Saturday, July 11, 2015

Eye on Miami Editorial Page July 10th: Ooh La La Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

Miami Herald Dropped The Ball, We Picked It Up!


Head Tilting Mayor Gimenez, Is His Head Too Heavy to Remain Upright? I Think It Is His Tell - When He Is Bullshitting. He Also Rocks in His Chair When He is Angry.

MAYOR CARLOS GIMENEZ


Mayor Gimenez and his gaggle of taxpayer money spending staff (Lester Sola comes to mind) just returned from the Paris Ooh La La Trip and decided that they will not pursue the Air Show in the Everglades. It was a colossally stupid idea so no surprises there. But note: He did get his Paris trip - on our dime AGAIN, using the idea as a front for the trip. Smart guy. Trade trip my ass.

Mayor Gimenez is getting VERY GOOD advice now. He wants to lower your taxes (rather than put the money towards the inevitable downturn - like he should) and do anything else he can think of to get reelected. He even put in place a new library Czar. The only saving grace is the County has a very powerful Chair in Jean Monestime. What will that mean this next year? With Commissioners Juan Zapata and Xavier Suarez at his heels, Mayor Gimenez will be grimacing and rocking back and forth on the Dais. He hates these guys. Watch that head tilt tell of his.

You all know I liked Carlos Gimenez and even gave him money for his campaign but his staff sucks and he knows it. He tried to get Lynda Bell reelected, fundraising for her. She was his hatchet man. He became a worse bully than he already was. He used to yell at Alina Hudak and Glaser-Moon when he was Commissioner now he embraces them. He didn't even bother cleaning house when he became strong mayor. After running on lower salaries, he raised all the salaries for his upper level staff  and hired new people at top dollar. He instead punished the lower level workers with salary cuts and Departmental shenanigans. He is not the man I supported. I do believe that our Clerk Harvey Ruvin, should order an audit (sorry Kathy Jackson he is independent, you work for the Mayor) of the Special Taxing District money. Something very strange happened there.

Is this legal? An invitation was sent out for a Holland and Knight fundraiser. Here is what they said in the subject line of their email:

Subject: Invitation to: Miami-Dade Residents First - Fundraising Reception July 22nd 2015 5:30pm - 7:00pm for Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez

If he has not registered as a candidate and has not opened a campaign account, how can they mention his name? This is a PAC , not allowed to coordinate with a campaign/candidate I thought, but he has no campaign and he is not even an official candidate. The PAC raised almost $100,000 in June. Grand total $1,235,952 before he even opens a campaign account.  I find this totally suspect. But I find just about everything totally suspect...like the fetuses found in the Homestead police station refrigerator.

This was on the PAC expensess. Were they picking up a donation from Caryn Seidman Becker for $15,000 (CEO of Clear) and Amsterdam Hospitality for $20,000? They stayed at the Empire Hotel owned by Amsterdam??? The stay was not a comp? DO GO TO THIS LINK  ON AMSTERDAM HOSPITALITY (SEE STAR BELOW FOR AN EXCERPT OF THE 7 PAGE STARTLING STORY)

Finally, Gimenez said on Spanish Language radio Thursday that he will support Jeb! Bush for his Whitehouse bid.  What about poor Marco Rubio? Another Bush in the Presidency? Three crummy, mediocre (one dangerously stupid) Presidents from the same family? What idiots we are. I, on the other hand, have made smart choices. Donald Trump is my first choice, Ted Cruz would be second and Bobby Jindal would be third. Three great, impressive men. 

Anyway, who is advising the Mayor? He finally is not kicking himself in the butt.

LIZ PLATER ZYBERK


The iconic architect, formerly head of the Architecture Department at the University of Miami, thinks what we call the Nail Clipper Building is the Clothes Pin Building. Interesting. No one calls it what it is but what it looks like. She is not mincing words in the fantastic Biscayne Times Article:

Free to voice her opinion now that she is free of the University.
Liz also said: “I don’t think we need the biggest anything in the world,” including the “biggest casino in the world,” the Genting site that’s another Arquitectonica project. “We need to understand what our capacity is, where this adolescent came from. If we’re giving money to something, it shouldn’t be some pie-in-the-sky project -- it should be helping people get around.”

VIRGINIA KEY

Does anyone know what this tower is for at Virginia Key's sewage treatment plant? I was told this is a drill rig for an exploratory well that they are drilling at the site. What are they exploring for?


Speaking of sewage, I am taking vacation time this summer so you might not read a lot from me. Maybe that will make your  day: A Lobbyists' blessing in disguise.


BEST POLITICIAN THIS WEEK


Donald Trump. I have never been so amused and so looking forward to the Republican Debate. Thank you, thank you for running Donald Trump. But remember, that Northern Border is trouble too! Those Canadians come in soused with beer and Americans go across for cheap prescriptions. Quite a bad mix. Wall it off with all that granite you have left over from your buildings.  We don't need no stinkin' chain link or cement fence if you are president Donald. You can build us an elegant wall, with your name on it of course.

* New York Magazine:
Amsterdam Hospitality remains a tight-knit firm, employing many Podolsky siblings, spouses, and children. Jay is in charge of strategy. (“Like, here’s a piece of crap,” said the former employee, “and how can I turn it into something profitable?”) His older brother “Stewie,” a bearded tough-talker with a taste for Italian sports cars, handles acquisitions. They are active in Jewish charities, and their children have branched into fashionable enterprises like nightclubs and handbag design. Stuart owns a condo on East 57th Street and has a house in the Hamptons next to a friend, billionaire John Catsimatidis. Jay’s family lives in a townhouse on West 64th Street. The extended clan often gathers at Jay’s summer place in Westhampton Beach, a Charles Gwathmey–designed mansion. I was told it was a bargain, that the previous owner sold it cheap after it was damaged in a fire.

