I Can't Express How I Feel With Words. By Geniusofdespair

I have no words right now on the bloodbath in Tallahassee because I am so sad...and angry. If you need words...see what Gimleteye wrote below and read the Miami Herald's article Environmentalists are furious with Florida lawmakers for approving measures that would end decades of growth-management laws.

A State Run By Liars: have Florida voters given up on Florida? ... by gimleteye

The worst legislative session in Florida history is all but done. GOP legislators-- the most conservative in modern history-- wiped out more than 30 years of environmental protections with scarcely a debate in the Senate. Is this what Florida voters wanted, when they elected Rick Scott as governor and a legislature that clearly meant to use the economic crisis to impose a final solution on environmental rules? Those are the same special interests that pushed the economy built from housing and construction off a cliff with support for fraudulent growth schemes sold to gullible buyers as "what the market wants".

One thing is for certain: the land speculators who control Miami-Dade County are thrilled that the Florida Department of Community Affairs is gone: now it will be up to the county commission to allow more platted subdivisions and strip malls all the way to the Everglades. Just like Broward. And Palm Beach, on behalf of the billionaire Fanjul sugar barons, is not far behind. What is nauseating, more, is that they didn't even wait for the legislative session to finish before setting the gears in motion; using county commissioner Linda Bell to pick up where disgraced and recalled Natacha Seijas left off-- hobble the county's environmental regulatory agency, DERM.

This is the catastrophic result of an economic crash, unequalled since the Great Depression through which no accountability was ever assessed. If the perpetrators had been held to account, then voters might have some clue about who was responsible and what is needed to reverse a course that has already shifted millions of middle class Americans into what appears to be a permanent state of fear and uncertainty.

The GOP in Florida successfully exploited this climate of fear. But what about Florida's Democrats? Where was the leadership to explain to Floridians how voters' pockets were thoroughly picked during the boom and now their possessions sold to carpet baggers during the bust? Where is the Democratic voice standing up for protecting Florida's natural resources and communities from lobbyists like Associated Industries and other so-called business leaders who betrayed thirty years of effort to control the rampant sprawl and over-development of Florida?

In fact, the elimination of robust Democratic leadership in Florida has marginalized moderate Republicans, too. What is left is the radicalized, extremist version of the GOP that turned this legislative session in Tallahassee into a bloodbath against environmental protections and the very notion of the public commons.

Environmentalists are back to square one in Florida, but the baseline of natural resources shifted long ago to something unrecognizable. Florida's waters are more polluted, degraded, and filled with toxics like mercury and still voters are passive, compliant, and mute. Republicans charge that environmentalists are "sensationalizing" the impact of this session's revolution. At best they have blinded themselves. At worst they are shameless liars, doing what they do to maintain their standard of living. Honestly: their programs can't be based on principle, because if the record of the last fifteen years shows us anything it is that empowering corporations and private industry to "take over" the functions of government does not work, pure and simple. They gave us a government designed to fail. Florida belongs, now, to the scavengers.

Photos worth a thousand words. By Geniusofdespair

The Miami Conservative blog calls this Julio's 'Charlie Crist Moment' (when he hugged Obama). Note that John Rivera of the PBA is standing next to Hialeah Julio. Rivera is running a campaign against Carlos Gimenez.

Natacha Seijas with our least favorite new County Commissioner Lynda Bell.

And of course...Let's go to the video tape where you can see Hialeah Julio and Carlos Gimenez duke it out over the Marlin's stadium deal (The reason everyone is laughing at the end of the video; that is Roosevelt Bradley, the fired head of transit for the County, who stands up):

Hialeah Julio: hating on the Herald ... by gimleteye

Miami Dade mayoral candidate Julio Robaina decided that he would not interview with the Herald editorial board because, he claims, the horrible journalism that identified his role in questionable business dealings related to real estate and private loans compromised the ability of the editorial board to discern who would be the best mayor of the state's most populous county. It is a conspiracy, Hialeah Julio, says.

