn't know how to follow a crumb. Most of their stories have been spoon fed to them.
Once in awhile, when they want an award they pull out all the stops. Otherwise it is reporters watching the computer.
"The Herald" reporters are dead right on this scandal. I hope some Community Development employees and developers get arrested.
When they finally knock on Sergio Pino door for Comm. Diaz corruption then I will be impressed, no one but the little people get thrown to the wolves in this town.
Your theory couldn't be more off base...this story was nothing more than a rehash of old news and a disservice to the gains made. Few if any of the items "uncovered" occurred this decade.
Teele was a brilliant man...probably the brightest of any local elected official, but he did himself in and his tragic death kept the balance of the story from being told. The true crime in his story was that salacious and unsubstantiated allegations about his personal predilictions were made available by the state attorney's office for publication.
As a life-long resident of Miami Dade I can tell you the the Miami Herald is a pathetic excuse for a newspaper. They are the most subjective reporters on the planet in large part due to their monopoly status. They play favorites and will not run an article involving any of their favorites. Too bad nobody has the guts to start a newspaper here, it would make a profit.
It took 10 years to uncover this story. They didnt cover it because it implicated many political figures they endorsed and helped.
I get my news on line and buy the Sun Sentinel. Forget the Herald.
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