County Commissioner Dennis Moss on The Bait and Switch. By Geniusofdespair

Link to video.
Read my in-depth report on the issue.

Commissioner Moss commented on the precedent setting of the Brown Application. Brown's Lobbyists got the development approved under one set of circumstances -- agreeing to a covenant of no residential for 30 years -- and 3 years later changing the playing field, asking for the covenant to be lifted for residential. Commissioner Moss was the only one to object: "This application has a profound effect upon a lot of different areas throughout the County" Moss said.

Commissioner Moss acknowledged it is a bait and switch, and he wonders how this will effect future developments. He calls it the camel's nose under the tent. Watch the video. He makes a good argument.

The strangest part of it all: County Planning would not have given a positive recommendation for residential if it were outside the UDB line. But because it was inserted inside the line based on NO RESIDENTIAL 3 years ago, they now have to consider it as part of the pool of land available for residential, and they ended up giving residential zoning their blessing -- Covenant be damned. WHAT??? This gives the Commissioners cover to approve it. All, except for Commissioner Moss (and those absent), gleefully used the cover.

You remember that Sly and the Family Stone song lyrics, "War. What is it good for? Absolutely Nothing!" Well, a covenant in Miami Dade County, "What is it good for? Absolutely Nothing!" And to borrow from another song lyric by the Who, all my friends and readers be warned: "Don't get fooled again" on the worth of a 30 year covenant.

Breaking News: Mayor Shirley Gibson will run for County Commissioner. By Geniusofdespair

Shirley Gibson announced in front of Barbara Jordan that she was running against her in District 1. Nothing personal.

Mayor Carlos Gimenez writes good luck wishes to outgoing Mayor Gibson.

Mayor Gibson on the way to the Gala Event.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest: Why is Takeshi Miyakawa still at Rikers Island? ... by gimleteye

The 24/7 news cycle is a tornado for those in its path. Most are picked up and dropped a few hours away, but here is one that has been blasted around the world: Takeshi Miyakawa, a Brooklyn based designer and visual artist, was apprehended by NY police early Sunday. Miyakawa, 50, has lived in the United States nearly half his life. Within the furniture-by-hand community and architectural renderings, he is well known. Now he is famous.

Miyakawa spent last week helping to set up and organize for Design Week in Manhattan. The only time to make his own work was last weekend when he began hanging "I Heart NY bags" in random locations; as installation art. On early Sunday morning, he was in the midst of hanging a bag from a New York City street lamp with a battery and LED's to light the bag from within. The police responded, called in the bomb squad, and hauled him to jail for "reckless endangerment".

New York Magazine reports, "A look at Miyakawa’s website reveals an ingenious, playful modernist who has made his mark pushing the envelope with recycled materials and fanciful geometric shapes. His work includes “candalier,” a chandelier made of wax that melts into nonexistence, stackable takeout containers that look like giant legos, and a fractal plywood cabinet."

At his arraignment on Sunday, the prosecutor did not press for incarceration. But Judge Martin Murphy decided that the artist had to be crazy. Such are the times we live in. The judge ordered a 30 day psychiatric evaluation for the mild-mannered artist. And so the world media, antennae alert, lifted the story to the cycle: "Takeshi Miyakawa arrested for allegedly planting fake bombs in "I Heart NY" bags in Brooklyn."

Miyakawa's colleagues and friends mounted a determined effort to get the story out; an artist rewarded for loving New York, sent down the black hole of New York City's criminal system. They attest to Miyakawa's calm, serene nature. These are serious thought workers who wear bike helmets and come to a full rest at stop signs. But that is not what the police saw -- at least at first -- and certainly not what the judge concluded.

Here was someone who happened to touch the fear of terror that spurred the biggest consolidation of police power and authority in US history. Unwittingly, Miyakawa hoisted the "I Heart NY" plastic bag on the street pole and struck the third rail of terror and paranoia that replaced "o beautiful for spacious skies" with visceral anxiety.

