WTF? by gimleteye

It is just a very bizarre story, in the Herald Miami-Dade section today on "The Firm".

Apparently, Mary Conway--who supervised the city department that went to the dark side, converting public employees and taxpayer resources into a private engineering firm--has provided a "timeline" to her supervisors (that would be the city manager?) in which she reported the illegal activities at once.

The Herald reports it has obtained a copy of the timeline, but did not publish it so far as I can tell.

The Herald story concludes with a statement by Conway defending her conduct to the city commission, "''It's unfortunate that that happened, but I also think that it's notable that it wasn't . . . something that The Miami Herald discovered,'' she said."

Readers of the Miami Herald deserve to read the timeline.

Have I missed it?

Moreover, why is this blog the only place that has speculated HOW an entire city department could be transformed into a private enterprise? What is the culture that is pervading city and county government, that allows such conduct to go on--brazenly?

The conversion of city AND county government to be wholly attentive to the needs of developers for zoning and permitting--and the expectation that they and incumbents will always get what they want (campaign contributions, graft) is the soil in which local government grows.

For the past decade, citizens have witnessed the grand experiment of loosening state regulatory controls on growth management in favor of "local decision-makers". This was the Jeb Bush experiment that NOT ONCE in eight years made it into the editorial pages or reporting of the Miami Herald.

Let me repeat it again! NOT ONCE.

The devolution of state authority in favor of local control been a disastrous experiment. It is called a bedrock principle of conservative government: it is a license to steal.

How could The Firm materialize in city government? Because government had been turned into a high-walled castle with moats keeping out ordinary citizens and patrolled by powerful lobbyists.

The mainstream media has failed to report on this great experiment that has left the public interest in shambles.

More and more people are interested to know, and that's why blogs like eyeonmiami are growing in popularity.