Norman Braman: setting an example for Miami business leaders ... by gimleteye

What puts a first-rate city on the map? The commitment and investment of business leaders to ensure that local government doesn't become a mechanism for public policies and the dismal race to the bottom. That's why I call Miami, the Detroit of the South, notwithstanding our good fortune at being the geographic crossroads of the Americas. Norman Braman isn't Miami's only billionaire businessman. But he is the only Miami businessman who has had the courage, guts, and determination to tackle corrupt county politics by lending the weight of his voice and financial capacity to changing a dysfunctional status quo.

"Believe me, I'd like nothing more than to be out of all this," Braman tells the Herald. I feel his pain. "I feel there is a responsibility to the community." And that is exactly right.

Where are the Miami business leaders? Where are the wealthy business leaders who once upon a time comprised the Mesa Rotonda to deal with corruption and elected officials and our "government designed to fail"? (Here is a 2009 review of Mesa Rotonda from our blog.) Where are the tort attorneys, insurance executives and bankers who measure a hundred million dollars of equity as a unit of wealth? Why don't these business leaders spend some fraction of those units organizing better candidates for local office?

Disappeared. It is not enough to shake Mr. Braman's hand at Joe's and give him a slap on the back, hail fellow, well met. Open your wallets, big spenders, for Miami (and not just its monuments to vanity); that's the only way to give due credit and do what is right. 

Norman Braman's Gamble. By Geniusofdespair

I don't agree with Norman Braman's current strategy to seek qualified candidates for the County Commission although I hope it works for Barbara Jordan and Bruno Barreiro and I applaud him for his efforts. I would not want to remove Dennis Moss who is a pillar in Holding the Line. With that disaster, Lynda Bell, we need Moss more than ever to show some leadership on growth management issues. I wish Mr. Braman would look at Lynda as a whole, not in one category.

The retroactive term limits would have passed. That would have rid us of almost all commissioners in 4 years. We could wait 4 years. And, Braman could have looked for good candidates at the same time to run against the current crop. Braman is facing an uphill battle getting his candidates in. It is next to impossible to unseat those in office. The petition drive for retroactive term limits would have been costly but it would have had guaranteed results. If I were a billionaire I would have invested in a petition drive for a retroactive term-limit amendment to our charter. He will have to invest at least $100,000 per candidate on his slate. Zapata is already in the race for Martinez's seat and there is no incumbent. He has the best chance for his candidate to prevail in District 11.

The big question is, that no one will talk about, will the Black churches speak kindly of Braman's slate or will they take to the pulpit and torpedo his efforts to improve the county?

Not So Mad At Apple Store Now. By Geniusofdespair

I am getting a new computer. It will be ready tomorrow. Although the whole thing was one big pain in the ass, I am happy now. I hope I don't lose all my addresses etc.

Medley says NO to more Garbage Dumps. By Geniusofdespair

Scenic Town of  Medley Florida

I had wondered in a previous post, if Medley was going to become one big fat garbage dump for the rest of the County. In 2000 the population of the area was approximately 1,098 and it dropped to 838 people in the 2010 census (a drop of 23.7%). With more dumps, I was certain the population would take a further slide.

Well apparently not... on both accounts. At the Medley Town Council Meeting on March 27th, the Council passed an Ordinance that stated that there are currently no new applications for any type of landfill in Medley and that "it is the policy of Medley not to permit any new landfills" (Although it appears current dumps are grandfathered in).  This overlay district is part of their EAR report (don't care enough to figure that out).

When the council passed this -- at the recommendation of Town Attorney (Miami Lakes Mayor) Michael Pizzi -- it made it  clear that Medley is not permitting any new landfills as a matter of policy. The ordinance also prohibits composting, which can create a bad odor. The ordinance does, however, permit any landowner to come and request the right to do recycling, which is envrinomentally friendly and reduces dependence on landfills. 

The Ordinace that passed March 27th does the following:

1. Sets a policy of no new landfills;
2. Allows recycling in all of the industrial area, but the applicant must come before the Council and obtain a Development Agreement;
3. Grandfathers in existing usages;
4. Legalizes the existing Waste Management landfill (Hmmm on that one with White & Case as their lawyers- Genius)
5. Establishes a buffer zone around the Gateway property.

I asked Michael Pizzi about the Ordinance and he said:

 "As a former attorney for the Hold the Line movement and who has fought proliferation of landfills, I am proud that the Mayor and Council of Medley have established a policy of preventing the prolifieration of new landfills and promoting recycling." This is good news."

