Matthew Pinzur writes a story about the competition for county health care services, and the recommendation of a high bid by County Manager Burgess.
While the Herald story notes the competitive bids received are not identical and, so, not easy to compare, it was strange that no mention was made of who is lobbying for the bidders.
If we were editing the Herald, every story on a county contract would have a little pull-out box with a list of lobbyists and which commissioner they are affiliated with.
Speaking of scorecards, dozens of government agencies are involved in Everglades restoration. Who among South Florida reporters is keeping track of the budget for reviewing the science?
Florida Power and Light wants permission to build two additional reactors at Turkey Point. How does FPL propose to harden Turkey Point and access to the plant against sea-level rise that could jump dramatically in the next 100 years?
Michelle Spence Jones' absence from the city commission lately has been noticed by eyeonmiami readers. Where in the world is Ms. Jones?
Eyeonmiami is happy to print any other nuggets that are missed by the Miami Herald or other mainstream media sources. Readers can write us, directly.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Focus Group Results: City of Miami. By Geniusofdespair
Florida International University's Research Institute on Social & Economic Policy Center for Labor Research and Studies conducted a Focus Group on:
Miami Voter Dispositions toward the Development ‘Boom’ and Economic Development Policy
Released in May, the “Primary Findings” were:
In all the focus groups, negative critiques of Miami’s development predominated.
Two general critiques were widely shared and emotionally felt:
• Planning is either non-existent or ineffectual
• Development must have oversight and both developers and government officials must be held accountable.
(Hit on image to enlarge)
Miami Voter Dispositions toward the Development ‘Boom’ and Economic Development Policy
Released in May, the “Primary Findings” were:
In all the focus groups, negative critiques of Miami’s development predominated.
Two general critiques were widely shared and emotionally felt:
• Planning is either non-existent or ineffectual
• Development must have oversight and both developers and government officials must be held accountable.
(Hit on image to enlarge)
Monday, July 09, 2007
Dinner sans the Miami Herald by Geniusofdespair
I had dinner with a college graduate, a very smart young man. He said his mother got the newspaper every day and it was a ritual with her; she sat down with her coffee and read the paper. So, there was a newspaper in this man’s house every day. Every single day. I asked: “Did you read it?” Answer: “Nope, I get my news on line.”So there are those of us who get our news on paper and I would suppose for most of us real paper people, it is a ritual. I have experienced the panic when it is not at the door: “Where is the paper?” I yell wild-eyed at spouse.
How can I understand this young man? I have to read the paper. He doesn’t.
I know the good reporters. I always look at who is writing the column. When a good reporter moves on I am sad. Am I too close to the paper? Maybe I am getting clingy, that is not good. Where has Andres Viglucci been? Haven't seen any articles lately, hope he's okay. We all know where Debbie went. And where is Noaki now?
Some days I get angry and I feel like canceling the paper, like when Jim DeFede was fired and when they endorse crappy candidates. But I don't cancel. I can't do without the paper.
“Anders, what happened? The behavior was modeled by the parents, the kids should have picked it up. Why aren’t the young reading the Miami Herald even when it is in the house?”
I think computers are it from here on out, a pity, such a comforting ritual: Coffee and the crackle of the pages being turned by ink stained fingers.
Terror in the mortgage pools, by gimleteye
On Sunday, The Miami Herald reported on the latest auction of home foreclosures at the Miami-Dade County Clerk Office. One can easily imagine the same scenario being played out a thousand times across the nation on hot, lazy days where sleepiness is kept at bay by massive inputs of air conditioning and caffeine.
The Herald reports, “The amount of foreclosed real estate owned by Florida-based banks and thrifts has nearly tripled since the fall of last year, when foreclosure rates began their upward trek -- to $94 million as of March 31, from $34 million Sept. 30, according to the most recent Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data. (These data do not include giants like Bank of America, which have large operations here but are based elsewhere.)
