The Miami Herald endorsed Maria Anderson for Coral Gables Commissioner and says the choice is clear. They call her a "Policy Wonk." They didn't seem very happy with Gonzalo Sanabria:
"One of Mr. Sanabria's accusations against Ms. Anderson is that she is pro development. That's unfair to Ms. Anderson, considering Mr. Sanabria's record. When he served on Miami-Dade's Planning and Zoning Board, Mr. Sanabria, a former chairman of the Latin Builders Association, consistently voted in favor of moving the county's Urban Development Boundary to allow more development." And:
"This race is turning ugly, with Mr. Sanabria sending out fliers that mischaracterize Ms. Anderson's record and hint at improprieties, using innuendo that is skimpy on facts."
Saturday, April 04, 2009
What is Crime Stoppers? Guestblog By Crimestoppersupporter
Crime Stoppers of Miami-Dade County was created in September 1981 in response to rising crime rates. This should not be confused with Neighborhood Crime Watch.Crime Stoppers of Miami-Dade is a community-based program that involves the public, the media and law enforcement in the fight against crime. It offers anonymity and cash rewards to people who provide information leading to the arrest and filing of criminal charges against offenders, and the capture of fugitives. Anonymity overcomes fear of involvement.
However, in some of the more recent crimes reported in the media, people are afraid to come forward to report tips, even anonymously. So, reward money sits waiting to be claimed and the crime goes unsolved, while the people who know what happened are silent. How does Crime Stoppers work?
When media partners via television, radio, internet or print present a news report or re-enactment of a crime they will often include the Crime Stopper tips line number (305 471-TIPS). it is the number commonly printed in the newspaper at the end of crime stories, flashed across news telecasts or recited with regularity on the radio news broadcasts.
If an individual recognizes the person involved or knows about the crime, they can contact the Crime Stoppers detectives through the TIPS line.
Recently, Crime Stoppers has launched a special text messaging system to allow a tipster to anonymously text information and receive a tip number. This program was launched at the University of Miami with the help of a Peacock Foundation Grant. The City of Coral Gables now provides the text messaging information on their community trolleys and tips can be send via computer on the Crime Stopper website.
Upon receiving a tip, detectives then process the information given and assign a confidential tip number to the “tipster”. Law enforcement agencies then receive the information callers provide. This information is taken anonymously for the safety of the tipster.
If the tip is called in, detectives answering the phone NEVER ask for a name and will stop the caller if they start to give it. In fact, the Crime Stopper Office phones do not have caller identity capacity; the lines are not traced nor are the calls ever recorded.
Actually, once a tipster is assigned the tip number they are the ones responsible to keep it recorded and in a secure place. They must have the tip number available to give to the detective answering the phone because that is the only way Crime Stoppers can identify the tipster and the case.
Once a tipster is given a confidential tip number, they use it to check on the status of their information. If their information results in an arrest or filing of criminal charges, or if a criminal is apprehended, arrangements are made for them to receive their reward in cash while preserving their anonymity. At no time in the process is a caller’s name or identity required, just the assigned tip number and a password for the bank giving them the money. They never meet with the police department or anyone associated with the Crime Stopper organization.
The Crime Stoppers Board of Directors is comprised of concerned citizens of the greater Miami-Dade area who oversee the operation of the program. Crime Stoppers is a non-profit organization under section 501 (C) 3 of the IRS code, and is funded through donations from the public and through a state trust fund. Depending on the circumstances of each case, the Board and Crime Stopper detectives determine the tip value, which may be $50 to $1000. The Board, like the police department, never knows who called the tip in.
It should be noted that in cases where the reward exceeds the Crime Stopper $1000 limit, there will be in most situations other people putting the additional money up for the reward. Occasionally, family members, corporations or even county commissioners will contribute to the extra reward in order to help solve the crime. The reward amount that falls beyond Crime Stopper contribution is not always rewarded through the Crime Stopper program. Crime Stopper tips must come in through the TIPS line to be eligible for the Crime Stopper’s reward.
By the way, the crimes reported, can be as simple as tips about illegal dumping, pit bulls, vandalism, stolen utilities, car theft --- all the way to illegal weapons, drugs, prostitution, fugitive warrants, murder. Any Crime, Any Time.
All emergency and crime-in-progress calls ABSOLUTELY must go to 911 before reporting to Crime Stoppers!
www.crimestoppersmiami.com
Eye On Miami has Class: Opera! By Geniusofdespair
Let me warn you, the first sixty nine seconds is sort of, well not what I like in opera, but the rest is actually very good (especially between 3:40 and 4:40). I listened to many versions, some sounded better but this one was the most unusual rendition of Delibes' Lakme Flower Duet. I like "different." I thought at least one of you out there would like it too.
Friday, April 03, 2009
Green: The Color of SAVING Money. Guestblog by Youbetcha’
What if there was a way to build a house that would eliminate the need for building any more power plants?What if that house cost no more than a standard spec home that we are always building by the thousands here in South Florida, but could generate a low two digit electric bill?
What if that house existed, and FPL knew about it and actually liked the idea? I bet you are thinking that this is just blog hype. Well, it is not hype, and it is for real!
Homeowner Albert Harum-Alvarez was stunned by Florida Power and Light’s reaction to his home building skills:
“When we built the Green House in Kendall, we weren't expecting so much love from FPL. Why did they like a house that was all about lowering the FPL bill? Florida Power and Light’s answer, “You don't understand. If everyone built like this, we'd never need another power plant."
The Green House is very real. The public is invited to join in an insider’s look at the past and future of sustainable building. This coming Saturday, April 4th there will be an introduction to the topic at Kendall’s Historic Dice Home followed by a tour of the Harum-Alvarez home. There will also be a panel discussion hosted by Dr. Greg Bush, Associate UM History Professor and Director of UM Institute for Public Policy. The panel will feature County District 8 Commissioner Katy Sorenson, Thorn Grafton, AIA, Zyscovich Architects and homeowner Albert Harum-Alvarez.
This is a great opportunity to visit a home which houses five people that actually has a light bill of $54! Without a doubt, most of us will leave the tour wondering why on earth Florida Power and Light would sink mega dollars into nuclear power plants, when that money could be successfully spent on Green Development that would be safer and of greater benefit to their stockholders.
