Miami Beach Group 3 Race: I Endorse Gabrielle Redfern. By Geniusofdespair

Make sure you vote November 17th if you live in the district or call your friends there and tell them to vote for Gabrielle.

Gabrielle Redfern's opponent, former Commissioner/lawyer Michael Gongora, has been a lobbyist although he denies the obvious.

According to Steve Rothhaus of the Miami Herald, Gongora said:

"I made some perhaps bad votes in the past but they didn't come from a bad place. I'm not a lobbyist." One of those bad votes:

He...voted against a measure that banned his law firm, Becker & Poliakoff, from lobbying the city while he sat on the dais.

Gabrielle Redfern has no money ($3,000) to campaign so she will have to win by word of mouth. Gongora has about $70,000. She was endorsed by the Miami Herald and the Transit Miami Blog. She has been on numerous Miami Beach boards, and most important, Redfern is not a professional lobbyist. Gongora had his chance and as he freely admits, he made bad votes.

Maybe in an educated district, money will not rule, after all, Gabrielle Redfern did make it to the runoff sorely short on funds!

Cuban blogger threatened and beaten ... by gimleteye

There is nothing to say but words of empathy and anger in response to news that Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez was apparently detained and beaten by state security officials in Havana, on her way to a protest march against violence. But for The Miami Herald, this story would not have emerged in the mainstream press.

The internet has proven to powerfully break down barriers and obstacles to reaching wide numbers of readers with information that otherwise would not be available. It has other impacts, too: breaking down the profit model that eroded the quality of news. In repressive nations, the internet has proven especially dangerous to the legitimacy of authorities. In China, for instance, our main economic competitor imposes Big Brother tactics against internet users.

In America, we complain a lot, and do, about the decline quality of news and information available to people. I feel angry that this is, for instance, "The Age of Stupid". I regularly extend my criticism to the majority of our county commissioners in Miami-Dade as "unreformable" and part of the Idiocracy. But I write these words knowing, too, that the United States is the gold standard for freedom of speech, and stories like the one from Cuba today remind me to be thankful for that, every day.

County Commissioner campaign warchests: who is JM Global Consulting? by gimleteye

On a routine visit to the Miami Dade campaign finance reports website, I was looking around at how the incumbents are faring with their fundraising.

It is always interesting to see who is listed in the early money. Published campaign reports are available on the county website. The Two Incumbents of the Unreformable Majority are Javier Souto and Pepe Diaz. Souto has raised about $14,150K and Diaz, $55,395K. Rebeca Sosa, $3000. That's as of the quarter ending 9.30.2009.

For Souto and Diaz, Shoma Homes interests show up as max contributors: Shoma is a big developer of production homes at the edge of Biscayne Bay and in wetlands. They have a big stake in lobbying against any regulations by the county of development. There is the by-now iconic representative of the unreformable majority, Miguel De Grandy and family contributors. They turn out $1000 for Souto and a couple of thou for Diaz. The difference must be an oversight.

Diaz raised more than three times more than Souto. Of course, Diaz does heavier lifting on the dais than the Silver Fox. Diaz, for instance, has pushed the UDB changes for Lowe's, that is really just a proxy for the development/construction lobby that wants to build all the way past Krome Avenue, beyond the UDB, to the Everglades. Souto doesn't absorb himself with details, but he can be counted on for reliable pro-development votes whenever they are really needed.

The engineering cartel is behind Diaz, including Post Buckley, former SFWMD executive director Henry Dean, Al Cardenas, the UDB line pushers including Wayne Rosen, Shoma Homes and Sergio Pino business interests under US Century. Waste management and cement manufacturers also show up.

A company called JM Global Consulting turns up with max contribution to Souto. Who knows JM Consulting, or, its principal Jose Mallea? He seems to be a fan of the George Bush Presidential Library and so forth. Former chief of staff to Mayor Manny Diaz, unless that is another Jose Mallea. According to a 2005 Miami Today report, "Mr. Mallea was a member of the State Department's Iraq task force assisting the economic restructuring of Iraq." Mr. Mallea also turned up in 2007 as co-chair of the Advisory Council for Hispanic USA, chaired by Jose Cancela, advocating property tax reform. It all seemed so much easier during the ether of the building boom.

The third incumbent county commissioner, running next year, is Rebeca Sosa. So far, the De Grandy names account for $2000 of her recorded $3000 in contributions. Ouch.

It is not too difficult to sift through the corporations, contributors, listed individually, and the commissioners they support. Here is a place to start. But it does take time to search. If you would like to give us some of your time, we can help you learn how using public records: just contact either me or G.O.D. at our email addresses. I'm sure readers would be intrigued by what you help us dredge up.

Tolls: We apparently don't care about our tourists. By Geniusofdespair

The tourism industry has an economic impact of $57 billion on Florida's economy but with tourism down statewide, should we be making it harder to be a tourist? There is an insane SunPass alternative afoot - Toll-by-Plate - to be instituted in anticipation of tearing down toll plazas. The Miami Herald article doesn't address it and maybe the Miami Dade Expressway Authority doesn't either: What do tourists do? The tolls are on the way to 2 National Parks and the Florida Keys (which registered the second highest occupancy rate in Florida at 69.8% in January 2009) so we have plenty of tourists. Do you really think tourists are going to pre-pay tolls? What if they borrow a car without a SunPass? According to the Miami Herald:

Toll-by-Plate customers in 2010 will be able to pre-pay their accounts in cash, check or credit and debit cards at thousands of locations, including convenience stores and supermarkets. They can pay online if they have a credit or debit card. Starting in 2011, drivers will be able to pay in cash after they get bills in the mail.

Also if residents don't want to set up SunPass accounts, how are these Toll-By-Plate accounts any different? I'm all for fixing traffic but not for confusing people. Just get rid of the tolls.

Global warming solutions: the only thing missing is political will ... by gimleteye

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Al Gore
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

John Stewart, of The Daily Show, interviews Al Gore on global warming. Stewart is thoughtful and funny, about the dilemma of Americans believing the science, but waiting for elected officials to "do something". He says, 4:10: "Just give us one (choice). It is getting very confusing." Gore explains that there is enough technology available today to have a significant effect to reduce global warming impacts. But Stewart stays on point, "You are fighting not just the industrial revolution. We are hard-wired to burning things. You have make it easy for us. We're tired. It's very frustrating for me to keep hearing about this and not see progress."

Along those lines, it was hopeful to see that yesterday the Senate Environment and Public Works passed a climate change bill out of committee, even if it was only supported only by Democrats. For the doubters, next time we have a moon high tide or neap tide, take a look at the flooding downtown by some of the new condos on the bay or Matheson Hammock or Miami Beach. What's next? Signs: "Don't park here at high tide". And what's after that? "Don't live here at high tide." And after that? "Don't live here at any tide." Andrew C. Revkin, of The New York Times, writes a great blog on the environment and well worth checking out when you have time.

Advice to Miami Mayor Elect Tomas Regalado ... by gimleteye

If the mainstream press accounts are to be believed, Mayor Regalado will be removing the Chief of Police John Timoney and perhaps the City Manager, Pete Hernandez as big indicators of change. But I'm guessing that there are a thousand other details that need thorough reform, including the kinds of no-show jobs for politically influential relatives that Miami New Times disclosed. I'd be interested to know what is on your "top ten list" for Mayor Regalado.

