"Tammany Hall depended for its power on government contracts, jobs, patronage, corruption, and ultimately the ability of its leaders to swing the popular vote."No one is surprised that the Marlins, a professional sports team, conned public officials into standing behind a $700 million stadium, lying about the team's finances. If you are a paid consultant to the Marlins and read this blog and are surprised, raise your hand. The voters of Miami Dade are that stupid. Do voters care that Pepe Diaz or Dorrin Rolle allowed rock mining in West Dade to threaten public health and drinking water? Of course not. Worried about cancer rates or cancer clusters? Hell no: that's someone else's problem. Care that the environmental fund collecting millions in fines from polluters and law breakers was looted by the police department? No one cares about the environment. Care to understand the difference between state senator Julio Robaina and Miguel Diaz de la Portilla? No. Mayor Alvarez won't even answer press questions on police looting the environmental fund. Care that Jeffrey Loria, the Marlin's owner, took down $49 million in the year he and his staff were crying poverty and couldn't afford to keep professional baseball in Miami unless taxpayers stood behind their deal? Nope. Miami Dade voters are brain dead. In the District 8 runoff for county commission, voters could choose a former mayor of the city that is the blighted, blasted capital of Florida's fraud and mortgage scams and bankers gone wild: Homestead. Do voters even know what that is? Nope. The worst housing market bubble and crash since the Great Depression has had no impact whatsoever on Florida's brain dead voters. Reward ignorance. Condemn honesty. Bury facts. Celebrate buildings. Play ball!
20 comments:
I think we do care. And I think that the getting rid of Burgess position in the election was proof...
Getting rid of the manager's position was another dumb move. You can always fire an incompetent manager, but is not that easy getting rid of an incompetent Mayor.
Amen!
I found a PAC financed by the County Commission in 2002. The PAC was formed so the County Commission could save itself: The County Commission spent $2,000,000 of OUR money to fight off a Florida legislative attack trying to rid Miami Dade County of home rule, in other words, the County Commission.
Maybe we should have let it happen.
How was the PAC financed by the CC? I am telling you, the greatest failing of the Tea Party was not taking on one issue and one issue only - campaign finance reform. If they had done that, the tent would have been larger and they would have found the common denominator that could have united left and right voters to fix the underlying disease that is causing a lot of these symptoms. Let's start a movement called "The Big Tent" with only one agenda item. Am I naive? Yes - I know.
Call Mayor Tomas Regalado. (305) 250-5300
Tell him to stop the deal.
We tend to elect idiots as Mayor. I am concerned that County Manager position is going away.
"The lie is that the people have the power, and it is the people who choose our leaders. It is a fraud. We are just sheep to be manipulated in a complex shell game. Like some gigantic fake reality television show, candidates approved by their party, and no others, compete to fool the most people (sheep) in order to garner enough “votes”. Gamblers get to support their team through huge wheelbarrows of cash. Supposed unaffiliated organizations spend millions of dollars promoting one candidate over another, or destroying one over the other.
It is all an exciting game. And we are always the losers." -Some Blogging Guy - I might stop voting
August 9th, 2010 by Howard
I agree with this guy on this point...
Just Read the previous posts....
IF THERE WAS EVER A MORE PERFECT TIME THAN NOW WOULD BE "RECALL"
ALL OF THE UNREFORMABLE ONES WHO VOTED IN FAVOR FOR THE MARLIN AND THE JACKSON FIASCO.
RILEY
I agree with the comments on the Stadium. The BCC should have at the very least forced the Marlins to open their books. Gimenez sponsored an amendment to the agreement that would have forced just that, but, what do you think the rest of the Commission did? That's right, nothing. He ended up voting against it, and I agree with that position.
As for the County Manager position being eliminated, I was fine with it. Those that wrote against the move should understand this:
(1) Since the electorate voted for a Strong Mayor form of government, the County Manager has no power today anyways.
(2) The Mayor, today, and since the Strong Mayor initiative was passed, has the duties to run day to day operations, fire and hire employees, etc.
(3) The County Manager's position in the current charter is tantamount to a glorified Chief of Staff.
(4) If you want a Strong Mayor, which I disagreed with for the reasons stated above (i.e. easier to fire a bad County Manager than a bad Mayor), there is no reason to double the administration by having a Couty Manager. The people voted for the Strong Mayor, that debate ended when we voted for the Strong Mayor form of government.
(5) Today, we are spending approximately $1 million a year in salary, perks, pension and insurance for both the sitting Mayor and the County Manager.
I understand that all this can be confusing at times, but, I am fairly confident that those comments against removing the County Manager are based on assumptions that are not true, as detailed above. I wonder if they might change their mind.
As far as the County Manager in paper the above anon is right in real life, I dont believe this Mayor could run the county which is why he didnt get rid of the county manager.
Last anon---quite frankly, there are not many people here who can run the County alone, while also being Mayor. Not enough hours in the day to put up with all the crap. Media events and inquiries, ribbon cuttings, county events, Commission meetings, school events, museum events, police and fire events, intergovernmental affairs, State affairs, National affairs, Hurricanes, Airport and Port affairs, police shootings, JMH meetings, Bond meetings, meetings with staff, meeting with constituents, etc, etc, etc...
For those of you who are having major heartburn because the County Manager was eliminated from the charter, let me quote the charter on the functions of the County Manager:
" The Manager shall serve under the direction of the Mayor and, as directed by the Mayor, shall assist the Mayor in the administration of County government. The Managers compensation shall be set by the Mayor."