Attend Saturday’s free event, and then attend the upcoming public hearings on Florida Power and Lights plans for Miami-Dade’s future. Harum-Alvarez states that the question to ask at that hearing should be, “What if FPL took all the money those nuclear plants would take to build and put it into greening projects like ours? Would the amount of energy saved be greater than the energy output from the additional nuclear plants?”
Sustainable Homes from the Past to the Future
Saturday, April 4, 2:00 - 6:00 P.M.
Dice House at Continental Park
10000 SW 82nd Avenue (US 1 to 104 Street, go west, make a right on SW 82nd Ave.)
Kendall.
PS: Any High School student attending the event and will write a one page paper on the experience can get community service hours. The best page will be published in the Urban Environmental League newspaper!
Jeff Burnside of NBC 6 Has an Update on North Miami City Clerk, Frank Wolland. By Geniusofdespair
Jeff Burnside Investigative Reporter for NBC 6 said:
"Readers of this blog will be interested to know that NBC 6 is scheduled to broadcast a significant update tonight on the North Miami City Clerk (also running for North Miami Mayor) story at 7pm."
By the way, Jeff Burnside was picked Best TV Reporter in 2008 by Miami New Times.
See our Jan. 30th post on Frank's ethics issue. I do like Frank Wolland and hope this news report is positive for his sake.
"Readers of this blog will be interested to know that NBC 6 is scheduled to broadcast a significant update tonight on the North Miami City Clerk (also running for North Miami Mayor) story at 7pm."
By the way, Jeff Burnside was picked Best TV Reporter in 2008 by Miami New Times.
See our Jan. 30th post on Frank's ethics issue. I do like Frank Wolland and hope this news report is positive for his sake.
GM Board of Directors Must Go ... by gimleteye
Here is the GM Board of Directors. They should all tender resignations just like Erskine Bowles. GM needs the best and the brightest on a new board independent from cozy relationships with executive management that drove the company into the ground. The Obama administration should clarify this point; that the entire board management of public corporations, when they are bailed out with federal taxpayer funds, must be held to account. They failed. We are paying. They must go.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Gonzolo Sanabria: the inconvenient truth ... by gimleteye
Gonzolo Sanabria is a candidate for Coral Gables City Commission in the upcoming April municipal election. There are many, many reasons for voters to vote against him.
Firstly, Sanabria was a loyalist in the battle to pump up the housing bubble in Miami-Dade County. He served as a former chairman and director of the Latin Builders Association, a director of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, an appointee on the Miami Dade transportation agency, MDX, and for many years on the Miami-Dade Planning Advisory Board. In view of the costs of the economic crisis this status quo led us into, why would anyone vote for him? (please click, 'read more')
Although there were legions of insiders, like Sanabria, whose aggregate influence pushed common sense off the page during the housing boom; his role as a real estate speculator and developer promoting development on an important county board is a record that voters must understand: this is not a case where Sanabria can disavow claims to have had no role, or only a small one, or only as a by-stander to the economic disaster unfolding through unsustainable development.
The Planning Advisory Board for the county, where Sanabria was not only a reliable pro-growth vote but often a loud and insistent leader, is a crucial step on the way to county commission votes on development applications. As such, the Planning Advisory Board imposed massive risk on Miami-Dade citizens and taxpayers. There are any number of ways to describe that risk: risk to wetlands, risk to drinking water aquifers, risk to surrounding communities whose traffic patterns are immediately impacted by new developments, risks to the base cost of infrastructure that impose huge new burdens on taxpayers, and last but certainly not lease: the risk that overdevelopment would overwhelm demand.
This outcome does have a name and address: during the boom every construction and development interest in Miami-Dade was given a free pass to drive in the fast lane, or-- in a manner of speaking-- to blow through manatee protection zones.
When so many citizens attempted to express and convince decision-makers otherwise-- insiders like Gonzolo Sanabria had the final word. They believe, now, that they can say whatever they want to-- or ignore the inconvenient truth--, in part because there is a reasonable chance no one remembers or cares to look back at history.
In recently mailed campaign literature, Sanabria claims that he will "run (Coral Gables) as a business". But as the chairman of the Planning Advisory Board, he --repeatedly and often--failed to use sound fiscal prudence to decide whether or not to halt the reckless oversupply of housing and commercial real estate supply. The crowd in which he traveled included other builders, developers and speculators who believed, like former chairman of the Latin Builders, Willy Bermello, who wrote in the Herald in 2005, "This bubble is not latex. It is made of stainless steel".
Today Sanabria claims, in his campaign literature, that he will "take hold of uncontrolled growth". Yet he profited mightily from uncontrolled growth. On the Planning Advisory Board, Sanabria was frequently dismissive of development critics. It is beyond the pale to claim, as his campaign literature does, that he will "treat residents and taxpayers as shareholders."
How is that possible? In a recent report in the Tampa Tribune, a Sanabria development in Hillsborough County tried to bulldoze citizen opposition focused around traffic congestion. ("A Developer Drops Idea for Office and Retail Complex", Tampa Tribune, ) "Jordan Lewis, president of the Charleston Corners homeowners association said, "We're not opposing that the piece of property be developed. We just want the property to remain semipublic, keeping with the understanding that homeowners were presented with when we purchased our homes." ("Residents oppose the plan, and economics make profitability uncertain", St. Pete Times, )
In so far as his stated claim to "protect our green spaces"; it's all well and good when he voted to blow through protections afforded by the Urban Development Boundary just like blowing through a manatee protection zone. (07/10/2007, Judge Flora E. Seff. Gonzolo Sanabria).
Finally, what else is there to say about his claim: "Coral Gables needs an experienced and proven economist on the city commission" except to look at the past record leading to the present misery in the economy and recall the famous quip: “The only function of economists is to make astrologists look respectable.”
While on the Planning Advisory Board, Sanabria often resorted to the argument, in support of development requests, that environmental laws and regulations ensure that our wetlands, our shared water, and other natural resources are protected: the record proves how very wrong that record is. Read "Paving Paradise: Florida's vanishing wetlands": Sanabria should have read this book, before scattering his green signs over Coral Gables.
Those signs remind me of toothy beasts concealed in the clothing of lambs, of leopards painting over their spots, of people claiming environmental regulations work while blowing past them in no-speed zones. Beware.