The Florida numbers are much worse than the national average, Miami banking analyst Ken Thomas said. Total real estate owned by banks and thrifts rose 37 percent in the first quarter, compared to 12 percent nationally, he said.
''It appears things will likely get worse before they get better,'' Thomas said.
At Thursday's auction, of roughly 70 properties offered for sale, investors bought only two. A handful were scratched. The rest were bought back by lawyers for various lenders.”
Nothing is happening in the most over-heated real estate markets around the nation, like South Florida’s.
A few weeks ago, The Palm Beach Post reported, “… in Delray Beach, developer Bill Morris is working hard to make sales at his Worthing Place, a 217-unit condo in the heart of Delray's festive downtown. Prices start at $350,000 per unit. Morris says he has plenty of buyer interest, thanks to several incentives. He's offering to pay two years of maintenance, plus a "fly and buy" program to bring qualified buyers in from out of town."
In South Florida real estate circles, a qualified buyer either has very fat wallet filled with dollars or a slim one filled with Euros.
Still, according to the Post, Mr. Morris' prospects are reluctant to sign on the dotted line. "Buyers are worried that if they buy today, the market will decline tomorrow. "No matter what we do, they say, 'Call me in November,'" Morris said.”
Judging from the lethargy of Miami real estate markets, nothing is happening in November aside from the silent click as billions in adjustable rate mortgages reset to higher rates.
Beneath the doldrums of summer, there is an inkling of worse around the corner. Condo and home buyers will not be flooding into housing markets any time soon or at anywhere near the volume to reduce the inventory of unsold residential property.
It is hard summer for US consumers, battered by gasoline prices and falling house values. A puckering feeling, all around.
The massive problems in subprime mortgages has to be unnerving for mortgage bankers at the root of a Decision Tree whose upper branches contain the exotic fruit of a poor homeowner’s misery.
The distressed, former homeowner is now in a rental, his or her credit rating excoriated, or staying with family or moved to a new town.
The banker has no idea what to do. Selling foreclosed properties at fire sale prices into weak and falling markets can't be helpful to the performance bonus.
But there are bigger dilemmas. It is one thing for mortgage inventories to swell on a balance sheet, another thing entirely to sell them off at a loss.
And, still, a bigger problem—the one you don’t read about in the newspapers—every dollar of mortgage value has spawned ten or twenty times the value (really, no one knows!) in derivative financial instruments that are used to leverage more financial assets on someone else’s balance sheet.
Typically, that someone else is a pension fund or provide required to book assets as “investment grade” and not the toxic waste that jumps out at you in a foreclosure sale in a fluorescent, over-lit conference room where everyone is fighting off yawns induced by taxing heat and uncertain prospects.
In 1998, a hedge fund LTCM needed to be hastily bailed out, to the tune of $3.65 billion by investment banks hastily convened to protect against a collapse in bond markets.
There is no final price tag, on the amount of equity Bear Stearns will have to commit, to get out of dodge in two funds sunk by collapsing subprime mortgage values. So far, the smaller of the two funds will require $3.2 billion. Is Bear Stearns, alone in its distress?
Last week, executives at the nation's leading investment banks claimed that the subprime mess is "contained". It sounded a lot, to me, like "Mission Accomplished".
The lenders at foreclosure auctions like the one the other day at the Office of the Clerk in Miami-Dade County don’t show their faces: that is what they hire lawyers for.
But I am wondering how long before the reality of sinking house values requires lenders to sell-off inventory at fire sale prices and what, then, happens to hundreds of billions of financial derivates that have been created from thin air.
Those derivatives are held by financial institutions that provide for the income of millions of ordinary Americans.
So as the fans circle lazily above a desultory and dejected crowd of mortgage lenders, their representatives, and bargain basement buyers in Miami, do the wizards of Wall Street, whose bonus pay packages set them far above quotidian concerns, do the members of the board of the Federal Reserve, or members of Congress, or does the White House have any idea how to avert a collapse, other than to deny inflation while stirring it higher, to whittle down the scale of liabilities from terror in the mortgage pools?