Don't know that I feel good about recycling if it is METAL recycling, Michael (did I read that right?).

Now maybe Medley can diversify and attract some people to live there instead of only industry and waste companies. I wouldn't want to live there, it already has too much industry for my taste.  I met one actual resident of Medley, Gerardo Silva, Jr., a councilperson, and he seemed to be a nice enough guy. Let's hope this gets him more neighbors! He was the only one on the Council against this Overlay District Ordinance. He said he didn't see the final Ordinance  until 4pm the day of the vote but Councilperson Digiacomo had issue with his statement, she said:

"She received an e-mail on March 21, 2012 with copies of the Ordinance and the Resolution and Mr. Silva’s name was on the e-mail therefore he should have received it too."

Heck, I knew all about this --- months ago. Where has Silva been?  I have included the draft minutes of the meeting, as you might have more interest in this Town's issues than I do. Apparently Natacha Seijas's former Chief of Staff Terry Murphy has an interest in Medley politics.  I say, if Lowell Dunn is not happy - as it says in the minutes - that could be a VERY GOOD sign:

Autism Rates, Environmental Regulation, and the Religious Right ... by gimleteye

Who needs the mystery of communion when the bigger question is so obviously: how has the Religious Right in the United States missed the influence of unregulated chemicals on fetuses and instead made abortion its issue of our generation?

This week's news is the alarming rise in autism spectrum disorders in the United States. As an activist and environmentalist on the front line trenches in the 40 Year War against the Environment, I hoped for better.

I hoped: if you couldn't get people to pay attention to the backyard wonders of nature -- because some people just don't care, period -- and if all sensible logic and reason fails, then at least you could build a constituency for tighter environmental regulations when toxics in the atmosphere or in drinking water are demonstrated to profoundly affect pregnant women and children and reproduction in men.

But if the Great Destroyers don't have facts that support their case against regulation, they invent their own facts. Big Tobacco. Big Sugar. And they successfully demonized regulations, too.

The human body is so intricate and complex that the introduction of toxics in parts per million can make what is otherwise healthy go haywire. Environmental regulation of chemicals in the United States is based on risk assessments premised on "sacrifice" necessary in order to provide consumers with cheap, affordable amenities. But the risk assessments are always weighted to what industry wants, not what is best for public health.

The 40 Year War on the Environment -- by the GOP and weak-kneed Democrats, too -- includes cutting funding for science and enforcement whose net result is that today we live in a man-made chemical soup. We turned Creation into a randomized experiment. It is just plain hypocritical that elected leaders who pray on Sunday, do the business of the Great Destroyers the rest of the week unchallenged by the congregations.

This week, an economics report shows that the wealthiest recipients of corporate welfare in America -- Big Sugar in Florida, despite a constitutional requirement that the industry pay 100 percent of the costs of its pollution, pays less than 1/3, leaving taxpayers with the rest of the bill. So even if you don't love the Everglades or care that Big Sugar uses the Everglades as its dump, you might want legislators to fulfill their oaths under the Florida constitution: force industry to pay up and save yourself significant taxes.

But the Tea Party has missed this issue the same way the Religious Right missed the issue of environmental influences that severely threaten the fetus.

One reason might be mercury. Mercury in water that forms as a result of agricultural operations, including Big Sugar, has proliferated throughout Florida. Our state has hotspots of methylized mercury -- that can cause cognitive disfunction and other deformities in fetuses and development damage in children -- that are among the highest ever recorded. Who is bearing the costs? Taxpayers. Devout Christians. Jews. Muslims. People of all faiths, creeds, and persuasions.

I am not a neuroscientist, but I do have a nephew with Aspergers. My heart goes out to any parent with a child with autism or any of its spectrum disorders. I think to myself: if I were in that parent's shoes, how much would I be willing to pay to change the chemical imbalance or genetic tipping point to reverse the affliction? I am certain I would pay anything. Yet when it comes to precaution, we don't ask our business leaders or politicians for even an ounce of faith in regulation and enforcement of pollution laws compared to the embrace of belief in the miracle to come.

Global weirding on the calendar: 1:30 PM, Sunday, April 15 annual meeting of Friends of the Everglades ... by gimleteye

On April 15, Dr. Harold Wanless-- chair of the UM Geology Department-- will talk about global warming, sea level rise, and the future of Miami at the annual meeting of the Friends of the Everglades. The event is at 1:30PM at Pinecrest Gardens (the former Parrot Jungle) on Red Road in South Miami. If you own real estate, you might want to listen to what Dr. Wanless has to say.

