Tuesday, July 03, 2007

What does Miami lose, with scandals... by gimleteye

Here is what Jim Defede has to say:

"What Taxpayers Really Lose With Scandals
Jim DeFede Is A Commentator For CBS4 News

(CBS4) MIAMI Is it just me or does there seem to be a lot of scandals lately?

Even by South Florida standards we seem to be going through a particularly nasty spate of governmental chicanery.

A dozen people were arrested in the city of Miami for operating a private business on city time and using city resources. They even had a catchy name for their little enterprise - The Firm.

Miami's Housing director, Barbara Gomez, is being forced to resign after the obvious was uncovered--that the city was doing bupkis when it came to providing affordable housing for those who need it.

But don't cry for Gomez, she's going to receive a pension worth a million bucks.

Perhaps the saddest scandal is the Poinciana Park debacle. Miami-Dade County gave the development rights to this vital piece of land in Liberty City to a shady developer who promised to build a world class biopharmaceutical center but in two years couldn't even deliver a two-story garage.

The saga of developer Dennis Stackhouse is a tale we have seen repeated over the years: An individual comes along vowing to help the people of the inner city, but in the end the only person he ends up helping is himself--to our tax money.

And so while The Miami Herald continues to write stories about the Stackhouse affair and the state attorney's office probes for criminality, the community is left waiting, more jaded and more cynical than before.

That's the real crime because a story like this shatters what little confidence we may have in our elected officials. When people lose faith, when they lose hope, you have taken away more from them more than can ever be counted in dollars and cents.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)"

My comment on Defede's:

First of all: yes, there have been more scandals. But be aware that these scandals are the outgrowth of the same visible effect of declining housing markets in Miami: public officials, namely city and county commissioners, who were blinded by the building boom that peaked in 2005.

So far, you have to read a blog to even know that the building boom, that peaked in 2005, spread bad seed across the State of Florida but concentrated, so heavily, in Miami-Dade County.

It is as though the mainstream media had no opinion on the subject, when it was happening. More often than not, critics were dismissed either as "extremists" or not credible like representatives of the Growth Machine. Civic movements, like "Hold the Line" on the Urban Development Boundary, were never held up for praise or comment beyond the fact of their existence: on the order of a nuisance.

It didn't have to take so long, to uncover the scandals. So far as I can tell, one reason it has taken years for these scandals to materialize is that white collar law enforcement in Miami Dade County, at both the state and federal level, is at a nadir.

One of the biggest unaccounted for costs in the war on terror has been the diversion of law enforcement budgets, already insufficient, away from public corruption and white collar crime.

I'd love to see an investigative piece by the Miami Herald, looking at the amount of resources, for instance, dedicated to mortgage fraud.

The Firm--in which an entire city department was converted in full daylight into a private contract engineering company--happened because the surrounding culture was one of quick riches and schemes supported by elected officials in the grip of the Growth Machine.

The County Housing Agency scandal--in which millions of dollars and promises were diverted into the hands of second and third tier lobbyists--happened because first tier lobbyists (who rub shoulders with presidential candidates even today) had given the keys of the county kingdom to a political elite. While African American county commissioners ran over to the side of lobbyists and property speculators in distant districts, their own districts were being looted.

The Poinciana Biotech "Park"--Carrie Meek still thinks she did nothing wrong supporting "growth" in her community, even if banner planes could have been flying over the site with "FRAUD" printed in big letters and still the political elite would have fawned over whatever she was in favor of.

Defede says that the real crime is that this shatters whatever little is left of our confidence in elected officials.

Well, OK. But Jim, this is a sort of perpetual deadend for commentators and pundits: of course voters are indifferent and apathetic, largely because of what they see in the corruption of politics--whether illegal or just skating on the edge.

And, of course, nearly every candidate for local office who puts themselves in the spotlight of a campaign to unseat an incumbent is ignored by the mainstream media and vastly outspent by the Growth Machine.

I think that the attention should be focused less on what citizens are feeling, than on exposing who exactly are charter members of the Growth Machine, because what people need to see more of is how the machinery works and who benefits.

I couldn't help but notice, for instance, that Miguel De Grandy--former state legislator, architect of redistricting, supporter of the status quo and opponent of any challenge to it--has been appointed to the Charter Review Commission for Miami-Dade County.

To see the Growth Machine at work, the mainstream media should shine light on charter review, who is directing debate, and the chances for reform.

It is a scandal that advocates for reform aren't given a greater voice, in the mainstream media, than the proponents for the Growth Machine. Isn't it?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another excellent job of casting blame for everything negative on the recent residential housing boom. I hope that everyone who purchased a new home in the last couple of years recognizes their role in this gigantic conspiracy to destroy Miami-Dade County.