(Read more perspectives at eyeonmiami, the blog. For a coherent analysis of financial derivatives: read Paul Tustain, BullionVault, “Investment landfill, how professionals dump their toxic waste on you” )
The Herald reports, “The amount of foreclosed real estate owned by Florida-based banks and thrifts has nearly tripled since the fall of last year, when foreclosure rates began their upward trek -- to $94 million as of March 31, from $34 million Sept. 30, according to the most recent Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data. (These data do not include giants like Bank of America, which have large operations here but are based elsewhere.)
The Florida numbers are much worse than the national average, Miami banking analyst Ken Thomas said. Total real estate owned by banks and thrifts rose 37 percent in the first quarter, compared to 12 percent nationally, he said.
''It appears things will likely get worse before they get better,'' Thomas said.
At Thursday's auction, of roughly 70 properties offered for sale, investors bought only two. A handful were scratched. The rest were bought back by lawyers for various lenders.”
Nothing is happening in the most over-heated real estate markets around the nation, like South Florida’s.
A few weeks ago, The Palm Beach Post reported, “… in Delray Beach, developer Bill Morris is working hard to make sales at his Worthing Place, a 217-unit condo in the heart of Delray's festive downtown. Prices start at $350,000 per unit. Morris says he has plenty of buyer interest, thanks to several incentives. He's offering to pay two years of maintenance, plus a "fly and buy" program to bring qualified buyers in from out of town."
In South Florida real estate circles, a qualified buyer either has very fat wallet filled with dollars or a slim one filled with Euros.
Still, according to the Post, Mr. Morris' prospects are reluctant to sign on the dotted line. "Buyers are worried that if they buy today, the market will decline tomorrow. "No matter what we do, they say, 'Call me in November,'" Morris said.”
Judging from the lethargy of Miami real estate markets, nothing is happening in November aside from the silent click as billions in adjustable rate mortgages reset to higher rates.
Beneath the doldrums of summer, there is an inkling of worse around the corner. Condo and home buyers will not be flooding into housing markets any time soon or at anywhere near the volume to reduce the inventory of unsold residential property.
It is hard summer for US consumers, battered by gasoline prices and falling house values. A puckering feeling, all around.
The massive problems in subprime mortgages has to be unnerving for mortgage bankers at the root of a Decision Tree whose upper branches contain the exotic fruit of a poor homeowner’s misery.
The distressed, former homeowner is now in a rental, his or her credit rating excoriated, or staying with family or moved to a new town.
The banker has no idea what to do. Selling foreclosed properties at fire sale prices into weak and falling markets can't be helpful to the performance bonus.
But there are bigger dilemmas. It is one thing for mortgage inventories to swell on a balance sheet, another thing entirely to sell them off at a loss.
And, still, a bigger problem—the one you don’t read about in the newspapers—every dollar of mortgage value has spawned ten or twenty times the value (really, no one knows!) in derivative financial instruments that are used to leverage more financial assets on someone else’s balance sheet.
Typically, that someone else is a pension fund or provide required to book assets as “investment grade” and not the toxic waste that jumps out at you in a foreclosure sale in a fluorescent, over-lit conference room where everyone is fighting off yawns induced by taxing heat and uncertain prospects.
In 1998, a hedge fund LTCM needed to be hastily bailed out, to the tune of $3.65 billion by investment banks hastily convened to protect against a collapse in bond markets.
There is no final price tag, on the amount of equity Bear Stearns will have to commit, to get out of dodge in two funds sunk by collapsing subprime mortgage values. So far, the smaller of the two funds will require $3.2 billion. Is Bear Stearns, alone in its distress?
Last week, executives at the nation's leading investment banks claimed that the subprime mess is "contained". It sounded a lot, to me, like "Mission Accomplished".
The lenders at foreclosure auctions like the one the other day at the Office of the Clerk in Miami-Dade County don’t show their faces: that is what they hire lawyers for.
