Click on this link to be redirected and order the new book by Jim Morin, Herald cartoonist extraordinare, "Ambushed!"
Morin is a Miami Herald treasure. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1996 as an editorial cartoonist. In the past decade he has captured the stupidity, greed, and carnage unleashed by an economic and political elite whose hubris rises to the occasion of Greek tragedy. He also proves the point: a picture is worth a thousand words. Morin's cartoons and oil paintings have been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide. Some days, we wish Morin would train his gaze on the newspaper industry ... but then he'd have to become a blogger like us!
You can show your support for Jim Morin and his view of the world, by buying his book.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
You Heard It Folks: Miami is the Worst City in The Country For Sports. By Geniusofdespair
Forbes says:
“Over the past year, the city's four major sports teams--the Dolphins, Marlins, Heat and Panthers--have combined to win just 40% of their games while fans have forked over money for tickets and accouterments at the seventh-highest rate among 29 major sports metros. Throw in a $38,632 median household income for the greater Miami area, fifth-lowest of the 29 markets, along with a $292.50 price tag for a family of four to see a game, and the city's pro sports scene ranks as the worst deal in the country by our accounting.”
So we need a new government financed Marlins stadium because...?
“Over the past year, the city's four major sports teams--the Dolphins, Marlins, Heat and Panthers--have combined to win just 40% of their games while fans have forked over money for tickets and accouterments at the seventh-highest rate among 29 major sports metros. Throw in a $38,632 median household income for the greater Miami area, fifth-lowest of the 29 markets, along with a $292.50 price tag for a family of four to see a game, and the city's pro sports scene ranks as the worst deal in the country by our accounting.”
So we need a new government financed Marlins stadium because...?
Liberal? by gimleteye
This morning McClatchy newspaper reports, "Democrats poised for sharp turn to the left: Two days before their party convention, Democrats are more liberal than at any time in a generation."
I disagree with a main point of the McClatchy article: that the conservative right represents mainly wealthy, and the liberal left, the rest of us. There are plenty of conservatives who are not, themselves, wealthy.
The story is on point, where it notes how Americans recoiled at the weak federal government response to Katrina in 2005. Today, what Americans want is simply for government to work. Period.
The disastrous response to Katrina revealed a federal government stacked with political appointees in key management positions, rewarded for ideology and not experience.
Today it is clear to voters that an integral part of the conservative plan was to deliberately cripple government and regulation. This was part and parcel of the Karl Rove and Grover Norquist nightmare unleashed by smart people who should have known better: that protecting democracy meant destroying government itself; give industry, give the "free market", give the profit principle the tools to protect people where-- they believed-- government was itself the enemy.
It's not a resurgence of liberal values that will drive voters in November: it is a belief that government should work and that it hasn't worked because Republicans put ideology before performance and then covered up their mistakes.
Democracy should be more than words, flags, lapel pins and Fox spin. It should be stopping white collar crime, it should be intervening in the slide to climate chaos, it should be protecting elections, enhancing and protecting individual liberty and freedom, not empowering insider dealing, ideology in private life and the bedroom. How are those "liberal" values?
In 1994, with the Gingrich Republican revolution, it seemed conservatives were on the way to securing a mandate yet with all their opportunity, what they did was drive the economy straight off the tracks with historic blunders in management of the treasury, monetary policy, and war.
The party of limited government presided over an unprecedented expansion of government power and reliance on corrupt lobbyists like Jack Abramoff.
Starving budgets with regulatory responsibliity, they believed, was the companion piece to putting ideological loyalists in positions of authority. On every front, the results have been devastating and the opposite of what they intended.
It is not "liberal" to believe that America has to change course. What America needs is fiscal accountability and fairness: these aren't liberal or conservative values-- they are what every American believes in.
There will be a Democratic landslide in November. Some would call this counting one's chickens before they hatch, but in the case of the Republican Party; they killed their brood hatch. The Democrats will be picking up the pieces of what is left. And that is not to be confused, with being "liberal".
I disagree with a main point of the McClatchy article: that the conservative right represents mainly wealthy, and the liberal left, the rest of us. There are plenty of conservatives who are not, themselves, wealthy.
The story is on point, where it notes how Americans recoiled at the weak federal government response to Katrina in 2005. Today, what Americans want is simply for government to work. Period.
The disastrous response to Katrina revealed a federal government stacked with political appointees in key management positions, rewarded for ideology and not experience.
Today it is clear to voters that an integral part of the conservative plan was to deliberately cripple government and regulation. This was part and parcel of the Karl Rove and Grover Norquist nightmare unleashed by smart people who should have known better: that protecting democracy meant destroying government itself; give industry, give the "free market", give the profit principle the tools to protect people where-- they believed-- government was itself the enemy.
It's not a resurgence of liberal values that will drive voters in November: it is a belief that government should work and that it hasn't worked because Republicans put ideology before performance and then covered up their mistakes.
Democracy should be more than words, flags, lapel pins and Fox spin. It should be stopping white collar crime, it should be intervening in the slide to climate chaos, it should be protecting elections, enhancing and protecting individual liberty and freedom, not empowering insider dealing, ideology in private life and the bedroom. How are those "liberal" values?
In 1994, with the Gingrich Republican revolution, it seemed conservatives were on the way to securing a mandate yet with all their opportunity, what they did was drive the economy straight off the tracks with historic blunders in management of the treasury, monetary policy, and war.
The party of limited government presided over an unprecedented expansion of government power and reliance on corrupt lobbyists like Jack Abramoff.
Starving budgets with regulatory responsibliity, they believed, was the companion piece to putting ideological loyalists in positions of authority. On every front, the results have been devastating and the opposite of what they intended.
It is not "liberal" to believe that America has to change course. What America needs is fiscal accountability and fairness: these aren't liberal or conservative values-- they are what every American believes in.
There will be a Democratic landslide in November. Some would call this counting one's chickens before they hatch, but in the case of the Republican Party; they killed their brood hatch. The Democrats will be picking up the pieces of what is left. And that is not to be confused, with being "liberal".
BAD Proposed Changes to the Endangered Species Act. By Geniusofdespair
It is official, this change request is in the Federal Register of August 15th. Federal projects or consumptive use on federal lands (timber, grazing, mining, oil and gas, dredging, flood control, etc.) are among things most constrained by the Endangered Species Act. With the changes, they can just do their own assessment and conclude there is "no impact" from any of those projects to the endangered species. See Bush Administration’s Plans to Weaken Endangered Species Act.
Submit your comments to these changes (tell them: "Hell, No!") by September 15th to: www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions on the Web site for submitting comments. Be sure to reference 50 CFR Part 402 (FWS-R9-ES-2008-0093).
The proposed regulations attempt to:
Eliminate informal consultations. Currently, federal agencies seeking to carry out, fund or permit an action must enter into either formal or informal consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service if the action is found to have any affect whatsoever on a listed species. The Bush Administration wants to significantly reduce informal consultations by allowing proponents of federal projects to decide unilaterally whether projects have adverse effects on listed species. This would eliminate the ability of the Service to review projects and employ its expert scientific judgment about what is needed to protect species and habitats unless an agency requests an informal consultation.
Reduce the number of formal consultations. These are the in-depth reviews that lead to the preparation of a biological opinion, in which the Service determines whether a project will jeopardize listed species or adversely modify its critical habitat and, if so, how the project must be modified to avoid harm. The proposed changes eliminate the requirement for formal consultation any time that an agency unilaterally determines that a project will have no adverse effect on listed species.
Avoid or minimize consultations based on "Lack of Causation" arguments. Under this rule, agencies could avoid consultation if they determine their action will have only a “marginal” impact on a listed species, ignoring the fact that the cumulative effect of “marginal” piecemeal destruction of habitat quantity and quality is one of the main causes of species decline and extinction. “This could mean death by a thousand cuts for many threatened and endangered species,” said Kostyack.
Impose an arbitrary deadline on the consultation process.
Perhaps most outrageously, the Administration proposes to impose a 60-day deadline on the Service to respond to an agency’s request for consultation and, if this deadline is not met, to allow the project to go forward regardless of the impacts of the project on listed species. “The creation of an arbitrary deadline could enable even the most harmful projects to escape Endangered Species Act scrutiny,” said Kostyack.
Friday, August 22, 2008
What Exactly is an Environmental Lawyer? By Geniusofdespair
If you read the description of what Robert Traurig does, it seems as though it doesn't quite fit his specialty: "Environmental." Has the law profession redefined the word?Can you put Green in Greenberg Traurig? by gimleteye
It is a little breathless: "CLIMATE CULTURE: SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION A CHALLENGE TO PUSH THE RESET BUTTON ON HOW YOU THINK ABOUT CREATING PROSPERITY: A SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATION SYMPOSIUM".
The charitable organization sponsoring the symposium at the Mayfair Hotel and Spa on August 28th, "featuring an exhibition of some of the most important visionaries in sustainability", is Miami-based "Dream in Green"; a start up environmental group that has done a good job reaching into Miami Dade classrooms with information and curriculum like having kids understand their carbon footprint.
But the virtues of inclusivity should not be extended without comment or critique: I can't let the masthead for the event slip by without noting how it is dimmed by the presence of Miami law firm Greenberg Traurig as a sponsor.
Greenberg Traurig is a very large law firm, with offices scattered around the country. Its humble origins were advocating as a black hat on behalf of developers and land speculators in Miami Dade; in particular, municipal zoning and permitting.
In that area of practice, the firm in Miami always exercises its muscle vigorously-- cherishing its black hat image. It was no surprise to me that Jack Abramoff ended his legal and lobbying career in the firm's DC office.
In Miami, one of the least commendable aspects of the prevailing anti-environmental ethic that runs through the county commission is how smart attorneys wield lobbying influence in ways so damaging to the public interest.
Robert Traurig often lead his minions at the county commission podium, strategizing and contributing to battles against civic and conservation groups and their causes.
Now that the housing markets have crashed and zoning applications for suburban sprawl are dead as roadkill, now that condominiums and conversions are flat on their backs, I suppose its time for everyone to be a little dreamy and green, even Greenberg Traurig.
The charitable organization sponsoring the symposium at the Mayfair Hotel and Spa on August 28th, "featuring an exhibition of some of the most important visionaries in sustainability", is Miami-based "Dream in Green"; a start up environmental group that has done a good job reaching into Miami Dade classrooms with information and curriculum like having kids understand their carbon footprint.
But the virtues of inclusivity should not be extended without comment or critique: I can't let the masthead for the event slip by without noting how it is dimmed by the presence of Miami law firm Greenberg Traurig as a sponsor.
Greenberg Traurig is a very large law firm, with offices scattered around the country. Its humble origins were advocating as a black hat on behalf of developers and land speculators in Miami Dade; in particular, municipal zoning and permitting.
In that area of practice, the firm in Miami always exercises its muscle vigorously-- cherishing its black hat image. It was no surprise to me that Jack Abramoff ended his legal and lobbying career in the firm's DC office.
In Miami, one of the least commendable aspects of the prevailing anti-environmental ethic that runs through the county commission is how smart attorneys wield lobbying influence in ways so damaging to the public interest.
Robert Traurig often lead his minions at the county commission podium, strategizing and contributing to battles against civic and conservation groups and their causes.
Now that the housing markets have crashed and zoning applications for suburban sprawl are dead as roadkill, now that condominiums and conversions are flat on their backs, I suppose its time for everyone to be a little dreamy and green, even Greenberg Traurig.
Darryl Reaves and the Phony Obama “Slate” in Liberty City By Geniusofdespair
I hate slates and this article about a phony slate in Liberty City is an example of why. Who paid for printing this slate and who is behind it? Certainly not Obama, although it was printed to look like he supported the Miami-Dade slate of candidates. The Herald reported:
"The flier, distributed by a local grass-roots group calling itself Team Florida, according to former State Rep. Darryl Reaves, shows the senator's photo and ''Yes We Can'' slogan, along with the words ''Obama '08'' and "Team Florida." Team Florida is not registered with the county or state as a political action committee."
I have been to polls during many elections in neighborhoods around Dade. The policy in some neighborhoods has been for a Respected Politician like, Kendrick Meek, to sponsor a slate of candidates. For instance in 2006 Kendrick had on his slate: Commissioner Dorrin Rolle among others. I asked Kendrick why he did not endorse Former House Rep. Philip Brutus who was running against Rolle: He said: “Because Brutus had bad attendance while a State Representative.” I said to Meek: “We all pray that Rolle would have bad attendance so he wouldn’t show up to make yet another bad vote.” Meek laughed and we parted.
