St. Pete Times: How Growth Management Works Now? ... by gimleteye

Florida is a different state, depending on one's experiences. In Miami-Dade, the loss of growth management -- thanks to the most clueless governor in Florida history, Rick Scott -- threw planning and zoning decisions to the level of government least likely to represent the public: the county commission and mayor. For history, read our blog archives.  I've attended our version of 13 hour county commission hearings. Too exhausted by these issues to revisit them now.

Controversy over Manatee County development shows how growth management works now
Craig Pittman, Times Staff Writer
Friday, September 6, 2013 6:10pm

Carlos Beruff is one of Florida's most powerful people. He has run a major development firm for 30 years, donated heavily to Gov. Rick Scott and other politicians, and is chairman of the Southwest Florida Water Management District, which controls the region's water supply.

Median Salary For Miami Dade County Staff. By Geniusofdespair

Remember, this means half the staff is making less than this. This isn't a real lot of money if you have a family. I just put in the name DIAZ to get a glimpse of salaries at the County. Here are the results:

I was told you have to take the “gross pay last paycheck” and multiply it by 26 (the number of checks received a year, they get paid every two weeks). So Guillermo Diaz in the Clerk of Courts makes  $32,028. Or you can halve the gross pay and know what they get a week. Note I didn't take into account the health insurance. Guillermo Diaz would have made $29,569.02 with that figured in.

I just get angry when you lump all County workers as slackers pulling down huge salaries. People have a right to a decent wage. I am not talking about management I am talking about the grunts, where a health insurance co-pay is a big deal. Stop being misled.Stop demonizing the average Joe.

Lynda Bell is the target of the Recall. By Geniusofdespair

 

Talk about the seas parting for me, Lynda Bell was picked to be recalled. Where can I sign----actually I can't sign, don't live in the district but I can go to the district and get signatures.

The groups doing the recall may not be serious but I am. This better not be a publicity stunt I have my wallet out.

Part of Lynda Bell's Statement:

"Regrettably, this ill-conceived plot will only serve as a distraction for others to galvanize and try to remove an elected public official who has diligently worked towards the betterment of the community and has always put the people first. In the meantime, I will continue to serve the residents of my Commission district with the same level of excellence that they have come to expect and so richly deserve.”

RECALL PETITION: Please, Let it be Lynda Bell. By Geniusofdespair

On Friday, September 6, the leaders of two Miami-Dade County community groups will file a recall petition form with the Clerk of the Circuit Court to have it reviewed for legal sufficiency. The Miami-Dade County Commissioner whose name will be placed on the petition form will be chosen at the time of filing. Press conference at 1pm. I love this move. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Most Stressful Places To Live In America: Hey, Who Are You Calling Number 3 !!?? ... by gimleteye

According to Sperling's Best Places list, two metropolitan areas are more stressful than Miami and Miami-Dade. Tampa - St. Petersberg and Las Vegas. Hey, that's not fair!

The metrics used to by Sperling include the percentage of families that are divorced, average time for one-way commutes, percentage of unemployed, and crimes per 100,000.

According to Sperling, Miami won the category for time spent fuming in cars, to and from work. It's a popular theme at Eye On Miami.

The traffic metric encapsulates how democracy was deformed in Miami and Miami-Dade to serve the interests of zoning land use to allow sprawling suburbs to overwhelm quality of life. The stress experienced by millions of Miami-Dade commuters made a handful of developers and land owners both politically powerful and extremely wealthy. Put another way: your stress paid for the lobbyists' and land use attorneys' quality of life.

There ought to be two more metrics in the Sperling arsenal: 1) relative influence of metropolitan area in state politics and 2) tolerance of voters for political corruption.

If those metrics are included, Miami and Miami-Dade are number 1 by a country mile. 

The MIAMI HEAT and NORMAN BRAMAN Should Save the Libraries. By Geniusofdespair

Because of a sweetheart deal with the Billionaire Micky Arison, the county pays $6.4 million a year of the American Airlines operating costs. REALLY. Why? Because Heat profits never hit the threshold of profit sharing.  Now, who in their right mind believes that one?  The County squanders our money on the one hand and is frugal to a fault on the other.