As has been made clear by the work of the Herald and others, the problems with the County and City Affordable Housing Agencies are decades old, as are the problems with the various redevelopment plans for Liberty City. None of this was created by the fact that the County's residential housing market exploded in 2003.

That these programs were allowed to become ineffective and corrupt is truly a crime. Your insistence on pinning these failures on some grand conspiracy of the "Growth Machine" is, however, silly.

It is sad fact that the poor have been largely ignored in this County. Combine a general lack of interest in the problems of the urban poor with the opportunity for the corrupt to line their pockets or for incompetent bureaucrats to maintain a fiefdom and you get the problems we've seen and will continue to see.

Perhaps you should use this platform as way to rally citizens to fight for good quality housing for the urban poor rather than seeking to expose a shadowy conspiracy that does not exist.

Anonymous said...

It's not a shadowy conspiracy. You should try reading our blog over a long period of time.

There are plenty of examples supporting the case that production home builders in Miami Dade County have turned the county commission into their own fiefdom for passing and approval of zoning and permitting changes.

Do your own google searches on Sergio Pino, and Pepe Diaz, and Joe Martinez, and the Latin Builders who provide free services to a former chair of the county commission, with no penalty to either. Do your own search on Barbara Jordan, and Sandy Walker, and Otis Wallace.

As far as using "this platform as a way to rally citizens to fight for good quality housing for the urban poor rather than seeking to expose a shadowy conspiracy that does not exist": for an entire year county commissioner Barbara Jordan worked with Lennar and the South Florida Builders' lobbyists to draft an "mandatory inclusionary housing ordinance"--which did not in fact address the needs of the poor, yet was sold as such, and also excluded affordable housing experts entirely.

That's not a conspiracy: it's just politics of the Growth Machine at work.

How would you account for the fact that the mandatory aspect, negotiated by Lennar and the South Florida Builders lobbyists-- after the applications to move the Urban Development Boundary were rejected-- suddenly re-emerged as not mandatory, but "voluntary".

Who, among affordable housing experts, believes that "voluntary" inclusionary housing measures work? Anywhere? Anyone?

In other words, there are plenty of facts about influence peddling in Miami Dade County by the Growth Machine.

Anonymous said...

DeGrandy was on the last charter review committee and nothing good came from it. They systematically took away power from the mayor's office and gave it to the commission who has failed miserably with their new found power. One thing the commission got was to appoint their own chair so we got Joe 'I got a free house'
Martinez and later Bruno the dim.
Well that worked well for the people.
Bet DeGrandy is the appointee of Seijas.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for a platform to educate all citizens how valuable free speech and press are in articulating corruption. Too much damage continues to unfold in the wake of the scandals. TOO MANY individuals are and were involved and too many have slithered away, after feeling the heat from the political volcanic fallout. THE QUESTION IS STILL UNANSWERED AS TO THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS UPON THE VERY LOW TO MODERATE INCOME INDIVIDUALS GENTRIFIED FROM THEIR COMMUNITIES UNDER REDLINING,
BLOCKBUSTING, AND RACIAL PROFILING
illegal contract zoning has made its debute and is currently unchecked. So much for affordable housing being passed off to condo converters.

Anonymous said...

I want to return to the first comment, above, about "another excellent job of casting everything negative on the recent residential housing boom."

Yes, I am rough on the Growth Machine. But I've spent more years than I care to admit, observing the machine at work--and its corrupting influence on public policy and public process.

For some readers, I know, it is a shock to have such a continuous drumbeat. "He can't mean, what he says." "It can't be true." "If it was this bad, why are we just hearing about it."

Indeed, there is an aspect to the criticism that I attribute to the failure of the mainstream media, over a long period of time, to raise public awareness about the downside to the biggest bubble in construction and development in South Florida, since the 1920's.

It means, there is a threshold that sceptics have to cross--who have deep knowledge and experience--but lack the force of journalism.

In other words, we are bloggers. We have a very specific point of view informed by direct experience. We write about subjects, like the Growth Machine, that many insiders understand implicitly but for one reason or another are afraid to express.

In some cases, their fears are justified.

But in the main, honesty to the subject material is the best contribution that we can make to a public dialogue on what ails Miami and Florida.

It takes some people a little while to accept that all the news that is fit to print does not make it into South Florida's mainstream media.

We're filling a vacuum. And we're spending a lot of time doing it. Because we believe in democracy and we care about our state.

Happy Independence Day.