GOP Senate Primary in Florida: does anyone know what it means to be a Republican conservative? by gimleteye

The Wall Street Journal reports that the same Republican forces who attempted a putsch on a safe GOP seat in the NY 23 Congressional District against an incumbent deemed to be too moderate, Dede Scozzafava; are now planning to turn to the US Senate primary race in Florida, with a plan to similarly purge Gov. Charlie Crist who is running against Marco Rubio, a telegenic former House majority leader from Miami who is a stand-in for former Governor Jeb Bush. What are Gov. Crist's sins? From all appearances, there is one: last February he stood with President Obama and supported the $787 billion federal stimulus plan. But what really is the nature of that sin?

Gov. Charlie Crist came to office, after two terms of Jeb Bush in Tallahassee, and essentially behaved as though the former governor never existed. On the surface, all is swell between the Crist and Bush camps; but underneath there is simmering tension that the Jeb Bush legacy-- a positive outcome compared to George W. Bush presidency-- had been shunted aside by the current governor, whose amiability perfectly covers over roiling GOP politics beneath the surface. The June 5 Washington Times opinion (June 5, "Florida needs a little Sunshine") signaled a chapter in the civil war within the GOP, extending far beyond the borders of this politically significant swing state. So far, there is more more heat than light. Watching medieval monks argue how many angels fit on the head of a pin is nearly as illuminating. "Jeb Bush recently said that the party needs to stop looking back to Reagan and start looking toward the future. Marco Rubio is that future."

The glowing editorial in the Washington Times is filled with the same tired canards and code words whose meaning, in terms of defining "conservative", is a continuing mystery. So, what are the sins that the conservatives are pinning on Gov. Charlie Crist?

One; that he supported President Obama's stimulus package. It seems not to matter that the $787 billion fiscal stimulus plan sprung from a three page document hastily drawn up by former US Treasury Secretary under President Bush, Henry Paulson, within hours of what experts believed was a near meltdown of the financial system. So, are the conservative Republicans who support Rubio/Jeb Bush repudiating President Bush, too?

The question needs to be answered by the GOP radical wing that is obsessed with purging moderates from within its midst: does the party also oppose the trillions of taxpayer dollars that have been thrown into the nation's banking system-- mainly benefiting Republican bankers, by the way-- in order to maintain the illusion of capital ratios to prevent the federal government from having to shut them down? Do the conservatives also oppose the $8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers, that is propping up production homebuilders who are also, for the most part, Republicans?

In the last session of the Florida legislature, Governor Crist gave big money Republicans--from the Growth Machine-- their most important prize: freedom from regulations governing growth management in Florida. These special interests actually argued, without challenge by Democrats, that the collapse of housing values was caused by onerous land use regulations that developed in the 1980's and implemented, yes, by state Republicans. Since Jeb Bush was elected governor, the state GOP had targeted state regulatory authority. Finally Crist gave them what they wanted: the opportunity to loose the wolves on Florida's remaining natural landscape. In return, his campaign warchest rapidly filled with millions of dollars. Now what?

Two terms of a Bush presidency and of Jeb Bush's governorship in Florida poured gasoline on the flames whipped up against regulation. That blaze gave cover for Wall Street lunatics to take over the asylum and foxes into henhouses everywhere, from toxics and pollution, to the environment and public health. Still, the size of government exploded. Even former Fed Chief Alan Greenspan now repudiates a career built on the myth that self-interest and the profit motive can better protect from market excess than regulations.

The Washington Times in June called Rubio, "the Cuban Newt Gingrich"; what he really is, is the Cuban Jeb Bush.

The US Senate primary race in Florida is about the thwarted competition for leadership of the GOP that began in 1994 when Jeb was being primed by Karl Rove and Grover Norquist Republicans for party leadership and perhaps a presidential run. But he unexpectedly tripped on a loss to former US Senator Lawton Chiles. That year, Gingrich, then US Congressman from Georgia, stepped into the breach and led a Republican minority to control of Congress through a mid-term election. Gingrich, as House Majority leader, pushed President Clinton and his agenda sharply rightward. Another Bush, George in Texas, was slotted against the Gingrich wing of the GOP.

Jeb was finally elected governor in 1998, but too late to be the candidate presidential run. Instead, Florida became the test-tube for GOP strategists; in particular, the components of the culture war, the war against the environment, and tactics like suppressing science and intimidating regulatory agencies that would come, also, to define the Bush White House.

The Jeb Bush election in 1998 was a masterful accomplishment for Miami-based production homebuilders who had already perfected the Miracle Gro formula for instant suburbs: Wall Street derivatives finance, home builders and their trade associations, cement manufacturers, mortgage brokers, and local zoning councils masquerading cheap platted subdivisions and condos as what the public wanted, all delivering housing products through hidden subsidies and the lazy eye of regulators. It was also the year that R. Allen Stanford, a big GOP contributor, started his multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme in Miami, shuffling bags of cash to offshore banking safe havens.

The Miami crew shows up on Rubio's early campaign finance reports, raising over $4 million: Caesar Alvarez, CEO of Greenberg, Traurig the Miami-based law firm specializing in the dark arts of local zoning for sprawl in farmland and wetlands (and whose attorneys then helped Stanford set up Miami shop). $2400, Alan Becker, Becker and Poliakoff, a Miami-based law firm with an extensive zoning and land use permitting practice, $2300, Ronald Book, $2400, Silvio Cardoso, former president of the Latin Builders Association, $2400, Santiago Echemendia, Tew and Cardenas, the law firm mostly closely associated with Jeb Bush, $1000, Herman Echevarria, a political consultant close to former Miami Dade mayor Alex Penelas and the Latin Builders, $2400, Ann Herberger, Bush family loyalist, $1400, Miami-Dade lobbyist Jorge Luis Lopez, $1000, Miami-Dade political consultants Marin and Son, total of $7200, Mestre family interests in Redland garbage and land development, total $12,200, Milton family interests, Miami’s major developer campaign contributors, total $4800, Miami sprawl developer Stanley Tate and family, $4800. Early contributions to Rubio from Florida Crystals/Big Sugar total $11,200: (Cantens, $1000, Dominicis, $2400, Oscar Hernandez, $1000, Albert Recio, $1000, Armando Tabernilla, $1000, Jose ‘Pepe’ Fanjul Sr., $2400, Jose Fanjul Jr., $2400). The Fanjul interests have taken on Crist for his initiatives-- against the grain of Jeb Bush environmentalism-- to acquire more land for restoring the Everglades; badly damaged by Big Sugar's pollution and other farming interests.

The Washington Times gushes: "Leading a strong conservative House majority, (Rubio) battled a moderate Republican Senate president as well as Mr. Crist. To prepare for this challenge, he surrounded himself with former Jeb Bush advisers. While Mr. Crist hosted global warming "summits" proposing big-government solutions to a debatable problem, Mr. Rubio wrote op-eds in the Miami Herald advocating free-market solutions to environmental concerns." But what are those "free market" solutions?

This is exactly the philosophic ground where Jeb rooted after his defeat in 1994. His drawing board quickly filled up with the catchy politics of free market environmentalism; a borderless world in which the profit principle and self interest did a better job than regulations in protecting the nation's air, water, and natural resources. In response, Florida Democrats began a full bore retreat, lacking any serious plan of their own; a flaw that dogged Gore in the 2000 presidential campaign in Florida and continues, unbroken, to this day. The enemy of progress: regulations containing suburban sprawl, especially at the margin of the Everglades where powerful campaign contributors agitate successfully for new zoning and state approval of massive new communities and related infrastructure. (For detail, read the 2009 excellent book by St. Pete Times writers Matthew Waite and Craig Pittman, "Paving Paradise: Florida's vanishing wetlands".)