What it is, is a political calculation that he doesn't need to explain his policies and ideas to voters whose primary language is English and who read the Herald. Because Eyeonmiami supports Carlos Gimenez to be the next Miami Dade mayor, it is going to be hard to brand this conclusion as anti-Hispanic. (Gimenez, like Robaina, is Cuban American.) It is simply the truth that hating on the Herald has a long history in Miami.

Robaina joins a trend that is disturbing, and one embraced by our barely legal governor Rick Scott who ignored the state's newspaper editorial boards on the way to the Governor's Mansion last fall. Robaina's calculation is based on the assumption that voters ignore the Herald; that since people don't read anyway, it can't harm to vote for someone who is the most telegenic, the most capable of manipulating 20 second spots on television, or who has figured out how to win based on appealing to demographic segments who are Southern Baptist, or charismatic Christians, or Jewish, or belong to unions. It is also based on Robaina's calculation that the Herald can't help him at any rate with white, non-Hispanic voters, or, that the endorsement could hurt his opponent more than help him.

Rick Scott bought his way to the Governor's Mansion and proved the point. Hialeah Julio, who has already amassed a significant monetary advantage over his competitors, is counting on the power of money to trump the public disinterest in a fatally weakened political system: democracy.

This failure has many fathers and if it were to be measured in years, the child would be nearly forty years old, dating back to Watergate (with its own Miami connections) and unwillingness of Congress to put an end to abusive campaign finance practices that badly deformed democracy in the intervening decades.

We know what needs to be done: first, make television political ad time freely available to any qualified candidate as a condition of broadcasters' licenses. A hundred inane candidates delivering bad sound bites would quickly reduce the influence of TV ads in political campaigns. The second, public campaign financing. The third, to strongly criminalize unethical campaign practices. Put the miscreants in jail for five years who get away with provable lies.

There won't be change until Congress leads the way, and there will be no change in Congress because special interests who fund political campaigns have locked up the possibility of change and thrown away the key. The net result is that the United States economy is in a race to the bottom like a block of cement tied to a chain and thrown over the side of the ship of state. Business interests are too absorbed in tomorrow's profits to worry on our behalf what happens next week, next month, or next year. It is time for a Constitutional Convention; that's where the nation's progressives should be putting their money. 

In the meantime, Hialeah Julio and speculator investors will do the predictable: paint failures as success and park in the VIP slots at the Marlins Stadium until sea levels rise and the whole Ponzi scheme, nuclear power plants and all, sink beneath the implacable sea.

And the Beauty Contest Winner is Kristin Jacobs. By Geniusofdespair

She is pretty, she is smart and she is Broward's Katy Sorenson. We should have more like Kristin Jacobs in Florida. Miami Springs Councilman Dan Espino gave it a good shot, but Kristen edged him out with my strong vote. I think it was the long hair on one side and the shorter hair on the other, a little unconventional and rebellious, that tipped the scale for me.

Congratulations to the winner Broward County Commissioner Kristen Jacobs and the runner up, Dan Espino. See the nominees.

M&M Liquor Does It Again! By Geniusofdespair

Love the sense of humor of the owner of M&M Liquors in Hialeah. The signs must give Julio Robaina heartburn. Here is there last sign.

Don't Believe the Robo-call About Eye On Miami And Carlos Gimenez...By Geniusofdespair

I think Keith Donner is doing the robo-call saying that Eye On Miami said that Carlos wants to...I am not going to say what the robo-call says because then it will be on the blog. Suffice it to say it is NOT TRUE. It is probably something they cobbled together out of context. We endorsed the man! We endorsed the BEST candidate: Carlos Gimenez. Actually I think this is very funny. Who ever heard of Eye on Miami anyway? Our 20 readers? Now all the robo-call recipients know of us. Thanks Keith, but next time get your story straight.

I thought I would leave you with a scenic photo of Hialeah. Enjoy! Isn't that Catherine Cue in that car?

Someone said the PBA is funding the attack ads. Not this happy fat guy. Couldn't be. The police wouldn't be putting out inaccurate ads, would they? Never. They just put out stupid songs. Right? You guys...you make us hate unions.

