Miguel DeGrandy, Natacha's Favorite Lobbyist, Reprimanded by Supreme Court. By Geniusofdespair

Miguel DeGrandy, obstructionist appointed by Natacha to the Charter Review Committee, and also Vile Natacha Seijas' most favorite lobbyist, was reprimanded by the Supreme Court today. Miguel is also known for the wacko shaped districts, favoring Republican candidates, that we have in Florida. Anyway, back to the news, the Miami Herald said:

The justices Thursday accepted De Grandy's plea of guilty with conditions that included the reprimand for violating legal ethics due to a conflict of interest in his private practice. The Coral Gables lawyer at one point represented a bag wrapping company and later a competitor for the same contract with Miami International Airport.

Let me file this under: Ick, that is where most lobbyist news goes. His wrists are now officially slapped. I wonder if Miguel was invited to Terry's wedding?

Is It True That Terry Murphy Tied The Knot? By Geniusofdespair

Rumor has it that Vile Natacha Seijas' Chief of Staff finally took the plunge with his honey and tied the knot. All the best Terry!

Asleep at the Fairchild Garden wheel: the Board of Trustees ... by gimleteye

The Fairchild Garden unrest has taken up much of Eyeonmiami this week. The story made it to the front page of The Miami Herald today, "Inside tranquil Fairchild Tropical garden, turmoil grows". We've had a raft of comments from readers about the untamed controversy involving the former Director of Education Caroline Lewis. There are a lot of people who feel passionately about Ms. Lewis' achievements and for good reason: name another environmental program in the nation that grew from virtually nothing to serve over 50,000 public and private school students in only a few years, with a curriculum that doesn't exist in their home schools? And, for added emphasis, in one of the poorest counties in the nation.

What emerges is a picture of a non-profit whose board seems to have been herded either away from accountability by executive managers, or, taken for granted that all was well in the Garden. Non profit organizations and their boards can be notoriously inefficient on both counts. Fairchild is one of the region's larger non-profits with a multi-million dollar budget and many employees.

There are different reasons that individuals choose to serve as a board member of a non-profit. Many are nominated by a committee close to the president as a function of their capacity to raise money for the organization. Long-time board members, of whom little is required by way of supervision or committee involvement, are sometimes social fixtures or hang on from inertia. The wheels of decision-making and responsibility at the board level can and do get very, very rusty. When a crisis emerges, things can and do go very wrong. Most boards reflect the direction of a few dedicated volunteers on an executive committee. But accountability should never be rubber-stamped by the whole board though, more often than not, it is. It is no surprise that morale among employees at Fairchild is bumping along the bottom; how could any employee feel motivated, or safe, when top managers like Caroline Lewis are not only dismissed but when the Garden management-- lacking experience and intimidated by a few board members reaching around the executive director and standard management practices-- falls back on innuendo to advance its goals.

Readers: The Good News...and the Bad. By Geniusofdespair

The bad news is that newspapers aren't doing so well. The once bustling Suffolk Life in New York, now boarded up, stands as a sad example. It folded about a year ago. But take heart, there is good news on the horizon for readers, magazines are dirt cheap! I just got offered two different magazines, Money and Fortune for $10 each a year: that is eighty three cents an issue! If I get 3 years of Fortune at the cover price it would cost $275.46. They are offering me the three years for $20! That is a zillion dollars off...well close. It comes out to thirty three cents an issue, which translates to about 18 minutes at a parking meter.

My advice for good value, forget books and newspapers, instead read magazines but don't get too long of a subscription just to be on the safe side.

A Cold Affront at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden ... by gimleteye

It is a big deal when a prominent educator-- whose achievements are a credit to Miami -- is pushed out of a job in a charitable organization, not by line managers but by trustees using pretexts and allegations. Caroline Lewis, the former Director of Education, could have been fired at will; but she was not fired at will. Trustees reached around executive management and threw her out. Pretexts were used and no opportunity was provided through review or consultation that should have been offered given her achievements, accomplishments, and community that coalesced around Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden due in large part to her work. That's the story of an acclaimed educator and Fairchild Garden.