But I am wondering how long before the reality of sinking house values requires lenders to sell-off inventory at fire sale prices and what, then, happens to hundreds of billions of financial derivates that have been created from thin air.
Those derivatives are held by financial institutions that provide for the income of millions of ordinary Americans.
So as the fans circle lazily above a desultory and dejected crowd of mortgage lenders, their representatives, and bargain basement buyers in Miami, do the wizards of Wall Street, whose bonus pay packages set them far above quotidian concerns, do the members of the board of the Federal Reserve, or members of Congress, or does the White House have any idea how to avert a collapse, other than to deny inflation while stirring it higher, to whittle down the scale of liabilities from terror in the mortgage pools?
(Read more perspectives at eyeonmiami, the blog. For a coherent analysis of financial derivatives: read Paul Tustain, BullionVault, “Investment landfill, how professionals dump their toxic waste on you” )
Clifford Schulman stays in the news with his client PUBLIX by Geniusofdespair
Read “Sunpost” article by Randy Abraham: City to Publix: You Suck!I have been complaining about the Florida Chamber of Commerce (see Post July 3rd, coincidentally titled: "Florida Chamber of Commerce You Suck!"). Maybe these stores are getting too uppity and need to be slapped down.
The Mayor of Sunny Isles Beach, Norman Edelcup, guns drawn, says to Publix and Clifford:
“It was never the intent of the City Commission to encompass submerged lands that were never platted and which abut other properties,” adding, “This City Commission is not in a position to give greed an opportunity to flourish.”
Publix lawyer/lobbyist Clifford Schulman of Greenberg Traurig shoots back:
”You closed the barn door, but the barn door was open...”
He was referring to a loophole in the City’s zoning that the law firm appeared to uncover for it’s client (Publix) to cash in on.
Resident George Scholl said he would form a boycott of Publix and brave Mayor Edelcup said he would support it, adding:
“Maybe the strategy of Publix and its attorney is to confuse everyone. It’s apparent that Publix will continue to defy the will of the people. There has to be a limit, a time to say ‘no’ to a developer.”
A time to say NO to a developer. Well, if that isn't a new concept!
Sunday, July 08, 2007
The Miami Herald on Foreclosure Auctions by Geniusofdespair
Monica Hatcher attended a Foreclosure Auction in Miami Dade and reports: Investors: Few deals at foreclosure auction. Hatcher says:“The amount of foreclosed real estate owned by Florida-based banks and thrifts has nearly tripled since the fall of last year, when foreclosure rates began their upward trek -- to $94 million as of March 31, from $34 million Sept. 30, according to the most recent Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data. (These data do not include giants like Bank of America, which have large operations here but are based elsewhere.)”
Miami Banking Analyst Ken Thomas said:
“The Florida numbers are much worse than the national average... Total real estate owned by banks and thrifts rose 37 percent in the first quarter, compared to 12 percent nationally....”
Which brings us back to my July 6th blog: "Dissecting an Inflated sale". If the lender were to unload the property I discussed for the $330,000 loan, it is still grossly overpriced. Long Beach Mortgage would have to drop the sale by $100,00 to $150,000 to make it an attractive deal. The lender would lose half their money invested in what appears to be, 2 really stupid loans.
In the Hatcher article, Stuart Gitlitz, a Miami lawyer who represents lenders in foreclosure proceedings, said:
''What is happening now is not the aberration,'' Gitlitz said. ''What happened in the last couple years was the aberration,'' and:
“During the boom years lenders could recover the full amount of bad loans at auctions from buyers, who could still turn around and sell the properties for a profit.”
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Update on Colony Collapse Disorder and Now Mangroves Too! by Geniusofdespair
Doom and Gloom Saturday
There seems to be no smoking gun found for the honey bee’s disappearance from their hives. The cell phone connection seems to have fallen by the wayside. Gimleteye and I reported on this subject on April 19, 20 and 23rd. Here is the best more recent article I found on the subject, posted in June, Colony Collapse: Do Massive Bee Die-Offs Mean an End to Our Food System as We Know it?
