Saturday, September 05, 2015

Eye on Miami Saturday Editorial Page - September 5th. By Geniusofdespair

Miami Herald gave up on having opinions on Saturday...we took up the slack.

HUDSTEAD (HOMESTEAD)

"Homestead Bob" lost his battle with cancer. He was a Veteran of the Vietnam war with a purple heart and he had his share of battle scars. Bob was a loving, sharing guy. I have known him for years and have shared a few dinners and lunches many at The White Lion eating enormous slices of  cake iced in pastel colors. Although I spent time with him, I never remembered his last name. Let's face it, going to Homestead is very far for most of us but we texted a lot. He is "Homestead Bob" on my contact list.

 I just know he is at peace now because he is such a good soul. He loved the cat he was a allergic to and he loved life. He also liked the Sci-Fi Channel. Not a bad bone in his body.

And now we have other Hudstead news. Former Steve Shiver will be making $150,000 at his new job as City Manager in cash poor Opa Locka. Watch out for the triangle Steve. Sorry, I mean go hang out in the triangle (The Triangle is an area known for violence and drug use. It is bounded by State Road 9 on the south, Northwest 17 Avenue to 22 Avenue on the east and west portions and Northwest 151 Street on the north in the City of Opa-locka).

LETS GET PERSONAL

I need to share at least a few pictures from my Italy trip.

Guy Excavating Pompeii
Sign Outside Assisi Bathroom...
Some hilltop town on the West Coast. (Only normal tourist photo here)

Germany Airport - Old World meets IPad. What is that she is drawing? A butterfly?
Our Rock-Mining Disaster - The Lake Belt - Looking North from the plane. These lakes were created by Strip Mining rock in Miami Dade County and putting our aquifer in jeopardy.

CAPITAL ONE VENTURE CREDIT CARD SUCKS

Okay, while in Italy I bought $450 worth of groceries at Winn Dixie. At least I tried to according to Capital One Venture Card (did I say they suck?). I have never charged groceries on the Capital One Venture Card ever. When I got back my credit card was on hold. I found out at Starbucks when the card was rejected.  I called them. The call center in some foreign country asked about whether I tried to charge coffee at Starbucks. I said: "yes." They said okay we will take the hold off.  Wait a minute Capital One Venture Card! When I questioned them about my last charges I found about the attempted Winn Dixie grocery charge. Then I questioned them further and found out my phone number and address were changed. They said they would send a new card and make the address correction.

I checked to see what they were doing in a call yesterday and this time I got someone from Florida fraud. "No, we are not sending you a new card, we reactivated it." "No we did not change your address." What???? Captial One Venture Card left the fraudsters with an active card? I told them about my call to the foreign call center and their promises. They didn't seem to care nothing was done, they said they would take care of it. I even have a password on the card and a chip. Anyone who ever worked in a doctor's office or a department store has access to the last 4 digits of your Social Security Number.

I was told by the Florida Call Center for the Capital One Venture Card that I called them (while I was in Italy) and made changes to my account including putting my password on (they told me I never had one before which I did). I said "Do you really think I am going to call for a $1 a minute to do stuff for an account while in Italy?" I did make a charge in Italy while all this fraud was going on in Miami. They kept accusing me of doing stuff (I hope someone listens to the recorded call to see how customers are treated by fraud prevention), so I shut down the Capital One Venture Card account. Apparently all you need to change an address is your birth date so keep putting that on your Facebook page fools.

JOBS FOR GRANTS: THE BIG FAT LIE 

According to the Miami Herald, Miami Wilds the stupid water theme park they want to put near the zoo, promised 2,800 jobs for a $13.5 million grant. Now they are promising 400 jobs for the same grant. Sounds like the same empty promises we got from the Wet Dream American Mall. They got public land not grants.


The $75 million of our hard earned money, earmarked to bring businesses with jobs to the county - it was an Economic Development Fund - is being thrown down the drain (SkyRise Miami is getting $9) on insane, phony jobs projects by the Gimenez administration and the County Commission.


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't it be just fitting if the people in Maggie Valley received a judgement against Shiver then garnished his check from Opa Locka? Once again, the tax payers bail out/pay for his bad deeds. I give kudos to the two commissioners who balked at the agreement with him. If he moves there, I'll pay for the uhaul along with his crooked cronies probably short listed for non advertised jobs. Opa Locka, you deserve what you're going to get.............

Anonymous said...

2016 : Anyone but Gimenez.

Anonymous said...

Glad you are back I missed the Saturday Editorial page. I am sorry to hear about your friend Bob. Even sorrier to hear we are giving $13.5 for 400 jobs. That is $33,000 a job. We are paying all the salaries, you know they will be low level jobs.

Anonymous said...

I knew Bob from Homestead. He was a great man.

Juan said...

You can never protect yourself from credit card fraud. Just weather the storm and be glad they pay for it. Too bad they don't really investigate to find the perps.

EugeneFlinn said...

Sad about Bob. Great man. Purple heart. Too few like him. He will be missed. Condolences to Suz and Bob's family.

Anonymous said...

Love you Bob... we will be celebrating your life with the sweets that you loved...

Anonymous said...

Bob was a good man. Godspeed my friend....

Anonymous said...

Shiver is the right fit for Opa Locka, today the police major busted for DUI resigned. Shiver was busted for DUI and public urination, so he has the major beat.
You can always count on Steve to set the bar high.

Anonymous said...

I had a similar experience with Capital One. I established a "secret password" after someone was able to order replacement cards using my name, I only found out after receiving an email that my new cards were on their way via express mail, to an address in Homestead (I live in South Miami).Capitol One would not divulge the Homestead address to which the cards were sent and police were no help, so pervasive is this kind of thing. This happened after I had alerted Capital One that I was an identity theft victim (two phony tax returns filed using my name and SSN). Soon after the first incident, someone was able to get my password and email address changed on my Capitol One account and have replacement cards issued again, this time sent to my house (where they would have presumably been stolen from my mailbox. I got to them first.

Geniusofdespair said...

Cancel your card, inside job if they got your password.

Anonymous said...

The first picture, would that mean: What that ass digging in Pompeii?
Sorry, could not resist.

As for the lake picture. Foreign guest arriving and flying over the same view always ask me for the need or purpose of those scattered "square lakes". When I tell them its random excavating for the construction industry and that a good part gets shipped all the way to Jacksonville, they give me this disbelieving and bewildered look. When I double down and let them know that the proximity to well field pumps endangers our drinking water, they usually politely shake their heads. The follow up question is usually: who permits these things, and that opens another kettle of fish.

Anonymous said...

the theme park isn't aksing for $13 million. add a zero. they expect the public to contribute $130 million. the $13 million is from the bond fund. the rest is supposed to come from the prpoerty taxes made by the development.