Saturday, October 03, 2015

Eye on Miami Saturday Editorial October 3rd: Rumors, Flooding, Hillary and Opa Locka... By Geniusofdespair

Start Getting Accustomed to the Miami Herald Saturday Editorial Page Lite. Mine is on its way out.

RUMORS AND TRUTH
WHAT?? Jorge Luis Lopez has City BFF's Too? That is Marc and Teresa Sarnoff
Jorge Luis Lopez was BFF of the two former Miami Dade County Mayors Alex Penelas and Carlos Alvarez, not just Carlos Gimenez. He is a latcher oner. Some call him a parasite who feeds at the public trough and is the BFF of anyone he can leach onto. Some call him a lobbyist (insulting to lobbyists). He will do anything to insure his current BFF stays in power. Lopez cloaks his political activity in ”charitable work” paid for by his work for his BFFS. He is the puppet master. As they said in the movie about the Watergate scandal, “All the presidents Men”, ”follow the money”.  Speaking of money, I didn't see him registered lobbying for Wayne Rosen for that Palmetto Bay thing in January. But then I didn't look in Palmetto Bay records...duh.
From Jorge Luis Lopez's website. What better way to butter up a Mayor: have a ball in his honor.
No way can Carlos Gimenez compete with this.

Former Steve Shiver came in as Opa Locka City Manager and Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi quit as Opa Locka  City Attorney.  Was it forced out, bad blood, not enough bucks? I guess I should have asked Pizzi. But those two surely are oil and water. Meanwhile Pizzi has more troubles, this time with the insurance company. According to Ben Kuehne:
Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi learned today that the Town’s insurance carrier is refusing to pay the legally required claim for litigation costs arising from Mayor Pizzi’s federal court exoneration and his successful fight to resume the Office of Mayor to which he was elected to serve until November 2016. “For many years, the insurance company charged the Town’s taxpayers premiums to cover claims just like this one, and the Town duly paid every premium for what it believed was the insurer’s contractual coverage,” remarked Mayor Pizzi. The insurer’s denial is absolutely unjustified under the terms of the policy and Florida law.

This is an all-too typical ploy by insurance companies. They charge high rates to be paid by the Taxpayers, and when obligated to pay claims, they defer, delay, and deny. Often, insurance companies will only pay claims – legitimate claims exactly like this one -- when courts order them to pay.

MIAMI BEACH FLOODING AT A GLANCE 

The City got in trouble this week with DERM (the County) for pumping into Biscayne Bay without permits. You can pretty much see the water in the Bay.

OTHER FLOODING AROUND TOWN DURING KING TIDE
Matheson Hammock

Matheson Hammock

Rickenbacker Causeway

QUOTE OF THE WEEK (MAYBE THE YEAR):

"I don't want to operate anything." Mayor Carlos Gimenez

FIU STUDENTS GET CLIMATE CHANGE

(Didn't Marco Rubio teach here?)



DON'T MISS

Trailblazers: The Perilous Story of the Tamiami Trail at the Coral Gables History Museum -October 2, 2015 - May 22, 2016

I went to the opening and I was very impressed with the exhibit. It was very cool to read a letter with an address of the Kampong on it signed by David Fairchild (his winter home). You will learn a lot about Florida's History in connection with the trail:
The Tamiami Trail's history, culture, its devastating impact on the Everglades and plans to mitigate that damage are all featured in this multi-media interactive exhibit featuring images, artifacts, historic documents and film. Curated by Jon Ullman.
LUNAR ECLIPSE SEPTEMBER 27TH
I don't know what happened in my best photo, but I like it.

BREWERIES, BREW PUBS, DISTILLERIES AND WINERIES ORDINANCE
This ordinance's prime sponsor is Miami Dade County Commissioner Pepe Diaz, accused of a DUI late last month. Hmmm.


