Ultra Accident Critically Injures Guard. By Geniusofdespair

According to Timothy F. Schmand, Executive Director Bayfront Park Management Trust, a tragic incident transpired at the Ultra Music Festival last evening.  Gate crashers pushed a fence over on a security guard causing grave injuries to the guard.  She is currently in hospital in critical condition.

MDX Board Member/Lawyer Robert Holland FINALLY submits a financial disclosure form. By Geniusofdespair

I can see what held up Robert Hollands release of his financial disclosure now.  I can't seem to download it but this is the link. He included his tax return --  that was pretty dumb. It is 20 pages, a very interesting peek into the finances of  Robert Holland.  He amassed $7,500 in fines for not releasing the forms. He has a waterfront home he paid $1,850,000 in 2007 for.

He should get off the MDX Board and go make some money.

State Rep Erik Fresen up to no good AGAIN. Vote him out! By Geniusofdespair

You know how I always depict Erik Fresen with bright white teeth? Isn't this ironic, That his office is located next to a giant tooth? It is a sign to vote him out of office. I did not photoshop - real photo.

According to the Miami Herald: 

Remember that school voucher bill thought to be on life support?

The proposal was given a second chance on Wednesday, thanks to a procedural maneuver by a state representative.

Many observers thought the proposed expansion of the school voucher program was off the table after Sen. Bill Galvano withdrew the Senate version of the bill (SB 1620) last week. Without a companion in the upper chamber, the voucher bill in the House (HB 7099) stood virtually no chance of becoming law.

But late Wednesday, Rep. Erik Fresen combined the voucher language with a separate bill creating education savings accounts for children with special needs. That bill (HB 5103, now PCB EDAS 14-03) has a counterpart being considered in the Senate (SB 1512), and is thus still in play.

Fresen, R-Miami, said it made sense to combine the proposals.

Erik has got to go, his relatives are big charter schools owners...he is self serving -- helping his relatives -- and his teeth are much too bright. Kick him out people. He is up for reelection. Don't any of you think when you vote? Do you just want to make millionaires of the relatives of your representatives, because that is what you are doing with your vote. How many times do I have to write about this guy before you get it?

A New Coalition is Formed - Because an Intelligent Community is Priceless. By Geniusofdespair

There are too many stupid kids out there and the schools are teaching to tests.

After being with an incoherent, almost speechless 13 year old on Wednesday, my respect for Libraries has increased dramatically. A child that doesn't know the meaning of the word skyscraper is pretty sad.  I am a big supporter of this program - From their press release:

COALITION TO SAVE OUR LIBRARIES

A group of like-minded individuals and community organizations are proud to announce the creation of the Coalition to Save Our Libraries, dedicated to the protection, preservation, and enhancement of a priceless community resource, the Miami-Dade Public Library System (MDPLS).

Coalition members include volunteer and charitable organizations, city governments, and
committed individuals from around the county:

- Time 2 Rally - The Knight Foundation
- The Children’s Trust - Friends of the Miami-Dade Public Library
- City of Pinecrest - League of Women Voters of Miami-Dade County
- Library Advisory Board - Community Advocates for Libraries in Miami
- Sustainable Miami (C.A.L.M.)

Despite being less than 1% of the County’s total $4 billion budget, the Miami-Dade Public Library System has been a target of detrimental budget cuts of 25% over the last four years. These cuts generated significant reductions in programs, services, and materials for the community, damaging a one-time award-winning system. In 2013-2014, when the opportunity arose to restore the millage rate supporting the libraries, County Mayor Carlos Gimenez refused to do so and the current budget crisis was further exacerbated.

On Wednesday, March 19, at his request, Mayor Gimenez was presented with two funding scenarios for MDPLS’ 2014-2015 fiscal year: a $30 million budget and a $50 million budget.