According to an AP press report, the 6800 weather records were set in the U.S. in the month of March. The report, "Mumbai, Miami on list of big weather disasters" begs a number of questions in Miami. Instead of setting policies to prevent more development in wetlands outside the UDB; why aren't Miami-Dade county commissioners establishing policies to protect taxpayers from spending money down an open drain? That is essentially what it means to build flood protection infrastructure where sea level rise can't be stopped.

The AP story centers on a new study by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). That's the panel dismissed by GOP leaders like Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio and Gov. Rick Scott. The report urges all nations to "act now".

"There is a very high likelihood that there will be at least a further 3 - 5 feet of sea level rise during this century," begins the 2008 report by the Miami-Dade County Climate Change Advisory Task Force. (I served as an appointee of Mayor Carlos Alvarez at the time.) Four years ago, volunteers spent thousands of man-hours assembling the report whose key recommendations related to land use planning were rejected by the county commission.

There are other questions raised by the Mumbai to Miami threats. Perhaps you have noticed the extensive roadway repairs to Venetian Isles and Miami Beach. How many roads will we have to repair before we stop repairing roads worn down by salt water intrusion and flooding? And what about beach erosion. When will taxpayers pull the plug on beach renourishment?

Putting sand on beaches to be washed away soaks up millions of taxpayer dollars a year in Florida. North Miami Beach is putting $15 million in new sand. Broward County is assessing plans to "widen beaches". The Florida Supreme Court affirmed a $20 million bond issue in January for a Panhandle beach renourishment project. In the AP report:

We are a rich nation, but at some point spending money to hold back the sea will make us not so rich. "Already U.S. insured losses from weather disasters have soared from an average of about $3 billion a year in the 1980s to about $20 billion a year in the last decade, even after adjusting for inflation, said Mark Way, director of sustainability at insurance giant Swiss Re."

There are other questions. If you have a 30 year mortgage and sea level rise is expected to severely impact Miami during that time, what next? What were the recommendations regarding land use policies in the Miami-Dade Climate Change Advisory Task Force that never saw the light of day, because of influence from the builders, speculators, and Great Destroyers?

"The County must plan for, mitigate, and adapt to climate change even though uncertainty remains in determining which impacts may occur first and the type and severity of the changes,"  the county advisory task force said in 2008. The task force recommended advanced LIDAR imagery to "allow identification of which areas will become flooded in association with different sea levels." So where is that imagery and how has it been used in county land use planning?

Know Your Flood Zone. By Geniusofdespair

I just went all over the map, you can target areas you are interested in with the link below but it does appear most of us are susceptible to floods (no surprise):

SW 113 Street and SW 156 Avenue: Flood Zone X, Elevation: -9999
SW 104 Street and Hammocks Blvd.: Flood Zone X, Elevation: -999
SW 104 Street and SW 177 Avenue: Flood Zone AH, Elevation 8
SW 99 Street and SW 167 Avenue: Flood Zone AH, Elevation 9
SW 128 Street and SW 207 Avenue: Flood Zone AH, Elevation 8
SW 184 Street and SW 222 Avenue: Flood Zone A, Elevation -9999
SW 208 Street and  SW 187 Avenue: Flood Zone AH, Elevation 9
SW 208 Street and  SW 172 Avenue: Flood Zone X, Elevation  -9999
SW 242 Street and SW 167 Avenue: Flood Zone X, Elevation -9999
SW 250 Street and SW 152 Avenue: Flood Zone AH, Elevation 9
SW 250 Street and SW 149 Avenue: Flood Zone X, Elevation -9999
SW 312 Street and SW 134 Avenue: Flood Zone X, Elevation -9999
SW 312 Street and SW 142 Avenue: Flood Zone AH, Elevation 5
SW 212 Street and SW 101 Avenue: Flood Zone X, Elevation -9999
SW 212 Street and SW 92 Avenue: Flood Zone AE, Elevation 9
SW 152 Street and  SW 82 Avenue: Flood Zone X, Elevation -9999
SW 152 Street and  SW 77 Avenue: Flood Zone AE, Elevation 10
SW 128 Street and SW 61 Avenue: Flood Zone X, Elevation -9999
SW 80 Street and SW 52 Avenue: Flood Zone X, Elevation -9999
SW 25 Street and SW 27 Avenue: Flood Zone X, Elevation -9999
NW 88 Street and  NW 112 Avenue: Flood Zone X, Elevation -9999
NW 112 Street and NW 89 Avenue: Flood Zone X, Elevation -9999
13 Street and A1A:  Flood Zone AE, Elevation 8
West 55 Street and Pinetree Drive, Flood Zone AE, Elevation 8
NE 142 Street and West Dixie Highway: Flood Zone X, Elevation -9999
NW 199 Street and NW 47 Avenue: Flood Zone AE, Elevation 7