Anyway, this handing out of “slate cards” seems to be common in some parts of the county: Sometimes the Democrats have them, sometimes the Unions put them out and sometimes a fake group puts them out. The “respected politician endorsement slate” can als be found in Hialeah: The Hialeah Mayor always seems to be pictured on one.
Clean-cut Darryl Reaves, a candidate that popped up for school board in 2006, was caught giving out this particular slate card. Commissioner Audrey Edmonson was selected on it. I have a suspicion that Darryl might be working for that campaign but I can’t be sure. He is a "unique" person who I can't figure out when he surfaces and I have stopped trying. Enough said.
"The flier, distributed by a local grass-roots group calling itself Team Florida, according to former State Rep. Darryl Reaves, shows the senator's photo and ''Yes We Can'' slogan, along with the words ''Obama '08'' and "Team Florida." Team Florida is not registered with the county or state as a political action committee."
I have been to polls during many elections in neighborhoods around Dade. The policy in some neighborhoods has been for a Respected Politician like, Kendrick Meek, to sponsor a slate of candidates. For instance in 2006 Kendrick had on his slate: Commissioner Dorrin Rolle among others. I asked Kendrick why he did not endorse Former House Rep. Philip Brutus who was running against Rolle: He said: “Because Brutus had bad attendance while a State Representative.” I said to Meek: “We all pray that Rolle would have bad attendance so he wouldn’t show up to make yet another bad vote.” Meek laughed and we parted.
Anyway, this handing out of “slate cards” seems to be common in some parts of the county: Sometimes the Democrats have them, sometimes the Unions put them out and sometimes a fake group puts them out. The “respected politician endorsement slate” can als be found in Hialeah: The Hialeah Mayor always seems to be pictured on one.
Clean-cut Darryl Reaves, a candidate that popped up for school board in 2006, was caught giving out this particular slate card. Commissioner Audrey Edmonson was selected on it. I have a suspicion that Darryl might be working for that campaign but I can’t be sure. He is a "unique" person who I can't figure out when he surfaces and I have stopped trying. Enough said.
The unknown houses of John McCain, by gimleteye
Someone has the keys to John McCain's houses. They must have keys. Who has them? Do you know where the keys to your houses are?
Listen: there a lot of calls to the mainstream media along the lines of; much ado about nothing. On the contrary, the ownership society was a big enough deal for the Bush White House and the development industry to gin up the biggest housing bubble in US economic history.
You have to be pretty far above daily concerns of a homeowner, not to know how many houses you own.
And put the shoe on the other foot: what if Barack Obama had been asked the same question and given the same answer as McCain. Would this have been a non-story in the mainstream media? John McCain wasn't photographed windsurfing; he was caught with his pants down on the issue most fundamental to Americans: what do they own and what do they owe.
John McCain doesn't know the answer to either of these questions. Well, maybe he does today. But if you think John Kerry looked foolish windsurfing, what do you think about John McCain not knowing how many houses he owns?
This is no ordinary dust-up because these aren't ordinary times. Some observers have no hesitation saying that housing markets are in the worst crisis since the Great Depression. We've said it for over a year, here in Miami -- where the housing boom had its political origins in wetlands and farmland.
As the nation rolls toward the voting booth, we can point out with confidence that this housing market implosion has never been about "subprime" mortgages, which is exactly what Bush administration spokespersons said a year ago.
Every single category of debt is under pressure; school loans, credit cards, cars, and -- yes-- homes where middle-class Americans suddenly find themselves under water with their home equity value.
Now you would imagine that American voters would ask their presidential candidate who owns seven homes-- or is it eight?-- how he can relate; first of all, to the depth of our economic crisis and what exactly his prescriptions are and do they, for instance, include the nationalization of the US banking industry, or just Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or also Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns.
Or will our economic problems be solved by simply declaring a time horizon-- as the Bush administration now claims for withdrawal from Iraq-- that at some indeterminate point in the future all will be well for the homeowner facing inflation, fuel costs through the roof, and equity that no longer exists?
If Obama had declared he doesn't know how many homes he owns, his opponents would be howling that the man is too inexperienced and too reckless with his own money to be president.
The matter of how many homes John McCain owns is relevant. It is time for him to come clean: what are his monthly mortgage payments and who has the keys to his houses?
Type the rest of the post here
Listen: there a lot of calls to the mainstream media along the lines of; much ado about nothing. On the contrary, the ownership society was a big enough deal for the Bush White House and the development industry to gin up the biggest housing bubble in US economic history.
You have to be pretty far above daily concerns of a homeowner, not to know how many houses you own.
And put the shoe on the other foot: what if Barack Obama had been asked the same question and given the same answer as McCain. Would this have been a non-story in the mainstream media? John McCain wasn't photographed windsurfing; he was caught with his pants down on the issue most fundamental to Americans: what do they own and what do they owe.
John McCain doesn't know the answer to either of these questions. Well, maybe he does today. But if you think John Kerry looked foolish windsurfing, what do you think about John McCain not knowing how many houses he owns?
This is no ordinary dust-up because these aren't ordinary times. Some observers have no hesitation saying that housing markets are in the worst crisis since the Great Depression. We've said it for over a year, here in Miami -- where the housing boom had its political origins in wetlands and farmland.
As the nation rolls toward the voting booth, we can point out with confidence that this housing market implosion has never been about "subprime" mortgages, which is exactly what Bush administration spokespersons said a year ago.
Every single category of debt is under pressure; school loans, credit cards, cars, and -- yes-- homes where middle-class Americans suddenly find themselves under water with their home equity value.
Now you would imagine that American voters would ask their presidential candidate who owns seven homes-- or is it eight?-- how he can relate; first of all, to the depth of our economic crisis and what exactly his prescriptions are and do they, for instance, include the nationalization of the US banking industry, or just Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or also Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns.
Or will our economic problems be solved by simply declaring a time horizon-- as the Bush administration now claims for withdrawal from Iraq-- that at some indeterminate point in the future all will be well for the homeowner facing inflation, fuel costs through the roof, and equity that no longer exists?
If Obama had declared he doesn't know how many homes he owns, his opponents would be howling that the man is too inexperienced and too reckless with his own money to be president.
The matter of how many homes John McCain owns is relevant. It is time for him to come clean: what are his monthly mortgage payments and who has the keys to his houses?
Type the rest of the post here
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Katy Sorenson Says, Let's End The Legal Showdown Over UDB. By Geniusofdespair
Press release August 21st:
Commissioner Sorenson is sponsoring a resolution to reverse the Board of County Commissioners vote to move the Urban Development Boundary. Florida’s Department of Community Affairs has found the County out of compliance with applicable laws and has begun an administrative hearing that could result in severe sanctions for the County. She said:
“Now, in a difficult budget year, is not the time for precious County resources to be used defending land use decisions on behalf of developers. DCA’s action ensures that the County will be involved in long, costly litigation defending the commission’s decision to move the Urban Development Boundary. I don’t think that’s how our citizens want their tax money spent.”
Commissioner Sorenson is sponsoring a resolution to reverse the Board of County Commissioners vote to move the Urban Development Boundary. Florida’s Department of Community Affairs has found the County out of compliance with applicable laws and has begun an administrative hearing that could result in severe sanctions for the County. She said:
“Now, in a difficult budget year, is not the time for precious County resources to be used defending land use decisions on behalf of developers. DCA’s action ensures that the County will be involved in long, costly litigation defending the commission’s decision to move the Urban Development Boundary. I don’t think that’s how our citizens want their tax money spent.”
The key to John McCain: how many houses does he own? by gimleteye
John McCain is in touch with the reality of most Americans? I don't think so. Being the son of an Admiral confers a set of living arrangements and military entitlements only a few Americans ever experience. It is a whole different world, but not necessarily a world of personal wealth.
John McCain married into money, but what order of priorities prevents him from remembering how many houses he owns? If you don't know how many houses you own, and there are mortgages on the houses, do you know what you owe?
If I owned more houses than I could keep track of, at least I'd have a set of keys to remind me. Don't you carry a set of keys, to your home or apartment?
It is not irrelevant, unless you are rich enough to think it so. Once upon a time, John McCain fell under the spell of a banker, Charles Keating, and failed to recognize conduct that was judged to be criminal. McCain's top economic advisor-- former Senator Phil Gramm-- was responsible for changes to federal banking laws that paved the road to the current housing and mortgage crisis. Gramm went to work as a senior executive for a major international investment bank and made a fortune. Keating went to jail.
And John McCain is still rooting around, trying to figure out how many houses he owns.
It is so important not to leave judges out when you vote! By Geniusofdespair
Abby Cynamon Battles Bad Banker Ricardo Corona for Judge. Miami New Times Reporter Elfrink said:
"Corona's leadership at his family's Sunshine State Bank earned him a lifetime ban from the banking industry thanks to millions of dollars in shady loans and startup money from a drug smuggler."
I am glad I endorsed Abby Cynamon on August 11th. Google the judges, make an effort to vote for all of them or they will just be elected on whether their last name sounds right!
"Corona's leadership at his family's Sunshine State Bank earned him a lifetime ban from the banking industry thanks to millions of dollars in shady loans and startup money from a drug smuggler."
I am glad I endorsed Abby Cynamon on August 11th. Google the judges, make an effort to vote for all of them or they will just be elected on whether their last name sounds right!
What the Hell is going on in Palm Beach With This "Inland Port"?
Okay, I have to admit I didn't understand Gimleteye's August 18th post. Like, why is anyone talking about a port in Palm Beach County where two Canals meet near Lake Okeechobee? How stupid is that? So, I did my research and I am going to try to explain it to you in simple terms so then you can read Gimleteye's post again and "Get It".There are two sugar companies. U.S. Sugar is publicly owned and it signed on to cease operation in 2006 and sell their land to the State of Florida. This buyout is going to cost the State $1.75 Billion. They estimate that this transaction will put about 1,700 people out of work.
The other sugar company, Florida Crystals is owned by a family named the Fanjuls. They are probably trying to figure out how they can cash in on this deal. One way, of course, is to drive a hard bargain while trading land to the State. The State would like to make a contiguous block of land for the Everglades and U.S. Sugar land alone won't do it. They may need Florida Crystals to cooperate. So Florida Crystals should make some bucks and sweetheart deals with the trades. These trades I think are being negotiated and planned out by the South Florida Water Management District.
Florida Crystals must have figured that they could capitalize further on this historic Sugar buyout of their rival because they dusted off an idea that has been floating around (never looked at by any other existing port) for years:
Let's build an inland port! (see map, I think this is the location). Florida Crystals want to rezone 9,000 acres of their own land for the port but mostly for a lot of ancillary development (they claim no housing). Due to Hurricane Fay, the Palm Beach County meeting (Aug. 19th) to discuss this rezoning was thankfully cancelled. (hit read more)
Carolyn Wehle, Executive Director of the South Florida Water Management District, had said that there were negotiations going on and suggested Florida Crystals wait a few weeks until land acquisition negotiations were complete so that the SFWMD could weigh in on the rezoning issue. Florida Crystals didn't want to wait. They said the Port will create jobs (isn't it funny how they always use jobs as a ploy to get zoning passed) to make up for the jobs lost so they barreled ahead with their port plan.
One problem with the location of the extended Port is that it is smack dab in the middle of where they were going to do Everglades Restoration Projects, to clean polluted water and get more water to the Park.
This story is already long enough. I am sure you are as bored as I am. The questions I am left with from the story are:
1. Is Florida Crystals acting greedy, trying to ram through these zoning changes or are they just savvy business people that care about creating jobs?
2. Are they going to play hardball with the land swaps now and dangle them as bait to get the port?
3. Is the port really what they are after (because you only need about 1,500 acres for a port) or are they really after adding value to land with rezoning?
4. Are we putting the cart before the horse? No one has done a feasibility study for the port idea, so why rezone ahead of time?
5. Do we want an intense commerce hub at the headwaters of the Everglades when we are already spending billions trying to unpollute the existing water?