To block out Marco Rubio, Charlie Crist sold Florida down the river. It is the shadow of Jeb Bush that chased him there. Will this story emerge in the GOP primary for US Senate? It is a story that will need to be told if Kendrick Meek, the Democratic candidate for US Senate, will be competitive in November, 2010. But can he, and, will he? Meek has spent time in that shadow, too. When he was state representative, Meek and a colleague, state representative Tony Hill, sat in the dark in the anteroom of Governor Jeb Bush's office all night long, with the TV cameras rolling bad news of the fuming governor until Poppy told his son to turn the lights back on. That is another story, for another day.



Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009
GOP at War with Itself in Florida Senate Race
By Michael Grunwald / Miami
While his Republican Party has been flailing and losing and dwindling to its base, Florida Governor Charlie Crist has remained extremely popular by governing from the middle. He has stocked his administration with Democrats, appointed a fairly liberal African-American Democrat to the state supreme court, expanded voting rights for felons, crusaded against global warming and enthusiastically supported President Obama's stimulus package. Crist's crossover appeal — along with his powerhouse skills as a fundraiser and campaigner — has made him a heavy favorite to join the Senate in 2010. To some observers, his success in the largest swing state could be a national model for a GOP in the wilderness, proof that the party still appeals to independent voters.

But those observers do not tend to be Republicans, much less the conservative partisans who tend to dominate closed Republican primaries. They've got a different vision for the party's future, and it looks more like Crist's 38-year-old Cuban-American primary challenger, Marco Rubio, a dynamic and telegenic ideologue who was the first minority speaker of the Florida house of representatives and is now described by fluttery admirers as an Obama of the right. He's a passionate defender of traditional Republican principles and wasn't part of the generation of Republican leaders who betrayed them. He speaks for the tea-party base, the limited-government purists who believe the GOP lost favor because its leaders were insufficiently rather than overly conservative. They see Crist as part of the problem, a big-spending, eco-radical, finger-in-the-wind Democrat-lite. (See pictures of GOP memorabilia.)

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), thrilled to recruit a proven statewide winner who can raise cash without help from Washington, endorsed Crist the day he entered the race. So did outgoing Senator Mel Martinez, who announced last week that he's stepping down early, allowing Crist to select a sympathetic caretaker — he says he won't name himself — to keep the seat warm. Early polls suggest that Crist would easily beat any Democrat — the favorite is Congressman Kendrick Meek — and that he's starting with a 30-point lead over his GOP challenger. Crist also raked in a state-record $4.3 million in the second quarter, swamping Rubio's $340,000; the media are speculating that Rubio will run for attorney general instead, and his campaign manager and chief fundraiser are already gone. (Read "Florida's Senate Seat: The [Premature] Martinez Opening.")

But Rubio insists he won't drop out, and those daunting polls suggest that the relatively few Republicans who know Rubio are quite likely to vote Rubio. Over the next 14 months, as Rubio introduces himself to the state, this race is likely to evolve from David and Goliath into a struggle for the party's soul, with a moderate populist who celebrated the stimulus with Obama at a Fort Myers rally and a conservative stalwart who opposes almost everything Obama has done. (Read "GOP Governors: Split over Obama's Stimulus Plan.")

The NRSC's heavy-handed decision to intervene in the primary has already prompted an anti-establishment backlash by the right-wing blogosphere, and endorsing Rubio is becoming a trendy way for Republicans like 2012 presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint and former House majority leader Dick Armey to demonstrate their conservative bona fides. Grass-roots Florida Republicans are also refusing to anoint Crist; Pasco County's GOP committee, which supported him against a conservative primary opponent in 2006, backed Rubio this time by 73-9 in a straw poll, and Lee County's Republican activists gave Crist a similar thumping. Rubio did even better in Highland County, whitewashing Crist 75-1.

Crist may be the most popular politician in Florida, but for the Florida GOP, that person would be Rubio's mentor, former governor Jeb Bush. His disdain for Crist's policies is an open secret in the Sunshine State, and his son has endorsed Rubio. Crist will still have a huge advantage in money and name recognition, but when choosing between a Republican and a Republican, Republicans usually pick the Republican. It's the same phenomenon that could doom party-switching Senator Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary; partisans don't often reward bipartisanship. "Crist has focused on the Arlen Specter wing of the Republican Party," says Palm Beach County GOP chairman Sid Dinerstein. "Rubio could be the future of a real Republican Party."

If you wanted to draw up a candidate for a party that needs to stop alienating young, Hispanic, Catholic and working-class voters and start inspiring its dispirited base of fiscal and social conservatives, Rubio would be it. He's the son of Cuban exiles, a bartender and a hotel maid who raised him to remember that faith matters, work pays and politics can stifle liberty in a big way. He's married to a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader, and he's got four young children. He's only 5 ft. 9 in. and 160 lb., with a sweet-faced earnestness that is unusual in politics; after he was elected to the state legislature from West Miami at age 29, a state official, mistaking Rubio for an intern, sent him to make copies. But he's also tenacious and ambitious, and with Bush's support, he rose to the speaker's chair in 2007; the ceremony was broadcast live in Cuba on Radio Marti. (Read TIME's cover story on Republicans in distress.)

Rubio quickly built a reputation as an idea guy; he held a series of "idea raisers" around Florida, and the conservative Regnery published his subsequent book, 100 Innovative Ideas for Florida's Future. As speaker, he pushed dozens of those ideas through the house, but few of them made it past Crist's desk. For example, Rubio pushed for radical tax reforms that would have virtually eliminated property taxes; he had to settle for Crist's relatively modest cuts. Rubio also filed a lawsuit to try to stop Crist from expanding Indian gaming; the governor won that battle too.

Rubio is not a chest thumper or a fist banger, but in talks in June to a chamber of commerce in Palm Bay and the Christian Coalition in Miami, he electrified the crowds with eloquent arguments for tea-party principles. He attacked deficits in general and the stimulus in particular as Euro-socialist assaults on his kids. He clamored for term limits, states' rights and the abolition of the estate tax. He attacked government-run health care, warned that cap and trade would leave us with a "Third World economy," and noted that the words "separation of church and state" were nowhere in our founding documents. At times, he seemed to sense that he sounded extreme and offered clarifications like "I'm not saying Barack Obama is the same as Fidel Castro" and "I'm not an anarchist."

He isn't, but he is a savage critic of big government; he sees the crucial divide in politics as between those who trust the public sector to grow the economy and those who trust "the guy drawing up a business plan on the back of a napkin at Denny's." In an interview, he supported the privatization of Social Security, a constitutional amendment to restrain spending and the right of schools to teach intelligent design. He sees the stimulus as a defining issue, an inexcusable embrace of intergenerational theft that exposed Crist as a Specter-style Republican In Name Only. If the Republican Party is going to be indistinguishable from the Democratic Party, why bother having one? he asked.

Rubio rarely mentions Crist by name, but he has asked why the GOP would want a clone of Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, the last moderate Republicans left in the Senate. His favorite campaign theme is popularity vs. leadership, an unsubtle dig at Crist's over-60% approval ratings. He has repeatedly accused poll-driven Republican leaders of abandoning their principles and selling out the grass roots in pursuit of power, letting focus groups and Beltway pundits tell them what to do. "In normal times, that's annoying," Rubio said. "Right now, it's dangerous." (Read "Crist: Too Moderate for Florida Republicans.")