Firstly, Sanabria was a loyalist in the battle to pump up the housing bubble in Miami-Dade County. He served as a former chairman and director of the Latin Builders Association, a director of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, an appointee on the Miami Dade transportation agency, MDX, and for many years on the Miami-Dade Planning Advisory Board. In view of the costs of the economic crisis this status quo led us into, why would anyone vote for him? (please click, 'read more')
Although there were legions of insiders, like Sanabria, whose aggregate influence pushed common sense off the page during the housing boom; his role as a real estate speculator and developer promoting development on an important county board is a record that voters must understand: this is not a case where Sanabria can disavow claims to have had no role, or only a small one, or only as a by-stander to the economic disaster unfolding through unsustainable development.
The Planning Advisory Board for the county, where Sanabria was not only a reliable pro-growth vote but often a loud and insistent leader, is a crucial step on the way to county commission votes on development applications. As such, the Planning Advisory Board imposed massive risk on Miami-Dade citizens and taxpayers. There are any number of ways to describe that risk: risk to wetlands, risk to drinking water aquifers, risk to surrounding communities whose traffic patterns are immediately impacted by new developments, risks to the base cost of infrastructure that impose huge new burdens on taxpayers, and last but certainly not lease: the risk that overdevelopment would overwhelm demand.
This outcome does have a name and address: during the boom every construction and development interest in Miami-Dade was given a free pass to drive in the fast lane, or-- in a manner of speaking-- to blow through manatee protection zones.
When so many citizens attempted to express and convince decision-makers otherwise-- insiders like Gonzolo Sanabria had the final word. They believe, now, that they can say whatever they want to-- or ignore the inconvenient truth--, in part because there is a reasonable chance no one remembers or cares to look back at history.
In recently mailed campaign literature, Sanabria claims that he will "run (Coral Gables) as a business". But as the chairman of the Planning Advisory Board, he --repeatedly and often--failed to use sound fiscal prudence to decide whether or not to halt the reckless oversupply of housing and commercial real estate supply. The crowd in which he traveled included other builders, developers and speculators who believed, like former chairman of the Latin Builders, Willy Bermello, who wrote in the Herald in 2005, "This bubble is not latex. It is made of stainless steel".
Today Sanabria claims, in his campaign literature, that he will "take hold of uncontrolled growth". Yet he profited mightily from uncontrolled growth. On the Planning Advisory Board, Sanabria was frequently dismissive of development critics. It is beyond the pale to claim, as his campaign literature does, that he will "treat residents and taxpayers as shareholders."
How is that possible? In a recent report in the Tampa Tribune, a Sanabria development in Hillsborough County tried to bulldoze citizen opposition focused around traffic congestion. ("A Developer Drops Idea for Office and Retail Complex", Tampa Tribune, ) "Jordan Lewis, president of the Charleston Corners homeowners association said, "We're not opposing that the piece of property be developed. We just want the property to remain semipublic, keeping with the understanding that homeowners were presented with when we purchased our homes." ("Residents oppose the plan, and economics make profitability uncertain", St. Pete Times, )
In so far as his stated claim to "protect our green spaces"; it's all well and good when he voted to blow through protections afforded by the Urban Development Boundary just like blowing through a manatee protection zone. (07/10/2007, Judge Flora E. Seff. Gonzolo Sanabria).
Finally, what else is there to say about his claim: "Coral Gables needs an experienced and proven economist on the city commission" except to look at the past record leading to the present misery in the economy and recall the famous quip: “The only function of economists is to make astrologists look respectable.”
While on the Planning Advisory Board, Sanabria often resorted to the argument, in support of development requests, that environmental laws and regulations ensure that our wetlands, our shared water, and other natural resources are protected: the record proves how very wrong that record is. Read "Paving Paradise: Florida's vanishing wetlands": Sanabria should have read this book, before scattering his green signs over Coral Gables.
Those signs remind me of toothy beasts concealed in the clothing of lambs, of leopards painting over their spots, of people claiming environmental regulations work while blowing past them in no-speed zones. Beware.
The County Commission 101: District 5, Bruno Barreiro. By Geniusofdespair
I decided I would do brief bio’s of the Miami Dade County Commissioners, Eye On Miami style. Some of you might not know a lot about County Commissioners, but you should! So I will do every Commissioner and here is District 5. (also see District 4, and links to 1,2,3).Bruno Barreiro has the most misspelled name on the County Commission (defying the I before E rule). That is the most important thing you should know about him. In June, 1998 he was elected to fill the vacated seat of Bruce Kaplan, who stepped down as part of his mortgage fraud sentence.
Let’s take a look at Bruno's finances:
He said his net worth was $1,365,496.70 in 2007. Barreiro makes $106,000 a year at what appears to be a family business, Fatima Homecare. He owns this small farm parcel outside the UDB Line which he paid $12,500 in 1974. He valued it at $200,000 in 2007 (a parcel next to him, same size, sold for $245,000 in '06). He bought the land from Bonanza Ranch Estates (Jose Andonie of Coral Reef Development Corp.). He paid off an Ocean Bank Mortgage for $260,000, 8/08. He gave $25,000 of his 2007 discretionary funds to Centro Mater Child Care Center. The Corporation was formed in 2006. He also gave $15,000 to Florida Venture Foundation. The officers of Florida Venture are from Broward. The Corporation helps "minorities reach success in South Florida's thriving construction business." He gave $25,000 to the Latin Quarter Cultural Center of Miami, Inc. He gave $10,000 to the Miami Boys Baseball Academy (what is with this guy and baseball?). He also gave $15,000 to St. Thomas University. I like the way Sally Heyman gives her dough (well our dough, it is our taxes) better. She spreads it around in smaller donations.
Bruno appears to be very dumb but I think he is smarter than he appears. Learning disability? He is, of course, one of the members of the unreformable majority of the Miami Dade County Commission which means there is no hope for him to be any better. He rarely votes right on any pivotal issue. He was the one with the worst argument for the Marlin's stadium. Something about South Beach and Little Havana, trust me it was dumb. The stadium is in his district so he played a big role in the vote, warding off his fellow commissioners' additions of any substantial amendments to the deal.
BTW, do your friends a favor. Send them a column or an Eye On Miami link to THEIR Commissioner so maybe they will vote better next time.
Jim Morin's Herald Cartoon Today. By Geniusofdespair
Check out Jim Morin's cartoon today. Don't think that sprawl is stopping because of the economy. The Mega-development called Parkland, outside the UDB line, is still in the pipeline. We are not out of the swamp yet.