6. Will the Clewiston Inn stop selling sugar cookies? That would truly be a disaster.
Now go reread the post by Gimleteye and you will see what a great writer we have here. Oh, damn! I just noticed that Gimleteye is working on still another post on this sugar stuff... and Gimeleteye has a better graphic than mine! Double damn.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
How Do You Get Them In The Nursing Home? By Geniusofdespair
A casual friend of mine is now pissing in the closets of his new home. He got hit with Alzheimer's in his early 50’s and it has now progressed to where he is beating up his 85 year old father-in-law and pissing everywhere. His wife is desperate to keep him home.I, on the other hand, have a relative with all his marbles but the body is in the late 90’s and is shutting down. After a few falls after fainting, and a long stay in the hospital, we made arrangements for fulltime nursing so we could keep him at home. Well, after 3 aides in almost 3 weeks, we are ready to kill him. (Hit read more)
A fulltime Aide requires refrigerator space. My relative won’t give up the space. Last night we got home with a doggy bag (during dinner we had to squeeze the lemon for him and open the mustard top). In front of the Aide, my Uncle opened the freezer: “Look there is no space.” Then he opened the refrigerator and made a big deal of trying to put it in where it wouldn’t fit. Mind you, both sections had about half as much food as I have in my refrigerator and all the shelves had plenty of room. I could have fit about 50 of those doggy bags in his refrigerator. Finally I just took the f--king bag and shoved it in.
He also won’t let the woman watch TV. He shuts it off when the Aide walks in the room. She had to call her daughter to get hurricane news (and then he complained she was on the phone too much). So the Aide does crossword puzzles in the kitchen all day trying to stay out of his way....and rescues this man from falls during the night or whenever his blood pressure drops or he becomes dizzy. And, indignity of all, she helps him clean up after missed trips to the bathroom.
We all know this isn’t about the refrigerator, or the driving (“she drives too tentative I won’t get in the car with her”) or anything else. It is about his anger about his loss of independence. This man does NOT want an Aide. So what do we do? What is the alternative?
I remember this Anthropology course I took (or was it Sociology) where this tribe threw the old people out of their homes and didn’t feed them or anything -- good plan. I am tempted to wash my hands of this relative, like the tribe so I said to him: “Just fire the Aide and do what you want.” He was taken aback. He said: “Well, I am seeing the doctor in 3 weeks, I will wait till then.” Meanwhile he will torture this poor woman for absolutely no better reason then he doesn’t want to be stuck in a body that is not working any longer. And worse, the one thing gone from his mind: reason.
I guess you can figure out why I am focused on old people now. This is not fun. It is especially troubling for me to see one human being treat another with such disrespect. I am appalled at my uncle's behavior.
More on Krome Gold, by gimleteye
Almost two years ago, I began sharing with Eyeonmiami readers NYU economist Nouriel Roubini's analyses of the current economic situation.
Among other outstanding observations, Roubini has traced macroeconomic and monetary policies to the corruption of a growth model based on McMansions and SUV's. Roubini's observations correspond with what I have seen here, in Florida. My point of view is informed by fighting land use battles at the level of local and state government-- and witnessing the enormous gaps between the purpose, intent and result of federal laws protecting the nation's air, water, and public lands.
What was clear-- and is now even clearer to more people in light of the housing market crash -- is that the abnormal growth of suburbs in the nation's fastest growing regions could only exist through fiscal irresponsibility by so-called stewards of the public treasury. You will find in our index "housing crash" ample discussion how Miami was the epicenter of the housing market bust and how the political origins of the boom here, in South Florida, tied to the world-wide credit crisis; irresponsibility that nonetheless allowed great private wealth to be created through cost shifting, hidden public subsidies for growth, and the deformation of representative democracy to serve the needs of Wall Street and the Growth Machine.
From many points of view, the building boom in Florida was unsustainable-- local decision makers like the unreformable majority of the Miami Dade County Commission rubber-stamped zoning changes in farmland, permits, and infrastructure demanded by big engineering firms and their patrons on blue ribbon panels appointed by county commissioners and governors.
To the extent that laws protecting the air, water, rivers, lakes and Everglades existed, they worked mainly to fuel armies of consultants, lawyers, and engineering firms.
As long as credit was easy, there was nothing blocking the way of "growth" other than pesky civic groups or clusters of activists; most could be co-opted-- and were-- in the mad scramble for charitable donations and the crumbs pushed off the feeding table by successive governors, legislative leaders, and their campaign contributors.
Yesterday I wrote about Krome Gold and its pleasing fenestration: a window on the broken model of suburban growth and the last tranche of speculators frantically scrambling for some way for public entities, like local government, to make them whole on investments that are worth only half of what they paid in 2005 and 2006. I am certain that some of the Krome Gold investors and the nearby 7,000 planned housing development by Lennar, called Parkland are intimately familiar with decision makers in Washington DC, and conversations how to bailout the housing industry now fallen on desperate times of their own making.
It is obvious enough-- and some of our readers posted terrific comments yesterday about the bedraggled landscape and empty subdivisions that Krome Gold investors find themselves in the midst of. This time we need "jobs", this time we need "growth". These will all be rationalizations used by Holland and Knight attorney Juan Mayol to change the underlying zoning on the property.
On September 19th, the Miami Dade County Commission will entertain the application by Krome Gold to permit a 173 acre lake excavation. The prospective developer claims the lake is integral to its planned equestrian center and multi-million dollar homes, that aren't selling and will not sell anytime soon elsewhere in the area. The county's own planning staff recommends denial, on the grounds that it is inconsistent with the master plan for the area.
But there has been no discussion, at least in the sunshine where all could hear it, about the underlying financing and economics of the project.
As Roubini points out, a significant factor in the depth of our national economic crisis is the failure of banks and lending institutions to be honest with shareholders about the cratering value of its outstanding loans. It would be interesting to know the underlying financial arrangements of the limited partnership and exactly how the lending institution/s for the project characterize the debt and mortgage. What is the financial condition of the institution that holds the mortgage? How have they rated the paper?
These are not typically details that are ever revealed in the context of major zoning decisions. I recall how more than a decade ago, the private entity HABDI-- configured of some of the same investors in Krome Gold-- presented the County Commission with a report by Integra, an economics consultant still active in Miami, showing $10 billion in positive economic impacts if the no-bid contract to redevelop the Homestead Air Force Base was granted as an exclusive 99 year lease. None of the investors was required to demonstrate the source of funding, except to say that at some point in the future it would post a $100 million bond.
As a result, Natacha Seijas--then the figurehead on the prow of the HABDI ship-- was able to commit tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to fund planning for a project that ultimately disappeared in the sands of time; violating laws in the process the way a boat plows through sargasso weed. A lot has changed since that time: the housing boom came and passed. Some of the principals acquired and built their own bank: US Century. And they are giving back some of their fortunes to cover the carrying costs of land acquisitions purchased at speculative values in the full expectation that they could extract gold from farmland at the edge of the Everglades. That's why it is called, Krome Gold.
As individual citizens, we cannot run our family budgets without accounting for all the expenses according to our income. But that is not how the wealth creation model of suburbia works; it depends on leverage and it depends on ordinary citizens not caring too much how it happens or who, exactly, is making it happen.
Among other outstanding observations, Roubini has traced macroeconomic and monetary policies to the corruption of a growth model based on McMansions and SUV's. Roubini's observations correspond with what I have seen here, in Florida. My point of view is informed by fighting land use battles at the level of local and state government-- and witnessing the enormous gaps between the purpose, intent and result of federal laws protecting the nation's air, water, and public lands.
What was clear-- and is now even clearer to more people in light of the housing market crash -- is that the abnormal growth of suburbs in the nation's fastest growing regions could only exist through fiscal irresponsibility by so-called stewards of the public treasury. You will find in our index "housing crash" ample discussion how Miami was the epicenter of the housing market bust and how the political origins of the boom here, in South Florida, tied to the world-wide credit crisis; irresponsibility that nonetheless allowed great private wealth to be created through cost shifting, hidden public subsidies for growth, and the deformation of representative democracy to serve the needs of Wall Street and the Growth Machine.
From many points of view, the building boom in Florida was unsustainable-- local decision makers like the unreformable majority of the Miami Dade County Commission rubber-stamped zoning changes in farmland, permits, and infrastructure demanded by big engineering firms and their patrons on blue ribbon panels appointed by county commissioners and governors.
To the extent that laws protecting the air, water, rivers, lakes and Everglades existed, they worked mainly to fuel armies of consultants, lawyers, and engineering firms.
As long as credit was easy, there was nothing blocking the way of "growth" other than pesky civic groups or clusters of activists; most could be co-opted-- and were-- in the mad scramble for charitable donations and the crumbs pushed off the feeding table by successive governors, legislative leaders, and their campaign contributors.
Yesterday I wrote about Krome Gold and its pleasing fenestration: a window on the broken model of suburban growth and the last tranche of speculators frantically scrambling for some way for public entities, like local government, to make them whole on investments that are worth only half of what they paid in 2005 and 2006. I am certain that some of the Krome Gold investors and the nearby 7,000 planned housing development by Lennar, called Parkland are intimately familiar with decision makers in Washington DC, and conversations how to bailout the housing industry now fallen on desperate times of their own making.
It is obvious enough-- and some of our readers posted terrific comments yesterday about the bedraggled landscape and empty subdivisions that Krome Gold investors find themselves in the midst of. This time we need "jobs", this time we need "growth". These will all be rationalizations used by Holland and Knight attorney Juan Mayol to change the underlying zoning on the property.
On September 19th, the Miami Dade County Commission will entertain the application by Krome Gold to permit a 173 acre lake excavation. The prospective developer claims the lake is integral to its planned equestrian center and multi-million dollar homes, that aren't selling and will not sell anytime soon elsewhere in the area. The county's own planning staff recommends denial, on the grounds that it is inconsistent with the master plan for the area.
But there has been no discussion, at least in the sunshine where all could hear it, about the underlying financing and economics of the project.
As Roubini points out, a significant factor in the depth of our national economic crisis is the failure of banks and lending institutions to be honest with shareholders about the cratering value of its outstanding loans. It would be interesting to know the underlying financial arrangements of the limited partnership and exactly how the lending institution/s for the project characterize the debt and mortgage. What is the financial condition of the institution that holds the mortgage? How have they rated the paper?
These are not typically details that are ever revealed in the context of major zoning decisions. I recall how more than a decade ago, the private entity HABDI-- configured of some of the same investors in Krome Gold-- presented the County Commission with a report by Integra, an economics consultant still active in Miami, showing $10 billion in positive economic impacts if the no-bid contract to redevelop the Homestead Air Force Base was granted as an exclusive 99 year lease. None of the investors was required to demonstrate the source of funding, except to say that at some point in the future it would post a $100 million bond.
As a result, Natacha Seijas--then the figurehead on the prow of the HABDI ship-- was able to commit tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to fund planning for a project that ultimately disappeared in the sands of time; violating laws in the process the way a boat plows through sargasso weed. A lot has changed since that time: the housing boom came and passed. Some of the principals acquired and built their own bank: US Century. And they are giving back some of their fortunes to cover the carrying costs of land acquisitions purchased at speculative values in the full expectation that they could extract gold from farmland at the edge of the Everglades. That's why it is called, Krome Gold.
As individual citizens, we cannot run our family budgets without accounting for all the expenses according to our income. But that is not how the wealth creation model of suburbia works; it depends on leverage and it depends on ordinary citizens not caring too much how it happens or who, exactly, is making it happen.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Krome Gold and its pleasing fenestrations, by gimleteye
Eyeonmiami is a window, a "pleasing fenestration" if you will, to the zoning manipulation and other acts of political largesse passing as Chamber of Commerce values that The Miami Herald and other mainstream media will not criticize, notwithstanding the McClatchy corporate claim on its website: "speaking truth to power".
I couldn't have come up with "pleasing fenestration" on my own. The phrase is hoisted from the application to Miami Dade County Planning and Zoning of a development project, Krome Gold, represented by Holland and Knight attorney of zoning requests to move the Urban Development Boundary, Juan Mayol.
Krome Gold proposes to change the underlying zoning on 466 acres of land, to provide for a development oriented toward equestrian activities and 5 acre ranchettes outside the Urban Development Boundary. The project includes a plan for 58 multimillion dollar homes and a 173-acre fish stocked lake. "The residences and the clubhouse have been designed with elevations that mimic the characteristics of ranch-style rural residential homes designed with architecturally pleasing fenestrations such as decorative dormers and decorative brick facings on the chimney."
Krome Gold turns out to be the best example how powerful lobbyists, bankers, and real estate speculators use local government zoning processes to socialize risk and privatize profit, and in doing so cause the quality of life in Miami Dade to be diminished one zoning application at a time.
Krome Gold was born of the irrepressible optimism of the housing bubble. Today, homebuilder sentiment may be at record lows, as lending tightens closer than the sphincter of a land speculator stuck with property bought at the height of the building boom, but builders and development interests who own properties like Krome Gold, at the western fringe of Miami Dade County bordering the Everglades, are frantic.