Caroline Lewis says of the Oct 21 meeting with staffers that warranted the intervention of Garden officers including Bruce Greer, "In trying to alleviate fears about the Fairchild Challenge Student Leadership Forum scheduled for Nov 14, I called a meeting to explain to staff how I planned to conduct the first hour and a half of the forum meeting. I then articulated ideas for the second half and asked the staff to talk it through. The most junior member of the staff then asked if I could excuse one of them from attending the student forum. I was taken aback since both the young man seeking the excusal and his supervisor were in the room and neither voiced the request. I quickly responded that unless he had other personal obligations, which I would honor, I really needed him at the Forum, and that’s why we hired him - that I did not simply want a group of white women addressing and leading these teenagers."

So there you go: read it twice for offense and decide whether it is a capital offense. (Click, 'read more')

Lewis says, "Those were the words that offended one and belatedly offended two others. I WANT TO ADD THAT AT NO SUBSEQUENT TIME UNTIL NOTICE OF THE GARDEN'S INTENT TO REASSIGN ME, WAS I EVER GIVEN THE CHANCE TO DIRECTLY RESPOND TO THE ALLEGATION I HAD MADE A RACIST COMMENT TO MY SUPERVISOR. I DID OF COURSE APOLOGIZE TO THE STAFFERS."

Caroline Lewis speaks bluntly. Bruce Greer, the longtime Garden president, wanted -- for unknown reasons-- to wrest control of the Fairchild Challenge but never explained and did not use management channels to lay out his reasons why, to the Director Education, Caroline Lewis. If he wanted to fire her, he should have just done it. Not used terrible allegations that are untrue, and that make a bad situation worse for all concerned. Now Mr. Greer claims that the entire matter of dismissing Caroline Lewis was handled through appropriate management channels. Were this true, there would be no controversy. But it is not true.

Ms. Lewis blunt talk offended a junior staffer who wanted to be excused from attending a weekend Challenge event. Her response was then elevated to a pretext for a board president, Bruce Greer, who did not allow normal business practices to warn Caroline but instead used what she said as way to force her out of a position overseeing a very significant success and achievement that any educator would be proud of, and any funder proud of, and any host organization thrilled with.

The real question is; what is going on at Fairchild Garden?

County Manager Burgess Clashes with Javier Souto: Again. By Geniusofdespair

We all know County Commissioner Souto can be a buffoon, blathering on and on about nothing often insulting Anglo citizens with his negative references to "The Wine and Cheese Set" and those "East of Biscayne". But I have a question for all of you. Do you find it unseemly for the County Manager to call Souto's allegations "ridiculous, offensive, puzzling and baseless" on the pages of Miami Today? I do, and here is why. WE are not allowed to say anything negative about County Commissioners or the Mayor at County Hall. If we said what the County Manager said about Souto, even though citizens are routinely abused, we would be escorted away. How does the County Manager get to say what he did, he might as well have called Souto a liar too. Is there a double-standard for citizens? Don't we rate as high as staff? If I said to Vile Natacha Seijas: "Your accusations are offensive" (which they are) I would be thrown out.

Frankly I don't thing Souto has it that wrong. Yes, his motives might stink (angry over budget cuts to his cattle show) and his delivery poor, but taking on the issue of lobbyist power with Commissioners and Staff is refreshing and I think he deserves an apology because Souto's accusations about the lobbyist love-fest are not "baseless," Mr. Burgess, and we all know it. And, I agree with Souto that "the administration has lost touch with the people" so don't call that claim "ridiculous."

Glimmers of light on Florida Power and Light ... by gimleteye

In Monday's Herald Business Section, "Court records reveal trouble at Turkey Point", readers are provided a rare sighting of details surrounding the resignation of Turkey Point's former senior licensed operator, David Hoffman, amidst a plant shutdown and disputed restart based on safety concerns. It is timely, given that the Public Service Commission is soon to decide whether to grant a rate increase to FPL that will put the burden of $20 billion in new nuclear reactors on ratepayers.

On 4 Jan, three FPL employees filed a report with the PSC alleging that FPL Group ripped off the rate-payers for about $1billion.

