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Bring back the Guillotine!

Despite everything that is hidden it always comes out in the wash. This has been the week that even the common man is talking openly about revolution. Yes, I have heard it.

They are barking back to years of corruption, graft and immorality. The yelps get louder as they realize that their lives are being chewed up into massive feast of profits. Hard sweated tax dollars spent on tea cup sculptures; hopes of shelter from the rain ending up as more million dollar empty lots; hard living for low wages at the cost of living in high rent slums. That is where we live. And what is the solution?

A committee to investigate the problem?

A committee to investigate is a blank check to buy time to cover the paper trail to the Miami County Commission . We do not need any investigations. 80 million dollars in relief from this treadmill of wage slavery has vanished. If the Miami Herald had not done their investigation, this would not have been discovered for years. And in the minds of the Miami County Commission who collectively think “Fuck the poor”no one would even care.

The solution should be: Bring back the Guillotine!

The integrity of the city has again been damaged. What business in their right mind would move to a city where the workforce can not afford to live? Let me guess – the Miami County Commission and their developer cronies have planned on building a Kuwaiti style society where foreign workers live in tent cities to serve the wealthy. Who would after looking at the future rise in expenses, the increase in the taxes to cover the theft of these millions would buy a house in the city. Yes taxes are going to rise. Property taxes are going up. Rents are going to rise. Somebody has to pay for this and again it is going to be the working poor.

And in the meantime, the homeless will have to continue to seek shelter from the rain under bridges of hope, and the promises of a better life.

*19/704/13*

Wake Up Survey

Summertime in Miami.

The days are lazy, the people are hectic. I am reminded of the cigarette vendor in Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand, as he observed the change in men over the years. He says:

“..I’ve seen the change. They used to rush through here, and it was wonderful to watch, it was the hurry of men who knew where they were going and were eager to get there. Now they’re hurrying because they are afraid. It’s not a purpose that drives them, it’s fear. They are not going anywhere, they’re escaping. And I don’t think they know what it is that they want to escape….”Oh well, who is John Galt?”"

Yesterday, we invited a young man over to our apartment. He was giving a survey from the Commissioner’s Office, Michelle Spence-Jones. He was very polite and kept making comments about all the books we have. I like to read, – it is a bad mental condition that I’ve been fighting for years. The survey was very vague but it centered it’s questions around the residents general satisfaction with living in the area. When I saw the yellow shirted surveyors I admit some surprise. We have not heard from the Commiss in a while. I am interested in her thoughts on the whole Housing Authority fraud scandal. Is there anything that her charge will do to help those affected?

I received an email which said it was a survey from Tom Fiedler of the Miami Herald. It turned out to be an email sign up for some reader’s panel. There has been a change over at the Miami Herald and people are starting to notice. I do not know about everyone else but I respect a newspaper that is not afraid to turn over the rocks to reveal the slime that crawls beneath. I want a newspaper that can ask the tough questions despite who ends up in tears. How long will you endure sugar coated crap? For my dime I want a dime’s worth of news. Otherwise you can always watch Channel 7 or 10 for entertainment.

I have never said this but thank’s to everyone you writes me about this blog. I am especially appeciative of the regular comments that I get from Miamista who runs a world class blog of his own.

*18/704/13*

Another Blank Check for Parrot Jungle?

I have been on vacation from work for the last two weeks. We have not gone anywhere far just to the museums, to the beaches for walks and fishing and some camping. We came to the conclusion that it would cost a small fortune to drive somewhere with the gas prices so high. We did plan on a short road trip but providence intervened. We went to Thrifty Car Rental to rent a car for several days but now the company has a new policy were they run a credit check. Well, to make a long story shorter we were denied since our credit score is under 720.

That reset our plans. Well the first place we decided to go was to the Parrot Jungle. Then we got hit with the price. $27.95 for adults and $22.95 for children. So the cost for a family of 5 cost $125.00 plus parking! Compare that to the MetroZoo which cost us just around $45.00 or the Museum of Discovery and Science in Ft. Lauderdale which cost around $40.00 and that includes an IMAX theatre movie.

I bring this up not to complain but to question exactly what is being done with hard earned tax dollars and how they are being invested. Today I get this email from Steve Hagan saying that the City of Miami was paying 80% of the loan given to P.J. It reads:

Before Miami rushes into paying 80% of the defaulted loan on Parrot Jungle, I would like to know what person actually signed the contract with HUD and wasn’t the Levin organization suppose to be creating something like 400 or more new jobs? Where are the jobs? What did the tax payers get on this deal? Isn’t there supposed to be program income from this subsidized project coming back to the city and or county on top of loan repayments? We need a full audit.

Both the city and County need to take a big deep breath before we move ahead on any more projects which involve our precious public land or tax dollars and that includes tabling the idea of Museum Park which was cooked up behind closed doors by City Commissioners, two of which are no longer at the dais and which does not ion any manner address the input of 300 charette participants.

Steve Hagen

After the entire Housing Authority Theft Ring was exposed maybe the time has come that every organization that receives tax dollars allocated by the Commission should come under scrutiny.