But while Rubio is clearly a fresh face, he's not really pushing fresh ideas. He constantly invokes Ronald Reagan and traditional values but seems uncomfortable with modern problems. His solution for the energy crisis is for government to butt out so that someone can invent a tiny battery that will power a whole city. The only specific critique he made of U.S. health care was that hospitals don't say how much their appendectomies cost, as if patients in acute abdominal pain are looking to comparison-shop. He tweeted that the situation in Iran would be different "if they had a 2nd amendment like ours."

That's a compelling message for the base. And as centrists have fled the party, the base has become increasingly dominant within the GOP, which is why Crist is now scrambling to the right; he surprised many supporters by opposing Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court and signing a developer-friendly bill to weaken growth-management laws. But it's not clear how much of the base will accept Crist's last-minute embrace. And if popular centrists like Crist can't win primaries, moderates will keep fleeing, the vicious cycle will continue, and the party will be in trouble. "The governor is a problem solver above all else," says Crist's political strategist, George LeMieux. "He's a national model of a Republican leader who serves all the people, not just his party."

In the modern Republican Party, that's a problem. Crist has one year to solve it.

Wing-Nuts In Florida, Exactly How Many Are There? By Geniusofdespair

Passing this truck yesterday afternoon in Broward -- with all these right wing messages plastered all over it -- got me thinking, exactly how many wing-nuts do we have in Florida? It is not as if you can do a poll and ask people. What if the Conservative wing of the Republican Party decides to flood money into the Boobio (Marco Rubio) campaign? Will the wackos all come out to vote for him? Could he win? Polls say he can against Meek. I can live with Crist but never Rubio. ABCNews.com said the same conservative groups that supported wacko Doug Hoffman in New York are making noises about backing Rubio. "We're seriously looking at it. We like Marco Rubio a lot. We think that Charlie Crist represents some of the same things that Dede Scozzafava represents", Club for Growth President Chris Chocola said. Commentator Chris Matthews agrees that Crist will be the next target of the far right also read the Miami Herald today: After Tuesday's elections, Florida looms as the next front in a war between moderates and conservatives that's dividing a Republican Party trying to surge toward the 2010 election.

I am seriously thinking of registering as a Republican. Can anyone tell me why that is a bad idea? I think my primary vote will actually have more weight than my actual vote. I don't see that the Democrats need me as they will probably lose the Senate race anyway. Where do you think I can I get the biggest bang from my primary vote?

On the Agenda: Airport Related Bonds Add Up to Almost a Billion Dollars. By Geniusofdespair

I can safely say I don’t know what this means, however approving $847,500,000 in Aviation Bonds is on the County Budget, Planning and Sustainability Committee Agenda for November 9th.

1. RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING ISSUANCE OF NOT TO EXCEED $600,000,000 OF 2010A AVIATION REVENUE BONDS
2. RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING ISSUANCE OF NOT TO EXCEED $247,500,000 DOUBLE-BARRELED AVIATION BONDS (GENERAL OBLIGATION), SERIES 2010, IN ONE OR MORE TRANCHES, FOR PURPOSE OF PAYING COSTS OF CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS FOR COUNTY AIRPORTS;

Is this why we need slot machines at the airport and want to drill at the Dade-Collier training facility Airport? What is up with these bonds? What do they say about the financial stability of MIA? Anyone have answers?

Alert: If you have Bellsouth Email is it working properly? By Geniusofdespair

OKAY I FIGURED OUT WHAT IS GOING ON. Bellsouth has a SPAM FOLDER ONLINE. It is different from your spam folder. I found all my missing emails there. I wonder how long this has been going on, in one month (they delete every 30 days) I had a about 50 good messages in it. When Bellsouth switched to yahoo this kicked in.

Bellsouth to Bellsouth emails are being mailed but SOME are getting lost in the great abyss. They are not in the junk email folder. I just emailed my spouse 5 emails over 2 days. Only 1 arrived. There were no attachments on any of them. I spoke to someone else who said they sent me emails I never got. Another friend with Bellsouth told me they are not getting all their emails. Anyone having problems? Apparently they are as I just found this on the Bellsouth site when I reported it (you can do what they suggest under "tools" Junk email or Spam protection.)

Beba Mann Sends a Message to Her Supporters. By Geniusofdespair

Beba ran for District 3 Seat in the City of Miami:

What an amazing job we all did! I started late and ran against two big-money candidates and finished third with solid votes, actually running even with the second place finisher in the regular vote. The absentee voter system needs to be reformed to allow all candidates equal access to the elderly housing projects where the majority of absentee ballots are issued.

I am honored for the support and encouragement by all. I am walking away with more strength and my head high - a clean campaign based on issues, endorsement from the press, and more passion about my community than ever before.

I'm not going anywhere! I will continue to fight for what is important to all of us, our quality of life and how our money is spent. I will be engaged stronger than ever!

On Urban Development Boundary application, County Commissioners vote to punt ... by gimleteye

In the midst of an epic glut in commercial and residential real estate capacity, there is no need to move the Urban Development Boundary. The UDB extends in a ragged edge along the western edge of Miami-Dade, separating the urban service area from farmland and open space edging toward the Everglades. But the county commission could not summon the political will to stop another application to move the Urban Development Boundary. If there was ever a time to say, OK we made some mistakes in the past approving unsustainable growth but now is the time to reconsider and act in good faith on behalf of taxpayers, this was it. But it wasn't. Yesterday the commission decided to continue to litigate against the state of Florida and an administrative court decision to uphold the state's position that a new Lowe's store outside the Urban Development Boundary violated the state's Growth Management Act (see, Lowe's below) Today, the commission voted to "transmit" without recommendation the Ferro application in order to get the judgment of the state that it rejected in the Lowe's case.

What is so amazing, here, is that Natacha Seijas and the unreformable majority keeps saying that the county should "retain" control; ie. local control, yet, they keep punting developer applications to the state. At the same time, the Growth Machine lobbyists promoting developer applications judged to be violations are promoting changes that would eviscerate the state agency whose opinion the commissioners profess to want. If this isn't government designed to fail, I don't know what is.

Clean Water Action Dawn Shirreffs countered Joe Martinez. Noting the huge volume of empty retail, office and housing in the Kendall Commons area, Shirreffs argued that you can't "build it and they will come. We built it, and they are not coming." That's too much common sense. Tropical Audubon Society Laura Reynolds held up a photo of the Kendall Commons site with a "For Sale" sign on it. Just what we have said: the Urban Development Boundary is all about land speculators, flippers, and political insiders trying to cash out of property bought too high. Change the underlying zoning, recoup some cost from another vulture willing to sit on the property until the markets return.

The only surprise, and it raised some eyebrows: African American county commissioner Audrey Edmunson voted against the application. Perhaps it is becoming clearer, in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression, that encouraging more suburban sprawl comes at the cost to inner city taxpayers and residents who end up funding the costs and diversion of public resources to outlying areas. Also voting "no"-- the right vote-- were Katy Sorenson, Rebeca Sosa, and Chairman Dennis Moss. If Sally Heymann had been there-- she wasn't-- and if Carlos Gimenez had voted with the minority, as he usually does on UDB changes, the measure would have been defeated. Instead, local activists and community organizers will chase, again, into the rabbit hole of state review, sending the controversy far from the prying eyes of local constitutents; a diversion of energy and talent and money that may in itself be the point of these senseless attempts to circumvent responsible planning in Miami-Dade County.