(HIT ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)
Here's how it worked, according to one source:

1. FPL Group consolidates yearly reporting for subsidiaries FPL Co. and Next-Era under the single FPL Group tax report.
2. Next-Era pays a low tax rate because of its wind generation portfolio. FPL Group applied this low rate to the whole report.
3. FPL Co. charged rate-payers for the normal corporate tax rate on FPL Co. income.
4. FPL Group pocketed the ~10% difference, which employees allege added up to about $1 billion.

FPL employees had earlier described this practice to the PSC, but were ignored. See pages TR 576 through TR 585 of this filing:

FPL whistleblowers are bringing it up again now with mostly new PSC members. Rate payers, that would be you and me, should be irate.

A reader alerted Eyeonmiami to another brief moment of light another reference to FPL's corporate culture and who benefits. It is a story from the last decade, but still you have to wonder where the money goes:


"Some Directors may have immaculate pedigrees, know their social graces, graduate from well-known institutions of higher learning, become members of the most prestigious/elite organizations, gain riches beyond belief, but are total blind to conflicts of interest and lack common sense. "In April 2001, directors of utility FPL Group Inc. faced a sticky problem. A few months earlier, they'd awarded top executives $62 million in bonuses linked to a merger.... Now the deal had fallen apart and shareholders were clamoring to get the money back. ... After three years and millions in legal bills, executives returned $9 million, based largely on a technicality. Insurers paid another $12.5 million. The FPL saga is an object lesson in why companies rarely recoup money paid to executives for results they didn't actually achieve. Although the concept seems simple, at least from an ethical point of view, so-called 'clawbacks' of executive pay are in practice disruptive, divisive and difficult to pull off. In addition to a murky legal environment, the process is complicated by compensation contracts and insurance provisions. Most boards don't try recovering the money. Those that do often get mired in years of litigation. ... FPL's clawback tale began in December 2000 when shareholders approved the company's $8 billion merger with Entergy Corp. The approval triggered payment of $92 million in cash bonuses to nearly 700 managers. Like many companies, Juno Beach, Fla.-based FPL, the parent of Florida Power & Light Co., had a 'change of control' provision in its compensation plan, designed to retain top talent during a merger or acquisition. FPL's provision was unusually liberal. It took effect even if FPL shareholders ended up owning a significant majority of the merged company. FPL also required the payments to be made when shareholders approved a deal, rather than waiting for it to be completed. Two-thirds of the money went to FPL's top eight officers. The chairman and CEO at the time, James L. Broadhead, received the biggest chunk -- $22.6 million. ... In April 2001, the two companies called off the deal. Former FPL director Marshall Criser says it was only after the deal collapsed that he realized the merger bonuses had already been paid. Mr. Criser, a lawyer, says he expected the board to ask Mr. Broadhead and others to return the money. ... Some directors upset about the payments felt they had no grounds to demand repayment, says Willard Dover, a lawyer and former FPL director. Mr. Dover says some directors also feared hurting relations with Mr. Broadhead and other officers, given the close ties between the executives and the board. Mr. Dover himself used to hunt with an FPL executive. At least three independent directors were friends of Mr. Broadhead.... Mr. Broadhead and FPL's general counsel, who also received the bonus, asserted publicly and to directors that the payments were justified by language in the compensation plans. ... In May 2001, they (FPL directors) formed a committee to review the payments. Directors relied heavily on advice from the company's management. To staff the committee, Mr. Broadhead recommended Mr. Dover and two other directors, and the board agreed. The committee also hired a law firm recommended by FPL's general counsel. After eight months of work, the committee replaced the law firm, citing an appearance of a conflict of interest. In court documents, the directors said they were unaware that the firm, Steel Hector & Davis, had earlier had the job of reviewing and approving the controversial compensation plan. After 16 months of study, the board decided in September 2002 not to pursue repayment of the bonuses. ... Meanwhile, the judge hearing the shareholder suits ruled against the company in a key preliminary ruling. In January 2004, Florida District Judge Alan Gold ... noted that the board's committee had been hand-picked by Mr. Broadhead, and that two of the three members had initially approved the awards as part of the compensation committee. The judge also questioned the independence of FPL's first set of lawyers. The ruling prompted FPL's board and executives to settle the shareholder suit in late 2004. Mr. Broadhead and other executives agreed to repay $22.25 million of their $62 million. Of that, the executives paid $9.75 million according to court documents; insurers covered the rest. ... [T]he long drama prompted changes. In a series of amendments starting in 2001, FPL's board revised the change-of-control provision to take effect only after a merger is completed. It cut potential bonuses in half and made it harder to trigger such a payment." (WSJ, 11/20/06, "Check, Please ---Companies Discover It's Hard To Reclaim Pay From Executives --- Even in Case of Malfeasance, 'Clawbacks' Are Divisive And the Rules Murky ---The Merger That Never Was") If this is an "object lesson," Shareholders are in deep trouble."