And so this brings me back to the Parrot Jungle. Who do they think is going to pay that much money to visit? Somewhere along the line there must be too many “middle men” or high placed theives getting a cut of that admisssion price. And why is it so high? They are using public land, using public tax dollars but they price the average family out of the establishment. Whether by design or by providence this establishment can not survive by overpricing its product. In the long run it’s the market that will decide- not black budget blank checks written by the Miami Commiss.

On another note:====================================================================>

(Amended) Meeting Announcement

Miami-Dade County Housing Policies and Programs

The South Florida Community Development Coalition is sponsoring two public meetings regarding Miami-Dade County’s affordable housing policies and programs.

Note: THE DATE FOR THE SOUTH DADE MEETING HAS CHANGED – (see below)

George Burgess, the County Manager, will be in attendance at both meetings. Also in attendance will be Cynthia Curry the Interim Director of the Miami-Dade Housing Agency (MDHA) and other senior MDHA members. The two meetings are as follows:

Tuesday, August 15, 2006 at 7 pm

Joseph Caleb Center

5400 NW 22nd Avenue

Thursday, August 17, 2006 at 7 pm

South Dade Government Center

Meeting Room – 2nd floor

10710 SW 211 Street

The purpose of the meetings is to give citizens an opportunity ask questions and to provide input on the County’s housing policy and the implementation of its affordable housing programs. All aspects of the County’s policies are open for discussion. Everyone wishing to speak will be given an opportunity. Written comments will be welcomed and accepted and given to Ms. Curry.

*17/704/13*

Town Meeting

The Miami Herald is having a Town Meeting on Sunday August 20 at the Lyric Theatre. The meeting will take place from 3-5 pm. It is RSVP only and specific to the House of Lies report on Miami Housing Authority Investigation. Several unnamed community leaders will address concerns about affordable housing or as they say, “the affordable housing crisis.”

The RSVP email is houseoflies@miamiherald.com

*16/704/13*

Losing it All Too Sprawl, Bill Belleville

I have been waiting to get this book, Losing it All to Sprawl, How Progress Ate My Cracker Landscape. I looked for it at the main library and at Borders but they did not have it. I found it today at work in the discard pile. I guess it was sent for review but the book editor just wasn’t going to chance chasing away dollar rich real estate ads. I heard the author Bill Belleville being interviewed on WLRN several days ago. This is something my wife and I talk about all the time. “Remember when we went camping that time in this place or that place? Remember how nice things used to be? I can remember when there was hardly any traffic on Biscayne Boulevard after 8:00 pm and never any real traffic on Federal Highway..”

I also can remember vividly what it was like living in a old fashioned wooden house with a fireplace, no air conditioning or screened windows. That was in an old house we lived in directly across the street from the Police Museum at 38th and Biscayne. Outside it was worn, very weathered but inside it was our home. For five years we patched holes in the roof, nailed windows and doors to keep out thieves, cut the grass, cleaned the old fashioned marble fireplace, tilled our modest vegetable patch, chased prostitutes off the front porch, visited our neighbors at the Sunoco gas station and at the Art by God showroom, or the Carpet store across the street; dealt with Net officers who brazenly walked unto the property to measure the grass every week, called tow trucks for cars broke down in the front of the house, played soccer in the back, met tourists who just wanted to take a picture of the house. Once we had an impromptu lunch for 12 bikers from New Jersey. They drove to Publix and we all ate on the front porch. Where the house stood is now an empty lot with a development sign inviting investors to give up hard earned dollars for a dream. Another building we lived in Edgewater had 4 apartment units. The top floors had decorated stone balconies overlooking Biscayne Boulevard’s Little Honduras section of town, (that used to be between 23rd and 24th and Biscayne). First the flower shop on the corner went out of business because of high rent increases, then the video store named Tito’s fell to overpricing and constant harassment from inspectors, then the Honduran coffee shop. We became friends with a father and son who owned an Art Gallery and Coffee shop next door. They invested their life savings into developing their business. The father did intricate paintings on seagrape leaves which he sold to buyers in South America. They were forced to move back to Argentina. Then Arvida Realty sold the entire block to developers who razed all the buildings. Now several condos are going up where a neighbor and I once grew banana trees and passion fruit. I walked by 24th street to see if my passion fruit vines somehow survived the onslaught of development. No luck. Now there is freshly manicured grass, aluminum light fixtures and a security guard who patrols the street in a small white car.

Who remembers the PWA? That used to be the People With Aids Center and Thrift located at 38th and Biscayne. My wife worked there as a volunteer for a year while she was pregnant with our first child. They were pushed out by changes to the zoning laws. We always interpreted that to mean that some kingpin decided that the real estate was too valuable to house a thrift store. When it went so did the Speedy Printing company next door and the Carpet store on 38th Street. That was five years ago. The buildings are still empty. If you drive across the tracks on 38th street across from the Art and Design High School there is an empty storefront where a high end furniture store used to be. I can not remember the name of the business but it was owned by another neighbor who visited often with his wife. They left when the rents were doubled. Now they continue their business in Coconut Grove. That also was five years ago and the property is still vacant. Some businesses were eventually refilled with others. I did some work for a lady from Spain who owned the Bizarre Bizarre near the Post office in the Design District. She was breaking even for years and then was pushed out because of steep rent increases. I could go on if I sat and thought about it long enough.

