The Miami Herald picked up Gimleteye's post about Corporate power. It is on the Herald Opinion Page. The post was also heavily edited, but hey, I'm not complaining. One example: They called the blog: PSC in Uproar. Gimleteye titled it: Corporations -- too powerful by far. Small price to pay.
While you are on the opinion page, check out Jim Morin's animation on the rainy season. Sharing the opinion page with the likes of Jim Morin is an honor.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
FPL: coming to a neighborhood near you. By Youbetcha'
On July 9 2009 there was a public meeting hosted by Everglades National Park to invite FPL to explain to the public what they intended to do with all that NEW power out at Turkey Point. The answer is: FPL intends to move the power out of their plant and right through your neighborhoods and Everglades National Park.
Soon you will see power lines everywhere. Even if you aren’t graced with them in your backyard, you will see them in the distance because we are talking about poles that tower 82 to 150 feet into the Miami Skyline. How attractive is that? (hit read more and hit the graphic to enlarge it)
In fact, FPL has provided its lucky ratepayers four photos on their website, under the environment section. Look at them very carefully, the first one is an actual photo showing the current poles and the surrounding neighborhood, including the bus way. The other three photos are photos with simulated new power poles. I would assume that FPL management created these illustrations to make the unhappy ratepayers and stray environmentalists happy with the attractive new additions to their neighborhoods. What were they thinking? The poles are giant towers overwhelming their surroundings. As someone who experienced Hurricane Andrew and had to climb over the large concrete poles to get home, I can visualize one of those concrete and steel monsters collapsing on someone’s home. At the very least the poles are hideous and scar the landscape. Most likely they are dangerous and possibly even hazardous to the general public’s health with their radiation spewing from the live wires.
Interestingly enough, FPL didn’t post anything useful for the stray environmentalist. They want those 150 foot poles and the service road smack in the middle of a glades restoration area. Why wouldn’t they want them there? They already have four nukes planned for the shores of one National park just miles from a marine sanctuary and another National park. Why wouldn’t they ugly-up the vast wide open grass prairie? That is just more of the Miami Dade County developer attitude. Screw the historical landscape, screw the environment and screw the people.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Corporations-- too powerful by far ... by gimleteye
Too bad the Florida Public Service Commission is in an uproar and not the corporation that caused it. Some PSC staff are on administrative leave for ethical and perhaps legal transgressions in dealings with regulated companies like Florida Power and Light. The latest: avoiding public disclosure law by exchanging Blackberry PIN numbers with FPL representatives, allowing private, unrecorded conversations between regulators and regulated. What should really be on trial is Florida Power and Light. The corporation is pursuing its corporate interests by seeking both a 30 percent rate hike from utility customers and government approvals to build new power plants, including nuclear, in Florida.
FPL is pushing boundaries everywhere. Eyeonmiami reported yesterday on the fundraiser for an incumbent Miami-Dade County Commissioner, Rebecca Sosa, that will be co-hosted by a FPL executive, Manny Rodriguez, only weeks before an important vote on the $20 billion nuclear reactor project. Gov. Charlie Crist's biggest campaign fundraiser, Brian Ballard, is a lobbyist for FPL. Beyond ethical issues that do not rise to violations of law-- or not obviously so-- the FPL example points to a more fundamental question: why do corporations have more de facto power in America than citizens?
We have seen, ad nauseam, government employees and agencies favoring large and powerful corporations over people. An opinion expressed on Eyeonmiami by a former candidate for county commission who challenged incumbent Joe Martinez, makes the point clear as day: there is simply no getting around campaign contributions, whether from corporations or their proxies. You can't fight City Hall. Why? Because corporations have built such high walls and ramparts around legislators, virtually shutting out the public interest. Routine abuses of corporate power have topped alarming levels in the US, obscuring the causes of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Direct democracy initiatives like Florida Hometown Democracy are the remaining recourse to citizens trying to make changes that corporations would prohibit. In this topsy turvy world, the abuse of corporate power-- not just the transgressions of government staff-- should be loud and clear enough to require substantial constitutional reform.
FPL is pushing boundaries everywhere. Eyeonmiami reported yesterday on the fundraiser for an incumbent Miami-Dade County Commissioner, Rebecca Sosa, that will be co-hosted by a FPL executive, Manny Rodriguez, only weeks before an important vote on the $20 billion nuclear reactor project. Gov. Charlie Crist's biggest campaign fundraiser, Brian Ballard, is a lobbyist for FPL. Beyond ethical issues that do not rise to violations of law-- or not obviously so-- the FPL example points to a more fundamental question: why do corporations have more de facto power in America than citizens?
We have seen, ad nauseam, government employees and agencies favoring large and powerful corporations over people. An opinion expressed on Eyeonmiami by a former candidate for county commission who challenged incumbent Joe Martinez, makes the point clear as day: there is simply no getting around campaign contributions, whether from corporations or their proxies. You can't fight City Hall. Why? Because corporations have built such high walls and ramparts around legislators, virtually shutting out the public interest. Routine abuses of corporate power have topped alarming levels in the US, obscuring the causes of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Direct democracy initiatives like Florida Hometown Democracy are the remaining recourse to citizens trying to make changes that corporations would prohibit. In this topsy turvy world, the abuse of corporate power-- not just the transgressions of government staff-- should be loud and clear enough to require substantial constitutional reform.
Confessions of a Man Who Ran. Guest Blog By Whilly Bermudez
Whilly Bermudez is a rare breed: He challenged a County Commissioner and even got the Miami Herald Endorsement. Of course, he lost but he had guts to run. I checked in to see what Whilly is up to now... Thanks for giving me an opportunity to express my views as a resident, not a political candidate, on the election process.
Let me start with some background information. It wasn't until my first experience running for office last year that I learned first hand about campaigning and its seedy side. I challenged Commissioner Joe Martinez and I learned that corruption exists at all levels in a campaign. Every where I went, every hiding place and rabbit hole, I could find almost NO one that liked, sympathized with or shared the views of Joe Martinez. But money talks...volumes! His $350,000 (and about $300,000 in Discretionary funds) insured his victory. My $15,000 was no match. Try fund-raising against an incumbent who donors fear or can control. (hit read more)
In the end, The voters were not aware of Joe's ethically challenged behavior and his devotion to special interests -- particularly developers. Now voters can see an example of his egotistical splurge of tax-payer money - a rockstar type mobile home with his name is huge letters plastered on it. I’m talking about the type that the Jonas Brothers use for their national tour. Yes, our money used for self-promotion. Too bad this mobile monster wasn’t around when he was running against me, I would have had a better shot. Enough about Martinez, except I hope the rumors aren’t true, that he will run for Mayor.
I wonder how the election process became, the best fundraiser wins? This is now the measure of success: Money. Unfortunately, he or she who promises to serve special interests will win the fund raising game. Special Interests are where the money is. Those organizations or individuals will shell out any amount of money in order to keep that specific candidate who they know will grant them favors.
There's no question why incumbents are virtually impossible to defeat. They have bucks from special interests and discretionary funds - a winning combination. There are little restrictions on discretionary funds. How these officials use these funds is where the lack of ethics begin. For example, some donate funds to local churches so that those pastors can get them votes in return when election time comes around.
One more no brainer, we also need term limits for Miami Dade County Commissioners. I think that good government rests on the shoulders of term limits. Additionally when we vote for someone it should not be based on how many mailers we receive at our home, or how many signs, commercials, or propaganda we see. To get good people in office citizens should do research and even invite a candidate to a homeowners meeting for a face-to-face. I know that I was always willing to meet any resident at any time even one-on-one. If a candidate is not willing to visit to discuss any issues - they are not worthy of your vote.