What about ratepayers?

Miami Herald Editorial: "Seize the Sunshine, Save the Land." By Geniusofdespair

Catchy title for yesterday's editorial, reminded me of Heroes, "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World." On-line the Herald changed it to the less dramatic: "Seize the sunshine, save the environment." They should have kept the paper version.

Too bad the editorial will fall on deaf ears because it was good. The Herald Editorial Board knows that their message won't resonate, saying: "The Miami-Dade County Commission, however, stubbornly insists on encouraging proponents of UDB expansion to try yet again." The Herald smartly suggests:

While new development is stalled, the Miami-Dade Commission -- and other local governments -- should stop bemoaning the drop in revenue and think more creatively. They can begin with a reexamination of their land use plans -- the blueprints for future growth. They should consider changes to the plans to promote sustainable development -- by conserving water, building up -- instead of out -- where practical, rewarding green projects and encouraging high-density redevelopment along transit corridors.

Four gold stars for the Miami Herald!

To Reporter John Dorschner: FINALLY Some Hard-Hitting Reporting on Turkey Point! By Geniusofdespair

The great investigative reporter, John Dorschner, was reduced to writing fluff pieces about FP&L. It was so bad I blogged about it in October '08, and I wrote to him asking him something like, "Are you on FP&L's public relations staff?" John is a veteran reporter at the Miami Herald for almost 40 years, I remember reading many of his articles in the defunct Tropic Magazine that the Miami Herald once published.

So you can imagine my surprise when I read two hard-hitting articles, "Court Records Reveal trouble at Turkey Point" and "In midst of blackout a drama unfolded in control room," by him today on Turkey Point's Nuclear Power Plant. These articles should scare Miami Dade residents who rely on FP&L to safely operate the nuclear power plant. Dorschner writes "Court records reveal workers angry at poor mainenance, overwork and greedy Execs...". The articles say profit is king at FP&L, ahead of safety, and Management pretty much sucks when employees want to voice concerns. Some gems from the articles:


FROM "In midst of blackout a drama unfolded in control room":

In depositions filed in a court case, Turkey Point employees gave a detailed account of the day's tumultuous events.``I was walking down the hall and the light flickered and I saw everybody running,'' recalled FPL analyst Tallman Whitler, ``and I knew that couldn't be good.''

Regarding a 12 hour start-up wanted by Management:
About 8:30 that night, Hoffman left the plant. He later testified that, as senior licensed operator, he was responsible for the safety of the plant. If something went wrong with the start-up, he was the one responsible. He called two former bosses on the drive home and asked what they thought of the situation. In depositions, both managers said Hoffman had been right and FPL executives wrong about the timetable.

FROM "Court Records Reveal trouble at Turkey Point":

Shift manager Randy Flynn: ``Sometimes I think that the money was more important to the company than the people and resources. Yes I did.''

Whitler said many employees were fed up with the system. There were ``attrition rates of 30 percent a year. . . . There's a lot of brain drain walking out of the plant getting replaced by people with virtually no experience.''

Molden, the former operations manager, was continually concerned about the control rod indicators, which kept malfunctioning. He called several FPL executives, saying, ``We shouldn't be operating our plant at this standard.''

It is hard to take these quotes out of context...you have to read the articles. But one more:

``There are the old gauges . . . where . . . a needle that goes around and around,'' Ware testified, saying they were ``not very reliable.'' When operators looked at the indicators daily, ``they'd be stuck.