Watching the Ferro Application. By Geniusofdespair

It is on TV right now if you want to see it. State Senate hopeful Miguel Diaz de la Portilla is the lobbyist for Ferro. Laura Reynolds of Tropical Audubon was one of the people speaking against moving the UDB line for this application stressing that there was no need for commercial in this area. The Planning Department of the County recommended denial because it is needed agricultural land and there is no need for commercial in this area. I have to leave but I will tape the County Commission discussion. Maybe Gimleteye can report! Katy just said she can't support it. Natacha is speaking now, sounds like she wants to transmit it, she only spoke for 10 seconds and I know how she is going to vote. Gimenez is voting to transmit but said he probably wouldn't support it later. Pepe, you know how he is going...

At the county commission, another application to move the Urban Development Boundary ... by gimleteye

That the Miami-Dade county commission exists in a cocoon formed from the silk threads of campaign contributors from the Growth Machine, is indisputable. From cost-overruns at Miami International, to the Miami-Dade Housing Agency, to Transit and transportation, to hair-brained schemes to rock mine the Everglades or put ORV's on the former Everglades Jetport site, the county commission is immune: even from court decisions that reject its votes to move the Urban Development Boundary.

I've likened repeated developer applications to move the UDB, to an owner who hits the dog just to remind the dog who is boss. The developers and the engineering cartel take their turn; a DRI by Lennar, a new store in wetlands by Lowe's: big corporations push from behind, while a whole host of consultants, lawyers, lobbyists, and planners push from upfront. Even in the absence of demand and the largest excess of housing and commercial space in Miami history. Sometimes the commissioners seem motivated by pure spite. The vitriol by commissioners against citizen objectors helps fill campaign war chests and secure a permanent incumbency.

The following message was sent out by Sierra Club, yesterday:

"Will Miami-Dade Commissioners deliver another growth management nightmare and approve the Ferro Development proposal outside the Urban Development Boundary(UDB)? 
 
Despite the empty lots, numerous vacant storefronts, and foreclosed homes, Mario Ferro is once again seeking to move Miami-Dade's UDB On Monday the Planning Advisory Board recommended that County Commissioners once again ignore public sentiment and advance an application for unwarranted new development on Nov. 4th.  In this economy, this idea is so ludicrous!
 
This is Ferro's third attempt to move the UDB. Just last April, Commissioners approved Lowe's application over public opposition. The Mayor vetoed it - not once but twice!   Florida's growth agency, the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) also rejected it. Governor Crist and his Cabinet agreed with the Judge finding the initial approval unlawful. Yet, Miami-Dade residents are still footing the bill  -- now over $400,000.00 -- in the ongoing legal battle to allow Lowe's to pave wetlands on the outskirts of the UDB. 
 
Will the same County Commissioners who tout fiscal responsibility transmit the new application with little regard to the additional financial burden to taxpayers? Will we once again pay County lawyers to defend a private development we don't need and didn't want? Is this how we should spend county funds while cutting important services to the community?
 
The county's planning experts show there is no need to move the UDB. Instead of hiding behind the DCA, Miami-Dade County Commissioners and the Planning Advisory Board should Deny and Not Transmit the Ferro development application.

Please come and speak out at the meeting tomorrow.  We need you.  If you can't make it to the meeting, please email or call Rebecca Sosa and let her know that you want this application rejected!


Rebecca Sosa:  District6@miamidade.gov
(305) 375-5696

 
Hold the Line 2009 UDB Application Talking Points
 
Ferro Application (Formerly called"Kendall Commons")
 


This proposed project located at the southeast corner of SW167th St. & SW104th St is back for it's 3rd attempt to move the UDB and seeks to changes land use designation from: "Agriculture" to "Business and Office" (9.9 acres) and inclusion within the UDB. 

Support County Planning and Zoning recommendation to DENY and DO NOT TRANSMIT   
 
This application creates a "Hole in the Donut," an area of development surrounded on three sides by agricultural land.
 
There is no need for commercial or residential land in this area.
 
Existing vacant industrial, office space & residential housing are bad for the economy.
Specs: Business and office allows for some residential development.  Application could include up to 59 single-family detached housing units.  No covenant restricting residential has been proffered.
 
Project will increase traffic congestion.  Adjacent roads including SW 137th St, SW 147th Street, SW 157th SR 821, SW 107th Ave, SW 117 Ave, SR 874, Bird Road, Sunset Drive, Kendal Drive, Killian, Drive, SW 127th Ave and others will deteriorate to "D", "E" and "F"  Levels of Service (LOS).
 
Project would impacts to fire and rescue services where average travel time to vicinity is already 6.28 minutes.
Approval of this application will create a pocket of land designated as "agricultural" between two already designated for residential.  This leapfrogging of agricultural land is not conducive to good urban services planning.
 
Commercially zoned land within this study area will not be depleted until beyond 2025; therefore another retail center is not necessary.
 
Residential capacity of vacant land within the current UDB is not projected to be depleted until 2018.
 
This project is not contiguous as it abuts UDB to the north only not the east and creates a hole in the donut, and may invite moving the UDB even more in the future.
 
Approval of residential or educational uses will make agricultural use on surrounding properties not viable.
 
Commercial centers should be located in the center of their market areas, not on the outskirts.
 
Sufficient centers exist within a mile of the Ferro site.
 
This application only represents a small portion of the 95 acres owned by Ferro.  Approval sets the stage for subsequent proposals for residential or commercial development of entire site.
 
Property is located within the West Wellfield Protection area.
 
Project would drastically increase water demand from the Biscayne Aquifer.
 
Annual operations and maintenance costs for water and sewer could increase by $1,770,000.00 per month ($27,00 for water and $32,000 for sewer daily).
 
Thanks to our Friends at Clean Water Action for sharing this information with us! For more info, go to www.udbline.com
 

Observations on the off-year elections ... by gimleteye

The voters of Miami elected a new mayor, Tomas Regalado, as a vote against the growth-at-any-cost policies manifesting in so much economic misery. In this case, the voters knew what they were voting against: an incumbent mayor and candidate, Joe Sanchez, who stood for the building and construction boom. If challengers to incumbent Miami-Dade county commissioners can raise enough money to get out the same message, certain members of the unreformable majority could be in trouble in 2010.

Voters are angry, but even in the worst economy since the Great Depression it is not clear they know what they are voting for. Democrats lost the governor's races in New Jersey and Virginia. President Obama had hoped that the grass roots would re-assemble at his urging; unsurprisingly, it is enough of a task to hold the center together without being distracted by the challenges of political organizing.

But before claiming that voters want change again, Republican strategists should be cautious. In New York's 23rd Congressional District, the plan to push out an incumbent because she was not conservative enough, backfired. Take a district that hasn't voted Democrat since the Civil War to prove a point that voters don't just want conservatives, they want a putsch to cleanse the party of moderates. It sounded like a no-brainer on paper. They had roughly one hundred fifty years of precedent to believe that even their most extreme plan would work. It didn't.

They didn't plan on the backlash of enough local Republican voters to tilt the election to the Democrat. Now, Glenn Beck and Limbaugh have egg all over their faces. To me, it looks pretty good there. (Doug Hoffman, the candidate they discovered, has the charisma of a doorknob! Check out Jon Stewart Daily Show at minute 5:38)

Still, this political problem finds its way to the heart of the Obama White House. Obama needs to persuade American voters that the crises at our doorstep are not of his making, but arise from fraud and greed underlying the conservative claims to the "free" market. This is not a point that Obama has spent much time on. Instead of making regulation of Wall Street excess his first priority, he has allowed Wall Street behavior to further inflame the American public. Obama says he prefers to look forward, not backward, but the American public is mired in quicksand and underwater mortgages; it is incumbent on the president to spend a little more time focusing on how we, as a nation, came to this point.