Hialeah Julio Robaina is staying away from white non-Hispanics. By Geniusofdespair

He didn't show at the Herald interview - I heard he told the Herald he didn't want it- or at a number of debates attended by whites. The accountability project is running phony robocalls saying we at Eye on Miami are saying Gimenez will move the UDB line. Let me remind you all-- We endorsed Carlos Gimenez for Mayor. And he has never voted to move the line. More important, we think that by his actions, i.e. dissing our mayors, not showing up at our debates/forums, Hialeah Julio does not care one iota about non-Hispanic whites in Miami Dade County. Put that in your attack robocall Accountability Project/ Keith Donner.

Old People Being Abused vs. The Price of Gas. By Geniusofdespair

The Miami Herald has been running an I-Team investigation series about the abuse of the elderly. It is a good report. I was thinking, while reading about a woman who fell 11 times, how do you prevent that? These old people don't listen. My mother-in-law insisted on trying to walk on her own (she was not mentally impaired) all the time, and fell a bunch of times. An aide can  only be at her side so much of the time (we had one 24 hours) and when they are in a facility they have to wait for an aide to come. Most old people I know don't know how to wait. So what are these facilities suppose to do to stop them from walking on their own? Tie them up? Drug them? In the ALF my mother-in-law was at, they wouldn't put the walker near her. She complained bitterly about that to anyone who would listen. That is another thing, she complained so much it was hard to tell what was important. She cried wolf about 100 times a day, most of it was about inefficient aides.  And she fell 6 or 7 times and she was far from abused. Anyway, this is just an observation on why these ALF's have it hard. 

I am also trying to figure out if the Miami Herald is getting any mileage out of this subject, it is so depressing. Do people in Florida care about seniors? I think they care a lot more about the price of gas. I think the Herald is banking on  journalism awards with this one.

Everglades suffering from sulfate runoff, Methylmercury contamination ... by gimleteye

From the Florida Independent:

The use of sulfate in agricultural areas near the Florida Everglades is creating an enormous mercury problem — with seemingly no end in sight.

The Florida Everglades are often thought of as the state’s wildest and most untamed area, well-protected and far from the grind of urban civilization, a lush wetland with a folkloric reputation that separates it from the hustle and bustle of nearby Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

Some of the state’s most ubiquitous creatures call the area home: manatees, alligators, wading birds. But lurking below the surface, amid the highly diverse flora and fauna, is a surprisingly large amount of a notoriously toxic substance: Methylmercury.

According to scientists, the Methylmercury issue rivals other better-known ecological issues in the state, like nutrient overload in Florida waterways. Nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen have long been thought of as villains in Florida waterways, due to their capacity to breed toxic algal blooms that lead to fish and dolphin kills.

Sulfate is often used as a means to kill those noxious algal blooms. In this process, sulfate (sulfur combined with oxygen) is added directly to water, eventually finding its way into Stormwater Treatment Areas, manmade wetlands that are specifically designed to filter pollution before it enters the Everglades.

Miami New Times hits home run on new Marlin's Stadium fraud ... by gimleteye

New Times writer Tim Elfrink writes, "Six lies about the Marlins stadium" in this week's edition. "Stealing Home" reminds what a valuable function the New Times serves our community. Watching the stadium rise, and knowing that it is primarily a shining landmark for political corruption, is a daily reminder too. Let's hope that Miami Dade voters get the point that candidate for mayor Julio Robaina was a supporter of the stadium. That's what cost Carlos Alvarez his job.

Charter Change to Give Raises to County Commissioners? No way! Guest Blog by weRwatching

We will soon be voting on charter amendments. For the umpteenth time the commission is asking for a raise. They have sweetened the pot with nonsense. The commission has begged for a charter amendment to be paid according to the state formula, I’ve lost count how many times.