See comments for context of this photo.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Gun Bounty Program: I’ve Got the Skinny on my Earlier Post Questions. By Geniusofdespair
Well what do you know, I got the info I was looking for in my earlier post today (read it), on Gun Bounty Funds. The offices of Mayor Alvarez and County Commission Chair Moss both responded and here it is for you - hot off the blog press. From Marie Bertot, Media Relations Manager, is some very good news about the results of the Gun Bounty Program so far:"Please note the Gun Bounty Program is not tracked by district. The stats from June 1, 2007, through March 29, 2009 are as follows: Number of Guns recovered is 285 and the number of arrests made is 171."
That is 285 illegal guns off the street! I think those are pretty good stats. In response to Moss's $25,000 (also explained in the earlier post today) Ms. Bule from the Office of the Chair said:
"Regarding the Gun Bounty Program regarding Chairman/Commissioner Moss. After further discussion with my Chief of Staff, Mr. Bannerman, he discovered that you may be confusing the “Gun Bounty Program” with the “District 9 CRIMESTOPPERS Bounty Program”. Commissioner Moss did indeed allocate $25,000 from his discretionary funds toward the District 9 CRIMESTOPPERS Bounty Program which was a program connected to CRIMESTOPPERS “Unsolved Homicides” in District 9. After these homicides were not solved, the funds were returned to his discretionary funds. Only $1,000 were given to the Gun Bounty Program from Commissioner Moss’ discretionary funds to support the Mayor’s Gun Bounty Program."
If they had put "Crime Stopper" in the discretionary fund title, it might have been clearer, whatever, I now know what is going on. BTW, why weren't the crimes solved? Wouldn't the money be spent trying or was the money a reward that didn't have to be paid? I am so loaded with questions, I could drive them crazy. As much as I hate what these two did using the bed tax money for the Marlins stadium, I do think these crime preventative initiatives are good. I think addressing crime is always a good think and they should get some brownie points for that.
Even though I think Rebeca Sosa should not have voted for the stadium, and if I remember correctly, a couple of odious UDB line moves, I still do not include her with the unreformable majority. She is still reformable. Moss is not ALWAYS wrong and neither is the Mayor. You won't agree with them ALL the time. Be satisfied if you get some of what you want, because with the unreformable: You get zip.
Florida should end Ponzi scheme based on growth, economist says ... by gimleteye
"It is now obvious that the reason we're experiencing a simultaneous meltdown in the financial system and the climate system is because we have been mispricing risk in both arenas-- producing a huge excess of both toxic assets and toxic air that now threatens the stability of the whole planet." That's Tom Friedman, in the New York Times today. When we said the same, twenty years ago, we were called Chicken Little and worse. Things change, but not too quickly to obliterate the history of miscalculations. Yesterday, the Orlando Sentinel reported that "one of the nation's leading economic forecasters in recent years", Sean Snaith, said, "Florida can no longer rely on an economic model built on adding more homes and attracting more people." (please click, read more)
It is only by mispricing risk that Florida's growth based on population expansion, the expansion of suburbs into Everglades wetlands, could occur at all. Now, finally, the writing on the wall as a matter of common sense and fiscal prudence for decades is now apparently available for even the mainstream media to see. It is why so many observers support Florida Hometown Democracy, the state wide referendum that would put up the failed growth model to a vote. Here is another point the media is missing: people simply don't believe the purveyors of growth-at-any-cost. Take the Latin Builders Association, for example, whose past chairman and politically connected insider, Willy Bermello, wrote in the Miami Herald-- unchallenged by any other point of view-- in 2005 of the real estate markets: "This bubble is not made of latex. It is made of stainless steel." Boo-yah. We are now in the midst of the longest recession in seven decades.
Today, the Herald reports another in its seemingly endless point-and-click stories, shaded to optimism: "Homebuilder sees sign of hope." Never mind that Lennar's "losses climbed 77 percent" or that completed home sales for the company fell 40 percent. Stuart Miller, Lennar CEO, is reading from the same set of tea leaves as the Latin Builders, "the housing market could be thawing soon."
What else could Lennar say, in defense of the failed financial model that made such a few people extraordinarily wealthy?
The Wall Street Journal reports otherwise:
FHA Default Rates By Metro
Rank MSA Dec-08 Dec-07
1 PUNTA GORDA, FL 17.99% 10.19%
4 FORT MYERS-CAPE CORAL, FL 15.07% 9.20%
7 FORT LAUDERDALE, FL 11.77% 6.47%
8 SARASOTA-BRADENTOWN, FL 11.76% 7.40%
10 OCALA, FL 11.37% 7.35%
13 NAPLES, FL 11.25% 4.99%
18 MELBOURNE-TITUSVILLE-PALM BAY,FL 10.92% 6.67%
20 WEST PALM BEACH-BOCA RATON, FL 10.71% 5.48%
23 MIAMI, FL 10.52% 5.10%
27 JACKSONVILLE, FL 10.28% 7.69%
29 FORT PIERCE-PORT ST.LUCIE, FL 10.04% 6.20%
30 LAKELAND-WINTER HAVEN, FL 9.95% 7.39%
33 DAYTONA 9.84% 6.55%
44 TAMPA-ST.PETERSBURG-CLEARWATER, FL 9.46% 6.44%
All Sum of above 10.65% 6.62%
What is most disturbing about these numbers is that a large portion of the loans in the FHA’s book in these areas represent loans originated last year, suggesting that defaults are occurring very early in the life of the loans. The number of FHA-insured homes was more than 25% higher in December 2008 than in December 2007, and in some areas ( Fort Myers-Cape Coral, Naples, Fort Pierce-St. Lucie) it was up by over 40%. Defaults are defined by the FHA as loans that are 90 days or more delinquent.
The question: why should anyone believe Lennar, the Latin Builders, the South Florida Builders or anyone half a mile within those spheres of influence? Florida's landscape-- bruised and battered by the growth Ponzi scheme-- tells the whole story.
OrlandoSentinel.com
By Jerry W. Jackson
Sentinel Staff Writer
10:32 AM EDT, March 31, 2009
Florida can no longer afford to rely on an economic model built on adding more homes and attracting more people, a Ponzi growth scheme that is "collapsing all around us," University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith said today in his latest forecast for the state and 12 metro areas.
Snaith, ranked as one of the nation's leading economic forecasters in recent years, said Florida needs to grab all the federal stimulus money it can to help prop up an economy that clearly relied too much for too long on strong population growth.