Street art has a hallowed place in New York City history, but the arrest of Miyakawa says that on balance, the threats are too great to accede to common sense. Anyone making art on the street with batteries and LED lights and plastic bags: be forewarned. You too could be charged with "planting false bombs."

There was nothing snarky or ill-mannered in Miyakawa's midnight effort; he wanted to promote a positive image of New York. Now the world knows that New York City can't differentiate those who love New York from those who might love New York for what it stands for and still want to strike it down. In this moment of attention that may yet last a while, New York City's loss is Miyakawa's gain as he sits in Rikers Island where Franz Kafka would be at home.

Salaries for The County Commission Chair Staff. By Geniusofdespair

The County Commissions Chairman's office has a separate budget. Joe Martinez pays 5 employees $271,198. This is in addition to the $288,645 salaries he pays his District Staff.

I am very concerned by the 3 FIU Law Student he has working under his purview.  They are assisting in revising our County Code.  If he is supervising this effort we are all in big trouble.

County Commissioner Audrey Edmonson Draws Another Challenger. By Geniusofdespair.

Michael Jackson Joseph, who worked for the Department of Homeland Security is running against Audrey Edmonson. She now has 4 challengers: Alison Austin, Keon Hardemon, Michael Jackson Joseph and Eddie Lewis. Michael, like Alison, ran unsuccessfully against Richard Dunn for Michelle Spence-Jones's seat.

It's never Lupus. By Geniusofdespair

Goodbye House. I am going to miss that show.

In Trayvon Martin case, what is not on trial: suburban sprawl ... by gimleteye

It is called "The Retreat at Twin Lakes": the platted subdivision where Trayvon Martin was shot to death by George Zimmerman. The story has captured the nation's attention, but what about the place itself?

"The building of the Retreat at Twin Lakes is a classic Florida story," begins the St. Pete Times. "Developers saw potential in the sandy acres east of Orlando and determined to turn them into an oasis. They planned a gated subdivision just 10 minutes from downtown — a cloistered community near the interstate, close to good schools, outlet malls and the magic of Disney World."

What kind of an oasis is a gated community, really? Subdivisions are places where getting lost is crystallized. "The idea, as always, was that people could live peacefully in a paradise where nobody could park a car on the street or paint the house an odd color."

George Zimmerman was virtually a self-appointed, law enforcer in a soulless place dragged down by the real estate crash. He had the law on his side in a place that wasn't much of a place at all the night Trayvon Martin died. "In 2004, Engle Homes began construction on 263 two-story townhouses, with upstairs porches and covered back patios and plenty of green space. Inside, the townhomes boasted granite countertops, hardwood floors, master suites and walk-in closets. Outside, there was a pond, a clubhouse and a community pool. Everything was walled in, to keep out the unknown."

The Wikipedia entry on the shooting of Trayvon Martin: As the only person to volunteer when the homeowners association wanted to organize a community watch, Zimmerman was appointed coordinator by his neighbors, according to Wendy Dorival, Neighborhood Watch organizer for the Sanford Police Department."

Yes there was a "community pool" at The Retreat, but it was probably like 1,000,000 half-hearted attempts at builder-created civic life in gated subdivisions in Florida. The chief point of interest: a soda machine.

Police had been called to The Retreat at Twin Lakes 402 times from January 1, 2011, to February 26, 2012, according to Wikipedia. The St. Pete Times notes that the initial average price of the Retreat homes had dropped from $250,000 to less than $100,000 today. "The developers had envisioned a stable neighborhood with home­owners planting long-term roots, but now townhouses were turning over all the time. Insiders moved out. Outsiders moved in."

The place where Trayvon Martin lost his life is not on trial. Places don't shoot people, but the Retreat at Twin Lakes never had twin lakes and it wasn't a real place and is scarcely alone in that summation. In a real estate market driven off the rails by oversupply, mortgage fraud, and greed, why would builders be held to account? They only build what the market wants, right? Their legal rights to build sprawl are as solid as George Zimmerman's right to carry a weapon and to stand his ground. Right?