(Do your own research)
 
Flood Zone Designations:  A, AE, AH, VE - Mandatory Flood Insurance

A: Zone A is the flood insurance rate zone that corresonds to the 100-yer floodplains that are determined in the Flood Isurance Study by approximate  methods. Because detailed hydraulic analyses are not performed for such areas, no Base Flood Elevations or depths are shown within this zone. Mandatory flood insurance purchase requirements apply.

AE: Areas subject to inundation by the 1-percent-annual-chance flood event determined by detailed methods. Base Flood Elevations (BFEs) are shown. Mandatory flood insurance purchase requirements and floodplain management standards apply.

AH: Areas subject to inundation by 1-percent-annual-chance shallow flooding (usually areas of ponding) where average depths are between one and three feet. Base Flood Elevations (BFEs) derived from detailed hydraulic analyses are shown in this zone. Mandatory flood insurance purchase requirements and floodplain management standards apply.

V: Areas subject to inundation by the 1-percent-annual-chance flood event determined by detailed methods. Base Flood Elevations (BFEs) are shown. Mandatory flood insurance purchase requirements and floodplain management standards apply.

VE: Areas subject to inundation by the 1-percent-annual-chance flood event with additional hazards due to storm-induced velocity wave action. Base Flood Elevations (BFEs) derived from detailed hydraulic analyses are shown. Mandatory flood insurance purchase requirements and floodplain management standards apply.

X: Zone X is the flood insurance rate zone that corresonds to areas outside the 100 year floodplains, areas of 100-year sheet flow flooding where average depths are less than 1 foot, areas of 100-year stream flooding where the contributing drainage area is less than 1 square mile, or areas protected from the 100 year flood by levees. No Base Flood Elevations. No mandatory insurance because of levee.

Aventura Apple Store Sucks. By Geniusofdespair

They say you have an appointment but you don't. Once there for the Genius Bar you have to wait with an appointment. They said I would have to wait at least a half hour. That is not an appointment. What if you are on your lunch hour?

I spend thousands a year with this company and I own their friggin' stock. I am mad. I agree with Gimleteye this isn't excellent customer service. This is Dell all the way.

1:35: just left store with no computer. It has been operating without a fan since I had it fixed last time. It wasn't even connected. The damn thing is probably fried.

3/30: The MAC people called me -- I am getting a new computer...praise the Lord, or more precisely the Apple store. Not so mad today. Just want a computer again.

The American Voter: no clue what is about to hit them ... by gimleteye

We have been ranting and raving about the proliferation of SuperPac's, courtesy of the Bush Supreme Court's Citizen United decision. A tsunami of corporate cash is filtering into the presidential campaign through third parties, without limitations. As an occasional campaign donor myself, I wonder what the purpose is of hundred or thousand dollar contributions when corporations can contribute millions to the same purpose. Senator John McCain had some surprising things to say about his own political party on this topic, yesterday:

McCain Predicts 'Huge Scandals' In The Super PAC Era
By Alina Selyukh (Reuters)

WASHINGTON--The U.S. campaign finance system is so heavily influenced by big-spending interest groups and wealthy individuals that it will take "huge scandals" to change it - and those scandals are looming, Senator John McCain said Tuesday.

McCain, speaking at a Reuters forum on money in politics, gave a blistering critique of U.S. Supreme Court justices over a 2010 ruling that lifted limits on political fundraising and spending by corporations, unions and other non-campaign groups by equating their rights to those of individual citizens.

Maldonado's Church Properties: Ministerio Internacional El Rey Jesus, Inc. By Geniusofdespair

The Prophet Ana Maldonado and the Apostle Guillermo Maldonado own property in Miami Dade County in their names and in the names of  B & R Family Trust. The properties here  are owned by their Church. The total market value of these 4 properties is almost $22 million. 

This property is on the other side of the UDB line.

This land is outside the Urban Development Boundary.

MORE

Big Sugar: Great Destroyers of Florida Foist Costs of Pollution on Taxpayers ... by gimleteye

One of the repeated claims by the Unreformable Majority of the Miami-Dade County Commission is what good environmentalists, farmers are. Certainly, some are. They are for the most part small organic farmers. At the county commission meeting of Feb 21st (noted, below), commissioners rose up in a throaty support for farmers wrapped around antagonism to regulations protecting wetlands.