Miami New Times reports that the investors (more of that, later) bought the property in 2005 and 2006 for $58.5 million, or, $125,000 an acre. An informed source advises its current value is less than half the price, as agricultural land.
The Krome Gold partnership includes a virtual who's who of Miami suburban sprawl advocacy.
When it became clear to the owners of Krome Gold that their original plan for suburban sprawl would not pass muster, they reformulated their strategy to create an "equestrian center" and 5 acre ranchettes around a lake. Why market ranchettes, when Lennar's Savannah Estates-- also marketed to the equestrian crowd-- are going begging?
The point is the lake. And not the lake--because these excavated lakes are really algae ponds--, but the limestone that will be dredged to form the lake. Surely some infrastructure project can be found by the politically connected owners to suck up the limestone, providing some cash flow to carry the project until the market for suburban sprawl bounces back?
Or, perhaps the limestone could be used for another project-- 7,000 homes planned next door by Parkland, a partnership between Lennar and Ed Easton-- that requires fill pads because the land is in a flood plain. But I'm getting ahead of the story.
The process to rezone the Krome Gold land outside the Urban Development Boundary for new uses including rock mining began in December 2007. It will finally be heard by the unreformable majority of the Miami Dade County Commission two weeks after the August 26 election.
What a convenient fenestration this example provides. It proves, among other points, why returning the choice to voters on changes to land use maps that govern development will become state law when-- finally-- Florida Hometown Democracy is allowed on the ballot to change the Florida Constitution. (The very interests that push developments like Krome Gold forward are desperate to keep Florida Hometown Democracy away from voters.)
But this fenestration provided by Krome Gold is only about Florida Hometown Democracy through the side view window. Here is what looking through the windshield finds you:
No finer description of a Potemkin Village ever masked the political means to convert Florida farmland and open space to suburban sprawl, the wealth creator until the housing bubble burst. The ownership society turned out to be a model of financial destruction.
Of course, the slow motion implosion caught such projects as Krome Gold and its investors stranded like dancers in a strobe light. Ed Easton, the original assembler of Parkland, is a major Repubican campaign contributor who, in this election cycle alone, has combined family contributions of nearly $100,000 to Republican causes and candidates. Sergio Pino, a prime force within the Krome Gold partnership, has hedged his bets and those of his family (more than $60,000 in total, this cycle) among Democrats with dozens of contributions, weighted in favor of Republican candidates 3-1. (date source: Opensecrets.org)
Krome Avenue fronts as a major transit corridor for the remaining 70,000 acres of farmland in Miami Dade County. To comply with state law requiring “concurrency” of infrastructure along with zoning and building permits, roadways must offer adequate service capacity. As a two-lane road, Krome Avenue needed to be widened in order to unlock the vast wealth in converting nearby farmland, at the edge of the Everglades, to suburban sprawl.
In 2003 (when farmland acres in Miami Dade County was closer to 90,000) the environmental group Friends of the Everglades wrote about the plan to widen Krome Avenue, since approved by the County Commission: “The argument by proponents is that the road will be safer. Originally opposed by the Florida Department of Community Affairs because it violated state regulations designed to prevent sprawling development at urban edges, the project won approval after advocates led a successful effort to approve the widening on the grounds of safety. But what doesn’t fit the widening for safety argument is that most of the deaths on this road happen at the northern end, a 20 plus mile stretch from Kendall Drive north to Okeechobee Road.”
Rodney Barreto--the chairman of the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission and political appointee by former Governor Jeb Bush--is another key investor in Krome Gold. Barreto was also the main force behind inthe effort to widen Krome Avenue, the westernmost transit corridor flanking the Everglades, generating widespread sympathy based on traffic fatalities on the unlit, rural road. In none of these hearings to widen Krome Avenue to provide "desperately needed safety" did it occur to question whether Mr. Barreto was also a land speculator on lands adjacent to Krome Avenue.
When environmental groups sued in state administrative court to object to the widening of Krome Avenue, as a matter of violating state growth management law, county planners settled by agreeing to stipulate that Krome Avenue would not be used in future applications for the purposes of concurrency. The majority of Miami Dade County Commissioners rejected the settlement.
County planning staff have recommended denial of Krome Gold's application, but the County Commission ignored its earlier advisories to reject two applications to move the Urban Development Boundary that the State of Florida recently rejected, citing the county's own planning staff. The result? Miami Dade taxpayers, who strongly oppose moving the Urban Development Boundary-- on the order of 70 percent according to recent polls-- are now funding county legal staff to pursue litigation against the State of Florida.
The State of Florida, in rejecting earlier applications to move the UDB, is very likely to take the same course-- of rejecting local land speculators-- notwithstanding the massive amounts of campaign money that have been spread about, and mostly to Republican candidates as a perfunctory matter of greasing the development wheels.
It doesn't seem to register to investors-- at least from a distance-- that the great suburban sprawl development machine now lays rusted and broken on the side of the road. Its drivers are kicking the metal and the busted wheel rims, pouring gasoline on burnt out hulk, wondering why it just won't get up and go. This is not a view that the Krome Gold investors would embrace, on the hook as they are for approximated $25 million-- the difference between current value and purchase price-- but it is nonetheless a fenestration through which the antics of the housing boom will not return any time soon.
Who Cares About Leaks at Turkey Point? By Geniusofdsepair
According to the Miami Herald: A Pipe leak sidelines South Dade nuclear reactor.
"One of the two nuclear reactors at Turkey Point has been taken off-line because of a leak, nuclear regulators reported."
Nobody cares, the newspaper doesn't care: This was relegated to the back pages of the Business Section. It is just a blip on your daily radar screen. Blip, blip, blip (glad I am not in the neighborhood).
"One of the two nuclear reactors at Turkey Point has been taken off-line because of a leak, nuclear regulators reported."
Nobody cares, the newspaper doesn't care: This was relegated to the back pages of the Business Section. It is just a blip on your daily radar screen. Blip, blip, blip (glad I am not in the neighborhood).
The Children's Trust Miami Revisited. By Geniusofdespair
I am getting the feeling that the Children's Trust supporters are afraid of any questions at all about the Trust. I don't mean to upset your apple cart. I was undecided about financing the Children's Trust in my endorsement so I tried to open a dialogue, airing my concerns with the PAC. I really didn't have many concerns with the Trust itself. Yes, I don't like that Board Members can get contracts with the Trust but my displeasure is mostly with people/politicians who have under-funded schools and the pillars of the community who don't seem to care as much about that as they care about the Trust.
For instance, it was a poor choice on the part of The Children's Trust to put a picture of Marco Rubio, as a supporter, in the newspaper.
This is the same Marco Rubio who was the Speaker of The House during the massive tax cut to public schools. Is that insane to anyone else but me? It left a bitter taste in my mouth.
The School Board and the Superintendent are battling it out and teachers' salaries suffer, but hey, it is okay, Marco supports taxing us for the Trust...just not for schools.
Look, I don't care one way or the other whether you get the $100,000,000.00 (I noticed the percentage increased) Children's Trust. I just don't like the way you are pushing it with photos while our schools are hurting. Put some meat in your ads because we all know the Herald will not give us honest dialogue with Lawrence at the helm of The Children's Trust.
For instance, it was a poor choice on the part of The Children's Trust to put a picture of Marco Rubio, as a supporter, in the newspaper.
This is the same Marco Rubio who was the Speaker of The House during the massive tax cut to public schools. Is that insane to anyone else but me? It left a bitter taste in my mouth.
The School Board and the Superintendent are battling it out and teachers' salaries suffer, but hey, it is okay, Marco supports taxing us for the Trust...just not for schools.
Look, I don't care one way or the other whether you get the $100,000,000.00 (I noticed the percentage increased) Children's Trust. I just don't like the way you are pushing it with photos while our schools are hurting. Put some meat in your ads because we all know the Herald will not give us honest dialogue with Lawrence at the helm of The Children's Trust.
Jorge E. Cueto Running for Circuit Court Judge. By Geniusofdespair
Although I endorsed his opponent, I forget why, Jorge Cueto (endorsed by the Miami Herald) wrote and I am including his background. I like that he is on the Citizens Independent (joke part: they are not "independent" of the County Commission, no board is) Transportation Trust (ITT) and that he bothered to write to tell me about himself:
• I am a reader of your blog. (That impressed me big-time)
• I have been a lawyer for 16 years and am presently a prosecutor in the Public Corruption Unit of the State Attorney's Office
• I am also a member of the CITT, so I have an intimate knowledge of our transit.
Use your own judgement because Judges are hard to endorse, they are not allowed to talk about their cases or their views. I am told by other members fo the CITT that he is very quiet. Get talking Jorge!
• I am a reader of your blog. (That impressed me big-time)
• I have been a lawyer for 16 years and am presently a prosecutor in the Public Corruption Unit of the State Attorney's Office
• I am also a member of the CITT, so I have an intimate knowledge of our transit.
Use your own judgement because Judges are hard to endorse, they are not allowed to talk about their cases or their views. I am told by other members fo the CITT that he is very quiet. Get talking Jorge!
How is your Grandma doing? By Geniusofdespair
I just noticed that the interest rate on one year T Bills is down to a paltry 2.02%. For every $100,000 grandma has in T. Bills she is making a whopping $2,020 a year or $168 a month. Add that to her Social Security and she is in big trouble financially, she can hardly afford her DSL connection.If you are not lucky enough to have a County or City pension, your nest egg must generate income. With stocks down, and the interest rates tanked — have you thought about how grandma is surviving? Check on her finances. As I previously reported, my 80 year old relative, who since died, was in foreclosure on her home. The house had an interest only loan on it. Her husband is now a ward of the State. Did we know what was up? No. Not until it was too late.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Fay, God, and the Fanjuls
Tomorrow's meeting at the Palm Beach County Commission to consider a plan to site an inland port on Fanjul property in the Everglades Agricultural Area has been cancelled because of Tropical Storm Fay. It's a terrible location, whose only conceivable purpose is to ratchet up the land value to the Fanjuls in the poker game with Governor Crist over the future of the US Sugar purchase.
Someone reminded me that an important County Commission meeting in Palm Beach, on the failed Scripps venture, was also cancelled by a hurricane.
Maybe God is on the side of the Everglades. Perhaps that can never be proven. Oh well. On the other hand, it should be much easier to find out if any of the lobbyists for Fanjul interests also work for the Palm Beach County Commission, or, the Port of Palm Beach and if any of them have ever been associated with South Florida Water Management District.
From your lips, to God's ear.
Someone reminded me that an important County Commission meeting in Palm Beach, on the failed Scripps venture, was also cancelled by a hurricane.
Maybe God is on the side of the Everglades. Perhaps that can never be proven. Oh well. On the other hand, it should be much easier to find out if any of the lobbyists for Fanjul interests also work for the Palm Beach County Commission, or, the Port of Palm Beach and if any of them have ever been associated with South Florida Water Management District.
From your lips, to God's ear.
The Children's Trust Miami: What did you do to our Blog? by Geniusofdespair
The Children's Trust.org did something to the blog with the comments....and I am not allowing it to happen again so no comments on this post so you cannot fake the copy this time in google. See the post from Sunday, August 17th below again, I reprinted it if you hit "read more". I guess if I write Children's Trust Miami and The Children's Trust, and ballot language the Children's Trust, TheChildrensTrust.org and so forth, it will show up the way it is written.
Here is what the media people or some fan of The Children's Trust did --- when you enter "The Children's Trust" in google search, here is what shows up for Eye on Miami ( Mind you: I DIDN'T WRITE THIS, THEY DID):
"It is because of all these safeguards that The C-’s Trust is so well run. It is probably the best steward of tax payer’s dollars in Miami-Dade County. ..."
F--K that! I left out the word so it won't happen again.
You guy's -- The Children's Trust of Miami -- could allow an open dialogue on this. What are you afraid of? The newspaper won't report anything because of Lawrence. This stinks! If we are spending close to $100,000,000 why can't we discuss it?
This is the PAC that is spending money trying to get you to approve the Children's Trust Referendum on the ballot August 26th. Their mandate is due to expire, they want to be renewed: Thus the PAC.
Some big donors: Lennar has given them $50,000 and Stuart Miller (Lennar CEO) has also given the Children's Trust Miami PAC $50,000. AT&T has given them $50,000 as well. David Lawrence also gave his baby a bundle. A host of good people have given to this PAC (Katy Sorenson, Donna Shalala, State Rep. Julio Robaina, Betsy Kaplan, Joe Natoli, Carlos Gimenez, etc.) to the tune of over a million dollars.