It is the firm belief of this Coalition that both plans are inadequate as they call for radically reduced hours, staff, and services, akin to partial closures of library branches. Furthermore, based on the two plans provided, Mayor Gimenez did not follow through with his own Blue Ribbon Task Force’s recommendation to “increase the millage to maintain and enhance library services.” The work of the Task Force has been negated by the Mayor’s actions.

MDPLS needs a minimum budget of $64 million to provide this community the library system it deserves. This includes 8-hour days and at least 5 days of service across all branches, a collection that is current and expansive for all ages, and buildings that are well-staffed with professional librarians offering robust programs and services. Setting the Millage Rate to support $64 million avoids unreasonable, unnecessary, and unwelcome cuts to all 49 branches.

In the coming weeks, this growing advocacy team will launch a major public education and promotion campaign. County residents will learn about the significant benefits of library services offered to everyone. An intelligent community is priceless; the true cost of losing our libraries is too much for our children and our county to pay.l

Why don't you look at the budget for some money? Sell the land to Beckhams, collect the money the Miami Heat is hiding, fire a few of Gimenez's top aides.

ARENA PARK (AKA PARCEL B) 2.76 ACRES - Promised to the people, used as a parking lot for the Miami Heat. By Geniusofdespair

SAVE THE DATE! WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2014

A PUBLIC DISCUSSION ON THE STATUS OF ARENA PARK (Parcel B)

TIME: 6:00 – 8:30 PM

LOCATION: MIAMI CENTER FOR ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
100 NE 1st AVE, Miami

ADMISSION FREE - INFORMATION: 404-594-283

Sponsors:
The Arena Park Forum
The Urban Environment League &
Downtown Bay Forum

1996: THE COUNTY’S PROMISED PARK   

TODAY: THE SAD REALITY - VACANT

SPEAKERS TO INCLUDE:

URBAN PLANNER ELIZABETH PLATER-ZYBERK

UNIV OF MIAMI HISTORIAN GREG BUSH

UEL BOARD MEMBER GRACE SOLARES

FORUM ISSUES:

A waterfront park was promised to the citizens of Miami-Dade as part of a negotiated deal to approve the Heat Arena. The site, also known as Parcel B, is a 2.76 acre waterfront parcel directly east of American Airlines/Miami Heat Arena.

18 years later this prime waterfront site sits fallow, vacant and fenced-off from Public access or use.

Miami-Dade needs more well designed green spaces. A 2004 planning effort led by the nationally acclaimed Project for Public Spaces, inc. (www.pps.org) in conjunction with the Bayfront Park Trust came up with recommendations for the Arena Park site: participants supported keeping this space well programmed with park-like features and amenities, such as shade trees, benches and seating, places to picnic or BBQ, and casual activities (pick-up soccer rather than scheduled leagues). It would be more of a neighborhood park serving area residents and it would become a central part of a continuous bay front promenade with unique views of our beautiful waterfront.     
Do you want a county 2.76 acre neighborhood waterfront park promised to voters in 1996 to - finally - become a reality?

The UEL has a proud 15-year history of involvement in important local issues - from preserving Virginia Key and Bicentennial Park from thoughtless development to leading the struggle to preserve the Urban Development Boundary Line by working with other local organizations in forging a new constituency that is sensitive to environmental and equity issues, housing, and overall better planning.

Hey Miss Manners: Is this a Case of Great Expectations or Rude Behavior? By Geniusofdespair

Dear Miss Manners:

You might be wondering what this is. Well, it is a teenager using her cell phone on a boat ride which she did almost the entire boat ride. In her defense she did stop long enough to see a dolphin jump out of the water.

I have not seen this 13 year old child since Christmas. In my usual mode I had great expectations of what this visit with her would be like. It was pure joy.  I was so looking forward to this as I love her so much.

When she was a child she would call me and ask what I was doing, or what was in my oven. I found out she was doing to this to others as well. She would then ask the person who was doing the most interesting thing to pick her up. I lectured her on "love the one you're with."