The author says:
"It may sound like urban legend but it's not. A frightening trend of bee colony collapses could lead to everything from a radically transformed diet to an overall wipeout of the world's food supply."
Dewey M. Caron, professor of entomology at the University of Delaware and one of several authorities investigating the issue with the Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium's Colony Collapse Disorder Working Group (MAAREC) said: "It is real":
"We surveyed a few states and figured out that half to three-fourths of a million bee colonies have died. This is no urban legend. It is serious." and:
“What is so serious is not only that the bees themselves are dying off without a smoking gun present, but that most people have no idea of the role they play in the food supply at large.”
According to the article, the bee disappearance is not just in the U.S.:
“Regions of Iran are experiencing the same phenomenon, as are countries like Poland, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Germany and more every day, including Latin American and Asia.”
And, speaking of Mangroves:
In a letter to the Editor in the July issue of “Science Magazine” signed by scads of Scientists from throughout the world, they say our Mangroves are in deep trouble, disappearing at an alarming rate. According to the letter (which has 16 footnotes):
“At a meeting of world mangrove experts held last year in Australia, it was unanimously agreed that we face the prospect of a world deprived of the services offered by mangrove ecosystems, perhaps within the next 100 years.”
That would not be a problem for me personally. Do we really care about the future? Anybody? Nah. I think everyone hates the doom and gloom we present here and would rather just go out on their boat and try to catch the fish (that are dwindling) in the seawater (that is at risk) with their young families (that are looking at a future of man-made environmental horrors) because we are a bunch of “here and now” gluttons. Back to the article... The scientists conclude:
“We are greatly concerned that the full implications of mangrove loss for humankind are not fully appreciated. Growing pressures of urban and industrial developments along coastlines, combined with climate change and sea-level rise, urge the need to conserve, protect, and restore tidal wetlands. Effective governance structures, socioeconomic risk policies, and education strategies are needed now to enable societies around the world to reverse the trend of mangrove loss and ensure that future generations enjoy the ecosystem services provided by such valuable natural ecosystems.”
Why do we save ecosysems, can anyone say: New Orleans?
There seems to be no smoking gun found for the honey bee’s disappearance from their hives. The cell phone connection seems to have fallen by the wayside. Gimleteye and I reported on this subject on April 19, 20 and 23rd. Here is the best more recent article I found on the subject, posted in June, Colony Collapse: Do Massive Bee Die-Offs Mean an End to Our Food System as We Know it?The author says:
"It may sound like urban legend but it's not. A frightening trend of bee colony collapses could lead to everything from a radically transformed diet to an overall wipeout of the world's food supply."
Dewey M. Caron, professor of entomology at the University of Delaware and one of several authorities investigating the issue with the Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium's Colony Collapse Disorder Working Group (MAAREC) said: "It is real":
"We surveyed a few states and figured out that half to three-fourths of a million bee colonies have died. This is no urban legend. It is serious." and:
“What is so serious is not only that the bees themselves are dying off without a smoking gun present, but that most people have no idea of the role they play in the food supply at large.”
According to the article, the bee disappearance is not just in the U.S.:
“Regions of Iran are experiencing the same phenomenon, as are countries like Poland, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Germany and more every day, including Latin American and Asia.”
And, speaking of Mangroves:
In a letter to the Editor in the July issue of “Science Magazine” signed by scads of Scientists from throughout the world, they say our Mangroves are in deep trouble, disappearing at an alarming rate. According to the letter (which has 16 footnotes):
“At a meeting of world mangrove experts held last year in Australia, it was unanimously agreed that we face the prospect of a world deprived of the services offered by mangrove ecosystems, perhaps within the next 100 years.”