So why aren’t they paid according to the state scale? Because Miami-Dade is a home rule county. We have our own charter. Buried in that charter is language that gives the people the ability to set commission salaries, and we have kept it at $6,000 for a long time. Maybe we think that is all they are worth. Maybe we resent their perks which are most generous. Maybe we think they have enough. Maybe we don’t like the corruption. Regardless of the reasons it is one way, and about the only way, that people have any control over an unreformable county commission.

Yet, this paltry salary attracts candidates and the incumbents seem happy enough to run over and over. There must be something I am missing. Some argue that raising the salary will “attract better candidates”. It might, but they can’t win with our dysfunctional district voting. Each commissioner has a fiefdom. They keep their own happy and screw the rest of us to keep the lobbyists happy so the campaign money keeps flowing. Short of death, resignation or indictment, they always win.

Now the rest of the story: If we change the charter to pay based on the state formula, we have lost our only control of the commission. Forever more they will be paid by that formula with regular increases as population increases. No more input from us!

I think I will wait for some meaningful charter changes. In the meantime, I want to keep my little control.

Donations to Luis Posada Carriles are illegal campaign expenses. By Hialeah Julio Robaina. By Geniusofdespair

This is not legal, giving CAMPAIGN FUNDS to the defense fund for Luis Posada Carriles. Hialeah Julio Robaina also made a campaign account donations to Carriles for $800 on 4/11 and a third one on 2/15/11 for $350,  total $1,650.

Candidates can only make donations of excess money AFTER the election.

On a related matter Julio Robaina once again chose not to attend a debate. This time the luncheon of the Downtown Bay Forum. Does Julio Robaina have a thing against anyone living on the East side of the County? It sure seems like he does.

County Mayoral Debate Sponsored by Kendall Federation. Guest Blog by Kendall Lady

Candidate Jose Pepe Cancio: He actually grabbed the microphone and explained that he once moved the UDB and was proud to do it because it was the right thing to do, not even sensing that he was playing that drama to the wrong crowd.

Well, it finally happened on May 2nd. A county commission election event with all the candidates on deck! Congratulations to the Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations; your organization managed a coup.

It was a fun evening if you didn’t have your dog in the fight. There were lots of squirmy candidates, some eye rolling and some questions being avoided. By the end, the audience’s attention bounced back and forth between Carlos Gimenez and Hialeah’s Julio Robiana. Gimenez finally lost it when Hialeah Julio stated that he did not support the Marlins contract and would make them come back to the bargaining table. Carlos Gimenez stood up and told the audience to go to the county website and look at the hearing tape. He said that Julio was one of three mayors (Alvarez, Diaz and Robiana) in attendance that supported 'The Deal'.

(See the tape here)


Hialeah Julio countered with a whiny “He is always attacking me at forums”. Will someone please tell Julio he has to actually go to forums before he can whine about being attacked at them? Julio also said during the Marlin’s hearing that he “meant” that he supported Major League Baseball; not just the Marlins and not 'The Deal'. Julio, watch the video. Read what is on the screen below your face. Really. The County Commission meeting was about the deal!

Both Gimenez and Hialeah Julio danced around the UDB question. Gimenez pointed out that he was always one of the sustaining five votes when Mayor Alvarez vetoed a UDB move. He finally indicated that he would have to consider an UDB move on a case-by-case basis. He DID NOT say he would move it, and hasn't yet. Hialeah Julio says he will continue to use good planning practices just like Hialeah’s when considering UDB issues. Ahhhhh. I think Hialeah Julio doesn’t live in the same Hialeah I drive through. Who wants the county to look like Hialeah? Not me.

As you may have guessed, the stars of the event were Carlos Gimenez and Hialeah’s Julio Robiana. However, Luther Campbell, of the Booty Coalition, essentially sounded rational on some points.