Anyway, $50 or $60 dollars worth of gas was used for an afternoon on the cell phone. I didn't get to talk to her, except during the car ride, I found out in her move to Jacksonville she developed a love for Country Music. Hardly forgivable.  And, worse she liked a boy with Romney stickers all over his truck. OMG there is trouble to come.

Miss Manners, is it just me, would it have been correct to confiscate the cell phone or throw it over-board? When we got back to shore after my 4 hour visit, she wanted to go back to her friend's house -- I had plans to take them both for dinner to South Beach.  Are my expectations my downfall? Are they unattainable?

When I dropped her off I asked if she knew what I did since Christmas (when I had seen her for 2 hours)? She said "What?" I said do you know where I am going next month? She said "Where?" I said "Read it on my Facebook page."  As she left I mumbled something about "Love the one you're with." I sure did.

Daniella Levine Cava's Running in District 8: Latest Video. By Geniusofdespair

I really like this one.  Pass around the link.

More on the Beckham stadium deal: burning the public realm to a crisp … by gimleteye

Here is a little more space to vent on the Beckham stadium deal proposed for PortMiami by a former soccer star fronting for real estate development interests. The Miami Herald -- loves sports stadiums! -- reported "David Beckham makes case to reshape PortMiami with soccer stadium".

"At a morning press briefing, Beckham aide John Alschuler, a top real estate consultant in New York, revealed selected details from a traffic study he said is the most comprehensive ever performed at the port. He declined to release it, saying the final version would be made public in about a month." Oh boy.

Beware developers who quote reports that aren't ready to be released. Why do they do this? Because they are afraid that the report would become the story. Too bad the Herald doesn't say so.

Beckham soccer stadium enthusiasts seek to persuade Miami
of their concern for "the public realm"

The presentation worth quoting but not revealing showed "a stadium heavily reliant on parking in downtown Miami, with thousands of fans walking a pedestrian bridge to the island port". What the report would have done is kindle exactly the sort of criticism that Eye On Miami levels: access to downtown Miami is severely constricted, causing outrageous traffic jams, lengthy delays, parking does not currently exist to serve existing traffic demands not to mention added ones, and -- last but not least -- raise your hand if you will brave the gauntlet of driving to downtown Miami, parking, walking to a bridge, crossing Biscayne Bay on foot, to see a soccer game?

On face value, the plan to put a soccer stadium at PortMiami is ridiculous. I write this as someone who loves soccer more than any of our other sports. Given the ease with which Miami and Miami-Dade commissioners approve ridiculous projects, why wouldn't they again?

To the Herald, the developer's representative is quoted, "We are open to any process that creates a kind of public realm and unity of the site." OMG. "Public realm"? "Unit of site". I thought Museum Row was our public realm. Or the Performing Arsht Center. I thought the campus at FIU was the public realm. The Miami Marlins stadium: wasn't that the public realm?

Up next in downtown Miami: snake oil to cure intestinal worms. It really works!

Voters: what is at stake in the November elections … by gimleteye

The Money Ball that passes for American politics is aiming to a November result in Congress.

The statistician Nate Silver just offered a prediction that the GOP has a 60 percent chance of seizing control of the Senate in November. Pray, not.

But more than pray, understand why it is necessary for control of Congress to return to the Democrats.

The Republican Party is controlled by an extreme right wing that belongs to the past. Trusting the GOP to manage future threats -- like climate change -- is madness (Mitch McConnell, from coal country, would be president of the Senate under GOP control.)

This week, HBO "Vice" showed what is happening on the climate change front -- that the GOP denies -- and why voters should care. Shane Smith, Vice co-founder, says of climate change: "It scares the piss out of me quite frankly." Watch it:

http://www.hbo.com/#/vice/episodes/02/12-greenland-melting-bonded-labor/video/debrief-greenland-is-melting.html/eNrjcmbOYM7XLMtMSc13zEvMqSzJTHbOzytJrShRz89JgQkFJKan+iXmpjIXcjIysoGgdGJpSX5BTmKlbUlRaSoAUBcXOA==

The problem with initiating government policies that could reverse C02 emissions is this: by the time the facts of sea level rise and food scarcities are triggering chaos, we will have neither the resources or will to do anything other than harden our bunkers.