For Obama, assigning responsibility for our economic crises is a secondary theme that has played softly beneath the primary chords of creating bipartisan support for his initiatives. It was clear from the first that radical wing of the Republican party would have nothing of bipartisan comity. In Florida, it is not wing nuts so much as pure power politics funded by Big Oil to push US Senate hopeful Marco Rubio over a governor rapidly losing altitude with the public, Charlie Crist.

The Florida Senate race is instructive for another reason: the Democratic candidate, Kendrick Meek, is struggling to connect with voters. Democratic politicians in Florida are fearful of assigning blame for the economic crash on special interests who fomented the housing and development boom, now in cinders. That is where the campaign cash comes from. Republicans are attacking Obama policies as though they and Democrats are the cause of this jobless economic "recovery" and that the fiscal stimulus wasn't necessary.

The public's short attention span is a fearsome consequence of the Age of Stupid. I learned a long time ago that keeping people dumb is a key part of the program. Now that our economic recovery depends on parsing out truth from fiction, and the high stakes of making mistakes at the edge of a meltdown, there is only a little time left before the 2010 elections to educate voters how the "for" moves us forward.

Movie Review: A Serious Man. By Geniusofdespair

First let me say, I totally "get" the Coen brothers' humor, having seen almost all their films. Last night I was in the mood for a funny movie and in this ad from the New York Times the word Funny was mentioned 3 times with the words Hilarious and Comedy.

Well, A Serious Man wasn't any of the three, in my opinion. It was mostly depressing with a couple of snickers...like a real life you don't want to actually live. A Serious Man defines the word Drama and I wasn't in the mood for one of those. Totally disappointed. I should have paid more attention to the word Serious.

Good News in New York. By Geniusofdespair

New York 23rd Congressional District

Bill Owens (D, WFP): – 22,845, 49%
Dede Scozzafava (R, I): – 2575, 6%
Doug Hoffman (C): – 21,246, 46%

We will post election results tonight! By Geniusofdespair

I'm done 10:14 P.M. nothing close left except the Grove Village Council. Voter turnout at 21.24%.
City of Miami:
97 out of 128 precincts: Regalado 71.74%, Sanchez 28.26%
14 out of 17 precincts: Carollo 52.93%
Suarez 44.9%, Manolo Reyes 40.35% RUNOFF
Spence Jones 82.98% (all precincts not in)
Hialeah:
Robaina 93.31%
Gonzalez 84.20%
Cue 90.40%
Homestead: (back to grow, develop, grow in Homestead!!)
Steven Bateman 58.76%
Stephen Shelley 58.94%
Jimmie L. Williams 50.71%
Elvis R. Maldonado 55.56%
Judy Waldman 64.79% and she is the Vice Mayor too!
Miami Beach: (all precincts not in)
Matti Bower 76.83%
Jerry Libbin 83.37%
Jorge Exposito 38.34%, Maria Mayer 37.64%, Sherry Roberts 24.02% RUNOFF
Gongora 41.96%, Alex Fernandez 28.81%, Gabrielle Redfern 29.24% RUNOFF (too close to know who will be in it as 34 out of 36 precincts are in)
Miami Beach Ballot Questions:
Ethics in government yes 93.52%
Public Street Ends yes 78.51%
City Owned Property yes 69.59%
Coconut Grove Village Council 7 out of 11 reporting:

Heather Bettner
Percent of total votes
6.52% 586
Kate Callahan
Percent of total votes
7.33% 659
David B. Collins
Percent of total votes
7.64% 687
Liliana Dones
Percent of total votes
5.22% 469
Felice Dubin
Percent of total votes
5.95% 535
Rose Fountain
Percent of total votes
4.35% 391
William Furry
Percent of total votes
4.28% 385
Javier Gonzalez
Percent of total votes
5.36% 482
Scott Janowitz
Percent of total votes
4.83% 434
Giana M. Leyva
Percent of total votes
3.08% 277
Stephen P. Murray
Percent of total votes
6.48% 583
Michelle Niemeyer
Percent of total votes
7.25% 652
Sylvia Quinn
Percent of total votes
4.82% 433
Renita Ross Samuels-Dixon
Percent of total votes
7.23% 650
Patrick Sessions
Percent of total votes
8.84% 795
Adam Weirich
Percent of total votes
3.99% 359
David Eric Wells
Percent of total votes
6.84% 615

Update: Proposed Lowe's store on the other side of the Urban Development Boundary. By Geniusofdespair

That Lowe's store on the other side of the Urban Development Boundary just keeps going. Even though the Governor and Cabinet said "no", the County Commission won't let it go. About an hour ago they debated whether to continue the lawsuit against the State of Florida on Lowe's big box store.

Pepe Diaz insisted that the "process should be allowed to take place" and wants the appeal to continue.

Rebeca Sosa asked for clarification questions about what the costs would be - County Attorney's office indicated some transportation, staff and county attorney time.

Carlos Gimenez said "let's just take a vote."

Sorenson outlined that we need to just cut our losses, she noted (hopefully) that the County was not going to take it to the Supreme Court. She then asked the attorney to prepare an ordinance rescinding the County vote to approve the Lowe's. Chairman Moss declined to take any motions on the item and that was it, until the next installment of 'as the stomach turns'.

Miami voters: the future is in your hands today! by gimleteye

We had a lot of feedback from readers-- some of whom were clearly motivated on behalf of one candidate or another-- on today's vote by Miami for the next mayor. Eyeonmiami continues to grow as a resource and guide. Thanks to our readers for pushing our website beyond the millionth page view.

Miscalculating financial and environmental risk and Miami International Airport... by gimleteye

The Miami Herald noted our blog and post on the Everglades Jetport controversy in today's front page, top of the fold story by Curtis Morgan:

The county commission was scheduled to take up the question of rock mining, oil drilling, or otherwise exploiting property owned by the county in the middle of Big Cypress National Preserve in order to pay down debt incurred by the expansion of Miami International Airport.

A decade ago, I lead the campaign to stop the conversion of the Homestead Air Force Base into a major "reliever" airport for Miami International; a deal memorialized as another scheme gone awry by the same unreformable majority of the county commission whose principals sit on the dais today. The public was told-- hyped by the misinformation generated by economists and forecasters and the engineering cartel hired by political insiders who had reconstituted from the board of directors of the Latin Builders Association--that even with the expansion of Miami International, that our economy could not survive without more capacity from a new airport at Homestead.

It is exactly the kind of miscalculation of risk that motivated the citizens of Florida and Miami-Dade, forty years ago, to stop the expansion of suburbia into the Everglades through a nonsensical scheme to put the world's largest airport in the middle of the Everglades. Stopping the Everglades Jetport motivated Marjory Stoneman Douglas-- author of "River of Grass"-- to join other civic leaders in founding Friends of the Everglades (I am conservation chair of that organization). The Everglades Jetport controversy engaged politics in the United States, and the mainstream media, all the way to the White House. It seems incredible to me that the Miami Dade County Commission could send us back to plow over all that old history.

One thing that environmentalists have learned: when it comes to money and the law and the environment, the imperative of money usually wins, no matter the risk. The waste of resources-- both human and financial and of natural resources, too-- is nothing short of amazing. Yet, some profit. The lobbyists cheer another cause to gin fees from. The engineers fill the hours of planners emptied by the housing market bust. The county commissioners see opportunities "expanding the tax base". This is how the game is played.