THE REAL HILLARY CLINTON vs. THE OVER-REHEARSED HILLARY CLINTON

Yes the question in the first video is painfully long (I skipped a lot of it) but the answer by Hillary was actually given by a genuine Hillary for once. You can see how smart and likable this woman is if she would just be herself and not that rehearsed Hillary.


Part 1

Part 2

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I see dark filthy water in Biscayne Bay, polluted runoff from Miami Beach streets. With only 10 percent of Miami Beach pumps working (plus a few illegal ones operating without permits), by the time all the pumps are running, Biscayne Bay (And our beaches) will be a cesspool of dog crap and litter. But the streets will be dry? . Is there anyway out of this roving environmental disaster? Have Miami Beach leaders considered the long term consequences of their resilience and adaptation plans?

Anonymous said...

Please keep your Saturday editorial page! The Miami Herald's is no match. Increasingly the Herald skips editorials on local issues. I guess they don't want to offend powers that pay for ads or local pols like Gimenez by questioning corporate or commercial interests that now run Miami. You are the only voice of reason. And also, the only place to rant.

cyndi said...

Those photos of the flooding are incredible. Wonderful sat editorial!

Anonymous said...

JLL has also hosed Hudstead by representing the speedway and it's support of candidates who will not insist on the track operators being made to pay the ad valorem taxes. Just another huckster keeping bad candidates in office for the benefit of himself and his clients.

How did Shiver get passed the drug test in Opa Locka? Why did the Opa Locka commission overlook his DUI in North Carolina?
There will be blood as Shiver is proposing that the commissioners sell their city provided vehicles to erase a $1.9 million dollar budget shortfall.

Hillary and Obama had some comments about gun control yesterday, very easy to criticize the NRA when you are surrounded by dozens of secret service agents carrying automatic weapons for years. Meanwhile the rest of us have to live, work and shop with the animals who engage in violent crimes. Disingenuous commentary from her and Obama.

Anonymous said...

There's no excuse. As a former Miami Dade County Commissioner, Jimmy Morales - now Miami Beach City Manager - should have known better than to operate all those pumps illegally without DERM permits and approval.

Anonymous said...

Morales did it with his bosses blessing. Miami Beach's objective was to prove the pumps were working to keep the streets dry. Unfortunately it didn't work. Can't fight Mother Nature high on Climate Change.

Anonymous said...

When is the City of Miami Beach is going to get sued for pumping polluted water into the bay? City Hall lied to residents about fixing this to prop up property taxes and real estate deals. Much of the interior flooding like Espanola Way might be seepage from underground.

According to Miami Beach documents I obtained: Pumps have no reduction in seepage. "Not realistic due to high conductivity of limestone. However, combined with the seepage cutoff barrier and bottom barrier, dewatering is viable."


The seepage reports are available on page 20 of Miami Beach's reinvetinitiative report.

Big time liars in Miami Beach government screwed property owners.

Anonymous said...

Too funny. I work at Opa-Locka and it was easy. Pizzi is a crook and Shiver is not. End of story.

Anonymous said...

Thank you last anon for making that public. Government transparency is essential -- from Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County. When the Titanic iceberg hit it helped no one to say everything was under control. Instead, you say: calmly and quickly head to the lifeboats. We do not have the means to keep this boat from sinking, but we will do our best to provide you enough time to evacuate. (By the way, they didn't have enough lifeboats because they didn't want to clutter the deck.) similarly, Government should say there is no known way to keep large expanses of Miami-Dade above water by 2100. We will do the best we can to responsibly transition to our new reality in the least polluting, least disruptive and most equitable way possible, but physics dictates that we cannot hold back the ocean.

Anonymous said...

Homestead primary election on Tuesday. The good news is nobody running is under indictment this year.
The bad news is it's Homestead.

Anonymous said...

Shiver is not a crook-- how about the shotgun houses escapade. And doing illegal drugs?

Anonymous said...

"there is no known way to keep large expanses of Miami-Dade above water by 2100" and yet permitting in low lying (that's works as a pun too!) areas continue. Suckers!