A younger reader of this blog asked me recently, doubt mixed with cynicism: "Do you want to change the world?" My answer, no. I'd settle for changing the composition of Congress.

Democrats have a lot to answer for -- and I will write about the shortcomings of Democratic policies on climate change tomorrow. The GOP is the party of self interest, and in the case of climate change, self interest is surrender.

Strip Mining West of the Urban Development Boundary? By Geniusofdespair

The Face of the rock miners, Kerri Barsh of Greenberg Traurig (representing several national rock mining companies), with County Commissioner Lynda Bell

As you merrily drive along the Florida Turnpike in Central and North Miami Dade County you pass a lot of foliage on the west side of the road. You really don't know what is going on back there behind the foliage. Once in a while you get a glimpse of a lake (really a rock pit) from your car, but you don't know of the extent of of the Rock Mining being conducted on the other side of The Urban Development Boundary, west of the turnpike. I am going to show you here!!! It was originally thought by some environmentalists (Karsten Rist) that the rock pits would create a buffer from development. No one knew the monster they were creating near our West well fields serving over a million people with drinking water. The pink underwear article (link below) gave us a glimpse of the danger.

You all have some idea how much rock is leaving our rock mines as you wait for those long, long, trains mostly at night. Every night! Be aware of what is  going on.  The rock miners, many of them foreign companies (Cemex), are making a fortune on our rock and leaving great big holes in their place ripe for contamination. Here is picture gallery. KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON AROUND YOU!!! This is now happening on the way to the Florida Keys and Lynda Bell has great support from the rock miners down there.

The lake with the arrow is below. It gives you some idea of the size of these rock pits.

 

See lake belt above with this lake pointed out.

Here is what it looks like beyond the foliage:

Blasting, creating giant holes that can contaminate our well-field, that is what is going on West of the Florida Turnpike. And where is all that rock going on those trains? Ask yourself that?

Here is a very good paper on the Rock Mining issue from the Geological Society of America.

Also read Beneath the Pink Underwear. Very good article in New Times. DO NOT MISS IT. Gimleteye - aka Alan Farago - is quoted in this important article.

Civil Court Hearing Results: Palmetto Bay Vice Mayor John Dubois and the Mangroves AGAIN. By Geniusofdespair

Apparently people didn't like that I attempted to consolidate the other day so here is the ENTIRE RULING on the Mangrove Cutting at John Dubois's Home:

12-37012Injunctive Order (Signed Order)

As I said before, self-explanatory.

The Beckham Stadium … by gimleteye

On Saturday the TV cameras caught natty David Beckham in a British stadium sky box marveling at a long distance goal by Wayne Rooney, Manchester United superstar. He had a look on his face, 'I could do that'. Now Beckham is doing other things.

While the TV flickered with his thought, the Miami Herald was readying today's front page illustration of another Arquitectonica contribution to the Miami skyline: a rendering of the soccer stadium proposed for Dodge Island.

Curious that the stadium is proposed to be open air.

Both the Florida or Miami Marlins and the Miami Dolphins have concluded that a closed and air-conditioned stadium is necessary to attract paying customers. It must be different for soccer enthusiasts. We are so wild about the beautiful game we will mob walk half an hour across a proposed foot bridge in the rain that frequents the plain in Spain or Miami, whatever.

How does Mr. Beckham conclude that a covered stadium is unnecessary when every other sports team owner has concluded differently based on experience?

Then, there is the location. Do you know where the soccer crazies are? I do. I spent twenty years ferrying kids around Southeast Florida to youth games and tournaments.

Someone at the Miami Herald or amongst David Beckham's sycophants must know: the fan base to attend a soccer game on Dodge Island isn't in downtown Miami or Miami Beach or Key Biscayne. It is in West Dade.