Anonymous said...

I was surprised by the very little ripple the arrest of the Medley councilman Eugenio Advincula made. He was charged with taking a bribe on an upcoming council vote.

What is even more amazing are the videos; undercover images taken by police allegedly showing a council member on the take.

Governor Crist officially suspended Advincula from office, the result of his arrest last May after he allegedly accepted a $10-thousand bribe in exchange for helping a local businessman get a business license. It took a month for the Governor to suspend him.

The videos, by the way, mention other city council people too.

It is scarey that this story didn't even make the average person's radar screen. We are so numbed by the actions of the criminals that we don't even show any outrage? It took a concerned citizen to bring the councilman down.

http://cbs4.com/local/local_story_172131745.html

Anonymous said...

It is clear from the actions of Manny "I love concrete" Diaz and his cohorts that they will do anything to keep the contracts flowing to their Latin Builder friends and/or campaign supporters. It is obvious the taxpayers get stuck with the tab.

Watch Manny Diaz demand the voters pay for a $200 Mil to $400 Mil fixed rail streetcar to nowhere and a $1 Bil tunnel under Government Cut. Watch Manny Diaz demand Bicentennial Park get paved. Another $600 Mil. Watch who gets the contracts.

Anonymous said...

Gimleteye,

Not that you owe me a response, but you haven't demonstrated any kind of link between the issues referenced in the article and the "growth machine."

Even if you are correct that big developers get whatever they ask for from City and County government, how does that have anything to do with corruption at the Affordable Housing agencies or the debacle of the Poinciana development?

As someone who is familiar with the way things work, you should be aware that "production homebuilders" could give two figs about affordable housing programs in the inner city. They also had no involvement in the Poinciana deal.

Your response is to repeat the same tropes we've read a hundred times -- Joe Martinez is in the pocket of the Latin Builders, Barbara Jordan has a lobbyist relative, the workforce housing initiative failed to be inclusive enough or mandatory, etc.

Assuming all of that is true, it still shows no link at all with the issues in the Defede article.

The answer, in my view, is pretty simple: No one cares very much about poor people, especially poor African-American people. Hence the generally poor oversight and corruption infesting the Housing Agencies.

Is the situation horrible? Of course. Is there a chance of things getting better? Maybe. Does any of this have anything to do with whether or not a powerful developer gets a zoning approval in Doral or Homestead? Absolutely not.

You clearly think that Miami-Dade County is overdeveloped and you certainly should beat that drum as hard as you can. In my opinion, however, you run off the rails when you seek to link all of these disparate issues together.

Anonymous said...

See previous blog entries for discussions on the theoritical background term and a link to the article "The City as a Growth Machine." And then perhaps Mr. Allen you should read it as it does address the low priority given to poverty, racism etc. because the most important issue for civic elites is growth and as such proverty and racism are only important issues when they have an impact on growth, ie. the kind of growth that effects rentier elites - that is those who derive their income from land use and land rents and sales. Also, may I suggest other articles and books by Harvey Molotch and his various co-authors on this subject.
Even those who subscribe to Regime Theory, the softer version of Growth Machine Theory, as derived by Clarence Stone in his seminal work on Atlanta called "Politics in Black and White." In that book he describes the compromise reached between african-american leaders and the mostly white civic elite over MARTA (Atlanta's metro rail) and how the civic elite didnt want to honor a committment to build an extension into mostly black areas. This caused much friction in the electorial coalition that supported the funding of MARTA and further compromises showed how poverty, votes, campaign finance, elections and the goals of fostering growth are all linked because they all have an impact on the ability of the elite to govern the city and most importantly make money. Before you dismiss these linkages you need to understand the conceptual tools utilized to make them. This is one of the weakest links in nimby activism is the lack of understanding of placing local activism in the broader understanding of academic analysis of local power structure research. Please note that no one in academia now accepts the old Robert Dahl concept outlined in "Who Governs" about New Haven, that elections and voters are of any significance in local politics. Local Politics is now almost always thought of as captured by elites and special interests.

whatmeworry? said...

I agree with Anonymous who said... "I was surprised by the very little ripple the arrest of the Medley councilman Eugenio Advincula made. He was charged with taking a bribe on an upcoming council vote."

It is important to root out and expose corruption, but isn't also important to write about politicians who habitually do the right thing and who run for office for all the right reasons? I'm not holding out much hope for that coverage either.

Suspend judgement and assume that there are some honest folks out there spending your tax dollars. What qualities [other than honesty] would you like your elected representatives to have?

Anonymous said...

I wish most of all that none of them show up. The less they vote on the better.