Maybe I will go back and retrieve the statistics used by Miami Dade Aviation on passenger landings to plead for the Homestead Air Force Base with the county commission. Or, maybe, the media will go back and review just how did the cost-overruns of the MIA expansion mushroom into the billions, and what were the precise terms that benefited the group of lobbyists who incorporated in order to "consult" the billion dollar expansion. One might also ask if any of those lobbyists are also land speculators at the edge of the Everglades and would any of them stand to profit through any expansion of commercial or recreational uses into the lands of the Everglades Jetport. Honestly, you couldn't make this stuff up.

How Did I Get on the NRA Mailing List? By Geniusofdespair

I just got this really nice gold, red and black NRA decal and an opportunity to get $5,000 in accident insurance free for a membership fee of $25.00 a year. I am clumsy, the insurance could come in handy. I wonder if I have to die to collect? And, then there is the free magazine and duffel bag to consider and the $1,000 in firearm insurance. Such a tempting deal. (hit on image to enlarge it) The decal has a lot of power, they say:

When your local lawmakers see this shield...they see crystal-clear proof that if they push gun registration, licensing and prohibition, they can expect defeat on Election Day.

And what do we need the NRA to protect us from:

Your constitutional right to own a gun is under attack by anti-gun politicians and administration officials, global gun ban diplomats at the U.N., militant anti-hunting extremists, radical billionaires and the freedom hating Hollywood elite.

Politics, ethics, and sea level rise ... by gimleteye

In a 1991 paper, EPA climate scientist Dr. Jim Titus wrote, "Sea level rise is an urgent issue for coastal environmental planners for the very reason that it lacks urgency for directors of public works. If environmentalists do not lay the necessary paperwork today to institutionalize a gradual abandonment of the coastal plain as sea level rises, the public will almost certainly call upon engineers to protect their homes in the years to come." ("Greenhouse Effect and Sea Level Rise: The Cost of Holding Back the Sea") Nearly twenty years have passed, and the only evidence of addressing the issues of building and development in coastal zones is study after study. To spur the building boom, "conservative" politicians and public officials eviscerated what limited regulatory authority existed to control development in the path of sea level rise -- in particular, during the Bush eras in Tallahassee and Washington.

Miami and Miami-Dade is an instructive example. When the county commission authorized and spent more than $3 million on the nation's most complete watershed study in the United States, to evaluate where future growth should occur, the builders, developers, and mortgage bankers successfully sabotaged the results. The study was dismissed by the unreformable majority.

Now, Dr. Titus is the lead author of a recent scientific paper, "State and local governments plan for development of most land vulnerable to rising sea level along the US Atlantic coast." Here is how it begins: "Environmental regulators routinely grant permits for shore protection structures (which block wetland migration) on the basis of a federal finding that these structures have no cumulative environmental impact. Our results suggest that shore protection does have a cumulative impact. If sea level rise is taken into account, wetland policies that previously seemed to comply with federal law probably violate the Clean Water Act."

Members of the Miami Dade Climate Change Advisory Task Force (I was a task force member until 2009) also spent a few years studying the subject and reached a conclusion: we have to change our land use patterns and start blocking shoreline and wetlands development that campaign contributors want. But this runs straight up against land speculators and the development/ construction lobby. These well-funded corporate interests rely on the arguments of "property rights" and state law inhibiting action by local governments as a way to leverage private profits against socialized risk. It is the story of Florida.

Recently, The Miami Herald reported: "Jim Murley, director of Florida Atlantic University's Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions and chairman of a state energy and climate commission, said political leaders will need to start doing more, including something many have been loath to do -- saying ``no'' to some development. "I would suggest to you we need to reset the way we think about doing land-use planning in the future,'' he said. "We're going to have to start to understand how we can accommodate where to put the water.'' Environmentalists have been screaming for stronger growth management for years and say they've gotten back mostly lip service. Many remain skeptical that politicians will follow through on climate issues, citing how economic issues have pushed Gov. Charlie Crist's green agenda to the back burner." ("South Florida counties to team up to combat climate change", Miami Herald, Oct 24, 2009)

In fact, the South Miami Dade Watershed Study exhaustively, and a great expense, looked at the watershed of Miami-Dade and clearly mapped out the policies and intersection of planning and water. Today the study sits on a shelf in the Miami-Dade Department of Planning: thanks to de facto chair of the commission, Natacha Seijas, and her chief of staff, Terry Murphy. (Murley was a Chiles era cabinet officer, Secretary of the Florida Department of Community Affairs, that supervises growth management plans throughout the state.)

Today, the issue of ethics and leadership falls squarely on the shoulders of the Cuban American majority in Miami-Dade. Miami Mayor Manny Diaz claims to be "the green mayor", but his green is not about restricting development where it should never occur because of the costs that flood control and abatement impose on taxpayers. Diaz, instead, is about bicycles and recycling and green building: nothing about where building is allowed. In fact, some of the worst flooding in the city now occurs at high tides and around buildings whose zoning and permitting Diaz supported. Miami Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez has tried to block movement of the Urban Development Boundary, partly on the issue of environmental impacts, but the county commission has repeatedly over riden his veto votes.

The truth is that great profits have been wrung from systematically avoiding the costs to taxpayers of unsustainable growth in Florida. This recession-- the deepest since the Great Depression--rests directly on the shoulders of an incumbent majority in South Florida that is, by coincidence of history, mostly Hispanic. What environmental activists have discovered in Miami, is that Hispanic voters are strongly pro-environment; partly as a result of understanding that the root cause of so much destruction is political corruption. Unfortunately, the leaders they help elect and return again and again to office change colors as easily as chameleons. Commissioner Javier Souto thinks he is an environmentalist because he advocates cleaning up dumpsters and bus stops (whose benches proliferate political signage) in his Westchester district. Seijas now finds time on the dais to proclaim how sensitive she is to the environment.

If Seijas and the unreformable majority of the county commission, or the new mayor of Miami, want civil discourse on the environment, the path to reconciliation could begin by stopping development in wetlands and those coastal areas that will be hit first and hardest by sea level rise: South Miami Dade, in particular, where Florida Power and Light is proposing $20 billion in new nuclear reactors.

Sergio Pino: Are you sure you want to support Marco Rubio? By Geniusofdespair

The Miami Herald is giving Marco Rubio a lot of ink. Rubio says: "We are tired of apologizing for our principles." I loved one of his supporter's principles (Rubio should be apologizing for not nipping this in the bud - silent as the misguided throws his fellow Hispanics under the bus):

"He just makes us feel good,'' said Carolyn Pfeiffer, the 73-year-old treasurer of the women's club in Navarre. ``He makes us feel secure as Americans, with all these illegal aliens who want us to pay for their medicine. I have to pay for my own medicine."

Who is bankrolling Rubio's phobic-embracing campaign? Prominent Hispanics such as Sergio Pino, Gasten Cantens and Jose Fanjul. Also Rubio supporters are Congresswoman Ilena Ros-Lentinen's husband, Dexter Lentinen and State Rep. Erik Fresen.

We're Cheap! by gimleteye

If The Miami Herald business section is right, Miami's cratered housing market is going to be saved by international investors scavenging the remainder bins of empty condos and ghost suburbs. The Herald features a few of the developers who are chunking for investor/vultures, including one of the county's top lobbyists, Sergio Pino-- founder of US Century Homebuilders and US Century Bank.

The badly weakened US dollar and perception that Miami is a "safe" place to invest (R. Allen Stanford, BankUnited, and dozens of other lending institutions in Florida, excepting) are all features that the Herald notes, without value judgment. Think of it: the political and business leadership in Miami, including their conservative mantra that the "free" market protects taxpayers and the environment better than regulations, lead to this claim to civic pride: we're cheap, we're broke, and we're wide open for business!