Sanford Police volunteer program coordinator Wendy Dorival, told the Miami Herald that she met Zimmerman in September, 2011 at a community neighborhood watch presentation. “I said, ‘If it’s someone you don’t recognize, call us. We’ll figure it out."

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

Fred Grimm on the REAL Absentee Ballot Fraud. By Geniusofdespair

Miami Herald Columnist Fred Grimm wonders why the State Legislature didn't go after the real source of voter fraud, early voting, in their 2011 election reform bill that was more about voter suppression:

Florida seems to be spending a lot of time and effort and money trying to stomp out theoretical corruption instead of going after actual, real-life voter fraud. In 2011 the Legislature passed a 128-page election “reform” bill that cut back on early voting, put new restrictions on third-party registration groups (like that famously subversive League of Women Voters), and eliminated the long-honored practice in Florida of allowing voters who have moved since the last election to register the change of address at the polls on election day.

None of this gets at the actual source of voter fraud — an art that Miami knows well.

And:

“If preventing voter fraud were the true intent of [Florida’s 2011 election reform legislation] then there likely would have been attention placed on cracking down on what appears to be the not-so-uncommon practice of fraudulent absentee ballots in Florida,” said Daniel Smith, professor of political science at the University of Florida, testifying before a U.S. Senate inquiry in January.

Smith noted that Florida’s new election law, “rather than addressing absentee ballot fraud,” actually made absentee ballot fraud more difficult to prosecute. Before, state law required county elections supervisors “to send absentee ballots to voters’ registered addresses unless said voters were absent from the county, hospitalized, or temporarily unable to occupy residences.” Under the new law, absentee ballots must be mailed “to any other address the elector specifies in the request.”

Smith wondered whether the Republican-dominated Legislature’s reluctance to go after our most pervasive form of electoral fraud might have something to do with the results of the 2008 general election, when Florida’s registered Republicans casting absentee ballots led Democrat absentee voters by 10.8 percent.

Miguel Diaz de la Portilla: Picture of the Day. By Geniusofdespair

State Senator Miguel Diaz de la Portilla

What is this lobbyist reaching for? He already has his phone in his other hand. Miguel called South Miami Mayor Phillip Stoddard about FPL. Only trouble is, besides being an FPL lobbyist, he is the State Rep for South Miami. I was told he only lobbied in Broward for FPL. Hmmm.  I made a mistake and called him a State Rep. A reader corrected me. If all 3 Diaz de la Portilla's win, we will have Alex and Miguel as Senator and dumpy brother Renier as a State Rep. That would be political torture to Miami Dade County.

Greenberg Traurig ... scandal, again ... by gimleteye

The big downtown Miami law firm Greenberg Traurig was caught up in another scandal (Jack Abramoff, Marvin Rosen, HABDI), as reported by The Miami Herald, including a rare appearance by managing partner Cesar Alvarez to apologize to a federal court for "failing to turn over key financial records on its clients to investors fleeced by Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein".

Failing to disclose records as required by law also infects government. It has become routine for public records requests made to government agencies and offices, to routinely "edit" and "excise" records that could be damaging to its case/s in legal proceedings. Alvarez, of Greenberg Traurig, was formerly chairman of the board of the Knight Foundation whose website states, "We believe that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged."

Informed and engaged, so long as the result isn't marred by information and engagement, up to and including the selective admission of records as required by law.

Volvo Around the World Ocean Race. By Geniusofdespair

Warm up for 8.2-mile in-port Miami race yesterday. Groupama came in second.

The American team of Puma warming up. They came in third.

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing won the race yesterday.  We didn't last long out there with our small boat. The seas kicked up and the sky was threatening.

The only stop in the U.S. was Miami for these boats. They leave today at 1pm. Departure ceremony is at 10 am at Bicentennial Park.  Lisbon is their next stop.