The Podolsky brothers continued to buy SROs: the Park View Hotel on 110th Street, another on Central Park West. At every turn, they did battle with enforcement agencies and tenant groups, who ­complained—in a prelude to today’s ­argument—that the landlords were allowing the city to use them as a dumping ground for the homeless. In the early nineties, outrage about filthy “welfare hotels” drove the city to shift emphasis to programs operated by nonprofits. But this policy change, along with the Giuliani administration’s hostility to tenant rights, opened a new marketplace for the Podolskys. Once emptied of the indigent, the welfare hotels could become “boutiques.”

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am inclined to agree with you on Trump and how he has now become the main tent pole in the GOP carnival show, but to paraphrase HL Mencken; never underestimate the American voters or the chance that they will someday elect a president who truly reflects what morons they/we are.

Geniusofdespair said...

They did underestimate Hitler in Germany.

Anonymous said...

The county will be in severe financial distress when real estate prices crash again. Fraudulently inflated financial and real estate markets is not something that will continue forever. Condo towers and stadiums are are clue that your county doesn't have a way to pay for the future. They are hoping for growth from real estate transactions. An unsustainable dream.

Anonymous said...

The real estate bubble is a known issue that has happened over and over again. In the crash phase, take from the workers and low income people, in the boom phase give to the rich. The county needs to break the cycle, not help it. That is what we elect representatives for. They fail us every time.

Anonymous said...

Who is giving the Mayor Spanish lessons? They should stop. His Spanish hurts my ears. I agree he is a disappointment. We need that excess tax money to be put aside. The time will come when we need it. Politics will force him into a tax cut and then it will be hard to get the money back when it is needed. Don't they ever learn? Clerk Rubin do your duty and get to the bottom of the special taxing districts.

Barry said...

The solicitation by Holland and Knight is illegal.

Anonymous said...

ECOs and PCs ARE ALLOWED to coordinate with candidates and campaigns in local and state races . I'm not defending Gimenez who is not a candidate but is the incumbent but I am no fan of baseless accusations when there are so many pertinent faults to point out.

miaexile said...

geemenez was on Issues w/Helen last night, squirmy as ever, but spouting about how great Uber is and how bad our taxi service is in Miami, so damn, something I have to agree w/him on

Anonymous said...

Except taxis pay for fees that Uber does not (insurance, medallions, etc.) Mayor does not mention what the County requires of them.

Cory said...

Why are the Soffer's giving him so much money? $50,000 total. What do they want? They own the Aventura mall and the Fountainblu Hotel.

Anonymous said...

Hazen and Sawyer.com -Our Work- section "Hazen and Sawyer is providing fast-track design-build services to deepen the Port of Miami Channel to accommodate “New Panamax” ships allowed by the deepened Panama Canal. The project features the installation of an 1,800 LF, 24-inch horizontal directional drill water main and an 1,100 LF, 72-inch steel-lined microtunnel that carries a new 54-inch wastewater force main below the Port of Miami channel."

Somebody needs to look into the Fisher Island/Miami Beach force main. I believe it is also 54 inches. Replacing these pipes due to age or to help the shipping industry cut costs?

Anonymous said...

What is with the slumlord felons giving?

Anonymous said...

Now we know how Gimenez plans to eliminate homelessness in downtown Miami: invite the slumlords of New York to buy up properties that can warehouse the downtrodden. His PAC took a $20,000 check from a New York family run business that specializes in exploiting government programs to house the homeless. That should grease the wheels for the New Yorkers to bring their brand of caring for the homeless to Miami. And Gimenez will be at the airport to greet them. He probably has Osterholdt looking for run down apartment complexes that will fit their slimy business model. How does a PAC spend over $1,000 for a night at a $180 a room hotel? Was there a delegation traveling with the Mayor? Or, did they treat themselves to the Champagne Room? This is a some sick stuff. Why worry about poop on the streets when the mayor is putting out the welcome mat for some real pieces of shit?

Geniusofdespair said...

Great comment- you hit the nail on the head on this one!!! Home run comment!

Anonymous said...

Why drill on Virginia Key?

Anonymous said...

The drill rig is for an injection well to dispose of the treated waste water. The Feds will no longer allow discharge of the treated wastewater into the Atlantic.

Anonymous said...

"Except taxis pay for fees that Uber does not (insurance, medallions, etc.)"

The taxi system is rigged. That's the point of Uber and other ride share operations, to break the cycle of ridiculousness. What's a medallion cost these days? 200k? I don't know. Do some research. I think you will find the exponentially highest cost is the medallion.

So strange that the Repubs proclaim themselves as free market capitalists yet they put up so many roadblocks to free market capitalism.

Anonymous said...

I wonder how many of those who complain about the way Carlos Gimenez conducts business and mismanages as mayor will actually vote against him in 2016, contribute to his opponent's campaign, volunteer to help his opponent or even talk to family and friends about supporting anyone who runs against Gimenez. For those who voted against this blue blooded mayor in 2012 kudos to you, you could foretell the future.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately elections no longer depend on people only money!