In the next election, WE CAN DO BETTER. Vote for new blood, new faces, and new ideas. Don't help incumbents turn your district into their personal career.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
With an FP&L Vote Pending, Commissioner Rebeca Sosa's Fundraiser is Hosted by FP&L Executive...IT Sucks Big-Time! By Geniusofdespair
I must be more popular than I thought, my friends in facebook invited me to this gala fundraiser for County Commissioner Rebeca Sosa and guess who is co-hosting it: Manny J. Rodriguez! Who is he? The Florida Power and Light Regional Director. WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?County Citizens are being stonewalled at public meeting around the County by Florida Power and Light on power-line placement and the 2 proposed Nuclear Reactors.
WORSE: FP&L's upcoming rock mining permit to dig in farmland (so they can get cheap fill to raise the grade for their 2 nukes) is being heard by the County Commission on October 7th!! This Florida Power and Light executive does not see that it is outrageous to host a fundraiser for a sitting County Commissioner that his company is appearing in front of 2 weeks later for a pivotal vote? THIS TOTALLY SUCKS! In my book this is worse than the Public Service Commission probe -- again FP&L -- playing out in today's paper. Rebeca Sosa, this is a black eye for you too.
Florida Near the Top of Another National List! By Geniusofdespair
According to MarketWatch, Florida was No. 2 on the list, with 62,401 properties subject to foreclosure filings. That's up 10% from July and up nearly 42% from the year-earlier month. In Florida 1 in every 140 Units was filing, nationwide the rate is 1 of every 357. Foreclosure filings are defined as default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions. This news is on the heels of Gimleteye's report that Florida was No. 1 in Municipal Debt Defaults!
Bendixen Channel 10 Poll Regarding Miami Dade County Government. By Geniusofdespair
On this first one, all I want to know is, what is the Black Community thinking? They appear to be out of touch with the County Commission with a 43% approval rating and a paltry 28% percent negative rating. The White and Hispanic Communities disapproved by 47% and 50% respectively. On the last two: See Mayor Alvarez, you are looking bad with a 66% negative and the guy you should have gotten rid of, he has escaped the wrath of citizens with a 38% negative rating. The poll was conducted September 8th.
Executive Summary of poll and MY FAVORITE graphic from the poll:
Miami-Dade County Budget Poll
The results and findings in this memo are based on a telephone poll of 400 registered voters of Miami-Dade County (5% margin of error). All the interviews were conducted on the evening of Tuesday, September 8, 2009 in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole. The sample of the survey is representative (by race, ethnicity, gender and age) of the approximately one million registered voters in Miami-Dade. The poll was conducted by Bendixen and Associates and sponsored by WPLG Channel 10 and WLTV Channel 23.
1. A clear majority of county voters (59%) support cutting the salaries of all county employees by 10 to 20 percent to balance the Miami-Dade budget. Meanwhile, only 19% favored increasing property taxes, while even smaller groups were in favor of laying off thousands of county employees (6%) or making substantial cuts in the funding of arts and social services programs (7%).
2. Mayor Carlos Alvarez has lost the trust of the large majority of county voters (74%). These respondents said that they had "little trust" or "no trust" in the Mayor when it comes to responding fairly and with integrity to the needs of the people of Miami-Dade. Only 23% said that they had "a lot of trust" or "some trust" in Alvarez.
The mayor could be in political trouble. The voters of Miami-Dade are divided on whether to recall him (with 46% for the recall and 47% against it). It is clear that recent revelations that Alvarez gave several of his closest advisors large pay increases, even though he knew about the county budget deficit crisis, have had a major negative impact on his political credibility.
3. Last week's vote by the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners to freeze property taxes splits the electorate with 43% saying they support the decision and 48% saying they oppose it. Black and Anglo voters oppose the decision by a 2 to 1 margin because they fear that it will lead to substantial cuts in funding for arts and social services programs and to the firing of thousands of county employees. Meanwhile, Hispanic voters support the decision by a 5 to 4 margin because they think it will lower their property taxes for next year. The poll also reveals that two-thirds of county voters (69%) have "no trust" or "little trust" in the County Commission when it comes to responding fairly and with integrity to the needs of the people of Miami-Dade. Thirty percent (30%) said it has "a lot of trust" or "some trust" in the County Commission.
4. The personal image ratings for the most important county leaders are strongly negative. Twenty-four percent (24%) have a positive opinion of County Mayor Carlos Alvarez, while 66% have a negative opinion of him. County Commission Chairman Dennis Moss has a 17% positive rating and a 42% negative rating. The ratings of County Manager George Burgess are 20% positive and 38% negative.
5. The debate at County Hall has the attention of most county voters with 74% of respondents indicating they were following the debate about the budget deficit "very closely" or "somewhat closely."
Executive Summary of poll and MY FAVORITE graphic from the poll:
Miami-Dade County Budget Poll
The results and findings in this memo are based on a telephone poll of 400 registered voters of Miami-Dade County (5% margin of error). All the interviews were conducted on the evening of Tuesday, September 8, 2009 in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole. The sample of the survey is representative (by race, ethnicity, gender and age) of the approximately one million registered voters in Miami-Dade. The poll was conducted by Bendixen and Associates and sponsored by WPLG Channel 10 and WLTV Channel 23.
1. A clear majority of county voters (59%) support cutting the salaries of all county employees by 10 to 20 percent to balance the Miami-Dade budget. Meanwhile, only 19% favored increasing property taxes, while even smaller groups were in favor of laying off thousands of county employees (6%) or making substantial cuts in the funding of arts and social services programs (7%). 2. Mayor Carlos Alvarez has lost the trust of the large majority of county voters (74%). These respondents said that they had "little trust" or "no trust" in the Mayor when it comes to responding fairly and with integrity to the needs of the people of Miami-Dade. Only 23% said that they had "a lot of trust" or "some trust" in Alvarez.
The mayor could be in political trouble. The voters of Miami-Dade are divided on whether to recall him (with 46% for the recall and 47% against it). It is clear that recent revelations that Alvarez gave several of his closest advisors large pay increases, even though he knew about the county budget deficit crisis, have had a major negative impact on his political credibility.
3. Last week's vote by the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners to freeze property taxes splits the electorate with 43% saying they support the decision and 48% saying they oppose it. Black and Anglo voters oppose the decision by a 2 to 1 margin because they fear that it will lead to substantial cuts in funding for arts and social services programs and to the firing of thousands of county employees. Meanwhile, Hispanic voters support the decision by a 5 to 4 margin because they think it will lower their property taxes for next year. The poll also reveals that two-thirds of county voters (69%) have "no trust" or "little trust" in the County Commission when it comes to responding fairly and with integrity to the needs of the people of Miami-Dade. Thirty percent (30%) said it has "a lot of trust" or "some trust" in the County Commission.
4. The personal image ratings for the most important county leaders are strongly negative. Twenty-four percent (24%) have a positive opinion of County Mayor Carlos Alvarez, while 66% have a negative opinion of him. County Commission Chairman Dennis Moss has a 17% positive rating and a 42% negative rating. The ratings of County Manager George Burgess are 20% positive and 38% negative.
5. The debate at County Hall has the attention of most county voters with 74% of respondents indicating they were following the debate about the budget deficit "very closely" or "somewhat closely."
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Twitter: The Fake Marco Rubio Site. By Geniusofespair
I finally found a Twitter page that amused me. It is called Fake Marco Rubio. Some posts (they take Marco's twitter entries and massage them):1. English must be the official language of gov and unifying language of our people, unless I'm campaigning on Spanish-speaking TV
2. Had to drive Prius today, but to honor the tea parties I went ahead and bought some gas and poured it out the window as I drove.