The candidates each had their own special personalities:

Assault on environment led by the ill-informed, shortsighted ... by gimleteye

In the Orlando Sentinel, Scott Maxwell has it exactly right: legislators in Tallahassee are caught in a tidal wave of ignorance. While he suggests "taking names", he won't name, names. Carpet baggers like Barney Bishop of Associated Industries and the hoi polloi of Florida's business community who won't stand up for reason, even though their predecessors and, yes, even Republican leaders in the past had the good sense not to throw Florida's environmental protections under the bus. But on this important point, we can definitely agree: Miami-Dade state legislators are simply not held to account by voters for taking positions that are so antithetical to the public interest: Exhibit A, the destruction of the state planning agency, the Florida Department of Community Affairs. Who can argue that the Urban Development Boundary is a bad thing? Land speculators. Period. Who can argue that the Miami-Dade County Commission isn't fully committed to weaseling out of requirements to protect the UDB according to state law? No one. Unfortunately, none of our local mass market media pays attention to what our state legislators do, during session. They can't afford to. And are we ever paying the price.

Scott Maxwell TAKING NAMES

In a moment, I'm going to tell you about plans to gut one of Florida's key environmental programs — one meant to safeguard everything from manatees to the seafood you eat.

The program is cheap. Its effectiveness has been touted by politicians on both sides of the aisle. Yet, Florida politicians are trying to degrade it as we speak.

But first, I want to offer you a window into the mind of your typical state legislator.

It's a scary place. But if we're going to deal with those who are trying to take Florida back to the Dark Ages, we must understand how they think.

Our subject is state Rep. Chris Dorworth.

Six months ago, the Lake Mary Republican met with the Orlando Sentinel's editorial board to try to score a campaign endorsement.

During the meeting, the ed board was trying to understand why Dorworth wanted to dismantle the Department of Community Affairs, the agency charged with ensuring sensible land planning.

The agency had thrived under governors ranging from Bob Graham to Jeb Bush, with all of them touting DCA as a guard for both residents and the land.

But Dorworth thought DCA was a problem. He claimed the agency constantly blocked wonderful and sensible projects.

Really? The ed board asked for an example.

"There have been numerous examples," he replied.

OK. So how about you name one of them?

"I think every single time they work on anything," Dorworth continued. "They kick back plans all the time."

Then it should be easy for you to cite one.

"Listen, I'm not going to tell you whether a project has merit or not," Dorworth responded (right after saying DCA was constantly blocking projects with merit). "I'm going to tell you that DCA has shut down several projects."

So DCA was busy killing projects "all the time." There were "numerous examples." Yet the man wanting to undermine DCA couldn't cite a single one.

This, my friends, is what passes for leadership in your state.

Facts, logic and our natural resources are becoming casualties of an ideological war.

President Obama: to release the death photo or not ... by gimleteye

What would you do if you were President Obama: release a photo that will galvanize extremist Muslims who hate the United States, or, keep it secret and provide ammunition to conspiracy theorists and domestic opponents? Another way to ask the question: who is hurt by its release?

There is no obligation to release the photo. Certainly the public is interested. Already, the question whether Bin Laden was armed or not when he was killed is front page news. To me it doesn't matter. Our aim was to murder him.

Iconic images become collective experience, though. On balance, a decision by President Obama to release the photo should be weighed in respect to the amorphous battle against Al Qaeda and Arab populations that may be more or less susceptible to being inflamed by publishing Bin Laden death photos.

We waited 10 years to see the man responsible for 9/11 held to account. There is no harm to us, in waiting to release the photos if the uncertainty puts Al Qaeda at a disadvantage and deprives our enemies of iconic images to stir hatred against us.

If Money Rules: Hialeah Julio Will Be Hard to Beat. By Geniusofdespair

Hialeah Julio now has a whopping $767,075 in his campaign account with less than half of that spent. His report is a who's who of developers, i.e. Century Homebuilders (Sergio Pino) gave him $3,000, Wayne Rosen gave him $1,500 (often partner of Lennar). One developer gave him $5,500 from different companies - Roberto Cayon (address 3839 W. 16th Ave.). Maurice Cayon controlled companies gave him about $7,500 (address 3857 W. 16th Ave.). They must want him pretty bad. He got LOTS of gambling money too.