``So over the years, they developed the habit of pinging them to get them to move. . ." .

Trouble growing at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden ... by gimleteye

Less than two months ago I wrote a glowing review of Fairchild Garden: "In 20 years working on environmental causes in Florida, I have never witnessed a more powerful change agent than the tiny program grown under the direction of Caroline Lewis at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden that is now serving more than 50,000 school children in Miami-Dade and a national and international model for environmental education." I spoke too soon: over the holidays, Caroline Lewis was terminated from her position as Director of Education.

I have been a supporter and donor to the Fairchild Environmental Challenge since its inception, nearly 8 years ago. "Ms. Lewis was a superstar teacher and principal at Ransom Everglades School before joining Fairchild," I wrote in November. I know: Ms. Lewis taught my eldest son and more: he thrived despite the peculiar characteristics of a Miami institution and she was the reason, why. Ms. Lewis is strong and powerful educator and mentor. "For all of us," I wrote, "It was a stroke of luck joining Ms. Lewis to Fairchild: solving the great missing link between urbanized generations of Floridians and environmental awareness required the skills of a great educator."

Apparently, my enthusiasm was poorly timed: a stroke of luck to me and readers was not universally appreciated by the leadership under Bruce Greer. In mid-December, after more than than 70 members of the Garden petitioned the Board of Trustees for a special meeting as provided by by-laws to express support for Ms. Lewis in her (then) position as Director of Education, Mr. Greer convened an emergency meeting of the board. (I have been involved and continue to be.) In the course of that meeting, the board accepted allegations against Ms. Lewis that served as the cause for her termination. She had never, at any time, been given an opportunity to respond to criticism through a normal process of personnel management. As news leaked out, community support for Lewis started to grow, with many members and teachers sending letters to the Garden and its trustees. On December 30, the Garden issued a letter by way of damage control: "Caroline Lewis, our Director of Education for the past seven years, is leaving Fairchild to pursue other opportunities." Ms. Lewis responded this weekend in a widely distributed email. (please click 'read more', for her letter.)

Into Our FOURTH Wretched Year of Blogging. By Geniusofdespair

We begin our fourth year of blogging (although we started at the end of 2006). It has been a grueling exercise for me. I fished up our first posts. I found it amusing that Gimleteye wrote about the Miami Herald yesterday and today and his first post was about the Miami Herald. Anyhow, enjoy the look back:

GIMLETEYE'S FIRST POST:
Saturday, November 11, 2006
How the Herald wimps out: by gimleteye

To know which stories the Herald editor and publisher know are important, but not important enough to warrant tough coverage that would threaten advertisers, just read the letters to the editor section closely.

Start with the two letters at the top of todays Opinion: "Restrict Developers" and "Old Cutler Headache".

The first letter: "Let government stop caving in to greedy developers who could care less about water shortages." Duh.

The second letter: "I challenge all (elected) officials... to join together to stop future development."

Now why it is time for a building moratorium in Miami and Miami-Dade county is a story worth reporting.

We have a county and city commission whose sole purpose is accomodating campaign contributors who need zoning changes and building approvals. Fair and representative govt? Give me a break.

But when it's election time, and the Herald could lead with stories that tell the truth about our communities and energize people to get involved: NADA.

Or, the paper prints a B section story that hints at the underlying corruption, and then go ahead and endorse the candidates the paper KNOWS are part of the great Miami destruction machine.

How nice to know that the Herald buries the BIG stories in the letters to editor. How comforting to know at least there's a hint of understanding.

WHEN did you ever read the Herald REPORTING about where all this traffic and problems with water quality could lead our communities?

Where did you ever read about the Herald dealing with a building moratorium story, or, how there's no difference between a developer and a big farmer any more. How about puff pieces on public officials or govt appointees that never even mention their land holdings out by Krome Avenue and the Everglades.

How every time there's an effort to manage growth for citizens who already live here, the overwhelming flood of lobbyists representing land speculators drowns city and county hall. Or taking commissioners to task for belittling citizens who have the guts to take a day to testify against decisions they know will go against them, their communities, and common sense!

