Follow this? by gimleteye

You just have to shake your head to read in this morning's paper ("Charges fly over train change"), Dorrin Rolle's "The black community is being gutted like a fish again."

Mostly, it is public officials like county commissioner Rolle who have been inflicting the pain on their own communities, for years. If their constituents read this blog, they would be racing out to elect candidates for office who actually represent their interests.

It is not news that the African American leaders--especially county commissioners--cut their deals with Latin builders in the western suburbs: developers' cash in return for the black votes on zoning changes. That's what happened in Florida City, where county commissioner Barbara Jordan pushed through the annexation to benefit the tax base of the city where the brother was mayor and where her sister, Sandy Walker, represented the prospective developer.

So why should it be any surprise that transportation investments would stick to the Golden Rule: he who has the gold, rules?

At issue is the announcement that the extension of Metro Rail, up Northwest 27th Avenue from 82nd Street to the Broward line will likely not be funded, absent an outpouring of public objection.

Former county commissioner Betty Ferguson complained to The Herald, of the county "tanking the numbers so leaders can justify killing a project the black community has clamored for and shift the funds to other corridors with large Hispanic voting blocs."

Well, dear, you were a key architect of the deal-making.

Commissioner Audrey Edmonson, who joined a chorus of critical ministers and community leaders, said she thought the funding problem was "intentional, unless somebody here can prove otherwise to me."

Of course it was intentional, Audrey dear. Just like your votes on zoning changes that the Growth Machine wanted.

Joe Martinez, Pepe Diaz, Javier Souto and Natacha Seijas have IOU's that are much bigger than yours in the midst of the sharpest housing contraction in a century. If they can't get transportation concurrency out in the boondocks where all their campaign fund raisers own land that is worthless until the zoning changes, like the UDB, the interest expenses and carrying costs will pile up to the rafters.

It could have been different. It still could be.

Think of all the times that African American county commissioners snooze in their seats on the dais when county commissioners Katy Sorenson and Carlos Gimenez take the lead and you never follow.

Are you following, this?