What I would like to know: Where were all these people and corporations (663 of them) when they cut the education budget? Why didn't they step in to help public schools with the bully pulpit? Why didn't they scream like hell? And, secondly, why should we foot the bill twice for education, these programs could be added to the Miami Dade education umbrella and they could get the money from the referendum. Why have two large staffs? I would rather money go directly to the school budget. This PAC, it irks me big-time, hell, they spent about $200,000 just on polling to find out how they can sell us on this. They even polled us to see what the ballot language should look like.
Since we have given The Children's Trust about $85,000,000 a year (2007-08 $99.3 million based on a 0.4223 mill property tax) I thought we should look at them a little closer.
Here is a link to The Children's Trust budget information (you can also hit on image on right for a brief summary from a 2007 audit) and following is the language that will be on the ballot (that we voters chose in two polls costing $25,000) and, finally, is the Staff list of the Children's Trust:
Shall The Children’s Trust, the independent special
district for children’s services, be renewed to fund
improvements to children’s health, development and
safety including:
• programs to reduce violence and keep children safe,
• after-school and summer programs,
• programs to improve the educational quality of
child care, and
• health care teams for public schools; and promote
parental and community responsibility for children;
and continue the annual ad valorem tax levy not to
exceed one-half (½) mill?
Staff by Department
ADMINISTRATION
Staff Member Title Extension/Phone
Modesto E. Abety President / CEO 244
Susan Marian Senior Executive Assistant 325
Charles M. Auslander Chief Programs and Operations Officer 236
Lissette E. Martinez Executive Assistant 291
Muriel Jeanty Clerk of the Board 292
Yurena Driggs Receptionist 301
FINANCE & ACCOUNTING
Jolie Jerry Chief Financial Officer 322
Andrea Roberts Executive Assistant 315
Wendy Duncombe Controller 320
Maria Elena Cadavid Fiscal Analyst III 307
Alberoni Dorvilus Fiscal Analyst 309
Brenda L. Galarza Senior Accountant 330
Fred Torres Senior Accountant 316
Goran Omerhodzic Staff Accountant II 304
Jay Mayer Staff Accountant II 303
Kenneth Freimark Staff Accountant II 268
Perla Zepeda-Young Staff Accountant II 312
Chareka Hawes Staff Accountant 321
Kesha (Tarquisha) Davis Accounting Clerk II 311
Yoanka Cobas Accounting Clerk II 312
Juana Lartitegui Accounting Clerk 314
Mariela Carrodeguas Accounting Clerk 241
EARLY CHILDHOOD (0-5) AND MATERNAL HEALTH DEVELOPMENT
Bevone Ritchie Contract Administrator 318
Countess Chapman-Balogun Contract Manager 265
Hudelaine R. Deus Contract Manager 287
Kathleen Dexter Contract Manager 286
Sara Espinoza Contract Manager 266
Viviana Moncada Administrative Assistant II 267
HEALTHCONNECT
Dr. Andrew L. Brickman Executive Director, Health Programs 240
Shaleen Fagundo Senior Program Manager 239
Helen Matos-Alvarez Contract Manager II 308
Dannielle M. Hart Contract Manager 294
Juliette Fabien Contract Manager 293
Michele Jubilee Administrative Assistant II 290
SERVICE PARTNERSHIPS / RESOURCE NETWORKS / VIOLENCE PREVENTION
Donovan Lee-Sin Sr. Manager for Community & Neighborhood Services 231
Glory Coley Contract Administrator 319
John Ise Contract Manager 253
Lorraine Gary Contract Manager 246
Rachel Spector Contract Manager 248
Safiyé González Administrative Assistant II 295
OUT OF SCHOOL (OOS) 1
Ana D. Sanchez Contract Administrator 257
Armando H. Corbelle Contract Manager 254
Danny Roman-Gloro Contract Manager 247
Josefina Gallardo Contract Manager 259
Marisela De D'Windt Contract Manager 256
OUT OF SCHOOL (OOS) 2
Kathleen Gent Contract Administrator 245
Garnet Esters Contract Manager 310
Gilberto Gonzalez Contract Manager 255
Ive Vintimilla Contract Manager 260
Patricia Leal Contract Manager 306
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT / TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD / ADVOCACY
Samuel McKinnon Contract Administrator 262
Allen Sells Contract Manager 285
Aundray Adams Contract Manager 252
Rick Hernandez Contract Manager 310
Robert Feiler Contract Manager 264
Jenny Bode Administrative Assistant 242
QUALITY RATING IMPROVEMENT SYSTEM (QRIS) & QUALITY COUNTS
Dr. Jesse Leinfelder Administrator 238
Jessica Grinovero Program Assistant 289
CAPACITY BUILDING
Blanch (Theresa) Johnson Contract Manager 225
Cravel Holmes Contract Manager 263
Meredith Sofka Contract Manager 298
Sabine Edmond Program Assistant 268
TRAINING
Dr. Tisa McGhee Professional and Organizational Development Manager 233
Emilio de la Cruz Capacity Training Specialist 227
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Dr. Debra Davis Chief Information Officer 517
Erik Pinzon IS Manager 525
Yilin Xiao Systems Analyst / Computer Services Specialist 521
Pablo Delgado Systems Analyst 522
Alfonso Arias-Mendoza Database Administrator 526
Robert Bethke IT Documentation and Training Specialist 523
Darrin Buffkin Community Indicators & GIS Analyst 225
Margo Brownlee Administrative Assistant 519
PUBLIC POLICY & COMMUNICATIONS
Diana Ragbeer Director of Public Policy & Communications 511
Emily Cardenas Senior Communications Manager 516
Sandra Camacho Media Liaison 508
Persephone Gary Public Policy & Outreach Coordinator 515
Michael Malone Writer/Editor 510
Felix Becerra Web Content Manager 509
Ernie Lyman Administrative Assistant II 507
Laura Costanzo Executive Assistant / Public Policy 527
CONTRACT PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION
Deborah Robinson Sr. Program Services Manager
(TEAMS: Sanchez, Gent, McKinnon) 237
Loretta Duvall Sr. Program Services Manager
(TEAMS: Ritchie, Wimes, McGhee) 317
Ernesto Perez Contract Manager II 247
Joanna Revelo Contract Manager II 249
Lisete Yero Office Manager 288
RESEARCH & EVALUATION
Dr. K. Lori Hanson Director of Research and Evaluation 224
Dr. Lisa Pittman Sr. Research and Evaluation Analyst 317
Dalia Garcia Sr. Research and Evaluation Analyst 232
Stephanie Scott Resource Development Manager 506
Sharon DeJoy Research & Evaluation Manager 228
Sandra Alvear Research & Evaluation Analyst 241
Sandra Williams Research & Evaluation Analyst 228
Marden F. Muñoz Data Integrity Analyst 223
Johana Cure Research Assistant 226
Teresa Cobb Administrative Assistant I 288
HUMAN RESOURCES & LEGAL
Bob Bromberg HR Consultant - Fax: 305-358-9615 305-373-7700
Maria Arista-Volsky Assistant County Attorney 305-375-2209
BOARD CHAIR
David Lawrence Jr. The Early Childhood Initiative Foundation
3250 SW Third Avenue
Miami, FL 33129
Finally, Is the Miami Children's Trust the best use of Taxpayer's money? The Children's Trust Miami.
Here is what the media people or some fan of The Children's Trust did --- when you enter "The Children's Trust" in google search, here is what shows up for Eye on Miami ( Mind you: I DIDN'T WRITE THIS, THEY DID):
"It is because of all these safeguards that The C-’s Trust is so well run. It is probably the best steward of tax payer’s dollars in Miami-Dade County. ..."
F--K that! I left out the word so it won't happen again.
You guy's -- The Children's Trust of Miami -- could allow an open dialogue on this. What are you afraid of? The newspaper won't report anything because of Lawrence. This stinks! If we are spending close to $100,000,000 why can't we discuss it?
This is the PAC that is spending money trying to get you to approve the Children's Trust Referendum on the ballot August 26th. Their mandate is due to expire, they want to be renewed: Thus the PAC.Some big donors: Lennar has given them $50,000 and Stuart Miller (Lennar CEO) has also given the Children's Trust Miami PAC $50,000. AT&T has given them $50,000 as well. David Lawrence also gave his baby a bundle. A host of good people have given to this PAC (Katy Sorenson, Donna Shalala, State Rep. Julio Robaina, Betsy Kaplan, Joe Natoli, Carlos Gimenez, etc.) to the tune of over a million dollars.
What I would like to know: Where were all these people and corporations (663 of them) when they cut the education budget? Why didn't they step in to help public schools with the bully pulpit? Why didn't they scream like hell? And, secondly, why should we foot the bill twice for education, these programs could be added to the Miami Dade education umbrella and they could get the money from the referendum. Why have two large staffs? I would rather money go directly to the school budget. This PAC, it irks me big-time, hell, they spent about $200,000 just on polling to find out how they can sell us on this. They even polled us to see what the ballot language should look like.
Since we have given The Children's Trust about $85,000,000 a year (2007-08 $99.3 million based on a 0.4223 mill property tax) I thought we should look at them a little closer.
Here is a link to The Children's Trust budget information (you can also hit on image on right for a brief summary from a 2007 audit) and following is the language that will be on the ballot (that we voters chose in two polls costing $25,000) and, finally, is the Staff list of the Children's Trust:
Shall The Children’s Trust, the independent special
district for children’s services, be renewed to fund
improvements to children’s health, development and
safety including:
• programs to reduce violence and keep children safe,
• after-school and summer programs,
• programs to improve the educational quality of
child care, and
• health care teams for public schools; and promote
parental and community responsibility for children;
and continue the annual ad valorem tax levy not to
exceed one-half (½) mill?