Hard hitting stories? Not when the sacred cow of advertising revenues in the real estate section are on the line!

And WHERE is Miami New Times!!! At least we used to be able to count on New Times to write a story or two about what is important in our communities. Defede?

And to the letter writer, "Traffic on Old Culter Road is a nightmare." you should have gone to the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce meeting, recently, so that citizens could give suggestions on how to "improve" traffic in Miami-Dade. The cost for a seat was $125.

Now there's a GOOD one! Pay $3 for gas, sit in traffic for two hours a day, and pay $125 to complain about it.

The Miami Herald: where nothing is printed without a dusting of sugar and one eye closed.


MY FIRST AND SECOND POST:
Monday, November 06, 2006
Welcome by Geniusofdespair

Welcome to Eye On Miami, the place to come to talk about wacky politics and ethically challenged politicians. Tomorrow is election day and the ads on TV have been non-stop. I look forward to Wednesday. Vote "No" for State Amendment 3 and please sign a Hometown Democracy Petition if you can. I am really angry at the Miami Herald all the time because they are short staffed and leave out so much. I toyed with calling myself "Angry Person In Miami" for this blog but, I am more depressed than angry. I don't have a lot to say right now, just want to start the ball rolling. I would rather hear from you.

(I HAD TO INCLUDE MY SECOND POST TOO - BECAUSE IT WAS ABOUT NATACHA, AND MY OPINION HAS NOT CHANGED A BIT!)
Monday, November 06, 2006
Natacha Seijas - Vile Miami Dade County Commissioner

Natacha Seijas is a particularly vile and sour woman who is a County Commissioner in Miami Dade County. She is built like a bloated fire plug and has a furrow of frown lines etched on either side of her mouth. She has contempt for people in general and even the manatees can’t escape her crappy disposition. She said: “I am not a lover of manatees, as far as I am concerned they are from Cuba, which was our original animal, and I am glad they are here [but] I want to know how big that herd is because if that herd is way too big it is time to find something else to do with it.”

If I had to rate hateful people: This woman tops the list. And what happens to people who are mean and vile and sour: They get promoted of course!

Here is a press release from her website dated September 30, 2005:
Miami-Dade County Commissioner Natacha Seijas has been appointed by the president of the National Association of Counties to one of the organization’s influential steering committees. As an outspoken advocate for water and air quality and as chairperson of the Board of County Commissioner’s Infrastructure and Land Use Committee, Commissioner Seijas makes an ideal appointment to NACo’s Environment, Energy and Land Use Steering Committee. (She probably wrote the part about her making an “ideal appointment.” Nothing could be further from the truth.)

Hack job: why is the Miami Herald abusing Governor Charlie Crist? by gimleteye

The Herald's continues its strange relationship to the news in its odd coverage of Gov. Charlie Crist. The Sunday front page, "How the Luster Dimmed", seems so careless. Why? The writers Steve Bousquet and Marc Caputo are good journalists. It is one thing to say-- or acknowledge-- that Charlie Crist's approach to politics is like eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, but to fail as the Herald does to link Crist's performance to the underlying tension in the Florida GOP is to simply following suite. I suppose I shouldn't care anymore that the Herald has done so poorly at covering so many stories underlying the Magic City and the Sunshine State, but the Herald's rare bursts of light give rise to greater expectations.

Eyeonmiami does a better job piercing the veil of the money and business interests in Miami -- where Charlie spends a fair amount of time-- that exert such powerful influence in Tallahassee. Even today, the mainstream media will not print the story how big GOP campaign donors, assembled from Florida's Growth Machine, propelled Governor Jeb Bush to Tallahassee and policies that fomented the building boom and subsequent crash.

But there is a better example in terms of the forces tearing at the upcoming GOP primary for the US Senate seat vacated by Mel Martinez: how Florida Power and Light is pushing its way to $1.3 billion in new rate increases in order to get you and me to take on commitments for $20 billion in new nuclear reactors at Turkey Point, at sea level, while existing reactors and cooling canals fail to meet permitting commitments and threaten by speeding salt water intrusion the water supply of South Dade and the Florida Keys.