That would not be a problem for me personally. Do we really care about the future? Anybody? Nah. I think everyone hates the doom and gloom we present here and would rather just go out on their boat and try to catch the fish (that are dwindling) in the seawater (that is at risk) with their young families (that are looking at a future of man-made environmental horrors) because we are a bunch of “here and now” gluttons. Back to the article... The scientists conclude:
“We are greatly concerned that the full implications of mangrove loss for humankind are not fully appreciated. Growing pressures of urban and industrial developments along coastlines, combined with climate change and sea-level rise, urge the need to conserve, protect, and restore tidal wetlands. Effective governance structures, socioeconomic risk policies, and education strategies are needed now to enable societies around the world to reverse the trend of mangrove loss and ensure that future generations enjoy the ecosystem services provided by such valuable natural ecosystems.”
Why do we save ecosysems, can anyone say: New Orleans?
Friday, July 06, 2007
City of Miami's Mary Conway Makeover by Geniusofdespair
Apart from the allegations, she is a woman first. So, I looked at her and decided she was attractive, just needed a little tweaking. I put her in photoshop and created the Mary trapped inside. I know the hair looks a little funky (I took it from Pamela Sue Anderson) but I think she is buffed up. 
Dissecting an Inflated Sale in Miami by Geniusofdespair
Right after Hurricane Wilma in October 2005, real estate flattened out in Miami. I know that for a fact because I bought at the exact top of the market, closing the end of December 2005. I have very good timing. Take note of that when looking at this property owned by “Elba.”
According to the Daily Business Review, Elba’s folio 0131230170070 tax certificates were purchased for $1,668.86 in June ‘07 by “JB” and “Lou”.
The property, a 1,513 square foot house, was purchased by “Elba” from “Oscar” for $330,000 on 9/06. Oscar got the property in a quit claim deed from “Guerrier.” Elba got two mortgages from Long Beach Mortgage in Anaheim, Ca.: $264,000 and $66,000 for a total of $330,000. Elba is not taking a homestead exemption at this house.
The neighborhood is sort of strange. Most transfers were by quit claim deeds. I do find this quit claim phenomena in more economically depressed areas, however, I did find these sales:
House 1 a 1,555 square foot house went for $194,000 in 5/06 (large corner lot). $124 a square foot.
House 2 is 1,040, it sold for $145,000 in 12/05. $139 a square foot. $76 a square foot.
House 3 1,305 square foot, sold for $100,000 3/06. $76 a square foot. $98 a square foot.
House 4 is 1,590 square foot, sold 4/2005 for $155,900. $98 a square foot.
House 5 2,274 square foot, very large lot overlooking a park area sold 4/07 for $325,000. $142 a square foot.
House 6 in 6/05 went for $160,000, 1,060 square foot. $150 a square foot.
To make a long story short Elba paid $218 a square foot and got a 100% mortgage on it!
To me, it looks like the house was overpriced by about $75,000 to $100,000. Elba’s house does not have a lis pendens, just that pesky tax sale.
According to the Daily Business Review, Elba’s folio 0131230170070 tax certificates were purchased for $1,668.86 in June ‘07 by “JB” and “Lou”.
The property, a 1,513 square foot house, was purchased by “Elba” from “Oscar” for $330,000 on 9/06. Oscar got the property in a quit claim deed from “Guerrier.” Elba got two mortgages from Long Beach Mortgage in Anaheim, Ca.: $264,000 and $66,000 for a total of $330,000. Elba is not taking a homestead exemption at this house.
The neighborhood is sort of strange. Most transfers were by quit claim deeds. I do find this quit claim phenomena in more economically depressed areas, however, I did find these sales:
House 1 a 1,555 square foot house went for $194,000 in 5/06 (large corner lot). $124 a square foot.
House 2 is 1,040, it sold for $145,000 in 12/05. $139 a square foot. $76 a square foot.
House 3 1,305 square foot, sold for $100,000 3/06. $76 a square foot. $98 a square foot.
House 4 is 1,590 square foot, sold 4/2005 for $155,900. $98 a square foot.
House 5 2,274 square foot, very large lot overlooking a park area sold 4/07 for $325,000. $142 a square foot.