3. Driving home from Palatka. Car behind us has strobing blue lights on roof going. I thought we cut their budget?
4. I strongly favor government staying out of people's lives. Unless they are gay. Or want an abortion. Or say something I don't like.
5. POTUS speech to kids is weird. But WH is using it to take the focus off of health care reform debate. Don't fall into the trap. (OH! Sorry this one was real Rubio post!)
"George LeMieux, I thought I knew you": LeMieux to run for US Senate ... by gimleteye
We reported that Gov. Charlie Crist had made a deal with Gov. Jeb Bush to fill the vacancy left by retiring Mel Martinez. Something came in the way of that deal. Today, on 9/9/09, we offer another scoop: George LeMieux will soon declare his intent to run for US Senate in 2010. Republican insiders report that Jeb Bush is so angered by Crist's double cross, in which Crist chose LeMieux instead of Jeb who had agreed to serve under certain conditions, that he is pushing Rubio to drop out of the primary battle for US Senate and that they throw their combined support to LeMieux. The only more exciting result for the Republican primary would be a LeMieux/Crist presidential ticket in 2016. You heard it here, first. Speaking of which, click this link for a very good article on why Florida lacks so much clout in Congress, from the Sarasota Herald Tribune.
The Beginning of the End for Community Councils. By Geniusofdespair
Pepe Diaz, the County Commissioner who had bariatric surgery, is up to no good. This is on the Commission Agenda for September 15th:Jose "Pepe" Diaz, Prime Sponsor
ORDINANCE RELATING TO COMMUNITY COUNCILS/COMMUNITY ZONING APPEALS BOARDS; AMENDING CHAPTER 20 ARTICLE IV AND CHAPTER 33 ARTICLE XXXVI OF THE CODE OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA (''CODE''); PROVIDING FOR APPOINTMENT OF ALL COUNCIL POSITIONS RATHER THAN ELECTION OF CERTAIN POSITIONS; MODIFYING THE NUMBER OF COMMUNITY COUNCILS/COMMUNITY ZONING APPEALS BOARDS TO NO MORE THAN FOUR; MODIFYING BOUNDARIES OF COMMUNITY COUNCILS/COMMUNITY ZONING APPEALS BOARDS TO CONFORM TO BOUNDARIES OF COUNTY COMMISSION DISTRICTS; MODIFYING COMMUNITY COUNCIL RESPONSIBILITIES; PERMITTING ELECTED AND APPOINTED MEMBERS CURRENTLY IN OFFICE TO REMAIN IN OFFICE UNTIL RESIGNATION, REMOVAL OR EXPIRATION OF TERM; PROVIDING SEVERABILITY, INCLUSION IN THE CODE AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE
If you live in Unincorporated Miami Dade, Community Councils is what you have. If they are appointed by the County Commission, what good are they? Now the positions are elected. "Modifying their responsibilities", that couldn't be good either. This is exactly what I have been telling you all, they chip away at your rights.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Miami Herald Reporter Baits Mayor's Chief of Staff Morales on Pay Raise. By Geniusofdespair
He shouldn't joke about this but I can't imagine that he knew he was being video-taped.
More on High Mercury Found in Everglades Pythons. by Geniusofdespair
Here is some further information on the difference between biomagnification and bioaccumulation, both accounting for python mercury poisoning that I wrote about this weekend. The complex terms are explained by Professor Thomas Poulson (Emeritus Professor, Ecology & Evolution Section, Department of Biological Sciences, U. Illinois - Chicago) in two easy to understand diagrams -- perfect for our readers, thank you Professor Poulson. Learn something today Readers! (Hit on images to enlarge them.)Why this is important to you readers: You are also biological, getting water from the Everglades, and some of you are eating Everglades fish (like the Pythons).
Proposed High Tension Lines in Pinecrest/South Miami Area. By Geniusofdespair
Florida Power and Light had some pretty photos (one similar is at bottom) -- an artist rendering -- of what the power lines would look like in the neighborhood, at the meeting on Sept. 2nd that I previously wrote about. The people could have seen some REAL photos. You know that FP&L had to have some of equivalent lines. I took a ride down to North Miami and snapped these -- this is more like what South Miami, Coral Gables, Pinecrest, Cutler Ridge and even Doral will be getting, unlike the photos shown at the meeting. The City Council in North Miami was really pissed at these power lines and you can see why.
This last photo was on the FP&L website. (Hit to enlarge photos). Florida is Number #1! In municipal debt defaults! Voters, what will you do now? ... by gimleteye
It is hard to know what the Florida electorate is thinking in this Age of Stupid. 1000 people showed up to County Hall to protest budget cuts the other day in downtown Miami. But where were they when their county commissioners were helping pump up the Ponzi Scheme of Growth At Any Cost? I recall seeing a few dozen intrepid environmentalists and civic activists opposing zoning changes in farmland and wetlands: all were exercises in debt creation that allowed politicians and builders and lobbyists to skim right off the top. The debt bubble was good business, and your elected representatives -- at least the unreformable majority-- saw no reason at all to line up on the side of fiscal sanity, conservatism, and stewardship.
Last week we learned Miami is apparently number 3 in the nation for traffic congestion. According to environmental groups, Florida gets a D+ for protecting its water resources. We're close to the top, in mortgage foreclosures. Time Magazine has taken notice. And now it turns out we're number 1 in default of municipal debt.
I wrote about Community Development Districts not too long ago; a number of readers offered their own opinions about the problems occurring in these investment vehicles that are turning into Miami's own Ghost Suburbs. As a civic activist who tried to fight many of the zoning changes over the years, the appearance of CDD's was used by the unreformable county commission as a way of dismissing concerns of broader objection. "Never mind," they would say, approving one zoning change after another in farmland, "The developer will form a CDD and any additional costs including "education" would be borne by those residents." Well, so much for that.
Florida’s Bust Propels Muni Default Spike: Chart of the Day
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By Joe Mysak
Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- No other state comes close to Florida in defaulted municipal bonds.
The CHART OF THE DAY shows the number of bond issues that have gone into default over the past decade and Florida’s contribution to the total, according to the Distressed Debt Securities newsletter of Miami Lakes, Florida. Of the 126 bonds that are in default in 2009, 70 were sold in Florida.
Blame it on the collapse of the real estate market in general and, in particular, on Community Development Districts, which sell bonds to pay for infrastructure to support new real estate developments. Florida has 600 such districts, and 105 have gone into default on a total of $3.2 billion in bonds.
Asked how the so-called dirt district defaults in Florida compared with similar meltdowns in Colorado in the 1980s, Texas in the late 1980s and early 1990s and California in the 1990s, Richard Lehmann, publisher of the newsletter, said, “It’s worse than all three combined.” He also observed that some California defaults are still being worked out a decade after they occurred. Lehmann has launched a Web site devoted to this, http://www.floridacddreport.com.
“The death of Florida real estate has been reported and greatly exaggerated,” said Terry O’Grady, senior vice president of municipal trading at FMSBonds Inc. in North Miami Beach, which makes a market in Florida CDD bonds. “If you have time to do the research properly, and can figure out which districts are going to be built out, this is a good buying opportunity.”
After Florida, Ohio is second-largest with eight defaults and Illinois is third with five. The record year for municipal defaults was 2008, when 151 municipalities violated covenants on $7.9 billion in bonds.
To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Mysak in New York at jmysakjr@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: September 1, 2009 06:00 EDT
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Last week we learned Miami is apparently number 3 in the nation for traffic congestion. According to environmental groups, Florida gets a D+ for protecting its water resources. We're close to the top, in mortgage foreclosures. Time Magazine has taken notice. And now it turns out we're number 1 in default of municipal debt.