"Any Ponzi scheme can be sustained as long as new investors continue to be added to the pyramid," Snaith said in his report this morning. "But we're seeing a breakdown in the financing of government across Florida. This steady influx of population that provided the additional revenues need to prop up the system has evaporated, and the pyramid is collapsing all around us."
Snaith said he expects the state's housing construction sector will finally bottom out in the second quarter this year, ending June 30, at a low point "deeper than many expected." Construction likely will fall to annual rate of 38,250 housing starts, a level that would be only 13 percent of the peak during the boom that crested in the fourth quarter of 2004.
Unemployment statewide will continue to rise, he predicted, and likely will remain above 10 percent for most of 2010 "before beginning a very slow decline from its peak."
Copyright © 2009, Orlando Sentinel
It is only by mispricing risk that Florida's growth based on population expansion, the expansion of suburbs into Everglades wetlands, could occur at all. Now, finally, the writing on the wall as a matter of common sense and fiscal prudence for decades is now apparently available for even the mainstream media to see. It is why so many observers support Florida Hometown Democracy, the state wide referendum that would put up the failed growth model to a vote. Here is another point the media is missing: people simply don't believe the purveyors of growth-at-any-cost. Take the Latin Builders Association, for example, whose past chairman and politically connected insider, Willy Bermello, wrote in the Miami Herald-- unchallenged by any other point of view-- in 2005 of the real estate markets: "This bubble is not made of latex. It is made of stainless steel." Boo-yah. We are now in the midst of the longest recession in seven decades.
Today, the Herald reports another in its seemingly endless point-and-click stories, shaded to optimism: "Homebuilder sees sign of hope." Never mind that Lennar's "losses climbed 77 percent" or that completed home sales for the company fell 40 percent. Stuart Miller, Lennar CEO, is reading from the same set of tea leaves as the Latin Builders, "the housing market could be thawing soon."
What else could Lennar say, in defense of the failed financial model that made such a few people extraordinarily wealthy?
The Wall Street Journal reports otherwise:
FHA Default Rates By Metro
Rank MSA Dec-08 Dec-07
1 PUNTA GORDA, FL 17.99% 10.19%
4 FORT MYERS-CAPE CORAL, FL 15.07% 9.20%
7 FORT LAUDERDALE, FL 11.77% 6.47%
8 SARASOTA-BRADENTOWN, FL 11.76% 7.40%
10 OCALA, FL 11.37% 7.35%
13 NAPLES, FL 11.25% 4.99%
18 MELBOURNE-TITUSVILLE-PALM BAY,FL 10.92% 6.67%
20 WEST PALM BEACH-BOCA RATON, FL 10.71% 5.48%
23 MIAMI, FL 10.52% 5.10%
27 JACKSONVILLE, FL 10.28% 7.69%
29 FORT PIERCE-PORT ST.LUCIE, FL 10.04% 6.20%
30 LAKELAND-WINTER HAVEN, FL 9.95% 7.39%
33 DAYTONA 9.84% 6.55%
44 TAMPA-ST.PETERSBURG-CLEARWATER, FL 9.46% 6.44%
All Sum of above 10.65% 6.62%
What is most disturbing about these numbers is that a large portion of the loans in the FHA’s book in these areas represent loans originated last year, suggesting that defaults are occurring very early in the life of the loans. The number of FHA-insured homes was more than 25% higher in December 2008 than in December 2007, and in some areas ( Fort Myers-Cape Coral, Naples, Fort Pierce-St. Lucie) it was up by over 40%. Defaults are defined by the FHA as loans that are 90 days or more delinquent.
The question: why should anyone believe Lennar, the Latin Builders, the South Florida Builders or anyone half a mile within those spheres of influence? Florida's landscape-- bruised and battered by the growth Ponzi scheme-- tells the whole story.
OrlandoSentinel.com
By Jerry W. Jackson
Sentinel Staff Writer
10:32 AM EDT, March 31, 2009
Florida can no longer afford to rely on an economic model built on adding more homes and attracting more people, a Ponzi growth scheme that is "collapsing all around us," University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith said today in his latest forecast for the state and 12 metro areas.
Snaith, ranked as one of the nation's leading economic forecasters in recent years, said Florida needs to grab all the federal stimulus money it can to help prop up an economy that clearly relied too much for too long on strong population growth.
"Any Ponzi scheme can be sustained as long as new investors continue to be added to the pyramid," Snaith said in his report this morning. "But we're seeing a breakdown in the financing of government across Florida. This steady influx of population that provided the additional revenues need to prop up the system has evaporated, and the pyramid is collapsing all around us."
Snaith said he expects the state's housing construction sector will finally bottom out in the second quarter this year, ending June 30, at a low point "deeper than many expected." Construction likely will fall to annual rate of 38,250 housing starts, a level that would be only 13 percent of the peak during the boom that crested in the fourth quarter of 2004.
Unemployment statewide will continue to rise, he predicted, and likely will remain above 10 percent for most of 2010 "before beginning a very slow decline from its peak."
Copyright © 2009, Orlando Sentinel
Not to Be Missed: 37 Mile Hike Through the Urban Wilderness - Key Biscayne to John Lloyd Park. By Geniusofdespair
The photos alone are dazzling but you must read the story too! Kevon Andersen's epic hike. Two more photos but go to the link there are dozens more. He captures the flavor of our wacky town in words and pictures. His commentary is funny, informative and at times poignant: "So maybe this was the lesson learned on the hike: That we've got to stay vigilant. And without regulation, we're at the mercy of people who would pave our paradise -- even theirs -- if it would put one more dollar in their pocket."
Send the link to relatives.Miami Dade County District 9’s Crime Watch Bounty Program. By Geniusofdespair
Commission Chair Moss, gave $25,000 of his 2007 discretionary funds (our tax dollars) to the District 9 Crime Watch Bounty Program. Why only District 9? I guessed it was a gun buy-back. Most of the other commissioner’s direct-to-district contributions are for a couple of thousand dollars. This is the only one that was substantial, that is why I was curious.
