(Link to a primer to understand this 3 part series...)
This is serious stuff. I am pretty sure that Miami corporate leaders -- if there are any -- are unaware of what is going on in county government, with a great push to eviscerate environmental laws protecting farmland, open space, and wetlands from the same development patterns that helped plunge the Florida economy into the worst crisis since the Depression. I am also pretty sure that The Miami Herald -- severely diminished -- does not understand the transformations at work in county government. (If it did, it wouldn't take a blog to raise the alarm.)
What follows in Part 3 is a partial written transcript of the most shameful county commission meeting in Miami-Dade County history. It happened on Feb 21st. Why has a month gone by, before attracting attention? The tape had been recommended viewing (Non Agenda Item - citizen presentation), and I held it at arm's length until last week's dismal performance by the county commission and the Unreformable Marjority, authorizing a "working group" to recommend revisions to policies governing the Urban Development Boundary. The smirks from the lobbyists in the audience pointed me in the direction of this unbelievable stinker of a meeting.
My conclusion is that environmental regulations in Miami-Dade, Florida's most politically influential county, are not only orphans. The guillotine blade is ready to let go. The death blow to regulators and regulations in the county took a Great Leap Forward on Feb 21st, encouraged by county commissioners who seem to have only one purpose: do the bidding of the Great Destroyers. (click, 'read more')
The same forces that spurred the housing boom, built on the vapor fumes and crack cocaine of crappy subdivisions in wetlands, the same forces that spurred the shifting of infrastructure costs to taxpayers, contributing to our declining quality of life, environmental wrecks, communities in disrepair, infrastructure budgets out of control: these same forces have used the economic crisis to tighten their grip on control county hall.
Notwithstanding the good works of Norman Braman -- nearly alone among his business peers in funding recall efforts and the movement to accountability by elected officials -- the Unreformable Majority is set to wreck environmental protections throughout the county, using the issue of complaining farmers and homeowners in the 8.5 Square Mile Area to drive a stake through the heart of what remains, after the cheerleaders for the housing boom -- including successive mayors of Miami Dade County -- had their way with DERM; the Department of Environmental Regulatory Management. (When Mayor Gimenez was elected, one of his first symbolic moves was to reassign and rename the agency, so that the word "environmental" no longer irritates the Great Destroyers. Nevertheless, as the transcript of the county commission meeting on Feb. 21 shows, the Unreformable Majority still frequently use the acronym, DERM, as an object of derision.
Go to Part 2 for the a catalog of offenses committed by the county commission on Feb. 21st, involving a "special presentation" by lone citizen Alice Pena representing radical, right-wing extremists to commandeer -- with no advance public notice -- the entire commission meeting. No environmentalist or environmental group would ever -- ever -- have been accorded the opportunity to inject a personal grievance, as occurred on Feb. 21st, into the proceedings of government in session without advance public notice.
What happened on Feb. 21 is unprecedented and represents a chilling, frightful scenario for what we call due process, fair access to government, and free speech.
Go to Part 2.
This is serious stuff. I am pretty sure that Miami corporate leaders -- if there are any -- are unaware of what is going on in county government, with a great push to eviscerate environmental laws protecting farmland, open space, and wetlands from the same development patterns that helped plunge the Florida economy into the worst crisis since the Depression. I am also pretty sure that The Miami Herald -- severely diminished -- does not understand the transformations at work in county government. (If it did, it wouldn't take a blog to raise the alarm.)
What follows in Part 3 is a partial written transcript of the most shameful county commission meeting in Miami-Dade County history. It happened on Feb 21st. Why has a month gone by, before attracting attention? The tape had been recommended viewing (Non Agenda Item - citizen presentation), and I held it at arm's length until last week's dismal performance by the county commission and the Unreformable Marjority, authorizing a "working group" to recommend revisions to policies governing the Urban Development Boundary. The smirks from the lobbyists in the audience pointed me in the direction of this unbelievable stinker of a meeting.
My conclusion is that environmental regulations in Miami-Dade, Florida's most politically influential county, are not only orphans. The guillotine blade is ready to let go. The death blow to regulators and regulations in the county took a Great Leap Forward on Feb 21st, encouraged by county commissioners who seem to have only one purpose: do the bidding of the Great Destroyers. (click, 'read more')
The same forces that spurred the housing boom, built on the vapor fumes and crack cocaine of crappy subdivisions in wetlands, the same forces that spurred the shifting of infrastructure costs to taxpayers, contributing to our declining quality of life, environmental wrecks, communities in disrepair, infrastructure budgets out of control: these same forces have used the economic crisis to tighten their grip on control county hall.
Notwithstanding the good works of Norman Braman -- nearly alone among his business peers in funding recall efforts and the movement to accountability by elected officials -- the Unreformable Majority is set to wreck environmental protections throughout the county, using the issue of complaining farmers and homeowners in the 8.5 Square Mile Area to drive a stake through the heart of what remains, after the cheerleaders for the housing boom -- including successive mayors of Miami Dade County -- had their way with DERM; the Department of Environmental Regulatory Management. (When Mayor Gimenez was elected, one of his first symbolic moves was to reassign and rename the agency, so that the word "environmental" no longer irritates the Great Destroyers. Nevertheless, as the transcript of the county commission meeting on Feb. 21 shows, the Unreformable Majority still frequently use the acronym, DERM, as an object of derision.
Go to Part 2 for the a catalog of offenses committed by the county commission on Feb. 21st, involving a "special presentation" by lone citizen Alice Pena representing radical, right-wing extremists to commandeer -- with no advance public notice -- the entire commission meeting. No environmentalist or environmental group would ever -- ever -- have been accorded the opportunity to inject a personal grievance, as occurred on Feb. 21st, into the proceedings of government in session without advance public notice.
What happened on Feb. 21 is unprecedented and represents a chilling, frightful scenario for what we call due process, fair access to government, and free speech.
Go to Part 2.
Also see investigative report: Lynda Bell's ties...
4 comments:
Pena has served on other boards, and is not above misrepresenting reality to get her way. Now she is in a position to represent the Farm Bureau and perpetuate lies about the 8.5 square mile area. The biggest lie is that the 8.5 SMA is not nor ever was a wetland. Folks, the Everglades marshes used to extend east to where Miami International Airport is currently located. You can see historic photographic evidence of this in photos at the Miami Historical Museum. These marshes extended south behind the coastal ridge all the way to the Keys. The 8.5 SMA has wetland soils and vegetation. She has been told this over and over, but she keeps asking for a mythical study. And now she and James Humble are representing 'ag' interests on a yet to be created UDB committee. These two only represent profit and development. Too bad they have the ear of the Commission. Too bad more people are not telling their commissioners they value clean air and clean water.
Note: the 8.5 SMA has been repackaged as 'Las Palmas' and that's how she refers to it in public.
I have seen Alice is action, she is totally being used and manipulated by Bell. The last individuals I met that had their shit together were those guys that called themselves 'Friends of west Kendall'. I guess because they were smart,well spoken, they must have gotten their way from the county. Because POOF they are MIA. Even their Facebook site lies dormant. We need articulate members like Friends of West Kendall, however, they seem to be NIMBY types. Or am I wrong about Alice and the 'Friends'?
Could someone please summarize this article in two or three paragraphs? This is unreadable.
I did it for you Amy....It is only unreadable because you don't know the basics, read my post then go back to this very important 3 part series:
http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2012/03/mondays-3-part-post-here-are-cliff.html
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