The Herald spots, without further comment, FPL in its timeline of Charlie Crist's year: it shows that on October 1, Charlie appointed two new members to the Public Service Commission with no ties to major utilities. In the body of the report, the Herald fails to explain why that event is so important to Crist's opposition. It is pretty clear why big business in Florida has a problem with "new blood" at the PSC that isn't their blood. The Herald report doesn't even mention the anger of utilities who may not get the votes to impose rate increases they are seeking; a decision looming this month.

Another example of going "lite" in its report on Crist: the deal between the state and US Sugar, to buy out tens of thousands of acres of sugar lands. The purchase of sugar land is cited by Crist's appointee to the US Senate, George Lemiuex, as one of Charlie's significant achievements. And it is, even in its shortened form. Any time sugar is taken out of production to serve the purposes of Everglades restoration is historic. The lead-in by Lemieux gave the Herald editors the opportunity to comment on the opposition to the deal, mostly from the Fanjul family interests: a story reported out by other mainstream newspapers like the Orlando Sentinel and the Palm Beach Post. But not the Herald. Why?

The Herald report gives a throwaway quote to one of Florida's dunder-heads, Associated Industries chief Barney Bishop: "... I think people wanted more than cheerfulness. They want somebody who will change what is going on." What Bishop knows well is that "what is going on" is that industries like those his association represents have used the economic crisis to ratchet up their control of the levers of power in Tallahassee. Charlie Crist has done as well as he could for them except in one area of public policy: refusing to eviscerate growth management from inside, out.

Crist's opposition-- the camp of former Governor Jeb Bush and the aspirant former House speaker Marco Rubio-- is perfectly pleased appealing to the far right wing of the Florida GOP by the throw-away, Fox News segment of Charlie Crist and the "man-hug" of President Obama. Come on, Herald: you can do better than cutting and pasting rote political gestures?

In one key respect, Charlie hasn't helped himself. As a fundraising machine (documented in an earlier report by the Herald), Crist makes the "ask" as though those being asked to contribute don't care about the substance of achievement. The trap set by Rothstein and Mendelson is very, very heavy political baggage. If Crist had spent more time explaining to Florida voters what has been required to navigate the undercurrents of a state dominated by big business and insider lobbyists he might have put down roots that could withstand spurious challenges. And if he had ventured to explain those undercurrents in terms of the party being hijacked by the same interests who helped tip the economy into such a mess through the overdevelopment of Florida, he would have multiple points of traction within his own party. And if the Herald had helped explain for its readers-- instead of hiding from the wrath of advertisers-- the domestic, local roots of the economic crisis, the voting public might have higher expectations. It is a lot of if's. But as Eyeonmiami readers know, I'm an optimist at heart.

Apocryphal story of a Bad Decade: The Miami Herald parking lot ... by gimleteye

A friend of mine went to a New Year's Eve Party at a non-denominational church. There, attendees wrote on a slip of paper what they would like to leave behind from the old decade and set them on fire in a pile. So long. Sayonara.

I guess executive management of McClatchy, that purchased The Miami Herald at the top of the market, would like to do that with its $4.5 billion purchase of Knight Ridder in 2006. What were they thinking? Newspaper readers know one thing for sure: the real estate boom was pixie dust that made executives in all industries related to the Growth Machine, rich.

That was the tenor of the decade, encapsulated in the deal to turn a 10 acre parcel, the company parking lot, outside the Herald headquarters into $190 million. The deal between the Herald and a group of investors lead by Pedro Martin was consummated in March, 2005 and it was supposed to close by Dec 31, as reported in the Herald in one of the final stories of the decade. At the time, it was just one more upward tick of the frenzy that had obscured the relationship of critical thinking by the mainstream press about the sad transformation of the Florida landscape by speculators into a market bubble. It also accounts for the poor coverage leading up to decisions to spend $500 million on the Carniverous Performing Arts Center and the planning for museums in the last open space in the downtown waterfront: Bicentennial Park. With so much money tied up in a parking lot, whose future value meant nearly $200 million to Herald owners, what chance did the public interest have?