I wrote about Community Development Districts not too long ago; a number of readers offered their own opinions about the problems occurring in these investment vehicles that are turning into Miami's own Ghost Suburbs. As a civic activist who tried to fight many of the zoning changes over the years, the appearance of CDD's was used by the unreformable county commission as a way of dismissing concerns of broader objection. "Never mind," they would say, approving one zoning change after another in farmland, "The developer will form a CDD and any additional costs including "education" would be borne by those residents." Well, so much for that.
Florida’s Bust Propels Muni Default Spike: Chart of the Day
Share | Email | Print | A A A
By Joe Mysak
Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- No other state comes close to Florida in defaulted municipal bonds.
The CHART OF THE DAY shows the number of bond issues that have gone into default over the past decade and Florida’s contribution to the total, according to the Distressed Debt Securities newsletter of Miami Lakes, Florida. Of the 126 bonds that are in default in 2009, 70 were sold in Florida.
Blame it on the collapse of the real estate market in general and, in particular, on Community Development Districts, which sell bonds to pay for infrastructure to support new real estate developments. Florida has 600 such districts, and 105 have gone into default on a total of $3.2 billion in bonds.
Asked how the so-called dirt district defaults in Florida compared with similar meltdowns in Colorado in the 1980s, Texas in the late 1980s and early 1990s and California in the 1990s, Richard Lehmann, publisher of the newsletter, said, “It’s worse than all three combined.” He also observed that some California defaults are still being worked out a decade after they occurred. Lehmann has launched a Web site devoted to this, http://www.floridacddreport.com.
“The death of Florida real estate has been reported and greatly exaggerated,” said Terry O’Grady, senior vice president of municipal trading at FMSBonds Inc. in North Miami Beach, which makes a market in Florida CDD bonds. “If you have time to do the research properly, and can figure out which districts are going to be built out, this is a good buying opportunity.”
After Florida, Ohio is second-largest with eight defaults and Illinois is third with five. The record year for municipal defaults was 2008, when 151 municipalities violated covenants on $7.9 billion in bonds.
To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Mysak in New York at jmysakjr@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: September 1, 2009 06:00 EDT
Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Trademarks
Monday, September 07, 2009
Jim DeFede takes on U.S. Senator's Law Firm. By Geniusofdespair
DeFede says that Florida Senator George LeMieux's law firm, Gunster Yoakley, arranged for visa's for foreign sheet metal workers to work in Sunny Isles because they possessed "special skills". Not so say construction workers on the job site. See the video which includeds a room full of angry out of work construction workers. George can't say he didn't know what his law firm was doing, he is on the Corporate papers as a director. That shoots Rep. Illeanna Ros-Lehtinen's defense of him full of holes.This Labor Day: the difference between honest labor and fraud ... by gimleteye
There is something positive and joyful about labor, getting paid for a hard day's work. What has considerably added to the national cycnicism is that there seems to be a dismal, almost institutionalized lack of accountability in many sectors of the economy-- like finance and banking, for instance-- and enough parts of government to make the whole, suspect. Today, wage inflation is rampant. It manifests in the scandal of local government pay hikes in the face of the worst budget crisis in a century.
A specific example: the performance of managers of the Florida State Board of Administration. The SBA is the non-descript agency that manages the pension fund of over 1 million Floridians who work or retired from state or local government; from firemen to educators to office workers. The St. Pete Times published a report of an investment in Manhattan real estate at the top of the market, that resulted in a $266 million write down. This fiasco adds to billions of dollars in risky investments-- like buying Enron as the stock was swirling down the drain, or, untold billions in derivative debt sold by Lehman Brothers to Florida tied to the same crappy housing developments that are killing Florida's economy.
What is so remarkable is that no one at SBA has lost their job over the latest loss; in fact, the managers have been rewarded with bonuses. In the entire financial sector where hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars have bailed out banking executives/laborers; name a single instance of accountability besides Bernie Madoff. The Sunday New York Times reported that taxpayers are backstopping more than $6 million in legal fees generated by the former Fannie Mae CEO who took down hundreds of millions in compensation by cooking the Fannie Mae books.
In the City of Miami, a political hack with a no-show job is allowed to retire with a full pension-- after her lazy schedule was documented by a private investigator hired by a union leader. City managers surely knew she was exploiting government, and getting well paid: they did nothing to stop her.
When accountability of labor vanishes in a cloud of cynicism, there is lots of trouble. Conservatives love to blame labor unions for all manner of affliction to the national spirit. The Democrats deserve their share of blame, but the worst result of nearly a decade of Republican control of the White House and Congress was the imposition of a false reality -- "we're history's actors"-- that created serial financial and economic bubbles whose results plunged the nation into a near Depression.
This Labor Day, don't forget where we have come from. I pray conservatives find their footing and that voters and taxpayers can discern the difference between honest labor and fraud.
State pension fund's $266 million investment disappeared in 2 years
By Sydney P. Freedberg l St. Petersburg Times
Sunday, September 6, 2009
TALLAHASSEE — This is the story of how the Florida board that invests public money bet $250 million on a huge Manhattan real estate deal and lost every last penny of it.
A number of others didn't do too badly, however. On top of the money lost, Florida paid $16 million in fees to real estate developers, bankers and Wall Street money managers who persuaded the state to make the deal.
State elected leaders with potential influence over the pension funds' investments received campaign contributions from some of those same corporate giants. And state pension managers in the real estate unit got performance bonuses.
The big loser was the State Board of Administration, which invests more than $105 billion for 1 million current and future retirees. On the Manhattan real estate deal, its $266 million is now worth a grand total of $0.00.
How the Florida agency wound up in the ill-fated real estate gamble is also a story of lessons learned, as the pension agency's executive director, Ash Williams, put it when he informed the state's top officials of the loss.
"To the extent we have failures, we will be honest with ourselves, our beneficiaries, and constituencies,'' Williams said. "We will identify mistakes made, learn our lessons, and move on.''
The St. Petersburg Times asked Williams what mistakes were made, what lessons were learned.
His key lesson: Good processes can produce bad results.
The backstory
Between 2000 and early 2007, four SBA internal reports and a watchdog group identified problems with the real estate investment process — including a lack of risk control.
Nonetheless, the managers shifted assets into higher-risk real estate deals, often by joining private partnerships that used borrowed money.
Investing borrowed money, known as leverage, boosts returns in boom times, but amplifies losses in bust times.
In August 2006, at the height of the real estate bubble, a senior acquisitions manager in the SBA's real estate unit, Steve Spook, received two overtures to join investment firms bidding for adjoining apartment complexes in Manhattan.
The complexes — Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town — were iconic housing communities, a "city within a city'' on 80 prime acres overlooking the East River. Metropolitan Life built the apartments for returning WWII veterans in the 1940s. They became an oasis for teachers, nurses and retirees on small pensions, one of the last refuges for the middle class in Manhattan.
In 2006, an average rent-controlled apartment in Peter Cooper Village went for about $1,340 a month, about 40 percent of the average rent in the surrounding area.
New York's rent-control rules limited increases to 7.25 percent over two years, with some exceptions. Tenants could be ousted if their primary residences were elsewhere or if they illegally sublet their unit at market rates.
About a quarter of the apartments paid market rate rents when MetLife put the complex up for sale in August 2006.
The insurer's whopping asking price — $5 billion — made clear that to make a profit, the buyer would have to convert most of the remaining rent-stabilized apartments into market-rate units.