Staff by DepartmentADMINISTRATION
Staff Member Title Extension/Phone
Modesto E. Abety President / CEO 244
Susan Marian Senior Executive Assistant 325
Charles M. Auslander Chief Programs and Operations Officer 236
Lissette E. Martinez Executive Assistant 291
Muriel Jeanty Clerk of the Board 292
Yurena Driggs Receptionist 301
FINANCE & ACCOUNTING
Jolie Jerry Chief Financial Officer 322
Andrea Roberts Executive Assistant 315
Wendy Duncombe Controller 320
Maria Elena Cadavid Fiscal Analyst III 307
Alberoni Dorvilus Fiscal Analyst 309
Brenda L. Galarza Senior Accountant 330
Fred Torres Senior Accountant 316
Goran Omerhodzic Staff Accountant II 304
Jay Mayer Staff Accountant II 303
Kenneth Freimark Staff Accountant II 268
Perla Zepeda-Young Staff Accountant II 312
Chareka Hawes Staff Accountant 321
Kesha (Tarquisha) Davis Accounting Clerk II 311
Yoanka Cobas Accounting Clerk II 312
Juana Lartitegui Accounting Clerk 314
Mariela Carrodeguas Accounting Clerk 241
EARLY CHILDHOOD (0-5) AND MATERNAL HEALTH DEVELOPMENT
Bevone Ritchie Contract Administrator 318
Countess Chapman-Balogun Contract Manager 265
Hudelaine R. Deus Contract Manager 287
Kathleen Dexter Contract Manager 286
Sara Espinoza Contract Manager 266
Viviana Moncada Administrative Assistant II 267
HEALTHCONNECT
Dr. Andrew L. Brickman Executive Director, Health Programs 240
Shaleen Fagundo Senior Program Manager 239
Helen Matos-Alvarez Contract Manager II 308
Dannielle M. Hart Contract Manager 294
Juliette Fabien Contract Manager 293
Michele Jubilee Administrative Assistant II 290
SERVICE PARTNERSHIPS / RESOURCE NETWORKS / VIOLENCE PREVENTION
Donovan Lee-Sin Sr. Manager for Community & Neighborhood Services 231
Glory Coley Contract Administrator 319
John Ise Contract Manager 253
Lorraine Gary Contract Manager 246
Rachel Spector Contract Manager 248
Safiyé González Administrative Assistant II 295
OUT OF SCHOOL (OOS) 1
Ana D. Sanchez Contract Administrator 257
Armando H. Corbelle Contract Manager 254
Danny Roman-Gloro Contract Manager 247
Josefina Gallardo Contract Manager 259
Marisela De D'Windt Contract Manager 256
OUT OF SCHOOL (OOS) 2
Kathleen Gent Contract Administrator 245
Garnet Esters Contract Manager 310
Gilberto Gonzalez Contract Manager 255
Ive Vintimilla Contract Manager 260
Patricia Leal Contract Manager 306
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT / TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD / ADVOCACY
Samuel McKinnon Contract Administrator 262
Allen Sells Contract Manager 285
Aundray Adams Contract Manager 252
Rick Hernandez Contract Manager 310
Robert Feiler Contract Manager 264
Jenny Bode Administrative Assistant 242
QUALITY RATING IMPROVEMENT SYSTEM (QRIS) & QUALITY COUNTS
Dr. Jesse Leinfelder Administrator 238
Jessica Grinovero Program Assistant 289
CAPACITY BUILDING
Blanch (Theresa) Johnson Contract Manager 225
Cravel Holmes Contract Manager 263
Meredith Sofka Contract Manager 298
Sabine Edmond Program Assistant 268
TRAINING
Dr. Tisa McGhee Professional and Organizational Development Manager 233
Emilio de la Cruz Capacity Training Specialist 227
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Dr. Debra Davis Chief Information Officer 517
Erik Pinzon IS Manager 525
Yilin Xiao Systems Analyst / Computer Services Specialist 521
Pablo Delgado Systems Analyst 522
Alfonso Arias-Mendoza Database Administrator 526
Robert Bethke IT Documentation and Training Specialist 523
Darrin Buffkin Community Indicators & GIS Analyst 225
Margo Brownlee Administrative Assistant 519
PUBLIC POLICY & COMMUNICATIONS
Diana Ragbeer Director of Public Policy & Communications 511
Emily Cardenas Senior Communications Manager 516
Sandra Camacho Media Liaison 508
Persephone Gary Public Policy & Outreach Coordinator 515
Michael Malone Writer/Editor 510
Felix Becerra Web Content Manager 509
Ernie Lyman Administrative Assistant II 507
Laura Costanzo Executive Assistant / Public Policy 527
CONTRACT PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION
Deborah Robinson Sr. Program Services Manager
(TEAMS: Sanchez, Gent, McKinnon) 237
Loretta Duvall Sr. Program Services Manager
(TEAMS: Ritchie, Wimes, McGhee) 317
Ernesto Perez Contract Manager II 247
Joanna Revelo Contract Manager II 249
Lisete Yero Office Manager 288
RESEARCH & EVALUATION
Dr. K. Lori Hanson Director of Research and Evaluation 224
Dr. Lisa Pittman Sr. Research and Evaluation Analyst 317
Dalia Garcia Sr. Research and Evaluation Analyst 232
Stephanie Scott Resource Development Manager 506
Sharon DeJoy Research & Evaluation Manager 228
Sandra Alvear Research & Evaluation Analyst 241
Sandra Williams Research & Evaluation Analyst 228
Marden F. Muñoz Data Integrity Analyst 223
Johana Cure Research Assistant 226
Teresa Cobb Administrative Assistant I 288
HUMAN RESOURCES & LEGAL
Bob Bromberg HR Consultant - Fax: 305-358-9615 305-373-7700
Maria Arista-Volsky Assistant County Attorney 305-375-2209
BOARD CHAIR
David Lawrence Jr. The Early Childhood Initiative Foundation
3250 SW Third Avenue
Miami, FL 33129
Finally, Is the Miami Children's Trust the best use of Taxpayer's money? The Children's Trust Miami.
El Nuevo Herald Columnist, Daniel Shoer Roth, on Getting Rid of Term Limits in Hialeah and the County Commission Races. By Geniusofdespair
Shoer Roth endorsement (in google translation language): NO to perpetuate indefinitely leaders, and SI to cease permanently leaders.
Here is a BAD google translation of Sunday's very important column by Daniel Roth Shoer in the El Nuevo Herald:
Yes to dictatorships? Published on Sunday, August 17, 2008
DANIEL SHOER ROTH
The Hialeah voters received by mail last week a leaflet with the American flag waving in the background and an eagle in the foreground, urging them well, in capital letters: `` Let us make government more open and more honest!''.
If residents vote''yes''for the amendment to the Charter of Hialeah in the votes of August 26, taxes will remain low and citizens may review the budget, says propaganda.
However, nowhere mentions that the''yes''also implies that the mayor and council members will take office for life, despite the fact that in 1998 the citizens voted for the establishment of a maximum of two consecutive periods of four years for the mayor and three for council members. In schools policy on this matter I call him `` Handling''.
Councillors Hialeah could not have better source of inspiration: the Commission Miami-Dade.
Since 1994, no county commissioner has been defeated at the polls. Each district operates as a kind of fiefdom. And with the wealth of thousands of dollars in donations collected and the powerful political machine they have, even the Super Friends can beat them.
But there is someone who can save it, and is not exactly the Chapulín Colorado. It's you.
The Miami us as individuals whose spouses are given slaps but never reported to the police. When finally manage to secede, fall in love with other people who also abuse them. This is what they know.
Of course there are commissioners committed to the welfare of their constituents that they deserve re-election. But it is valid question, why they want to hold office for so many years with a salary negligible compared to the massive amounts wasted to get back to winning?
The answer have the records of Miami-Dade County - like those of the City of Miami - that attest to the plethora of contracts that are not brought to public auction. Also in the archives of the Herald, which hold material for a bestseller - or more - on corruption in South Florida.
There is a saying that suggests:''If something is not broken, why would you compose?''. So if anything it is broken, do not have to compose?
Of the six seats on the County Commission that will compete in the current contest, the editorial board of the Miami Herald, conscientiously studying each candidate and their platform, has suggested keeping only two members.
In the cases of Bruno Barreiro, Joe Martinez, Natacha Seijas and Audrey Edmonson, the board felt it is better to replace them by new blood.
The commissioners have been sealed to the recommendations of a respected Review Panel for Charter Miami-Dade County that seeks to restructure the Commission.
The recommendations propose on the ballot but, paradoxically, the commissioners must first give permission. Hello!
What dichotomy! In Miami-Dade County, voters have no right to put limits on its commissioners, but in Hialeah voters they can remove the limits to their councillors.
The language with which these amendments are written sometimes is so misleading, that is easy to catch people. This week, a circuit judge ruled that Leon County be removed from the ballot on November 4 an amendment to the tax to property in Florida because it provided `` not just a knowledge of the content and scope of the proposal ''.
That's why it's paramount homework before going to the polls and not rely facial or better known by the name sounded more.
OK, today I will share my task: NO to perpetuate indefinitely leaders, and SI leaders to cease permanently.
Here is a BAD google translation of Sunday's very important column by Daniel Roth Shoer in the El Nuevo Herald:
Yes to dictatorships? Published on Sunday, August 17, 2008
DANIEL SHOER ROTH
The Hialeah voters received by mail last week a leaflet with the American flag waving in the background and an eagle in the foreground, urging them well, in capital letters: `` Let us make government more open and more honest!''.
If residents vote''yes''for the amendment to the Charter of Hialeah in the votes of August 26, taxes will remain low and citizens may review the budget, says propaganda.
However, nowhere mentions that the''yes''also implies that the mayor and council members will take office for life, despite the fact that in 1998 the citizens voted for the establishment of a maximum of two consecutive periods of four years for the mayor and three for council members. In schools policy on this matter I call him `` Handling''.
Councillors Hialeah could not have better source of inspiration: the Commission Miami-Dade.
Since 1994, no county commissioner has been defeated at the polls. Each district operates as a kind of fiefdom. And with the wealth of thousands of dollars in donations collected and the powerful political machine they have, even the Super Friends can beat them.
But there is someone who can save it, and is not exactly the Chapulín Colorado. It's you.
The Miami us as individuals whose spouses are given slaps but never reported to the police. When finally manage to secede, fall in love with other people who also abuse them. This is what they know.
Of course there are commissioners committed to the welfare of their constituents that they deserve re-election. But it is valid question, why they want to hold office for so many years with a salary negligible compared to the massive amounts wasted to get back to winning?
The answer have the records of Miami-Dade County - like those of the City of Miami - that attest to the plethora of contracts that are not brought to public auction. Also in the archives of the Herald, which hold material for a bestseller - or more - on corruption in South Florida.
There is a saying that suggests:''If something is not broken, why would you compose?''. So if anything it is broken, do not have to compose?
Of the six seats on the County Commission that will compete in the current contest, the editorial board of the Miami Herald, conscientiously studying each candidate and their platform, has suggested keeping only two members.
In the cases of Bruno Barreiro, Joe Martinez, Natacha Seijas and Audrey Edmonson, the board felt it is better to replace them by new blood.
The commissioners have been sealed to the recommendations of a respected Review Panel for Charter Miami-Dade County that seeks to restructure the Commission.
The recommendations propose on the ballot but, paradoxically, the commissioners must first give permission. Hello!
What dichotomy! In Miami-Dade County, voters have no right to put limits on its commissioners, but in Hialeah voters they can remove the limits to their councillors.
The language with which these amendments are written sometimes is so misleading, that is easy to catch people. This week, a circuit judge ruled that Leon County be removed from the ballot on November 4 an amendment to the tax to property in Florida because it provided `` not just a knowledge of the content and scope of the proposal ''.
That's why it's paramount homework before going to the polls and not rely facial or better known by the name sounded more.
OK, today I will share my task: NO to perpetuate indefinitely leaders, and SI leaders to cease permanently.
Where do I go for a Press Pass? By Geniusofdespair
There was yet another email from the Obama campaign in our email. I hit the link to get off the list and I saw that Eye on Miami was actually on the press list. The junk mail I thought we had been getting were actually (worthless) press releases! I checked our recent emails and guess what? We had dozens of press releases from other entities that I had assumed were junk mail. So what does that mean? If we are recognized as a bona-fide media outlet then we need press passes. Can we issue press passes to ourselves? Are we protected from revealing our sources like the traditional media or do we have to squeal like pigs? Can I walk into the Democratic Convention: “I am on your Media List buddy”? That would be awesome!
Hmmm. This presents a whole new turn of events for someone with one course in Journalism. I have to reflect on this for a couple of hours (or days).
P.S. BTW, this is the subject of the press release: MONDAY TAMPA EVENT cancelled, Obama Campaign Urges Floridians to Prepare for Fay
Dear Alfie and Pepe Fanjul: No, nyet, non... by gimleteye
The Fanjuls of Coral Gables and Palm Beach are among the richest farmers in America. The family interests own Florida Crystals/ Flo Sun in lands formerly of the Everglades.
I wouldn't care except that the Fanjul's sugar growing interest in the Everglades Agricultural Area is a home-grown Florida polluter whose influence in the political sphere has contributed to the destruction of millions of acres of publicly owned property and irreplaceable natural resources. What adds to my ire is that in the execution of its business strategy, Fanjul lobbyists and attorneys take maximal positions in defense of the last dime of profit-- even when lands like the 50,000 acre Talisman Farm have been committed to public ownership-- causing years and years of delay.
Watching the recent opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, I couldn't help but feel that Americans could never be organized to perform the way the 2008 Chinese drummers did; with synchronous purpose and intensity. Instead, the American way of doing things is exemplified by Florida Crystal: influence 2008 agencies and their missions and their mandates and their political overlords in ways so that nothing ever works with purpose or synchronicity except that a few people win gold every time Big Sugar flexes its muscles.
Well, that's just democracy some people say. No it is not just "democracy"; it is democracy deformed by special interest influence.
Big Sugar exerts its muscle through campaign contributions, largesse to strategically placed "good" causes, highly placed lobbyists like Jesse Jackson or friends like Alfie's golf partner Bill Clinton, and expense paid trips for the politically connected to family owned resort on the Dominican Republican where the family is also the largest sugar grower, subjecting workers to slave-like conditions it cannot impose on its Florida farms. (check our archive feature, Big Sugar, for more).
Big Sugar's influence is so pervasive (at one point, during the Homestead Air Force Base controversy, a call from a sugar lobbyist to then county commission chairperson Gwen Margolis stopped a planned press conference by citizen opponents at Miami Dade County Hall) it is difficult to say what politician is not in its orbit, although Governor Charlie Crist was certainly NOT Big Sugar's candidate in the last gubernatorial election cycle.
And because Governor Crist was not Big Sugar's candidate, I wondered at once when the deal he triggered to acquire the other major sugar producer, US Sugar and its 187,000 acres, how the Fanjuls would react.
Notwithstanding their recent charm offensive with the mainstream media, (ie. they are "for" everything green, including their new energy plant and future plans to make ethanol from sugarcane grown in the Everglades), the Fanjuls have made very clear their intent to develop the Everglades Agricultural Area; either through massive rock mines, or suburban sprawl matching up to West Palm Beach and Wellington, new power generation plants, or through its plan-- to be considered by the Palm Beach County Commission tomorrow-- for an enormous 10,000 acre inland trans-shipment port to handle the increase in goods traded between the Americas and the Far East.