The Miami Herald could not provide critical coverage of the most important story of the decade when the compensation of its top executives was tied to "everyone is doing it". It wasn't just downtown. It was in the farmland of South Dade and West Dade where development at any cost ran rampant. What is good for the goose, is good for the gander. In other words, the Herald couldn't write critically of growth in the suburbs so long as its profits and wealth creation was tied to real estate downtown. The Herald parking lot will stay an empty space for a long time. The deal looks to be busted. In my opinion, McClatchy will get its $190 million before newspaper readers get a mea culpa from past and present executives of the Miami Herald for failing to report the biggest story of the decade as it was taking place, dragging the US economy down with it.

New Chairman for the Miccosukee Tribe: Colley Billie. By Geniusofdespair

A reader reported that the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida dumped Billy Cypress as their Chairman. Anyone in the know on what happened? Cypress had been the Chairman since 1986.

I called the Tribe Indian Village and the Casino, both locations said Colley Billie is the new Chairman. He was the Table Games Manager. According to a Dec. 23rd report by blogger HOuston CYpress:

A Challenge to the Miccosukee Runoff Elections was Found to Have No Merit; this Confirms New Chairman Colley Billie, whose duties begin this Sunday (Dec. 27th). Further, HOuston CYpress said in an earlier post (December 13th) that the community was polarized and there was a runoff election as a tie breaker for the top position that day.

Smoky Mountain News gives former county manager Steve Shiver, "Holding the Bag" Award ... by gimleteye

Former Miami-Dade county manager Steve Shiver is trying to hold things together in western North Caroline where he manages an amusement park/roller coaster ride based on a shoot-em-up western theme. Rumor has it that plans are in the works for a venue in Miami for the main attraction to keep the Ghost Town workers employed during the off-season. Just what we need to get our economy going.

"Holding the Bag Award

When Ghost Town in the Sky amusement park filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this year, it had a trail of unpaid bills — owing $2.5 million to some 215 companies. Local electricians, contractors, building supply stores, sales reps for souvenir merchandise — even newspapers that had run ads for Ghost Town — filled the long list of those never paid for their goods or services. But they aren’t the only ones still holding the bag.

Ghost Town employees never got their final paycheck at the end of the season. Cash flow was so tight all year, the park often couldn’t make payroll on Fridays and instead relied on revenue from weekend ticket sales to pay employees the following Monday, and occasionally still fell short and had to make up the difference the following Monday after another weekend of revenue came in. Employees are still waiting for their last two weeks of pay from October.

The park was plagued this year by lagging ticket sales due to the economy, the primary rollercoaster ride being inoperable most of the season, and expensive repairs to update the aging theme park. The park was forced into bankruptcy after falling behind on its $9.5 million mortgage, but CEO Steve Shiver maintains that the park will reorganize and pull through, including repaying the small businesses and employees who are owed."

City Runoffs and County Commissioner Dorrin Rolle Has Two Challengers. By Geniusofdespair

We already announced Florence 'Flomo' Moss was running but 12/30/2009, Josaphat 'Joe' Celestin has entered the race. You will remember Joe was the Mayor of North Miami. He is a Republican of Haitian descent. It remains to be seen if there are enough Haitians in the district to take out the blinged-up, fat one who has raised $11,750 (including a $3,500 loan to himself). Last time Haitian American Phillip Brutus ran against Rolle and lost with less than 30%. Wow, in this race I might have to do a lot of soul searching to see who to support. We've got 'bad' Joe and then we've got 'worse' Dorrin. Don't know Flomo but with $30 she ain't going to get far.

Pepe Diaz, also running but with no challengers, has raised about $55,000 including money from Miguel DeGrandy, Henry Dean, Dade County Farm Bureau, Cemex, Basulto Mgmt. and a couple of thousand from Shoma Homes corporations.

In the City of Miami, running once again for District 5, Spence-Jones has only raised $17,700 to date. Not much but about 10 times more than anyone else running for that seat. Willy Gort, running for District 1 is raking in the dough, he has $65,795. Mike Suarez has about $12,000 and Miguel A. Gabela has the most cash with $78,075 except $75,000 of that was a loan.