A raft of debt
On Oct. 17, 2006, MetLife announced the winning bid, an eye-popping $5.4 billion — $400 million more than the asking price — by Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Realty.
The buyers put in $225 million of their own money, then passed much of the risk to others.
Enter Florida.
Tishman Speyer and BlackRock each had business and political friends in the state.
Tishman Speyer had vast real estate holdings in South Florida in the 1980s and early '90s and was looking to get back into the market. The company contributed $5,000 to the Florida Republican Party in 2002. Two of its executives donated the maximum $500 to the 2006 political campaign of Gov. Charlie Crist.
BlackRock, which is 49 percent owned by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, gave $500 to Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink during her 2006 campaign.
Crist and Sink, who serve as pension fund trustees, declined to be interviewed for this story. Their aides said there was no connection between political contributions and the investment in the Peter Cooper Village venture.
BlackRock already managed more than $300 million in Florida pension money. They wanted more business.
On Jan. 9, 2007, five BlackRock executives visited Tallahassee to make their case. Among those they met with were Steve Spook; Doug Bennett, the senior investment officer in the SBA's real estate unit; and Kevin SigRist, the agency's deputy executive director.
A few weeks later, BlackRock sent the real estate unit a confidential document outlining the strategy for achieving double-digit returns on the Peter Cooper Village project.
The 92-page memo revealed that Tishman Speyer and BlackRock planned to weed out rent-regulated tenants and turn the units into a "market-based environment'' in seven years. They would woo young, affluent renters and "position the asset for a value-maximizing sale.''
Ash Williams, who took over as the SBA's executive director in October 2008, concedes that in hindsight, the projections made by Tishman Speyer and BlackRock may have been "overly aggressive.''
But the documents provided to the SBA show that the agency's managers were made aware of the risks all along.
Line by line across 13 pages, the confidential memo lays out the risks. They included the possibility that Tishman and BlackRock could fall short of cash to pay off debt.
"Unless net operating income from the property increases materially,'' the memo said, "the partnership will not be able to meet its interest payment obligations in which event it would default.''
Due diligence?
Spook evaluated the Peter Cooper Village deal for the SBA. The analysis relied heavily on the owners' statements.
• The report stressed the apartment complex's "excellent physical condition'' and "competitive advantages.'' But some prospective renters were turned off by the plain brick buildings that looked like a low-income public housing project.
• The report spoke of the "favorable fundamentals'' in the Manhattan apartment market. But some experts were predicting a weakening market.
• The report noted the owners' "extensive experience'' in managing rent-regulated apartments. Tishman Speyer had limited experience managing multi-family rental properties. Its expertise was in office towers like Rockefeller Center in New York City.
Spook's report also highlighted "issues'' with the investment, including possible cash flow problems, contaminated soil beneath the property and concerns about "liquidity,'' meaning Florida could have trouble unloading the investment if it declined in value.
Spook also noted a "lack of full Townsend due diligence.'' Townsend is the Townsend Group, a firm that Florida paid $200,000 a year for real estate advice.
SBA spokesman Dennis MacKee said that Townsend doesn't normally do due diligence. He said the SBA thoroughly vetted the investment.
On March 12, 2007, Spook recommended investing $250 million. Two weeks later, Doug Bennett concurred. In a three-paragraph memo, Bennett acknowledged that the deal could be a "risky proposition'' but said Florida would benefit from increasing its New York City exposure.
Kevin SigRist concurred with Bennett, and then-executive director Coleman Stipanovich approved the deal.
The real world
The Peter Cooper Village sale fueled a political uproar in New York City over the future of affordable middle class housing.
New York City Council member Dan Garodnick said the high selling price put pressure on the owners.
"They started sending legal notices to many perfectly legitimate longtime tenants claiming they were not using their apartment as their primary residence,'' said Garodnick, himself a resident of Peter Cooper Village.
Garodnick helped tenants fight eviction and supported a lawsuit. It contended that the owners had improperly raised rents after getting special tax breaks. The tenants sought $215 million in rent they overpaid.
BlackRock and Tishman Speyer's confidential memo to Florida's pension fund had warned that a lawsuit could cripple the deal.
The owners said they thought the tenants' claims were without merit. But if the residents were to prevail, the memo said, the owners would "suffer an immediate and very substantial loss of revenues and would be unable to carry out a significant part of its plan to convert rent-stabilized units to market rate.''
Lawrence Longua, a real estate professor at New York University, said the Manhattan gamble reveals some investment mistakes and truths about pension plans.
They are driven to make "goofy investments'' like the Manhattan deal, Longua said, because with low interest rates and aging baby boomers, it's getting harder for states to meet their pension promises.
"So public pension funds now have to go up the risk curve to meet those obligations.''
Running out of money
On June 7, 2007, with the real estate market about to head south, the SBA sank $266,780,948 into the Peter Cooper Village partnership with other investors: $250 million for the investment plus $16,780,948 in fees.
By September 2008, the investment was in deep trouble. BlackRock and Tishman Speyer were having trouble converting the rent-regulated apartments to market-rate units. Expenses were higher than expected, income,lower. The new owners were running low on cash to cover payments on their $3 billion mortgage.
On Dec. 4, 2008, at a meeting of the group that advises the Florida pension fund on investments, a member questioned why nobody at the SBA had mentioned the troubled Peter Cooper Village investment.
"I think this should have been on the agenda,'' said Jim Dahl, a Jacksonville investor. "Let's make sure we talk about 'em so we don't repeat mistakes. … This is a serious, serious problem and we almost went through the meeting without discussing it.''
Dahl said many investors thought the deal was based on "pie-in-the-sky'' assumptions and was "going to have a bad ending.''
The SBA said otherwise.
"This is a long-term investment,'' SigRist said in an interview a few weeks later. "The view here is, as a long-term investor, we're uniquely qualified to hold these investments.'' He blamed problems not on inadequate vetting but on the changing financial world.
For months, the SBA did not respond to information requests from the Times about the Peter Cooper Village deal. They did not disclose documents the newspaper requested in December 2008, again in January 2009 and again in March.
Prompted by a fourth request, in April the agency released copies of appraisals and two redacted reports. Information about fees, expenses and investment issues was blacked out. The agency is still withholding documents about the deal, saying the legal department is reviewing them to determine if they can be released.
Worth zero
After a New York court ruled for the tenants, SBA managers exchanged e-mails and acknowledged their investment had been "wiped out.''
On July 28, Doug Bennett authorized the SBA's director of accounting to write off the entire $266,780,948.
In a memo last month to the three trustees who oversee the SBA — Gov. Crist, CFO Sink and Attorney General Bill McCollum — Williams blamed the loss on the recession, slow income growth and leverage.
In an interview, he deflected questions about whether the SBA needed to change policies or add checks and balances to property investment decisions.
"I don't want to be overly sunny,'' Williams said of Peter Cooper Village. But when the economy comes back, the rents could go up and the property could regain its value. "That's what America is all about.''
Damage control
As SBA trustees, Crist, Sink and McCollum have had a mostly hands-off style of oversight. Under their watch, the agency has been bruised by risky investments tied to the subprime mortgage crisis.
None of the trustees agreed to be interviewed about the Peter Cooper Village problem.
Last Tuesday, however, Sink brought up the real estate deal at a public meeting in Tallahassee. It was the first of the quarterly meetings they ordered after a Times investigation found deceptive and misleading practices by some SBA officials.
Williams told the trustees that investors besides Florida got hurt. He said the SBA staff followed all procedures. "To the extent we had a bad experience,'' he said, "that's unfortunate; we regret it, and we've endeavored with all our hearts to make sure we don't do that again and we understand how it happened.''