I called the City of Miami Gardens to find out what they spend on their Gun Bounty Program and have decided that Moss's expenditure is to a good program, not just a buy-back, and here is why:
Miami Gardens told me in the buy-back gun program, where a person gets about $100 for a gun, the police get broken down guns and some that have been stored in an attic, in other words, doing no harm. The Gun Bounty Program is different. After a crime, the Miami Gardens Police force (the county's newest police force - about a year) gives out cards saying if you report an illegal gun (it will be kept confidential) you get a $1,000 reward when the police arrest the gun owner. They said no one standing around a crime scene is ever a witness (scared?). Since they started the program, about 5 months old, they already snagged about half dozen guns.
This is getting guns that are actually used in crimes off the streets. Miami Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez launched the County Gun Bounty Program in May of 2007. I called Moss's two offices to see why he targeted his discretionary funds for this program to one district (as opposed to the entire county). The women I spoke to at the district office and the downtown office didn't know his motives and they said Moss is out of town. Are there not enough funds in the county budget or is this how the program is funded, by district? I called the Mayor's office to see how successful the program is in the county, asked for statistics and budget, they said they would get back to me. So I will report again on this...if anyone ever gets back to me.
Yes, it is probably splitting hairs but this sort of thing, when you can't get a straight answer at the County, annoys me. Miami Gardens was easy in comparison. The info was at their fingertips.
I called the City of Miami Gardens to find out what they spend on their Gun Bounty Program and have decided that Moss's expenditure is to a good program, not just a buy-back, and here is why:
Miami Gardens told me in the buy-back gun program, where a person gets about $100 for a gun, the police get broken down guns and some that have been stored in an attic, in other words, doing no harm. The Gun Bounty Program is different. After a crime, the Miami Gardens Police force (the county's newest police force - about a year) gives out cards saying if you report an illegal gun (it will be kept confidential) you get a $1,000 reward when the police arrest the gun owner. They said no one standing around a crime scene is ever a witness (scared?). Since they started the program, about 5 months old, they already snagged about half dozen guns.
This is getting guns that are actually used in crimes off the streets. Miami Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez launched the County Gun Bounty Program in May of 2007. I called Moss's two offices to see why he targeted his discretionary funds for this program to one district (as opposed to the entire county). The women I spoke to at the district office and the downtown office didn't know his motives and they said Moss is out of town. Are there not enough funds in the county budget or is this how the program is funded, by district? I called the Mayor's office to see how successful the program is in the county, asked for statistics and budget, they said they would get back to me. So I will report again on this...if anyone ever gets back to me.
Yes, it is probably splitting hairs but this sort of thing, when you can't get a straight answer at the County, annoys me. Miami Gardens was easy in comparison. The info was at their fingertips.
The Curse of Inspirational Emails by Geniusofdespair
I don't know how it happened but somehow I am getting inspirational email from employees from the Department of State. Maybe it is all those public records requests. The interesting thing is, they are using their official emails and I might add, spending our tax dollars exchanging stuff like:
"Remember to make a wish before you read the prayer. That's all you have to do."
I usually ask to be removed but this is getting too good. I just got an email celebrating women who are a bit heavy.
"Remember to make a wish before you read the prayer. That's all you have to do."
I usually ask to be removed but this is getting too good. I just got an email celebrating women who are a bit heavy.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Notes from Key West ... by gimleteye
A late spring cold front kept the tarpon down low yesterday off Key West. The full measure of sun appeared around noon, lighting up the flats, then retreated quickly, leaving the surface of the water gun metal gray. I saw the channel cut where once I anchored up with the late resident of Key West and former fiction editor of Esquire, Rust Hills. The ocean disarmed him as we tried to summon tarpon from the fast tide. (please click 'read more')
Key West is the city where numerable Miami politicians have squirreled cash away in real estate. The lingua franca of Keys politics is the platted lot. The two are forever entwined. And today, both real estate and politics are in a state of heightened anxiety and gloom no one likes acknowledging.
Key West is a twitter with news that the wife of the county school superintendent has an Ismelda Marcos complex. More than $100,000 in spending by Key West’s obsessive compulsive first lady of education was charged to the school department budget, unbeknownst to her husband, the superintendent.
But intriguing and revelatory, the scandal barely budges the dark clouds over the collapsed real estate market in the Keys. On a main thoroughfare in Marathon, there is a ‘for sale’ sign on every street front home. In Key West, the mayor has had to put two homes he owns into foreclosure. Few are talking publicly about tax revenues fallen off a cliff. Merchants aren’t paying rent or renegotiating from landlords who only a few years ago were in clover.
On Duval Street, the T-shirt capital of America’s southernmost city, retailers are loathe to say how bad things are. This is where the golden goose was cooked to a crisp, long ago. During the housing market bubble, that started earlier in Key West than nearly anywhere else in the nation, the government went on a wild spending spree; building numerous monuments to itself. But the city made its mark catering to the lowest common denominator forms of mass tourism and failed to protect either the waters or the reef or the fish. It is filled with discount shoppers and other scavenger species. $69 a night. There have been fires of suspicious origin. Stores are closing , with entire inventories and fixed assets snuck out the back door before morning.
The island's long-time political insider and know-it-all, Ed Swift, is in trouble. His Conch Tour Train is like the little railroad that could wreck Key West. Swift is is buried under a mountain of debt attached to his hubristic plan to convert the city’s old electric plant into multi-million dollar condominiums. The project is unfinished long after the date a few, angry gullible owners were promised occupancy. Lawsuits abound, surrounding Swift like sharks in a Winslow Homer painting. Swift, who was responsible for influencing political decisions at the city to aid his monopoly of tour train tourism, recently settled with a competitor who had filed, and won, antitrust litigation against his company. A federal appeals court agreed that the city of Key West had to spend $8 million to satisfy the charges of Duck Tours, Inc. because Swift, the champion of free markets related to all things Key West so long as they were “his” free markets, prevailed in his monopolistic practice. Swift was famously opposed anything to do with regulations protecting the environment. He is hoist by his own petard.
But people are too dispirited and preoccupied with their own financial woe to worry much about Swift, or, the collapse of investments of another politically influential family fortune. The Spottswoods were in the thick of the housing and real estate asset bubble; converting the island charm into many millions of dollars of hotels and condominiums. They are now buried under the debt of a failed plan to build a gargauntuan gateway resort at the top of the island. Other Conchs who joined the speculative bubble are in similar dire straits, worse that being stranded in Northwest Channel with a flooded engine.