But can the fan base in West Dade afford the time and expense? And if you can afford both, can you get there? For sure, the Florida Turnpike is better access.

Thanks to the willful ignorance of sound planning by Miami-Dade county commissioners and mayors Alex Penelas, Carlos Alvarez and Carlos Gimenez, the traffic is so awful that there is a real question if those who can afford the time and ticket expense would travel by car to a stadium. Miami's political leadership has made so many poor decisions on zoning and permitting of building and construction (search "Great Destroyers" on our blog) that we are as effectively boxed in by traffic as Man U's offense was boxed the other day by Liverpool.

But who pays attention in Miami? Not voters!

If it's Monday, the sea level must be rising … except in the Fox News universe … by gimleteye

"Climate change poses another significant challenge for the United States and the world at large. As greenhouse gas emissions increase, sea levels are rising, average global temperatures are increasing, and severe weather patterns are accelerating. These changes, coupled with other global dynamics, including growing, urbanizing, more affluent populations, and substantial economic growth in India, China, Brazil, and other nations, will devastate homes, land, and infrastructure. Climate change may exacerbate water scarcity and lead to sharp increases in food costs. The pressures caused by climate change will influence resource competition while placing additional burdens on economies, societies, and governance institutions around the world. These effects are threat multipliers that will aggravate stressors abroad such as poverty, environmental degradation, political instability, and social tensions – conditions that can enable terrorist activity and other forms of violence." From the US Department of Defense 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review

(GOP strategists discuss global warming with Jeb Bush and Mitch McConnell)

What's Love Got To Do With It? By Geniusofdespair

I was thinking of the incredible bond between Naomi and Tom (Gimleteye's post below this one). Do I have it?

I eat well, my clothes are cleaned, my dishes are washed, spouse is never underfoot when I am watching TV and both of us are liberal although I am the only Republican. We are both complainers...about different things. I think the building blocks of our love are solid. Love isn't just rapid heartbeat, it is learning to live with an annoying person who, can't find anything, leaves the socks on the floor and half filled glasses of water all over the house (me on all accounts).

What do you love about your spouse...what makes it work?

Amazing story: Tom and Naomi Shirley both died of heat attacks, at the same hospital, unknown to each other, fifteen minutes apart … by gimleteye

Tom and Naomi Shirley both died of heat attacks, at the same hospital, unknown to each other.

By Robert Nolin, Sun Sentinel - March 18, 2014

In more than four decades of married life, Tom Shirley, a former state game warden, explored the Everglades — and more distant locales — with his wife Naomi at his side.

Saturday, the couple embarked on their final adventure together. They died separately at the same hospital, 15 minutes apart, unknown to each other.

Tom Shirley, 83, was taken to the Cleveland Clinic with heart problems Saturday afternoon. Naomi Shirley, 75, succumbed to a heart attack herself after being summoned from their Southwest Ranches home for what doctors said may be a last visit with her husband.

"On her way to the hospital, she passed away with a heart attack," said their son, Troy. His father had died about 15 minutes earlier.

Innocents Lost: Miami Herald investigative series … by gimleteye

All Miami Herald hands were on deck for the investigative series, "Innocents Lost"; chronicling the misery of hundreds of children lost within the tragedy of bankrupt families and inadequate state supervision.

The series was a good turn for the Herald; a newspaper that once summoned its investigative energies as a regular feature of its work and now does occasionally.

What jumps out from the series is the newspaper's reticence to highlight the political undercurrents that forced slashed budgets and the GOP meme of "personal responsibility". We know where this all started, but the Herald won't track back -- or hasn't, yet.

Perhaps I'm jumping ahead. Maybe the Herald is preparing to launch an investigation along these lines: the political origins of abandoning neglected children to miserable deaths. But when Fred Grimm writes, "Apparently, DCF’s favorite tool for dealing with abusive, drug-addled or neglectful parents has been to persuade them to sign “safety plans,” promising to do better" yet fails to put that nonsense in its political context, red flags ought to go up.

Anyhow, they do here.