One Woman's Turn for the Worse Because of the Housing Crash. By Geniusofdespair

I was doing public searches in buildings and happened upon this condo which sold for $702,000 in in November 2007. The buildings condo's are now selling in the high $300,000 range. So I thought: "Hmmm, something is wrong here, I need to take a closer look." I went to public records and looked up the woman's history. She is listed as owning 4 properties, 2 in the same building. Appears she had a $596,700 mortgage on the $702,000 condo - putting 20% down. She oddly also had two quit claim deeds, she deeded a property to her attorney and he deeded it back to her a year later (no sales price on quit claim). She bought two additional condos: one in 4/2006 for $460,000 ($322,000 Mortgage) and another a month later for $455,000 (she got $455,000 in 2 mortgages 5/30). She got two additional mortgage for $138,000 5/31 and $91,000 6/12. So the woman had more than a million and half in real estate holdings and many mortgages during the rash days before the crash. Out of all the deeds listed in the graphic the only property she sold was on 7/28/05.

As you can see by the graphic (hit it to enlarge) of her actual county records, things took a turn for the worse on her wheeling and dealing, in early 2009. Lis pendens, liens, foreclosures and judgments have plagued her ever since. I couldn't make sense of her mortgage history as the quit claim deed threw everything off.

The last entry is a foreclosure granted for $277,087 principal due. With fees the principal due climbed to $302,882. Sad. But, think of what a mess this is for collecting property taxes.

Key: AMO - Assignment of mortgage, SMO - Satisfaction of Mortgage. REL - Release of lien. LIS - Written notice a lawsuit has been filed. CVP - Civil Court Papers.

Miami Dade County Police Chief Retires. By Geniusofdespair

One salary gone, a bunch more to go. Don't know much about Robert Parker. Is he doing it for the "Gipper's" budget crunch and because "retirement is inevitable" (what he says) or was he not hot on taking a salary cut? I wish him well, nonetheless.

Cuban Americans, Hispanics, and government: organized white collar crime and the code of silence ... by gimleteye

Although The Miami Herald printed a softball guest opinion on Saturday, "Cubans' legacy at stake", the reader comments were anything but. Contributor Joe Cardona starts by noting the proliferation of Latino themes in US culture and politics (He's right: if you get the chance, watch the amazing PBS documentary on the Latino experience told through the filter of contemporary music: Latin Music USA.) He is also right to note that the explosion of the Latino influence in Miami is nothing new. "In Miami Dade County Hispanics are 62 percent of the population -- the majority of them of Cuban descent... As Cuban Americans we now face the challenge of being the majority in Miami. With majority status comes responsibility and an obligation to care about problems and challenges faced not only by Cubans but by everyone who shares this sacred land of freedom." Herald readers who commented on the paper's website immediately took the writer to task for noting that "Cuban Americans have excelled in many facets", but did not also amplify on the ways that corruption has proliferated on the Cuban American watch in Miami. The softball send off: "We will be judged for the compassion, understanding and respect we demonstrate for issues important to others." I think it is important to detail what those issues are and to question, especially, why the Cuban American leadership of Miami has been so utterly silent.

Medicare fraud. 60 Minutes last week broadcast an eye-opening episode on the concentration of Medicare fraud in Miami, costing taxpayers $67 billion across the nation. One convicted felon, who acted as an informant in disguise on the program-- who scammed $20 million--, guessed that there were 2,000 fraudulent storefront operators in greater Miami-Dade. It is not all Cuban Americans, to be sure, but where is the leadership from the Cuban American community demanding that this illegal activity shut down?

Drugs. This is from a recent (Oct. 18. 2009) Orlando Sentinel (by way of an expose by Miami New Times in 2007): "Cuban pot rings: Cops call them 'organized crime at its best". "Cuban refugees are dominating arrests in Florida's indoor-marijuana trade in what investigators call a nearly punishment-free crime."

And locally: Miami-Dade Charter Review. Everyone knows that Miami-Dade local government, managed by a strong mayor and a dysfunctional county commission, needs to be reformed. Strong recommendations were proposed by the Miami Dade Charter Review Commission in 2008 and 2009; they were shelved by the county commission. Where was the outrage among Hispanic and especially Cuban American leaders? Victor Diaz, for instance, who lead the Charter Review as a volunteer and now serves as an interim city commission on Miami Beach was an eloquent spokesman for change: why didn't a movement organize among Cuban American business leaders to support him and the conclusions of the Review Committee?

One of the issues underlying the rotted foundations of the current county commission is the Urban Development Boundary and what is required by developers and their favored commissioners to move the line to build more suburban sprawl. Latin builders dominate the political landscape in Miami-Dade, from zoning and permitting of condos and platted subdivisions. They work in tandem with large corporations/ production home builders like Lennar or WCI to push changes to local growth plans through the unreformable majority of the county commission. They also dominate Republican politics in Florida. Although many builders do not profit from moving the Urban Development Boundary, there have been NO Cuban American developers or builders who have spoken out against this commandeering of local government to serve development interests. Privately, leaders in the Cuban American community deplore the heavy-handed domination of local city and county commissions: they know who they are-- Jorge Perez comes to mind-- but their code of silence roars.

A decade ago, Cuban American business leaders formed the Mesa Rotonda and called for an end to the systematic corruption that plagued Miami-Dade and repressed the positive evolution of business and job opportunities here. Mesa Rotonda silently sunk below the waves. This is the reality that cannot be avoided, and yet the Herald and its Saturday editorial seem to express the thought that there is a "clean sheet" and it never hurts to just press forward, never mind the past.

The next Mayor of Miami will be a Cuban American. I dare him-- as should you-- to confront the issues of government corruption head on, beginning with a call by the Mayor to end the code of silence in the Latino community about corruption and organized white collar crime. Let's see how well that goes.

All those Jimbo's lovers in the world: Have you been there lately? By Geniusofdespair

Unfortunately, Jimbo's doesn't look like this anymore. The colorful shacks are caved in or in really bad, un-colorful, shape. Harry and Jack: Grab a can of paint and a hammer and some nails and get over there if you want to save the place because it is not funky-chic any longer, it is getting funky-ugly.

Broward Scammer Living the High Life Caught in Ponzi Scheme. By Geniusofdespair

Sean Healy of Weston and his wife (former Hooter's girl) enjoy the high-life on investors' money. Would you give this guy $15,000,000?

Miami Mayor's Race: trouble for Joe ... by gimleteye

The following attracted a fair number of comments, when it was originally posted a few days ago, so I'm bumping it up for our new readers to look through.

A friend used to joke that I predicted four out of the last three recessions. I've also been optimistic that voters would eventually sweep from office those commissioners most closely associated with the unsustainable, go-go mania of the building boom that steam-rolled the public interest, the environment, and our quality of life. Perhaps that time has come, too. During the building boom in Miami, City Commissioner Joe Sanchez held up the majority supporting Mayor Manny Diaz. Miami's upcoming mayoral election will be a stamp of disapproval for the excesses and bad judgment that accompanied the development boom that turned into the biggest bust since the 1920's. Sanchez is an unapologetic pro-growth optimist; but taxpayers and voters are paying an extraordinarily heavy price for too much boosterism, not enough reflection about choices to pull up Miami from the second or third tier of American cities, too much growth at the expense of scale and public space, too much glad-handing with pushy lobbyists, zoning attorneys, developers, and wealthy baseball team owners. That was Mr. Sanchez' path. It is too late to find another one now.