The Palm Beach Post reports, "Sugar giant Florida Crystals is lobbying to develop an industrial and commercial center about the size of Delray Beach on land it owns south of Lake Okeechobee - right in a proposed pathway for the state's
multibillion-dollar Everglades restoration efforts." (Glades port idea fights for balance, August 10, 2008)
It turns out that the Fanjuls own lands critically important to provide a link between the acres I hope will soon be owned by the public and the Everglades. Billions of dollars will need to be spent configuring the US Sugar lands purchase so that the new purpose--cleansing marshes for pollution caused by Big Sugar mainly-- can shift water around the Fanjul's land. All of the Fanjuls' big development plans will require enormous flood management infrastructure that runs at direct cross-purposes to restoring the Everglades.
In its first pronouncements, the Fanjul interests appeared to put a positive spin on the acquisition of US Sugar by the State. Fanjul representatives indicated that the company was looking forward to evaluating the way that the new deal for the Everglades would work. Given that the old deal for the Everglades, called CERP, also imposed billions of costs (mostly in unworkable technology of using wells tapped into underground aquifers as vertical parking lots for excess rainfall), it was only a matter of time before the muscle flexing would begin.
"Florida Crystals, owned by the Fanjuls of Palm Beach, says water could flow around an inland port at the company's Okeelanta site along U.S. 27, where it operates a mill, refinery, rail spur and biomass power plant. But environmental activists see the port plan as a betrayal -- and a sign that money and politics once again may trump the Everglades. "You're putting something in there before you've decided what you're going to do with the Everglades," said Drew Martin of the Sierra Club. Florida Crystals Vice President Danny Martel said the two projects can coexist. "What we're trying to achieve here is, really, to create a balance between economic development, our sugar operation and the environment," Martel said."
What the state should say to the Fanjul business interests, that want to build the massive inland port, is -- in a single word-- no. Nyet. Non.
Avoid a confrontation over Everglades' future
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Will saving the Glades economy - if the state buys U.S. Sugar for Everglades restoration - undermine Everglades restoration? The Palm Beach County Commission, which faces the question, is not in a position to decide.
The idea that eco-tourism could compensate for the loss of 1,700 jobs is unrealistic. Eco-tourism can't happen in the Glades until Lake Okeechobee gets healthy. A better, if far from certain, idea is an inland port - a warehouse and distribution hub, fed by shipping. A state study identified a need in South Florida based on cooperation among the Port of Palm Beach, which proposed it, the Port of Miami and Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale.
On Tuesday, West Palm Beach based-Florida Crystals, part of the Fanjul family's sugar conglomerate, will ask Palm Beach County to designate 9,000 acres of company land for an inland port. That land is between the Miami and North New River canals - exactly where the South Florida Water Management District wants to create a huge reservoir to store water from Lake Okeechobee after the buyout of U.S. Sugar. Florida Crystals wants the county to start a yearlong planning review. Any review, though, first should determine if there are better sites outside the flood zone.
Florida Crystals notes that its site already is industrial. On 2,300 of the 9,000 acres are the company's Okeelanta mill and a plant that converts sugar byproducts to energy. An ethanol plant is planned. There are roads, rail lines and a distribution center. Putting an inland port somewhere else, amid cane fields with no roads or rail, the company argues, would be wasteful. Besides, as spokesman Gaston Cantens said, Florida Crystals has no intention of selling or trading its Okeelanta Mill. The reservoir, he insisted, would have to be built around it.
Florida Crystals thus becomes an even bigger part of the U.S. Sugar deal. The water management district, which is buying U.S. Sugar, would like to sell the company's mill and some land to make back some of the state's $1.75 billion cost. Obviously, the state's preferred buyer would be Florida Crystals. The company's interest in the inland port became more public after the U.S. Sugar deal was announced. Florida Crystals may be trying to leverage its position to get the inside track on an inland port - there would be profit in the warehousing and distribution - from the county and favorable consideration from the water district in restoration plans.
Water district administrators must decide if the cost of building a reservoir around the mill outweighs the cost of buying the mill. Because they are still negotiating the purchase of U.S. Sugar, they refuse to address the issue publicly. The district also was silent this year about rock mining in the same area. County commissioners granted U.S. Sugar rock-mining rights that water managers - and taxpayers - may have to pay dearly to wipe out in favor of Everglades restoration. The district's silence on the other big sugar grower appears to be a tacit admission that angering the Fanjuls now would jeopardize Everglades restoration later.
The best outcome would be successful Everglades restoration and a thriving inland port. There may be a way to have both. But Palm Beach County commiting now to the Florida Crystals proposal would set up a premature and possibly needless competition between the Florida environment and the Glades economy. Only a longer, closer look will determine if Florida Crystals has the best site for an inland port.
I wouldn't care except that the Fanjul's sugar growing interest in the Everglades Agricultural Area is a home-grown Florida polluter whose influence in the political sphere has contributed to the destruction of millions of acres of publicly owned property and irreplaceable natural resources. What adds to my ire is that in the execution of its business strategy, Fanjul lobbyists and attorneys take maximal positions in defense of the last dime of profit-- even when lands like the 50,000 acre Talisman Farm have been committed to public ownership-- causing years and years of delay.
Watching the recent opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, I couldn't help but feel that Americans could never be organized to perform the way the 2008 Chinese drummers did; with synchronous purpose and intensity. Instead, the American way of doing things is exemplified by Florida Crystal: influence 2008 agencies and their missions and their mandates and their political overlords in ways so that nothing ever works with purpose or synchronicity except that a few people win gold every time Big Sugar flexes its muscles.
Well, that's just democracy some people say. No it is not just "democracy"; it is democracy deformed by special interest influence.
Big Sugar exerts its muscle through campaign contributions, largesse to strategically placed "good" causes, highly placed lobbyists like Jesse Jackson or friends like Alfie's golf partner Bill Clinton, and expense paid trips for the politically connected to family owned resort on the Dominican Republican where the family is also the largest sugar grower, subjecting workers to slave-like conditions it cannot impose on its Florida farms. (check our archive feature, Big Sugar, for more).
Big Sugar's influence is so pervasive (at one point, during the Homestead Air Force Base controversy, a call from a sugar lobbyist to then county commission chairperson Gwen Margolis stopped a planned press conference by citizen opponents at Miami Dade County Hall) it is difficult to say what politician is not in its orbit, although Governor Charlie Crist was certainly NOT Big Sugar's candidate in the last gubernatorial election cycle.
And because Governor Crist was not Big Sugar's candidate, I wondered at once when the deal he triggered to acquire the other major sugar producer, US Sugar and its 187,000 acres, how the Fanjuls would react.
Notwithstanding their recent charm offensive with the mainstream media, (ie. they are "for" everything green, including their new energy plant and future plans to make ethanol from sugarcane grown in the Everglades), the Fanjuls have made very clear their intent to develop the Everglades Agricultural Area; either through massive rock mines, or suburban sprawl matching up to West Palm Beach and Wellington, new power generation plants, or through its plan-- to be considered by the Palm Beach County Commission tomorrow-- for an enormous 10,000 acre inland trans-shipment port to handle the increase in goods traded between the Americas and the Far East.
The Palm Beach Post reports, "Sugar giant Florida Crystals is lobbying to develop an industrial and commercial center about the size of Delray Beach on land it owns south of Lake Okeechobee - right in a proposed pathway for the state's
multibillion-dollar Everglades restoration efforts." (Glades port idea fights for balance, August 10, 2008)
It turns out that the Fanjuls own lands critically important to provide a link between the acres I hope will soon be owned by the public and the Everglades. Billions of dollars will need to be spent configuring the US Sugar lands purchase so that the new purpose--cleansing marshes for pollution caused by Big Sugar mainly-- can shift water around the Fanjul's land. All of the Fanjuls' big development plans will require enormous flood management infrastructure that runs at direct cross-purposes to restoring the Everglades.
In its first pronouncements, the Fanjul interests appeared to put a positive spin on the acquisition of US Sugar by the State. Fanjul representatives indicated that the company was looking forward to evaluating the way that the new deal for the Everglades would work. Given that the old deal for the Everglades, called CERP, also imposed billions of costs (mostly in unworkable technology of using wells tapped into underground aquifers as vertical parking lots for excess rainfall), it was only a matter of time before the muscle flexing would begin.
"Florida Crystals, owned by the Fanjuls of Palm Beach, says water could flow around an inland port at the company's Okeelanta site along U.S. 27, where it operates a mill, refinery, rail spur and biomass power plant. But environmental activists see the port plan as a betrayal -- and a sign that money and politics once again may trump the Everglades. "You're putting something in there before you've decided what you're going to do with the Everglades," said Drew Martin of the Sierra Club. Florida Crystals Vice President Danny Martel said the two projects can coexist. "What we're trying to achieve here is, really, to create a balance between economic development, our sugar operation and the environment," Martel said."
What the state should say to the Fanjul business interests, that want to build the massive inland port, is -- in a single word-- no. Nyet. Non.
Avoid a confrontation over Everglades' future
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Will saving the Glades economy - if the state buys U.S. Sugar for Everglades restoration - undermine Everglades restoration? The Palm Beach County Commission, which faces the question, is not in a position to decide.
The idea that eco-tourism could compensate for the loss of 1,700 jobs is unrealistic. Eco-tourism can't happen in the Glades until Lake Okeechobee gets healthy. A better, if far from certain, idea is an inland port - a warehouse and distribution hub, fed by shipping. A state study identified a need in South Florida based on cooperation among the Port of Palm Beach, which proposed it, the Port of Miami and Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale.
On Tuesday, West Palm Beach based-Florida Crystals, part of the Fanjul family's sugar conglomerate, will ask Palm Beach County to designate 9,000 acres of company land for an inland port. That land is between the Miami and North New River canals - exactly where the South Florida Water Management District wants to create a huge reservoir to store water from Lake Okeechobee after the buyout of U.S. Sugar. Florida Crystals wants the county to start a yearlong planning review. Any review, though, first should determine if there are better sites outside the flood zone.
Florida Crystals notes that its site already is industrial. On 2,300 of the 9,000 acres are the company's Okeelanta mill and a plant that converts sugar byproducts to energy. An ethanol plant is planned. There are roads, rail lines and a distribution center. Putting an inland port somewhere else, amid cane fields with no roads or rail, the company argues, would be wasteful. Besides, as spokesman Gaston Cantens said, Florida Crystals has no intention of selling or trading its Okeelanta Mill. The reservoir, he insisted, would have to be built around it.
Florida Crystals thus becomes an even bigger part of the U.S. Sugar deal. The water management district, which is buying U.S. Sugar, would like to sell the company's mill and some land to make back some of the state's $1.75 billion cost. Obviously, the state's preferred buyer would be Florida Crystals. The company's interest in the inland port became more public after the U.S. Sugar deal was announced. Florida Crystals may be trying to leverage its position to get the inside track on an inland port - there would be profit in the warehousing and distribution - from the county and favorable consideration from the water district in restoration plans.
Water district administrators must decide if the cost of building a reservoir around the mill outweighs the cost of buying the mill. Because they are still negotiating the purchase of U.S. Sugar, they refuse to address the issue publicly. The district also was silent this year about rock mining in the same area. County commissioners granted U.S. Sugar rock-mining rights that water managers - and taxpayers - may have to pay dearly to wipe out in favor of Everglades restoration. The district's silence on the other big sugar grower appears to be a tacit admission that angering the Fanjuls now would jeopardize Everglades restoration later.
The best outcome would be successful Everglades restoration and a thriving inland port. There may be a way to have both. But Palm Beach County commiting now to the Florida Crystals proposal would set up a premature and possibly needless competition between the Florida environment and the Glades economy. Only a longer, closer look will determine if Florida Crystals has the best site for an inland port.
Watch Out On Joining Facebook. By Geniusofdespair
Someone invited me to become their “friend” on my “Facebook” over the weekend. I said to myself, okay what is the harm? I said I would be their friend. Well, to be their friend I had to set up a page. Now, I was more skeptical but I was bored, so I set up a page. I lied about my age and guess what happened this morning? I am getting emails about colleges.
I guess I went too far with the age thing, but now I know what “Facebook” is really about: People selling you stuff. Damn, the last thing I need is more emails.