Meanwhile the Bouganvillea is blooming in lush and varied shapes; its reds, purples and orange flowering in riotous neon. By the library a yellow tree of trumpet flowers is in full bloom. Yesterday a loggerhead turtle surfaced only a boat distance away, staring with a single large black eye set high in its orange beak before dropping, again, to forage in brown sea grass beds that were once lush and green as as Eden's greenest meadow.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Saltwater Intrusion in Miami-Dade is a Real Threat According to Environmentalists. By Geniusofdespair
Florida Power and Light's planned expansion of the Turkey Point nuclear facility also threatens the fresh water supply of many, warned Dawn Shirreffs, a Clean Water Action organizer. The saltwater intrusion line, which marks how far west that water has crept, is moving between 300 and 400 feet inland every year, she said.
Hidden in the bowels of the Miami Herald yesterday (I never saw it) is this article: Conservationists discussed the status of two projects meant to re-hydrate a Biscayne Bay estuary and raised concerns about possible saltwater intrusion into the area's fresh water supply. The article says:
Environmentalists also believe that the canals which circulate water to cool the existing plant at Turkey Point are making the problem worse.
''FPL says it's a closed system, but it isn't, it leaks,'' said Biscayne National Park resource manager Elsa Alvear.
That water is very salty and dense, blocking the eastward flow of freshwater from inland, Alvear said. She added that water collection wells planned for the plant's expansion would suck up any freshwater used to rehydrate south Miami-Dade's coast, canceling out its intended benefits.
Sean McCrackine, an aide to County Commissioner Katy Sorenson, said local and state agencies are trying to determine the extent of the ''saline plume'' and whether the cooling canals are aggravating the problem.
Hit the link above, there is more.
Hidden in the bowels of the Miami Herald yesterday (I never saw it) is this article: Conservationists discussed the status of two projects meant to re-hydrate a Biscayne Bay estuary and raised concerns about possible saltwater intrusion into the area's fresh water supply. The article says:
Environmentalists also believe that the canals which circulate water to cool the existing plant at Turkey Point are making the problem worse.
''FPL says it's a closed system, but it isn't, it leaks,'' said Biscayne National Park resource manager Elsa Alvear.
That water is very salty and dense, blocking the eastward flow of freshwater from inland, Alvear said. She added that water collection wells planned for the plant's expansion would suck up any freshwater used to rehydrate south Miami-Dade's coast, canceling out its intended benefits.
Sean McCrackine, an aide to County Commissioner Katy Sorenson, said local and state agencies are trying to determine the extent of the ''saline plume'' and whether the cooling canals are aggravating the problem.
Hit the link above, there is more.
Yes, I had a Nielsen Box on My TV. By Geniusofdespair
On March 26th I ran a puzzle post that Julio won. Where are you Julio? Yes, it was a Nielsen remote that I was pressing with my thumb for over a year. I promised I would tell more about what it was like to be a Nielsen TV rater. Here is my confession.
When they came to my house and made the offer, I have to say I was intrigued. I had this vision of leaving the TV on all day tuned into every worthwhile program I could think of, while avoiding Fox News like the plague. Well it wasn't to be. You actually had to watch the programs. When you started watching TV and about every 45 minutes thereafter, if you didn't press their button a bank of red lights would start flashing so you couldn't possibly watch TV. It started with just a little blink and soon moved on to a rapid fire rate. I tried to catch it really early because the rapid fire was pretty bad: You had to press to stop the distraction. If you weren't watching, the button wouldn't get pressed and Nielsen would not record what you were watching. So basically, I had to press a button every 45 minutes of TV watching. Geez, I actually had to watch the shows I wanted rated which meant that pie-in-the-sky quality TV watching never happened.
If I didn't press the button (sometimes I skipped out, during a commercial, to the computer and got delayed, leaving the red lights flashing for an hour or two) they would call me the next day to remind me to press the button.
The Nielsen people were very nice, it wasn't a bad experience, they went out of their way to make us happy. They tried to hide their equipment as much as possible, there were a couple of boxes and a shitload of wires. Every night about 3 a.m. the equipment would call Nielsen over my phone line and download the sound information. Apparently every channel has a unique sound and that is how they know what I am watching (I could be making this up, and you wouldn't know would you?).
The button pressing became second nature after awhile. I found myself reaching for the remote for weeks after the boxes were removed from all our TVs. I also still have pangs of guilt. Yes, every time I tuned into a shitty show I said to myself "Don't give this show ratings" but I watched it anyway. I had no willpower.
You know those two shows with the plots that have not made any sense for two years, Lost and Heroes? Yes, I helped their ratings. I don't know, it became a habit watching them and I couldn't stop. Now that I am gone, you can lop off about 20,000 people.
When I was young, I always thought "Who are all those stupid people with Nielsen boxes? Why are all these bad shows popular?" Well, now I know why. When I was sick I gave the home remodeling show, Flip this House and the Miami Tatoo Parlor show Miami Ink some mega-ratings. I am sorry America. Forgive me, in my defense: I never watched Fox News.
Now you know, I don't just blog. So all of you who tell me, "Get a life" I have an oddball one going here thank you very much.
When they came to my house and made the offer, I have to say I was intrigued. I had this vision of leaving the TV on all day tuned into every worthwhile program I could think of, while avoiding Fox News like the plague. Well it wasn't to be. You actually had to watch the programs. When you started watching TV and about every 45 minutes thereafter, if you didn't press their button a bank of red lights would start flashing so you couldn't possibly watch TV. It started with just a little blink and soon moved on to a rapid fire rate. I tried to catch it really early because the rapid fire was pretty bad: You had to press to stop the distraction. If you weren't watching, the button wouldn't get pressed and Nielsen would not record what you were watching. So basically, I had to press a button every 45 minutes of TV watching. Geez, I actually had to watch the shows I wanted rated which meant that pie-in-the-sky quality TV watching never happened.
If I didn't press the button (sometimes I skipped out, during a commercial, to the computer and got delayed, leaving the red lights flashing for an hour or two) they would call me the next day to remind me to press the button.
The Nielsen people were very nice, it wasn't a bad experience, they went out of their way to make us happy. They tried to hide their equipment as much as possible, there were a couple of boxes and a shitload of wires. Every night about 3 a.m. the equipment would call Nielsen over my phone line and download the sound information. Apparently every channel has a unique sound and that is how they know what I am watching (I could be making this up, and you wouldn't know would you?).