Looks like the developers are betting on Julio as Gimenez's report is devoid of them for the most part. Carlos has about $100,000 left in his account. While Julio is fundraising, Carlos is doing debates. If money is the key, we can expect Hialeah Julio to be our next mayor. Only you can help, if you ask your friends to email other friends and facebook it...maybe you can change the tide of this election. I figured we could actually get a worse mayor than we had...that is why I never supported the recall. Don't let my prediction come true! Make this a word of mouth campaign. Send them to this link.

Privatized Prisons: A study of Public Corruption in Florida and Recommended Solutions ... by gimleteye

It is astonishing to read press accounts of the Florida legislature decision to allow large scale privatization of Florida's prisons. I have yet to read one report that notes how the 2011 19th State Grand Jury Report on Public Corruption highlights Florida's privatized prisons. The problem with privatization is that ethical violations are sheltered from already inadequate and dismal protections of the public interest. The preamble to the February 11, 2011 report begins, "We hope our words are heard and our recommendations are followed." The Grand Jury also writes, "The time of this Report is intentional. We recommend the 2011 legislative session address our concerns with urgency..." Based on the refusal of the GOP led legislature to even take up ethics reform while furthering the chances for corruption through privatization, the answer to that hope would be "no".

Watch Out For Barney Bishop - AGAIN! By Geniusofdespair

The Miami Herald insists on publishing any drivel that Associated Industries of Florida's leader Barney Bishop writes. I guess the Herald is afraid of him. I say: Know your enemies. Both of us have warned you about Barney - Rick Scott's pal - before, in 19 posts (23 about AIF). Barney always refers to studies - he has an EXPERT study on everything. In his letter to the Miami Herald yesterday, he mentions the Reason Foundation. According to Wikipedia:

"Reason is self-described as nonpartisan and publishes a statement of values that can best be described as libertarian. Like most think tanks, they are a non-profit, tax-exempt organization that provides papers and studies to support a particular set of values."

He also brings up TaxWatch. Here is the speaker line-up at their upcoming Board of Trustees Meeting (Do they sound Republican Partisan enough?):
The Honorable Rick Scott, Governor, State of Florida
The Honorable Pam Bondi, Attorney General, State of Florida (Confirmed)
The Honorable Jeff Atwater, Chief Financial Officer, State of Florida (Confirmed)
The Honorable Adam Putnam, Commissioner of Agriculture, State of Florida
The Honorable Marco Rubio, Senator, United States Senate
Florida Department of Juvenile Justice Secretary Wansley Walters (Confirmed)
The Honorable Mike Haridopolos, President, The Florida Senate (Confirmed)
The Honorable Dean Cannon, Speaker, Florida House of Representatives
The Honorable Will Weatherford, Speaker Designate, Florida House of Representatives

TaxWatch got the Prudential - Davis Productivity Award. Guess who is one of the Judges for this award? Barney Bishop. I wouldn't trust any study TaxWatch put out. Barney Bishop you can't fool me. Here is TaxWatch's Executive Committee:

Jeb is getting in the middle of the mayoral campaign. By Geniusofdespair

Jeb Bush is doing robo-calls for Hialeah Julio Robaina.

Bring our troops home! ... by gimleteye

Bin Laden is dead. He deserved his end, whether it happened yesterday or a year ago. But don't imagine his murder changes our trillion dollar errors in fighting far flung wars or signifies a change in our problematic, unsustainable relationships in the Muslim world. Al Qaeda morphed long ago; folding the Taliban and tribal thugs into a stateless enemy that has gotten immensely rich selling drugs, exhorting Muslims to hate Israel, extorting the United States Treasury and taking aim at nations that supply oil we need. It is not a conventional enemy and can't be fought with a conventional military. For a very long time, we will need to pile our investment into human intelligence, counter insurgencies, and domestic policies that reduce the underground drug economy. Our military industrial complex now includes a massive support infrastructure provided by US corporations. President Obama appealed to American exceptionalism in his speech last night because its themes are resonant with the conservative right. True conservatives would be offering ways to cut back on conventional military spending and trimming our military industrial complex so that our nation does not go bankrupt, not cheering a dead man's head on a pike.