But overall, Williams said, the agency's real estate holdings are doing well. Worth $9.7 billion last year, their values tumbled to $7.8 billion for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2009.
With stocks starting to rebound, Williams emphasized the uptick in the value of the entire pension fund. It hit $138 billion in September 2007, dropped to $83 billion in March 2009 and now is up to $106 billion.
Meantime, the SBA managers are bracing for additional real estate hits, especially in their higher-risk, commercial property holdings, like hotels and office buildings. Tanking values are making it tough for their owners to refinance mortgages.
For Doug Bennett's performance during the peak of the market in 2006-07, on top of his $135,000 annual salary, the SBA last year awarded him an $11,000 bonus.
Spook, who analyzed the Manhattan investment and last year made about $87,000, received a $7,000 bonus.
Two other real-estate employees who had a role in the Peter Cooper Village investment also got bonuses last year for their work in 2006-07.
The SBA said the bonuses were reward for good performance of the entire pension fund.
Times computer assisted reporting specialist Connie Humburg and researcher Shirl Kennedy contributed to this report.
[Last modified: Sep 06, 2009 03:48 AM]
A specific example: the performance of managers of the Florida State Board of Administration. The SBA is the non-descript agency that manages the pension fund of over 1 million Floridians who work or retired from state or local government; from firemen to educators to office workers. The St. Pete Times published a report of an investment in Manhattan real estate at the top of the market, that resulted in a $266 million write down. This fiasco adds to billions of dollars in risky investments-- like buying Enron as the stock was swirling down the drain, or, untold billions in derivative debt sold by Lehman Brothers to Florida tied to the same crappy housing developments that are killing Florida's economy.
What is so remarkable is that no one at SBA has lost their job over the latest loss; in fact, the managers have been rewarded with bonuses. In the entire financial sector where hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars have bailed out banking executives/laborers; name a single instance of accountability besides Bernie Madoff. The Sunday New York Times reported that taxpayers are backstopping more than $6 million in legal fees generated by the former Fannie Mae CEO who took down hundreds of millions in compensation by cooking the Fannie Mae books.
In the City of Miami, a political hack with a no-show job is allowed to retire with a full pension-- after her lazy schedule was documented by a private investigator hired by a union leader. City managers surely knew she was exploiting government, and getting well paid: they did nothing to stop her.
When accountability of labor vanishes in a cloud of cynicism, there is lots of trouble. Conservatives love to blame labor unions for all manner of affliction to the national spirit. The Democrats deserve their share of blame, but the worst result of nearly a decade of Republican control of the White House and Congress was the imposition of a false reality -- "we're history's actors"-- that created serial financial and economic bubbles whose results plunged the nation into a near Depression.
This Labor Day, don't forget where we have come from. I pray conservatives find their footing and that voters and taxpayers can discern the difference between honest labor and fraud.
State pension fund's $266 million investment disappeared in 2 years
By Sydney P. Freedberg l St. Petersburg Times
Sunday, September 6, 2009
TALLAHASSEE — This is the story of how the Florida board that invests public money bet $250 million on a huge Manhattan real estate deal and lost every last penny of it.
A number of others didn't do too badly, however. On top of the money lost, Florida paid $16 million in fees to real estate developers, bankers and Wall Street money managers who persuaded the state to make the deal.
State elected leaders with potential influence over the pension funds' investments received campaign contributions from some of those same corporate giants. And state pension managers in the real estate unit got performance bonuses.
The big loser was the State Board of Administration, which invests more than $105 billion for 1 million current and future retirees. On the Manhattan real estate deal, its $266 million is now worth a grand total of $0.00.
How the Florida agency wound up in the ill-fated real estate gamble is also a story of lessons learned, as the pension agency's executive director, Ash Williams, put it when he informed the state's top officials of the loss.
"To the extent we have failures, we will be honest with ourselves, our beneficiaries, and constituencies,'' Williams said. "We will identify mistakes made, learn our lessons, and move on.''
The St. Petersburg Times asked Williams what mistakes were made, what lessons were learned.
His key lesson: Good processes can produce bad results.
The backstory
Between 2000 and early 2007, four SBA internal reports and a watchdog group identified problems with the real estate investment process — including a lack of risk control.
Nonetheless, the managers shifted assets into higher-risk real estate deals, often by joining private partnerships that used borrowed money.
Investing borrowed money, known as leverage, boosts returns in boom times, but amplifies losses in bust times.
In August 2006, at the height of the real estate bubble, a senior acquisitions manager in the SBA's real estate unit, Steve Spook, received two overtures to join investment firms bidding for adjoining apartment complexes in Manhattan.
The complexes — Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town — were iconic housing communities, a "city within a city'' on 80 prime acres overlooking the East River. Metropolitan Life built the apartments for returning WWII veterans in the 1940s. They became an oasis for teachers, nurses and retirees on small pensions, one of the last refuges for the middle class in Manhattan.
In 2006, an average rent-controlled apartment in Peter Cooper Village went for about $1,340 a month, about 40 percent of the average rent in the surrounding area.
New York's rent-control rules limited increases to 7.25 percent over two years, with some exceptions. Tenants could be ousted if their primary residences were elsewhere or if they illegally sublet their unit at market rates.
About a quarter of the apartments paid market rate rents when MetLife put the complex up for sale in August 2006.
The insurer's whopping asking price — $5 billion — made clear that to make a profit, the buyer would have to convert most of the remaining rent-stabilized apartments into market-rate units.
A raft of debt
On Oct. 17, 2006, MetLife announced the winning bid, an eye-popping $5.4 billion — $400 million more than the asking price — by Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Realty.
The buyers put in $225 million of their own money, then passed much of the risk to others.
Enter Florida.
Tishman Speyer and BlackRock each had business and political friends in the state.
Tishman Speyer had vast real estate holdings in South Florida in the 1980s and early '90s and was looking to get back into the market. The company contributed $5,000 to the Florida Republican Party in 2002. Two of its executives donated the maximum $500 to the 2006 political campaign of Gov. Charlie Crist.
BlackRock, which is 49 percent owned by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, gave $500 to Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink during her 2006 campaign.
Crist and Sink, who serve as pension fund trustees, declined to be interviewed for this story. Their aides said there was no connection between political contributions and the investment in the Peter Cooper Village venture.
BlackRock already managed more than $300 million in Florida pension money. They wanted more business.
On Jan. 9, 2007, five BlackRock executives visited Tallahassee to make their case. Among those they met with were Steve Spook; Doug Bennett, the senior investment officer in the SBA's real estate unit; and Kevin SigRist, the agency's deputy executive director.
A few weeks later, BlackRock sent the real estate unit a confidential document outlining the strategy for achieving double-digit returns on the Peter Cooper Village project.
The 92-page memo revealed that Tishman Speyer and BlackRock planned to weed out rent-regulated tenants and turn the units into a "market-based environment'' in seven years. They would woo young, affluent renters and "position the asset for a value-maximizing sale.''
Ash Williams, who took over as the SBA's executive director in October 2008, concedes that in hindsight, the projections made by Tishman Speyer and BlackRock may have been "overly aggressive.''
But the documents provided to the SBA show that the agency's managers were made aware of the risks all along.
Line by line across 13 pages, the confidential memo lays out the risks. They included the possibility that Tishman and BlackRock could fall short of cash to pay off debt.
"Unless net operating income from the property increases materially,'' the memo said, "the partnership will not be able to meet its interest payment obligations in which event it would default.''
Due diligence?
Spook evaluated the Peter Cooper Village deal for the SBA. The analysis relied heavily on the owners' statements.
• The report stressed the apartment complex's "excellent physical condition'' and "competitive advantages.'' But some prospective renters were turned off by the plain brick buildings that looked like a low-income public housing project.