Big Tech Corporation AT&T is making contributions to 11 of our parks to make Tech Centers. How about them making donations, retrofitting our libraries with Tech components?  We aren't at the point where everyone has a computer, we need libraries and we need to reinvent them as well. People still read books.  Libraries are a good place for meetings.  Let's be creative and get that money from people like Norman Braman who care about our community.

Micky give back the $6.4 this year and next and libraries will be in the pink. Norman,  just help to be nice! AT&T are you listening? Tech Centers don't belong in Parks. Help the libraries instead.

Miami Today:

The county owns the arena but the Heat Group controls it. While the county by contract is to get a share of profits, it never has because profits never hit the payment threshold. The county pays $6.4 million of the arena's operating costs.

Obama, Putin and the problem with Syria ... by gimleteye

"We have to do something" is the best rationale for a long-distance, remote punishment of the brutal regime of Bashar al Assad in Syria. But if you want to do something, go to YouTube and search "Syria execution". In just a few minutes, you will get a sense of the depravity and cruelty that is etching the Mideast like acid.

The chemical weapons attacks in Syria occurred in the context of modern day tribal horrors. We have seen this movie: Serbia and Bosnia, the Hutu and Tutsi, Iraq and Afghanistan. How would the remote bombing by the US fix the horrors viewed on YouTube?

This week President Obama is in Russia for the G-20 Summit. Since American leverage is limited and severely so, these questions need to be asked and answered: for decades, Russia's foreign policy in the Mideast has been to disrupt US influence there. But Russia has also had its full share of domestic terrorism: shouldn't Russia realize that the disintegration of the Mideast, succumbing to inhumanity and desperation of millions of refugees, is against its own interests?

The following ought to be clarified: that only China is capable of controlling its own populations to suppress threats to civil order. At the end of visible conflicts, Russia and the United States both lose significantly more than China, if disorder and failed nation states prevail in the Mideast.

Putin believes the United States is still Russia's great enemy. We are not. Times have changed since Putin's KGB days.

The disorder and barbarism emerging from the Mideast are problems as big for Putin as they are for Obama. Like the forest fires in the American west, what both Russia and the United States need to prevent is the combination of fires, the acceleration and formation of their own ecosystem of violence. This point should be front and center, this week in St. Petersberg.

Has Anyone Heard from City of Miami Manager Johnny Martinez And What is Going on With Parcel B? By Geniusofdespair

City Manager Johnny Martinez suffered a minor stroke in early July and was expected back at work soon. Not yet. Anyone know how he is doing?

PARCEL B: Waterfront of American Airlines Arena (was supposed to be Soccer Fields).


According to Miami Today: Vacant county land beside American Airlines Arena, targeted in the past for many uses, is now central in talks of a Cuban Exile History Museum.

"A series of substantive, detailed and prolonged discussions" of the Cuban museum concept have been ongoing with Miami-Dade County and other officials, a county resolution states.

The use is planned for county commission discussion Sept. 17. It's the first formal plan for the site since the county studied a Bay of Pigs Library and Museum there in 2008.

When the county, the City of Miami and Miami Heat owners the Arison family cut an arena deal in November 1996, materials seeking voter approval on land use showed the site as parkland, including soccer fields. But the land never became park — or anything else.

The Heat Group retained development rights, paying the county $175,000 a year for the rights as it planned retail stores and an amphitheater and sought a retail partner.

 In Committee Audrey Edmonson wanted no park. She "asked the county's Recreation and Cultural Affairs Committee to again look away from park use and add to a cluster of new museums along the waterfront that includes science and arts museums just to the north. The committee, however, did not meet because it lacked a quorum." That is bizarre. Has she been to Bicentennial Park lately?

They're Drillin' and Spillin' in the Gulf. Say NO to Friggin' Fracking in Florida! Guest Blog by Less is MORE

I just read "A Texas Rebel's Fight for Her Land" in September issue of "MORE" magazine...

If you are ever given the opportunity to vote on fracking, vote NO. Chances are you won't have that opportunity. So e-mail, call, and meet with your representatives.