A Vote For Luther Campbell Should be Just That. By Geniusofdespair

If you are voting for Luther Campbell because you think he will be the best man to be Mayor, I am okay with that. If you are voting for Campbell as a protest because you actually think he would be the most absurd choice, I want to give you a warning. That kind of vote will backfire on you and we will probably end up with the Latin Builders Association's (LBA) choice: Hialeah Julio Robaina.

This election isn't a joke. Take it seriously and vote for the person who you think will do the best job. I keep asking myself, who would actually want to be mayor anyway?  I wouldn't. There isn't enough money in Miami to entice me into being the mayor of this wacky county. It is going to be a thankless job.

Should We Widen SW 157th Avenue? Guest Blog by Ted Wilde

Below is my recent citizen’s comment to the Citizen's Independent Transportation Trust. On April 25, the CITT approved its 5-year plan, including the SW 157th Ave. widening, with two dissenting votes. Implementation of the SW 157th Ave. project will require two votes on specific contracts later this year, after the mandated further traffic study. One contract will be for moving the power lines and other utilities; the second will be the contract for the actual construction. This project Is not only a further waste of $11 million, it can readily be used in the near future to support moving the UDB with the argument: “the infrastructure is already in place." (Genius: Lennar/Ed Easton's Parkland Development of Regional Impact is in this area as well as other mega developments like Horton Homes).

An expensive, unnecessary planned project: widening from two to four lanes with raised median the road segment of SW 157th Ave. from SW 152nd St. to SW 184th St.;

Summary. This lane-doubling project at this time is an ill-advised use of a further $11 million of CITT funds. Benefits claimed for this project, like the provision of north-south connectivity, are already available now, with no investment at all. Traffic moves without congestion the whole day, including during morning and afternoon rush hours, as can be verified by site visits. This project is in the 5-year plan presented for CITT approval today. The CITT should amend the plan to remove this project.

The Public Works Department [PWD] plans to conclude contracts this year for utility relocation and for construction. The CITT memo accompanying the 5-year plan recommends for this project, “that traffic studies be updated prior to immediate commencement of construction.” This is not a promising step. It sounds like the decision is already made and the traffic study is window dressing for starting as soon as possible. In reality, the 2006 traffic study specifically indicated comfortable traffic levels far below capacity, but that did not deter Public Works, the County Administration, and Commissioner Moss from advocating this expensive road expansion. None of the official presentations of this project to the CITT communicated that the whole west side of this road segment is agricultural land outside the Urban Development Boundary [UDB]. This bordering on the UDB makes this segment different from the already improved segments of SW 157th Ave. to the north, which pass through populated areas on both sides of the road. By omitting this information on the UDB, the presentations withhold information needed for an intelligent decision by the CITT.

Osama bin Laden Dead. By Geniusofdespair

It's about time we got him. I think it is amusing that the President's announcement about it interrupted Donald Trump's show The Celebrity Apprentice. Karma return? Lots of Karma exchanges tonight.

I hope this guy doesn't turn into a martyr...who am I kidding, that is exactly what he will be in death. I expect the violence will ratchet up for a while around the world in retaliation. But we will never forget 9/11. At least 2,985 people died in the September 11, 2001, attacks, including:

* 19 terrorists
* 2,966 victims [2,998 as of Spring 2009]

All but 13 people died on that day. The remaining 13 later died of their wounds. One person has died since the attacks, of lung cancer. It is suspected to have been caused by all the debris from the Twin Towers.

There were 266 people on the four planes:

* American Airlines Flight 11 (crashed into the WTC): 92 (including five terrorists)
* United Airlines Flight 175 (crashed into the WTC): 65 (including five terrorists)
* American Airlines Flight 77 (crashed into the Pentagon): 64 (including five terrorists)
* United Flight 93 (downed in Shanksville, PA): 45 (including four terrorists)

There were 2,595 people in the World Trade Center and near it, including:

* 343 NYFD firefighters and paramedics
* 23 NYPD police officers
* 37 Port Authority police officers
* 1,402 people in Tower 1
* 614 people in Tower 2
* 1 NYFD firefighter killed by a man jumping off the top floors of the Twin Towers

Oysters, Tarpon and Tornadoes ... by gimleteye

For the past two springs, migrating tarpon in the Florida Keys have been plentiful. This is, on face value, startingly good news in an age of dwindling fisheries. It is perplexing, though, because water quality in the Keys has sharply declined in recent decades.