• The report spoke of the "favorable fundamentals'' in the Manhattan apartment market. But some experts were predicting a weakening market.
• The report noted the owners' "extensive experience'' in managing rent-regulated apartments. Tishman Speyer had limited experience managing multi-family rental properties. Its expertise was in office towers like Rockefeller Center in New York City.
Spook's report also highlighted "issues'' with the investment, including possible cash flow problems, contaminated soil beneath the property and concerns about "liquidity,'' meaning Florida could have trouble unloading the investment if it declined in value.
Spook also noted a "lack of full Townsend due diligence.'' Townsend is the Townsend Group, a firm that Florida paid $200,000 a year for real estate advice.
SBA spokesman Dennis MacKee said that Townsend doesn't normally do due diligence. He said the SBA thoroughly vetted the investment.
On March 12, 2007, Spook recommended investing $250 million. Two weeks later, Doug Bennett concurred. In a three-paragraph memo, Bennett acknowledged that the deal could be a "risky proposition'' but said Florida would benefit from increasing its New York City exposure.
Kevin SigRist concurred with Bennett, and then-executive director Coleman Stipanovich approved the deal.
The real world
The Peter Cooper Village sale fueled a political uproar in New York City over the future of affordable middle class housing.
New York City Council member Dan Garodnick said the high selling price put pressure on the owners.
"They started sending legal notices to many perfectly legitimate longtime tenants claiming they were not using their apartment as their primary residence,'' said Garodnick, himself a resident of Peter Cooper Village.
Garodnick helped tenants fight eviction and supported a lawsuit. It contended that the owners had improperly raised rents after getting special tax breaks. The tenants sought $215 million in rent they overpaid.
BlackRock and Tishman Speyer's confidential memo to Florida's pension fund had warned that a lawsuit could cripple the deal.
The owners said they thought the tenants' claims were without merit. But if the residents were to prevail, the memo said, the owners would "suffer an immediate and very substantial loss of revenues and would be unable to carry out a significant part of its plan to convert rent-stabilized units to market rate.''
Lawrence Longua, a real estate professor at New York University, said the Manhattan gamble reveals some investment mistakes and truths about pension plans.
They are driven to make "goofy investments'' like the Manhattan deal, Longua said, because with low interest rates and aging baby boomers, it's getting harder for states to meet their pension promises.
"So public pension funds now have to go up the risk curve to meet those obligations.''
Running out of money
On June 7, 2007, with the real estate market about to head south, the SBA sank $266,780,948 into the Peter Cooper Village partnership with other investors: $250 million for the investment plus $16,780,948 in fees.
By September 2008, the investment was in deep trouble. BlackRock and Tishman Speyer were having trouble converting the rent-regulated apartments to market-rate units. Expenses were higher than expected, income,lower. The new owners were running low on cash to cover payments on their $3 billion mortgage.
On Dec. 4, 2008, at a meeting of the group that advises the Florida pension fund on investments, a member questioned why nobody at the SBA had mentioned the troubled Peter Cooper Village investment.
"I think this should have been on the agenda,'' said Jim Dahl, a Jacksonville investor. "Let's make sure we talk about 'em so we don't repeat mistakes. … This is a serious, serious problem and we almost went through the meeting without discussing it.''
Dahl said many investors thought the deal was based on "pie-in-the-sky'' assumptions and was "going to have a bad ending.''
The SBA said otherwise.
"This is a long-term investment,'' SigRist said in an interview a few weeks later. "The view here is, as a long-term investor, we're uniquely qualified to hold these investments.'' He blamed problems not on inadequate vetting but on the changing financial world.
For months, the SBA did not respond to information requests from the Times about the Peter Cooper Village deal. They did not disclose documents the newspaper requested in December 2008, again in January 2009 and again in March.
Prompted by a fourth request, in April the agency released copies of appraisals and two redacted reports. Information about fees, expenses and investment issues was blacked out. The agency is still withholding documents about the deal, saying the legal department is reviewing them to determine if they can be released.
Worth zero
After a New York court ruled for the tenants, SBA managers exchanged e-mails and acknowledged their investment had been "wiped out.''
On July 28, Doug Bennett authorized the SBA's director of accounting to write off the entire $266,780,948.
In a memo last month to the three trustees who oversee the SBA — Gov. Crist, CFO Sink and Attorney General Bill McCollum — Williams blamed the loss on the recession, slow income growth and leverage.
In an interview, he deflected questions about whether the SBA needed to change policies or add checks and balances to property investment decisions.
"I don't want to be overly sunny,'' Williams said of Peter Cooper Village. But when the economy comes back, the rents could go up and the property could regain its value. "That's what America is all about.''
Damage control
As SBA trustees, Crist, Sink and McCollum have had a mostly hands-off style of oversight. Under their watch, the agency has been bruised by risky investments tied to the subprime mortgage crisis.
None of the trustees agreed to be interviewed about the Peter Cooper Village problem.
Last Tuesday, however, Sink brought up the real estate deal at a public meeting in Tallahassee. It was the first of the quarterly meetings they ordered after a Times investigation found deceptive and misleading practices by some SBA officials.
Williams told the trustees that investors besides Florida got hurt. He said the SBA staff followed all procedures. "To the extent we had a bad experience,'' he said, "that's unfortunate; we regret it, and we've endeavored with all our hearts to make sure we don't do that again and we understand how it happened.''
But overall, Williams said, the agency's real estate holdings are doing well. Worth $9.7 billion last year, their values tumbled to $7.8 billion for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2009.
With stocks starting to rebound, Williams emphasized the uptick in the value of the entire pension fund. It hit $138 billion in September 2007, dropped to $83 billion in March 2009 and now is up to $106 billion.
Meantime, the SBA managers are bracing for additional real estate hits, especially in their higher-risk, commercial property holdings, like hotels and office buildings. Tanking values are making it tough for their owners to refinance mortgages.
For Doug Bennett's performance during the peak of the market in 2006-07, on top of his $135,000 annual salary, the SBA last year awarded him an $11,000 bonus.
Spook, who analyzed the Manhattan investment and last year made about $87,000, received a $7,000 bonus.
Two other real-estate employees who had a role in the Peter Cooper Village investment also got bonuses last year for their work in 2006-07.
The SBA said the bonuses were reward for good performance of the entire pension fund.
Times computer assisted reporting specialist Connie Humburg and researcher Shirl Kennedy contributed to this report.
[Last modified: Sep 06, 2009 03:48 AM]
Don't Eat the Pythons -- Mercury. By Geniusofdespair
National Park Service officials have found "extraordinarily high levels of mercury" in the invasive python snakes taking root in the Everglades. It appears that the Everglades is doing its job as a marsh, filtering out pollutants like mercury. Only trouble is, methylmercury is bioavailable and bioaccumulated. Sulfur-based fertilizers used by Florida sugarcane farmers may be the source of increasing methylmercury production in the Everglades. U.S. Geological Survey had a report in 2004 that high concentrations have been found in panthers and game fish and that they were doing additional research investigating the mercury cycle in South Florida "to gain a better understanding of the microbial and geochemical controls regulating methylmercury degradation."
Miami Herald on the CHEAP. By Geniusofdespair
My paper was so thin this morning I didn't have to lift it - it floated into my hand.
Don't look for the Tropic Section on Monday anymore. It is combined with the Local Section to save bucks. Other cost saving gimmicks soon to come. My favorite: The narrowing of pages. Least favorite: Cutting reporting staff.
Don't look for the Tropic Section on Monday anymore. It is combined with the Local Section to save bucks. Other cost saving gimmicks soon to come. My favorite: The narrowing of pages. Least favorite: Cutting reporting staff.