I guess I went too far with the age thing, but now I know what “Facebook” is really about: People selling you stuff. Damn, the last thing I need is more emails.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Steve Shiver, Apache Kid, Maggie Valley and Ghost Town in the Sky, by gimleteye
Well, well. When I blogged about ex-Homestead Mayor Steve Shiver, former county manager, and ex-developer of affordable housing and so forth, I had no idea so many comments would be generated from his new hangout, by blog readers who live within earshot of of his golf cart at the top of Maggie Valley, North Carolina. That's where Shiver is an investor side-by-side former Miami Chamber bigwig Alan Harper. No idea!
There actually may be an Apache Kid who was or was not fired by Steve Shiver. A gunslinger, Tommy, who is a bad shot and leaves a trail of debt in his wake. There are angry park vendors, or, vendors willing to ingratiate themselves to Shiver by saying nice things. For his own part, Steve Shiver may be adding to the disinformation on our blog. He may really be trying to get in touch with his "environmental side" (as reported to Joan Fleischman at The Miami Herald) which would be amazing, since his experience as a top county manager was toying with environmental agency staff the way a very troubled child plays with small animals. With blogs, who knows what creative license is taken with the truth... but in this particular case, I know that Shiver was a public official who presided over the wrecking of South Dade, the last rural area of South Florida. Most of those foreclosures, tacky developments, and forlorn "retail" luring discount shoppers have Steve's fingerprints on them. The Miami New Times has a good archive on Shiver, who insulted, baited, and name-called from the dais those who he deemed enemies, "terrorists" or worse. He and his banker pals, Bill Losner and Bob Epling, really did a number on South Dade.
Miami readers are delighted to hear from Maggie Valley, North Carolina, about one of the most notorious characters to have picked up and left. Maybe Eyeonmiami readers can volunteer a list of other characters Steve Shiver should have taken with him to Ghost Town in Maggie Valley?
There actually may be an Apache Kid who was or was not fired by Steve Shiver. A gunslinger, Tommy, who is a bad shot and leaves a trail of debt in his wake. There are angry park vendors, or, vendors willing to ingratiate themselves to Shiver by saying nice things. For his own part, Steve Shiver may be adding to the disinformation on our blog. He may really be trying to get in touch with his "environmental side" (as reported to Joan Fleischman at The Miami Herald) which would be amazing, since his experience as a top county manager was toying with environmental agency staff the way a very troubled child plays with small animals. With blogs, who knows what creative license is taken with the truth... but in this particular case, I know that Shiver was a public official who presided over the wrecking of South Dade, the last rural area of South Florida. Most of those foreclosures, tacky developments, and forlorn "retail" luring discount shoppers have Steve's fingerprints on them. The Miami New Times has a good archive on Shiver, who insulted, baited, and name-called from the dais those who he deemed enemies, "terrorists" or worse. He and his banker pals, Bill Losner and Bob Epling, really did a number on South Dade.
Miami readers are delighted to hear from Maggie Valley, North Carolina, about one of the most notorious characters to have picked up and left. Maybe Eyeonmiami readers can volunteer a list of other characters Steve Shiver should have taken with him to Ghost Town in Maggie Valley?
We Endorse Harvey Ruvin for County Clerk. By Geniusofdespair
I don't even have to ask Gimleteye. This race is a no-brainer. Eye on Miami happily endorses Harvey Ruvin for County Clerk. Check out Harvey Ruvin's Rap Song.
Deutsche Bank taking a hit on Foreclosures in South Florida. By Geniusofdespair
If two sales, reported in the Miami Herald today, are any indication of what the future holds for Deutsche Bank in the tumbling condo market here in South Florida: It ain’t good! These two recent sales of Deutsche Bank properties in the City of Aventura showed massive losses.In Turnberry on the Green, on the tony private golf courses that anchors the city, Deutsche Bank National 2006-2 sold a 2/2 with 1,245 square feet for $231,000 ($185 a square foot). In 2006 this 5th floor property sold for $510,000 ($409 a square foot). The building is relatively new, showing a built year of 2002.
The second property, again in Aventura, is in a popular established building, built in 1975. The condo has unobstructed views of two golf courses. This 12th floor 2/2 condo, with 1,157 square feet, sold for $135,000 (about $117 a square
foot). Deutsche Bank National 2006-Sd3 took the hit. In 2006 this same condo went for $310,000 (about $268 a square foot). This aerial photo was taken during a multi-million dollar renovation of the golf course which is now completed.What will these loser deals do to the building’s other properties? Factoring in these bargain sales as comps, property appraisals will dip the value on the entire building. I think some who bought at the height of the market with low or no down payments will just walk away leaving the lender hanging and their neighbors scrambling as sale prices plunge even further.
Frankly, these two were not the kind of buildings in which I expected to see foreclosures. They are both sedate buildings, populated with a good share of seniors and, thus, not good candidates for speculation by yuppies/generation X.
Children's Trust Miami: Political Action Committee. by Geniusofdespair
This is the PAC that is spending money trying to get you to approve the Children's Trust Referendum on the ballot August 26th. Their mandate is due to expire, they want to be renewed: Thus the PAC.Some big donors: Lennar has given them $50,000 and Stuart Miller (Lennar CEO) has also given the Children's Trust Miami PAC $50,000. AT&T has given them $50,000 as well. David Lawrence also gave his baby a bundle. A host of good people have given to this PAC (Katy Sorenson, Donna Shalala, State Rep. Julio Robaina, Betsy Kaplan, Joe Natoli, Carlos Gimenez, etc.) to the tune of over a million dollars.
What I would like to know: Where were all these people and corporations (663 of them) when they cut the education budget? Why didn't they step in to help public schools with the bully pulpit? Why didn't they scream like hell? And, secondly, why should we foot the bill twice for education, these programs could be added to the Miami Dade education umbrella and they could get the money from the referendum. Why have two large staffs? I would rather money go directly to the school budget. This PAC, it irks me big-time, hell, they spent about $200,000 just on polling to find out how they can sell us on this. They even polled us to see what the ballot language should look like.
Since we have given The Children's Trust about $85,000,000 a year (2007-08 $99.3 million based on a 0.4223 mill property tax) I thought we should look at them a little closer.
Here is a link to The Children's Trust budget information (you can also hit on image on right for a brief summary from a 2007 audit) and following is the language that will be on the ballot (that we voters chose in two polls costing $25,000) and, finally, is the Staff list of the Children's Trust:
Shall The Children’s Trust, the independent special
district for children’s services, be renewed to fund
improvements to children’s health, development and
safety including:
• programs to reduce violence and keep children safe,
• after-school and summer programs,
• programs to improve the educational quality of
child care, and
• health care teams for public schools; and promote
parental and community responsibility for children;
and continue the annual ad valorem tax levy not to
exceed one-half (½) mill?
Staff by DepartmentADMINISTRATION
Staff Member Title Extension/Phone
Modesto E. Abety President / CEO 244
Susan Marian Senior Executive Assistant 325
Charles M. Auslander Chief Programs and Operations Officer 236
Lissette E. Martinez Executive Assistant 291
Muriel Jeanty Clerk of the Board 292
Yurena Driggs Receptionist 301
FINANCE & ACCOUNTING
Jolie Jerry Chief Financial Officer 322
Andrea Roberts Executive Assistant 315
Wendy Duncombe Controller 320
Maria Elena Cadavid Fiscal Analyst III 307
Alberoni Dorvilus Fiscal Analyst 309
Brenda L. Galarza Senior Accountant 330
Fred Torres Senior Accountant 316
Goran Omerhodzic Staff Accountant II 304
Jay Mayer Staff Accountant II 303
Kenneth Freimark Staff Accountant II 268
Perla Zepeda-Young Staff Accountant II 312
Chareka Hawes Staff Accountant 321
Kesha (Tarquisha) Davis Accounting Clerk II 311
Yoanka Cobas Accounting Clerk II 312
Juana Lartitegui Accounting Clerk 314
Mariela Carrodeguas Accounting Clerk 241
EARLY CHILDHOOD (0-5) AND MATERNAL HEALTH DEVELOPMENT
Bevone Ritchie Contract Administrator 318
Countess Chapman-Balogun Contract Manager 265
Hudelaine R. Deus Contract Manager 287
Kathleen Dexter Contract Manager 286
Sara Espinoza Contract Manager 266
Viviana Moncada Administrative Assistant II 267
HEALTHCONNECT
Dr. Andrew L. Brickman Executive Director, Health Programs 240
Shaleen Fagundo Senior Program Manager 239
Helen Matos-Alvarez Contract Manager II 308
Dannielle M. Hart Contract Manager 294
Juliette Fabien Contract Manager 293
Michele Jubilee Administrative Assistant II 290
SERVICE PARTNERSHIPS / RESOURCE NETWORKS / VIOLENCE PREVENTION
Donovan Lee-Sin Sr. Manager for Community & Neighborhood Services 231
Glory Coley Contract Administrator 319
John Ise Contract Manager 253
Lorraine Gary Contract Manager 246
Rachel Spector Contract Manager 248
Safiyé González Administrative Assistant II 295
OUT OF SCHOOL (OOS) 1
Ana D. Sanchez Contract Administrator 257
Armando H. Corbelle Contract Manager 254
Danny Roman-Gloro Contract Manager 247
Josefina Gallardo Contract Manager 259
Marisela De D'Windt Contract Manager 256
OUT OF SCHOOL (OOS) 2
Kathleen Gent Contract Administrator 245
Garnet Esters Contract Manager 310
Gilberto Gonzalez Contract Manager 255
Ive Vintimilla Contract Manager 260
Patricia Leal Contract Manager 306
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT / TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD / ADVOCACY
Samuel McKinnon Contract Administrator 262
Allen Sells Contract Manager 285
Aundray Adams Contract Manager 252
Rick Hernandez Contract Manager 310
Robert Feiler Contract Manager 264
Jenny Bode Administrative Assistant 242
QUALITY RATING IMPROVEMENT SYSTEM (QRIS) & QUALITY COUNTS
Dr. Jesse Leinfelder Administrator 238
Jessica Grinovero Program Assistant 289
CAPACITY BUILDING
Blanch (Theresa) Johnson Contract Manager 225
Cravel Holmes Contract Manager 263
Meredith Sofka Contract Manager 298
Sabine Edmond Program Assistant 268
TRAINING
Dr. Tisa McGhee Professional and Organizational Development Manager 233
Emilio de la Cruz Capacity Training Specialist 227
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Dr. Debra Davis Chief Information Officer 517
Erik Pinzon IS Manager 525
Yilin Xiao Systems Analyst / Computer Services Specialist 521
Pablo Delgado Systems Analyst 522
Alfonso Arias-Mendoza Database Administrator 526
Robert Bethke IT Documentation and Training Specialist 523
Darrin Buffkin Community Indicators & GIS Analyst 225
Margo Brownlee Administrative Assistant 519
PUBLIC POLICY & COMMUNICATIONS
Diana Ragbeer Director of Public Policy & Communications 511
Emily Cardenas Senior Communications Manager 516
Sandra Camacho Media Liaison 508
Persephone Gary Public Policy & Outreach Coordinator 515
Michael Malone Writer/Editor 510
Felix Becerra Web Content Manager 509
Ernie Lyman Administrative Assistant II 507
Laura Costanzo Executive Assistant / Public Policy 527
CONTRACT PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION
Deborah Robinson Sr. Program Services Manager
(TEAMS: Sanchez, Gent, McKinnon) 237
Loretta Duvall Sr. Program Services Manager
(TEAMS: Ritchie, Wimes, McGhee) 317
Ernesto Perez Contract Manager II 247
Joanna Revelo Contract Manager II 249
Lisete Yero Office Manager 288
RESEARCH & EVALUATION
Dr. K. Lori Hanson Director of Research and Evaluation 224
Dr. Lisa Pittman Sr. Research and Evaluation Analyst 317
Dalia Garcia Sr. Research and Evaluation Analyst 232
Stephanie Scott Resource Development Manager 506
Sharon DeJoy Research & Evaluation Manager 228
Sandra Alvear Research & Evaluation Analyst 241
Sandra Williams Research & Evaluation Analyst 228
Marden F. Muñoz Data Integrity Analyst 223
Johana Cure Research Assistant 226
Teresa Cobb Administrative Assistant I 288
HUMAN RESOURCES & LEGAL
Bob Bromberg HR Consultant - Fax: 305-358-9615 305-373-7700
Maria Arista-Volsky Assistant County Attorney 305-375-2209
BOARD CHAIR
David Lawrence Jr. The Early Childhood Initiative Foundation
3250 SW Third Avenue
Miami, FL 33129
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