The brain-dead, one-sided meeting provided further ammo to take down the county department charged with environmental regulation. "Farmers are the best environmentalists!"

photo taken at Whole Foods, South Miami, FL

Here are a few points that extend well beyond Miami-Dade County borders.

Farming in Florida is not like the good old days when sticking a seed in the ground, keeping the soil not too wet and not too dry, was a formula for profit. Today industrial scale agriculture-- like growing sugar cane in 700,000 acres around Lake Okeechobee -- requires thousands of tons of fertilizer and soil amendments each year to grow (highly profitable) crops in exhausted soil.

So when Miami-Dade and other county commissioners get on soap boxes with how farmers are the best environmentalists, living close to the land and all that, know it may be true for a few but it is largely a bunch of crap to the big farmers who run the Farm Bureau. Its business is to balance the risks of farming against the friction of environmental regulations, the uncertainty of loan repayments based on developable potential, and the future value of land as crappy subdivisions.

The bottom line-- Tea Party pay attention here!-- is that scale farm operations are major polluters who use millions of dollars-- earned through farm bill policies tacitly endorsed by voters through politicians they elect-- to shift billions of dollars of pollution costs to taxpayers.

Now, a reality check: in 1996, nearly 70 percent of Florida voters approved an amendment to the Florida constitution requiring sugar farmers to clean up 100 percent of the pollution they cause in the Everglades. Keep that number in your head. How did that work out for nearly 70 percent of Florida voters who voted for billions of dollars of Everglades cleanup to be assessed where it belongs?

A new study funded by the Everglades Foundation, by independent economist firm RTI, shows that in the past decade Big Sugar has only funded 24 percent of the clean up costs associated with Everglades restoration. Not 100 percent as required by state law. The chemical culprit is the same as that used and overused on lawns: the phosphorous component in fertilizer. Phosphorous in quantities greater than 10 parts per billion -- a few grains in a bucket of sand -- kills the Everglades.

Who funds the rest of the multi-billion dollar cost of land acquisition, treatment marshes, and continuous monitoring and operation? Taxpayers.

Here's another astonishing statistic, to refute the Miami-Dade county commissioners who want to argue who is paying for what.

According to RTI, the cost of treatment marshes and other provisions required to clean up phosphorous once it passes from big sugar lands to public lands is $350 per pound of phosphorous. The cost for "best management practices" that deliver the same benefits if those measures were incorporated by farmers to their farming practices? Only $47 per pound. Think about that, next time you buy a pound of sugar for a couple of bucks. How about them apples?

When farmers say they are good neighbors and complain about excess environmental regulations like those that protect wetlands as harming "jobs", remember who is paying the bill for failing to pay attention. Instead of requiring farmers to keep the phosphorous on their farms and clean it up right there-- requiring them to add $46 to the cost of a pound of phosphorous (the true cost)-- industrial scale farmers figured out a way to get taxpayers to pay 8 times that amount in order to use PUBLIC lands for their sewerage. (You can join Friends of the Everglades, today, fighting these and other inequities and violations of federal law in federal court.)

This leads, then, to another question: why doesn't the state of Florida mandate best management practices that are not only far cheaper but also required both by law and recommended by recent federal court rulings instigated by environmental organizations that protect taxpayer interests? Oooo, there is that word, "mandate"! The GOP hates mandates!

The reason is that farmers-- the best "environmentalists" according to county commissioners in Miami-Dade like Linda Bell and Javier Souto. -- have tied up the Republican majority state legislature in baling wire. (Don't get me wrong: you can count the number of Democrats who have stood up for taxpayer equity and assessing the true costs of pollution on the polluter, on one hand.) Since 1996 the legislature hasn't lifted a finger to enact the specific provisions of what nearly 70 percent of voters approved. If nearly 20 years delay hasn't proved the lie that industry can regulate itself better than government can to public benefit, think again. (You can't defend the Great Destroyers unless the excess mercury caused by Big Ag and running into Florida waters has clouded your thinking processes.)

This would seem an issue ripe for Tea Party involvement. It is not complicated. Failing to protect taxpayers from predatory practices of Big Sugar, the Tea Party badly undermines its own credibility.

So next time you hear county commissioners or anyone else for that matter huff and puff how environmentally friendly Big Sugar is, rub the sleep from your eyes. Thank our small scale, organic farmers: yes. But Big Sugar and its lobbyists turned the climate for environmental regulation into an empty husk, not fit for locusts.