The Marlin's Menu, what will it be? By Youbetcha
I am sitting here fantasizing about stadium food. I can’t wait to see the new and improved Marlin menu that will be coming with the new stadium. Based on these menu items from other stadiums Marlin fans better be prepared for the $4.00 bottled water and the $5.00 wiener.A story circulating in the news recently claimed that pizza in the new Dallas Cowboys football stadium will cost $90. However, later reports confirmed it will cost only $60, the same price as it was in the old stadium. A bargain! New York's Yankee Stadium:
Has already become famous for the $850,000 suites, but food isn't a cheap either in the "house that replaced the house that Ruth built." A single patty burger goes for $9, Philly cheese steak for $10.75, large garlic fries $8, hot dogs for $5.50 and up.
Yet, for all the cost, these stadiums can't match the food at the minor league baseball home of the Gateway Grizzlies, near Chicago. Each year, the Grizzlies unveil a new treat.
In 2007, its deep-fried White Castles were a hit. It's Best Burger is a cheeseburger between two Krispy Kreme doughnuts. It's toasted ravioli would go great with one of its own beers brewed nearby by O'Fallon Brewery. Also on the menu is The World's Best Hot Dog (so it says), made with black angus beef, bacon, onions and cheese sauce. For only $4 -- take that, Dallas! And it is a bonus that besides your stomach it will fill your arteries too.
I suppose fans who can afford tickets to NFL and Major League Baseball games can afford to pay haute cuisine prices for street food. However, I'd be happy with a box of Cracker Jacks ($4.75 at Yankee Stadium).
I wanted to share this little fact of my own about our Fish Bowl, so sports fans everywhere can be jealous:
Our Marlins fans can get seats and pig out for one low price in the All You Can Eat Seats. These comprehensive Club Level tickets range from $47.00 to $70.00 depending on the game. Fans get to chow down on buffet inside the Club Level. The South Florida health food menu includes hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, peanuts and fountain soda. The very best part of the deal is when the game is not going well and it is hotter than Hell, you can duck in the buffet area which is air-conditioned and pretend you are in Yankee Stadium’s S850,000 suite.
Of course, Marlin’s fans better hurry-up and take advantage of this All You Can Eat deal, because in a short few years, they will be longing for the good-old-days when a $70.00 peanut feast was a bargain.
Someone will have to pay the players’ salaries, and I am betting it will not be the Marlin’s management. The outrageously priced, artery clogging fare, will go a long way towards salaries.
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Rasmussen Polls: Here is a tip for you. By Geniusofdespair
Identify your poll at the BEGINNING of the phone call not at the end Rasmussen. Had I known it was you calling, I would not have sabotaged your polling data with wacky information. They will probably dump my results anyway as not many real Republicans make $20,000 a year, support the President and don't want to support France if there is a war. They named about 10 countries that I could choose to support in a war. I didn't support any of them but I did support health care reform and I now have a few kids that I didn't have before the call.
I just saw "Inglorious Basterds" or as it is better known: that Brad Pitt movie. Stupid name for a very entertaining flick.
I just saw "Inglorious Basterds" or as it is better known: that Brad Pitt movie. Stupid name for a very entertaining flick.
How Far is Juno Beach? It is Only a Helicopter Ride Away for FP&L CEO! By Geniusofdespair
I made a mistake on this blog that has been rectified.
Juno Beach is 77 miles North of Miami. That is a an hour and a half commute by car. Big deal. Many people do it or they move. They don't keep a helicopter and pilot for a 77 mile journey.
Our money, held hostage by this utility/monopoly, is being used to buy FP&L a new Corporate jet at $31 Million at the same time they want a rate hike. Armando Olivera, CEO who is out of touch with the common folks, said he uses the Jet for Tallahassee trips "generally" using the additional Corporate helicopter get to work in Juno, but not always. Generally is a lot of the time in my book. So the helicopter has to be kept available for these trips to Juno Beach from Olivera's home in Miami...a helicopter and a pilot to go 77 miles. The pilot has to be a full-time employee ($90,000 a year?). And the jet also has to have a pilot (another $90,000?)!
A year 2,000 estimate on operating cost for helicopters per hour ranges from $143 to $320, hence, these daily commuting trips to Juno Beach are costing a lot of money ($500 at least with pilot costs -- more than most Miami rate-payers make in a week). I say: Ditch the copter and get this CEO to move. But definitely, get rid of the copter, jet and the 2 pilots! Charter a plane if you have to FP&L. Maybe Rodney Barreto can fly you around, Armando, to save some bucks.
Juno Beach is 77 miles North of Miami. That is a an hour and a half commute by car. Big deal. Many people do it or they move. They don't keep a helicopter and pilot for a 77 mile journey.Our money, held hostage by this utility/monopoly, is being used to buy FP&L a new Corporate jet at $31 Million at the same time they want a rate hike. Armando Olivera, CEO who is out of touch with the common folks, said he uses the Jet for Tallahassee trips "generally" using the additional Corporate helicopter get to work in Juno, but not always. Generally is a lot of the time in my book. So the helicopter has to be kept available for these trips to Juno Beach from Olivera's home in Miami...a helicopter and a pilot to go 77 miles. The pilot has to be a full-time employee ($90,000 a year?). And the jet also has to have a pilot (another $90,000?)!
A year 2,000 estimate on operating cost for helicopters per hour ranges from $143 to $320, hence, these daily commuting trips to Juno Beach are costing a lot of money ($500 at least with pilot costs -- more than most Miami rate-payers make in a week). I say: Ditch the copter and get this CEO to move. But definitely, get rid of the copter, jet and the 2 pilots! Charter a plane if you have to FP&L. Maybe Rodney Barreto can fly you around, Armando, to save some bucks.
"Good Evening, Mr. Mayor, wherever you are…" Guest Blog By Outofsight
The best part about having county budget hearings is that it is always the best show in town. This year‘s budget hearing was no exception and did not disappoint viewers. The budget hearing is a process like none other in the county governance calendar. The Stephen P. Clark Center comes alive with very animated people all with very colorful stories or weird tales and in some cases, some poignant tragedies in their personal histories.Thursday evening’s meeting took on an underlying tone of anger and bitterness directed towards the county elected officials and more directly, Mayor Alvarez. Even with the hundreds of people who spoke ,there was an ear-catching phrase heard more than once as speakers greeted the dais:
“Good Evening, Mr. Mayor, wherever you are…” (hit read more)
From the TV viewer’s perspective, the Mayor’s seat on the dais was not visible. But, one could tell as the speaker’s eyes searched the dais for Mayor Alvarez that he had abandoned premises for somewhere more Mayor friendly and tush comfortable. The abandonment was obvious to the people who had stood in line for as long as eight hours for their only opportunity to personally address the man they had put into office. He was gone.
If the Mayor wasn’t around, one cannot help but wonder if he ran off to the safety of his 29th floor fiefdom to watch TV and eat in comfort. Meanwhile those regular folks (you) were allowed to stand for eight hours without resting, to go without dinner (and almost breakfast!) all so you could personally greet his empty chair with the words,
“Good Evening, Mr. Mayor, wherever you are…”
Dearest meeting-going constituents: Thank you for pointing out to the rest of us what we had merely suspected: that Mayor Alvarez was gone.
But to you loyal folks in our wonderful confused South Florida, I would like to point out one thing: as Mayor, Mr. Alvarez is not gone. Indeed, he has never been here or fully committed to the general community. He has not been with us, not now or ever. So I more accurately say:
Good Bye, Mr. Alvarez, wherever you are.
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