That's it. No other duties or responsibilities. No power to do anything , other than what the Mayor wants to delegate. This could range from running the entire county to watching the elevators. All the powers that used to reside with the Manager have been transfered to the Mayor.
No one doubts that any Mayor will need help in administering the county. Some more than others. But no other strong mayor system has a County Manager position specifically mentioned. It is a vestige of a system of government that no longer exists in Miami-Dade.
I find it hilarious that Sosa is attempting to stop the deal that if it wasn't for her was approved. She was bused at the last minute to cast her vote to put us in this mess.
My hat goes off to Martinez, Gimenez, Sorenson and Heyman who knew the Marlins were not being honest.
Last anon, remember, Martinez voted for the no-bid deal. That required a super majority of the Commission, and had he voted against it, the Stadium deal would have been dead. That's right, dead. He knew it, Sarnoff knew it too, but they both still voted against the "deal" and for the "no-bid" so they could say that they voted against the "deal". Fact is, they didn't. When the Marlins needed their vote, they were right there for them. The Marlins did not need them for the "deal" because that only required a simple majority. When will someone take these two to task for this???
As to the county Manager being easy to get rid of vs a mayor= remember Steve Shiver was probably the worst manager in the County's history and it took 4 very long and painful years to get rid of him.
If he hadn't finally pissed off Penelas over his shenanigans with the Air Base lawsuits he'd probably still be there.
$3.5 BILLION. $3.5 Bil. That is what the Marlins are getting from the taxpayers. The costs, expenses and debt service for the stadium, the many garages and the free site will well exceed $3.5 BILLION. The cost will be more if in later years the County and the City refinance the debt and spread it out longer than the current 40 year schedule. $3.5 Bil.
Larry Spring, CFO of Miami, is being investigated by the SEC for telling investors and lenders the City was in great financial shape when the truth differed. Pimping for the Marlins might have ramifications.
Burgess, Alvarez, Diaz, Souto, Sosa, Sarnoff, Jordan, Moss, Seijas, Robaina, Barreiro, sounds like a baseball team line up not a bunch of commissioners and mayors...fire them ALL!
03/23/09 11:56 PM ET
Marlins' ballpark vote passes
Retractable-roof stadium slated for 2012 opening
By Joe Frisaro / MLB.com
Marlins' ballpark vote passes
MIAMI -- At last, a home the Marlins can truly call their own.
Miami-Dade County commissioners on Monday put to rest more than a decade-long quest by voting in favor of a retractable-roof ballpark for the Marlins on the Orange Bowl grounds. Commissioners cast two separate votes, the first came back, 9-4, and the second was 10-3.
Since winning the World Series in 1997, three separate Marlins owners have sought a baseball-only facility. Now that will become a reality. The next step is moving toward breaking ground by July in hopes of getting the building open by 2012.
"You'd kind of hope that after eight, nine, 10 years, something does come out of it," Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria said. "It got done tonight. Eventually, I thought it was going to happen. Miami is really a great place to live. You need a baseball team not to leave. It's now resolved."
From the time they entered the league in 1993, the Marlins have shared Dolphin Stadium with the NFL's Miami Dolphins.
The retractable-roof park will seat 37,000 on the Orange Bowl grounds in the Little Havana section of Miami.
Moving into their own home is part of rebirth of the franchise. When the team begins playing at the Orange Bowl, it will be renamed the Miami Marlins. The club's lease at the park is 35 years.
The vote came after 9 1/2 hours of meetings.
continued...
MLB President and COO Bob DuPuy was at the meeting, representing the league.
"Major League Baseball is thrilled over the outcome tonight," DuPuy said. "This was an extraordinary session, and I thank everybody in the county for their hard work. There is a lot of hard work still to do, but the fun part starts now."
The team is under lease to remain at Dolphin Stadium through 2010. With the new park scheduled to open in 2012, the team will begin negotiating with Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross for a one-year extension.
Literally thousands of hours went into negotiating the project. And the current stadium deal on the Orange Bowl grounds has been in the works for 2 1/2 years.
The cost of the project is $625 million for the stadium and a parking lot. It's a public/private venture that includes input from the Marlins, Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami.
"I want to thank Jeffrey Loria, the owner of this team, who from Day 1 made a mandate and committed us to getting this deal done," Marlins president David Samson said. "I'm very humbled today, because the work starts. The partnership starts now.
"All the work we've done to get to this point is very exciting, and I'm very glad. But when you hear Mr. Loria talk about the benefits of Miami-Dade and all the people of Miami-Dade, that starts today."
Before reaching the county commission, the city of Miami approved the project by a 3-2 vote on March 19.
After the votes were counted, representatives from the city of Miami joined Miami-Dade County commissioners during the news conference. Also on hand were Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez and city of Miami mayor Manny Diaz.
"Now, we've got to get the stadium built," Alvaraz said after thanking the work of the city and county. "It means a lot of jobs, and that's what we heard from our community tonight. ... It's a good day for Miami-Dade County."
With the park now a reality, Major League Baseball and the Marlins will move forward with the construction of an Urban Youth Academy in Hialeah, Fla., which is north of downtown Miami in Miami-Dade County.
Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina spoke publicly in favor of the park, and he noted the benefits the youth academy will make for all of South Florida.
Scam.
The Miami-Dade County administrators lead by George Burgess are idiots.
Lambs being lead to the slaughter.
Or maybe they just took bribes?
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