House 6 in 6/05 went for $160,000, 1,060 square foot. $150 a square foot.
To make a long story short Elba paid $218 a square foot and got a 100% mortgage on it!
To me, it looks like the house was overpriced by about $75,000 to $100,000. Elba’s house does not have a lis pendens, just that pesky tax sale.
Listening to Leon Russell this morning by Geniusofdespair
Sorry too busy watching Leon Russell on U TUBE to write.Get a load of him lately with Ray Charles and Willie Nelson (bottom photo) and then watch him when he was young (singing Jumping Jack Flash) and in between (top photo).
He is an acquired taste.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
There isn't a vacuum big enough to clean up this mess, by gimleteye
In late April, I wrote:
“Could it get much worse than the news today? Mayor Manny Diaz gives a state of the city speech calling for a “green and sustainable future”, the city commission approves three condominiums for multimillionaires built by a billionaire supporting the Catholic Church’s money woes because of sex abuse scandals, the Latin Builders Association hosts a luncheon at the failed Parrot Jungle for HUD Cabrera that is in the process of seizing the County Housing Agency to bail out crashing production homebuilders whose domination of the county commission is based on liar loans to their market base, mortgage fraud and incestuous relations between builders and lenders, at virtually the same time that Umoja Village burns down, giving police the moment to wrestle poor people to the ground. Damn that's a bad day!”
Well if I do say so myself. It just seems to be getting worse. Scarcely two months have passed. Let's count the toll:
The Carnivorous Performing Arts Center is deeper in the pocket of taxpayers to the tune of at least four million. A new museum, equally controversial, is ginning up for Bicentennial Park with millions more. Millions of dollars and commitments of time and energy have disappeared in the pockets of a scam artist, called Poinciana Biotech Park. The City of Miami department of capital improvement is discovered to have transformed into a private contracting company, called “The Firm”.
Now Oscar Pedro Musibay reports another morsel for the scandal-weary in Miami Daily Business Review “A top Miami city official responsible for overseeing capital improvement projects had a vendor help write a bid proposal for a $15 million management contract that it later won.”
OK, read on.
Of this city department, on June 22 The Miami Herald reported, “''We are arresting virtually an entire arm of city government,'' Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle said during a news conference in the lobby of the city administrative building. The Capital Improvements department has 48 employees, City Manager Pete Hernandez said. The 10 arrested worked together on city construction plans. The 11th person who will be arrested worked in the zoning department. All are charged with racketeering, theft and fraud among other charges, and each potentially faces 23 to 95 years in prison and loss of their city pension.”
Now we learn from Daily Business Review, “In August 2005, HDR Engineering won the three-year $14.95 million bid it helped craft, beating out PBS&J and CSA Southeast.”
Who knows CSA Southeast? But what we do know is that in federal court, executives of PBS&J have been under pressure to reveal the extent of illegal campaign contributions.
So, help me out here: if 2 out of 3 major contract engineering firms have busted through the bounds of ethics, aided and abetted by powerful government officials, and if the city department has decided to contract itself out as a private business: what chance is there that rampant behavior along these lines is such a routine part of the work-day life, that no one thought they would get caught? Ever.
The Herald reported continues, “The group put together construction plans and designs for clients from the Keys to Ocala, designing everything from shopping centers and day-care centers to private homes, Fernández Rundle said. They even got the city to buy specialized equipment and computer software that the city had no use for -- so they could use it to do their freelance work, she said. ''These 11 city workers decided that their government paycheck was insufficient and that the taxpayers owed them more,'' she said.”
All that remains is for the Chamber of Commerce to run off with its members’ dues. (Oh, wait—already happened.)
Now the Chamber (state-wide, and not just Miami) is supporting a pathetic counter-measure to the grass root campaign of Florida Hometown Democracy, seeking to gather enough signatures to place on the ballot an amendment to the Florida constitution giving voters a chance to directly engage through the ballot box when builders or cities want to change their comprehensive land use plans.