The button pressing became second nature after awhile. I found myself reaching for the remote for weeks after the boxes were removed from all our TVs. I also still have pangs of guilt. Yes, every time I tuned into a shitty show I said to myself "Don't give this show ratings" but I watched it anyway. I had no willpower.
You know those two shows with the plots that have not made any sense for two years, Lost and Heroes? Yes, I helped their ratings. I don't know, it became a habit watching them and I couldn't stop. Now that I am gone, you can lop off about 20,000 people.
When I was young, I always thought "Who are all those stupid people with Nielsen boxes? Why are all these bad shows popular?" Well, now I know why. When I was sick I gave the home remodeling show, Flip this House and the Miami Tatoo Parlor show Miami Ink some mega-ratings. I am sorry America. Forgive me, in my defense: I never watched Fox News.
Now you know, I don't just blog. So all of you who tell me, "Get a life" I have an oddball one going here thank you very much.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
The 30 Year War on the Environment ... by gimleteye
Fifty years ago, Rachel Carson wrote the clarion call of the environmental movement, "Silent Spring", and was attacked by the chemical industry. "Silent Spring" was followed by public demand and then the creation of the legal framework for federal environmental protections: (please click, 'read more')
The National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act among others. Almost as soon as the ink was dry on this framework, US corporations and wealthy special interests-- mostly funded by the fossil fuel lobby, big agriculture, and their private foundations-- began a counter-attack, influencing the public debate in America on key environmental issues, from climate change to irresponsible land use development. (Read PIttman and Waite, "Paving Paradise: Florida's vanishing wetlands in a time of no-net loss")
Florida has been at the front line of this war. Today, special interests who fomented the housing bubble are prodding the Florida legislature to eviscerate the Florida Department of Community Affairs; the agency charged with "managing" the state's haphazard and self-defeating economic growth patterns. They claim that the economic collapse was caused by too much regulation. The record of the housing boom, now bust, in this state is a testament to the obliteration of measures nominally afforded by laws governing springs, aquifers, habitats, and the use of lands, including wetlands like the Everglades. There was a strong local component too: Miami-Dade's Department of Environmental Resource Management (DERM) continues to be plagued by morale problems and an enforcement mission that is continually eroded by lobbyists representing special interests, expressed through meddling in department affairs. This is all happening under the careless attention of our elected representatives.
But for those readers tuning into the 30 Year War for the first time: read Georgia Tasker's, "The Warming of Florida", in today's Herald.
Lower order species are already moving from a warmer climate. The migrations are being documented by scientists. Not opinion writers. The shift is called 'adaptation'. Think of the planet as a theater crowded with God's creation. When smoke drifts into the ventilation of the theater, the species least tolerant move out first. What Tasker doesn't say, is that there is no evidence in the geologic record that the complexity of species can endure as quickly as temperatures are now rising.
At some point in the future, historians will look back at our era-- on the edge of sea level rise and other symptoms of global warming-- and look for signs of dissent. This blog and my writing over the years will be one place to find it.
The National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act among others. Almost as soon as the ink was dry on this framework, US corporations and wealthy special interests-- mostly funded by the fossil fuel lobby, big agriculture, and their private foundations-- began a counter-attack, influencing the public debate in America on key environmental issues, from climate change to irresponsible land use development. (Read PIttman and Waite, "Paving Paradise: Florida's vanishing wetlands in a time of no-net loss")
Florida has been at the front line of this war. Today, special interests who fomented the housing bubble are prodding the Florida legislature to eviscerate the Florida Department of Community Affairs; the agency charged with "managing" the state's haphazard and self-defeating economic growth patterns. They claim that the economic collapse was caused by too much regulation. The record of the housing boom, now bust, in this state is a testament to the obliteration of measures nominally afforded by laws governing springs, aquifers, habitats, and the use of lands, including wetlands like the Everglades. There was a strong local component too: Miami-Dade's Department of Environmental Resource Management (DERM) continues to be plagued by morale problems and an enforcement mission that is continually eroded by lobbyists representing special interests, expressed through meddling in department affairs. This is all happening under the careless attention of our elected representatives.
But for those readers tuning into the 30 Year War for the first time: read Georgia Tasker's, "The Warming of Florida", in today's Herald.
Lower order species are already moving from a warmer climate. The migrations are being documented by scientists. Not opinion writers. The shift is called 'adaptation'. Think of the planet as a theater crowded with God's creation. When smoke drifts into the ventilation of the theater, the species least tolerant move out first. What Tasker doesn't say, is that there is no evidence in the geologic record that the complexity of species can endure as quickly as temperatures are now rising.
At some point in the future, historians will look back at our era-- on the edge of sea level rise and other symptoms of global warming-- and look for signs of dissent. This blog and my writing over the years will be one place to find it.
What Can We Do As Miami Dade Citizens to Make It Better? By Geniusofdespair
We have to lance the infected boils on our ass: The County Commission!Gimleteye lays out some LOCAL problems in his post above, citing the pressure on DERM:
"Miami-Dade's Department of Environmental Resource Management (DERM) continues to be plagued by morale problems and an enforcement mission that is continually eroded by lobbyists representing special interests, expressed through meddling in department affairs. This is all happening under the careless attention of our elected representatives."
Yes, the buck stops with the horrendous County Commission and we can't get them out of office with district voting (most voters don't follow what their commissioner does, they just vote them in over and over because they bring a few perks to their district) and because of corporate campaign financing, so what can we do? Really, what is left to do?
We need a petition drive. That is all we have left. With legislation they have tied our hands on most everything else...and they have made the petition process almost impossible with foolish rules. But thanks to David Dermer's lawsuit we still have a chance.
We could do some sort of charter changes (a couple of petitions) that would pull the plug on some of their power. I would like to get procurement out of their hands. We have to lance the infected boil on our ass: The County Commission. Would you rather go buy a donut to sit on and shut up. I for one want it lanced.
To do this we must all come together with money and the will. If we don't it will be business as usual. Stupid private stadiums built with tax dollars is just the tip of the boondoggles they will come up with, forever at the call of their lobbyist puppet masters. Remember too, a few weeks ago they took our transportation tax for mass transit, diverting most of it to general funds. How many slaps across the face do we need to wake up?
Send me an email if you are serious and you want to help. I don't care who you are and I am sure as hell not going to tell anyone. I just want to strike a blow for good government and I need citizens to step forward. geniusofdespair@yahoo.com
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