When I heard Rep Ray Rodriguez of Bonita Springs, on WLRN, suggesting legislation "to prepare for fracking in Florida" , I panicked. I had seen  the movie "Gasland", and the trailer for Gasland II. My friends in Colorado have been fighting unsuccessfully to stop it there.

As I researched Fracking, I also learned about Deep Injection Waste Wells, and the damage they've been causing for decades (ANOTHER WELL KEPT SECRET).

A Tropical Audubon screening of the documentary "Vanishing of the Bees" led me to learn about GMOs. That led me to learn about a movement called Flush the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) concerning the abuse of power by trans-national corporations, and their litigation against individuals and sovereign nations. When these corporations are brought to court by an individual or national government, in a country where they have polluted water resources and caused illness, they counter-sue for MILLIONS of DOLLARS to defend their investments, AND future profits!

The more I research the health & environmental impact of Fracking & Deep Injection Waste Wells, the more outraged I am - it has become a consuming, hysterical alarm.
Hard to go about my normal activities when I know this is going on. Geology 101 is all you need to know how INSANE this is.

One disturbing document I found: an EPA report providing that agency's rationale for approving a permit for a Deep Injection Waste Well in Jackson County, Michigan: West Bay Class II Injection Well Response to Comments - US ...Dec 6, 2012 - COMPANY FOR THE WEST BAY #22 WELL IN JACKSON COUNTY, MICHIGAN

I know you will find that these EPA "responses" to public comments/questions are NOT reassuring!

I learned a lot from that one document: final outcome: "EPA has determined that the public comments submitted did not raise significant issues."

Oleta Park Land Taken off the DEP Excess Land List According to Sally Heyman. By Geniusofdespair

County Commissioner Sally Heyman's Chief of Staff has told me that Oleta State Parkland is OFF the DEP excess land list. Thank you Sally that is really good news. Thank you to everyone that made a big stink. It worked!

Mayor Gimenez: Last Night's Town Hall Meeting on Taxes in Florida City. Guest Blog by Florida City Activist

Standing Room Only. People lining up to speak. Link to VIDEO of meeting.

Mayor Gimenez showed up thirty minutes late to his budget hearing in Florida City to find the room filled to capacity. He was just late enough for the “he’s just another politician who can’t find his way south” jokes to start fluttering around the room.

The Mayor was well modulated throughout the hearing; however, he was visibly not thrilled when formerly ardent supporters (and fundraisers) from Kendall and the Falls area chided him on the library and pet shelter. Gimenez was tweaked on the “same old faces” comment by some of the same old faces (they reminded him that they were tax payers and they could go to public hearings). Some of the new faces took their time for a show of hands in the audience to offer-up to the Mayor and his entourage a whole new set of faces to study for the next meeting.

He started off with the comments explaining how they had to worked things around so no libraries would be closed, 4 police academy classes would start, the pets got an amazing 40% increase in their budget and that fire fighters would be pretty much the same.

It wasn’t until 15 minutes later that people began to understand that “no libraries would be closed” (that was what he called the “footprint” of the library system) – was not the same as keeping the librarians in them. Gimenez spoke about how hard staff is working to find everyone jobs --- looking even in the private sector to help them transition. That just turned up the heat a bit as that realization took root that buildings “open” did not equal trained librarians but maybe volunteers from non-profits agencies in them.

The room got rowdy when the Mayor cut off Kendall pet advocate Michael Rosenberg. Michael asked Gimenez why he let them go through the whole straw vote process to let the issue die in the commission. The mayor told Michael he and his people did a great job in a two year period by bringing the issue to forefront and resulting in a 40% budget increase for animal control.

A highlight of the evening was when a team of teens sang to the beat of rhythm instruments a “you’ll miss us” song about the librarians being gone from the library. Gimenez said that was the nicest way anyone had told him their opinion.

The oldest attendee was Connie Ingram of Florida City who came to the budget hearing on her 97th birthday. She was pleased with all the attention and hugs; but with her hearing being a bit lacking, she missed all the racket and catcalls directed at the Mayor making for a better experience during her visit.

The Mayor insists that this issue is the Commission’s problem. He can veto their final budget numbers and they can override his veto. He says he only makes the suggestions when he presents the budget; they fund what they want in it or not.