The way the Florida Chamber has drafted their ballot referendum is to insert the small-font requirement that individuals who want a chance to vote on comprehensive plans must first file their petitions at the responsible municipal or county office, and provide “facially valid” proof of identity.
Isn't it interesting that government embraces identity theft and public officials hide who they are working for, but when it comes to changing our government by petition, only citizens who want a new direction have to prove who they really are.
“Could it get much worse than the news today? Mayor Manny Diaz gives a state of the city speech calling for a “green and sustainable future”, the city commission approves three condominiums for multimillionaires built by a billionaire supporting the Catholic Church’s money woes because of sex abuse scandals, the Latin Builders Association hosts a luncheon at the failed Parrot Jungle for HUD Cabrera that is in the process of seizing the County Housing Agency to bail out crashing production homebuilders whose domination of the county commission is based on liar loans to their market base, mortgage fraud and incestuous relations between builders and lenders, at virtually the same time that Umoja Village burns down, giving police the moment to wrestle poor people to the ground. Damn that's a bad day!”
Well if I do say so myself. It just seems to be getting worse. Scarcely two months have passed. Let's count the toll:
The Carnivorous Performing Arts Center is deeper in the pocket of taxpayers to the tune of at least four million. A new museum, equally controversial, is ginning up for Bicentennial Park with millions more. Millions of dollars and commitments of time and energy have disappeared in the pockets of a scam artist, called Poinciana Biotech Park. The City of Miami department of capital improvement is discovered to have transformed into a private contracting company, called “The Firm”.
Now Oscar Pedro Musibay reports another morsel for the scandal-weary in Miami Daily Business Review “A top Miami city official responsible for overseeing capital improvement projects had a vendor help write a bid proposal for a $15 million management contract that it later won.”
OK, read on.
Of this city department, on June 22 The Miami Herald reported, “''We are arresting virtually an entire arm of city government,'' Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle said during a news conference in the lobby of the city administrative building. The Capital Improvements department has 48 employees, City Manager Pete Hernandez said. The 10 arrested worked together on city construction plans. The 11th person who will be arrested worked in the zoning department. All are charged with racketeering, theft and fraud among other charges, and each potentially faces 23 to 95 years in prison and loss of their city pension.”
Now we learn from Daily Business Review, “In August 2005, HDR Engineering won the three-year $14.95 million bid it helped craft, beating out PBS&J and CSA Southeast.”
Who knows CSA Southeast? But what we do know is that in federal court, executives of PBS&J have been under pressure to reveal the extent of illegal campaign contributions.
So, help me out here: if 2 out of 3 major contract engineering firms have busted through the bounds of ethics, aided and abetted by powerful government officials, and if the city department has decided to contract itself out as a private business: what chance is there that rampant behavior along these lines is such a routine part of the work-day life, that no one thought they would get caught? Ever.
The Herald reported continues, “The group put together construction plans and designs for clients from the Keys to Ocala, designing everything from shopping centers and day-care centers to private homes, Fernández Rundle said. They even got the city to buy specialized equipment and computer software that the city had no use for -- so they could use it to do their freelance work, she said. ''These 11 city workers decided that their government paycheck was insufficient and that the taxpayers owed them more,'' she said.”
All that remains is for the Chamber of Commerce to run off with its members’ dues. (Oh, wait—already happened.)
Now the Chamber (state-wide, and not just Miami) is supporting a pathetic counter-measure to the grass root campaign of Florida Hometown Democracy, seeking to gather enough signatures to place on the ballot an amendment to the Florida constitution giving voters a chance to directly engage through the ballot box when builders or cities want to change their comprehensive land use plans.
The way the Florida Chamber has drafted their ballot referendum is to insert the small-font requirement that individuals who want a chance to vote on comprehensive plans must first file their petitions at the responsible municipal or county office, and provide “facially valid” proof of identity.
Isn't it interesting that government embraces identity theft and public officials hide who they are working for, but when it comes to changing our government by petition, only citizens who want a new direction have to prove who they really are.
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