Miami Herald fishing writer Susan Cocking suggests—because there is no knowing—that tarpon in the past two seasons have been attracted to warmer water temperatures. For certain, the same warm gulf that is half the equation of the massive spawn of tornadoes in the American south is good for tarpon. There is another possible explanation.

Tarpon are migratory and spend a good part of their life cycle traversing the Gulf of Mexico, from Mexico along the Texas coast into Gulf waters, then around the Florida peninsula towards North Carolina. In other words, through the region where Deepwater Horizon triggered the worst environmental disaster in US history.

We can't ask these prehistoric creatures whether bad Gulf water chased them across the Gulf into the Keys, instead of lingering where food supply may be even more scarce; but these stupid fish are pretty damn smart when it comes to getting out of harm's way. They didn't survive millions of years on luck.

They are hard wired to evade threats, and that's more than I can say about our highly evolved species. We are wired to the short-term. In a recent speech, former vice president Al Gore noted-- with some humor-- that we respond to the scrolling bars at the bottom of CNN and Fox as a matter of instinct: back in the day when predators chased us, failing to capture the smallest changes in our environment could be the difference between life and death.

Some of us are resentful that science will never overtake the complexities of a changing climate or our influences. But we do have guides from the past. Dr. Harold Wanless, the chair of the geology department at the University of Miami, has been studying core samples taken from the tip of the Everglades. The relic oyster shells and fossil record shows that sea level rise, as a consequence of global climate events, has exposed and submerged Florida several times. Science also shows that when sea levels rose, they rose rapidly.

Can we learn to pay our debts, forward, instead of consuming everything at hand with self-righteous justifications? We are a remarkable species. Moreover, in America we crow about "exceptionalism" but our politics are as base today as they have ever been. The question for civilization is: can we by-pass what harms us and reverse climate change. Can we change our behaviors without the assurances of science to predict exactly where the next tornado will strike? We had better adapt quickly, because the lessons from Florida is that putting the pieces back together once the whole has been broken-- the Everglades-- makes us less likely than tarpon to survive what comes next.

Logan's Run...Her End Run Around Miami Dade County. By Geniusofdespair

(link if you don't see video)
If you didn't like Anna Rivas Logan before you will hate her after watching this 4/29 discussion about HB 307. The bill would reduce the number of single-member districts of school boards from nine to seven and add two at-large seats in counties with populations of 2 million or greater. Miami-Dade is the only county to which this bill will apply.

It appears there is only one county Orange County (out of 67 counties) that is doing this type of at-large seats out of all the school districts in the state of Florida. This bill is targeting to Miami Dade County. Rep. Dwight Bullard in this discussion, is trying to get to the fact that there can never be a black minority leader of the School Board if the head of the School Board is only chosen from at-large candidates. Logan keeps reverting back to that "Hispanics" are a minority even though they number about 62.5% which makes Hispanics the majority (she said there was an 82% minority in the County) of the County's population. The census says 77% white persons (I guess they included whites and Hispanics, as there are only 17.6% white non Hispanics.) She contends that there can be a minority leader (she is counting Hispanics not just blacks in her definition of minority). Logan is being disingenuous and answering snidely in my view. It is very revealing in part 2. Unfortunately while switching I lost a bit of good dialogue where Bullard asks about Miami Dade County electing blacks Countywide and she brought up Obama when Bullard was obviously talking about local offices. When she says "Obama" she does it with a smug look and then a big smiles, like she is saying "I got you." Here is Part 2: (Link if you don't see video).
Steinberg asks Logan, why didn't you let this get done locally. Very good question Ana...but a very bad answer.