My thoughts are barking back to a recent conversation with a friend from the Miami Mission. Mike shared with me some of his experiences in running the Mission. They used to be located downtown and were chased to Coconut Grove and then they were forced to relocate to Overtown. He had seen it all, Zoning Law changes, political leanings, economic squeezes. One common denominator was this. Whenever they were pushed it was by the unseen hand. The signs were always there. In the Design District and in Morningside and in Overtown, the areas were allowed to rot. Drug trafficking was as legal in these areas then as it is now in the Golden Triangle of Overtown, NW 1st and NW 14th Street. These areas which are designated as prime real estate are devalued and the population is debased. Then when the time comes to develop the development can come with a profit. Who cares if a community of homeless people, drug dealers, hookers, ex convicts and habitually impoverished are displaced for development? That is the perception that is cultivated. When it was time to cash-in for the Morningside real estate every one of the prostitutes and bus stop drug dealers disappeared. A friend, Spyder, who was a drug dealer/pimp at 62nd Street was arrested and put away for ten years by the same police officers who turned a blind eye to him for years. Where did the others criminals go? They are moving to places like Liberty City and Miami Gardens. They are killing each other in turf wars and in the process they are kiling children who have not realized that a new predator has been pushed into their backyards so that the invisible hand of progress can profit from half Million dollar apartment units. Meanwhile, Miami’s civic leaders and police spokesmen are jumping up and down decrying a situation that they know they are too impotent to change. Examine all the news stories centered around the nine year old girl who was killed. She did not fit the profile. She was a good student. Her family and neighbors had always been safe. The neighborhood where they lived was safe. Then a new element is pushed into this neighborhood – Two thugs who basically have a duel in the middle of the street. Who knows, they could have come from Morningside, North Miami or even Miami Shores. One thing is certain. People are starting to ask the right questions. How are my tax dollars being used?There was no police protection for this neighborhood. Not like the police protection they now have in the Design District or in Morningside or at the local Publix Supermarket. It will not be long before houses will go up for sale in Liberty City, Net Officers will move in to speed up the process, prostition and crime will follow paving the way for the next wave of Miami development.

*15/704/13*

Thrifty Car Rental responds to comments

I mentionned in a blog several days ago that we tried to rent a car from Thrifty Car Rental while on vacation. They ran a credit report and we were denied the rental. This was not that bad because we were not going anywhere specifically and we ended saving money by staying in Miami. Well, Thrifty Car Rental just sent this email explaining the new procedure. I will pass this on in case other people have had the same experience.

..card acceptance processing capability. Because of that failure, you were inconvenienced and we are very sorry for that inconvenience.

We want to be up-front with you and let you know that going forward, we plan to continue to be one of a small number of rental companies that allow customers to use debit cards at the inception of their rentals. However, we will continue to perform a credit inquiry at the start of each rental.

We have also taken steps to keep our customers more informed. We are now posting notices at our rental counters asking debit card users to tell their rental agent that they are using a debit card. Upon that notice, debit card customers will be given a letter outlining the following:

* Debit card customers will be subject to a credit inquiry, which may have an effect on the customer’s credit evaluation.

* In the event a customer fails to meet our credit requirements the customer may not be allowed to rent or provide another form of payment.

We want you to continue to be a Thrifty customer and to that goal, I’d like to invite you to be our guest for your next rental. Just make your reservation as you normally would and send your confirmation number to me, at xxxxx@xxxx.com. We’ll take care of the rest. I’d also recommend using our Thrifty.com website…it’s the fastest way to get our best rates and most up-to-date rental information.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to apologize, we look forward to seeing you soon.

Sincerely,

Thrifty Car Rental

This should explain their new policy.

*14/704/13*

No Homework? An unscientific survery

Today one of my kids were mad at me because they could not go outside to play like the other kids. There were about twenty kids playing and having a good time about the same time that my kids were doing their homework. When the usual knock on the door came for my kids to come out and play I answered the door and asked the kids why they weren’t doing their homework.

Well guess what? They did not have any homework. So I inquired what school they attended and almost all of them go to Douglas Elementary down the street. Two of the kids went to Downtown Charter but they did their homework as soon as they got home so they came out to play much later. My very unscientific survey went further. I asked if they ever get any homework and only a few said that they will get a homework sheet once or twice a week. A homework sheet? I think they meant a sheet of paper with a homework assignment on it. My kid tells me that her friends from Downtown Charter school never get to come out because they get alot of homework during the week.

So what am I getting at here? Well these neighborhood kids are getting short changed and I am willing to bet it is reflected on their FCAT scores. I was always disgusted with the entire FCAT protests and I wondered if those that are against it would be willing to give the same child a break when it came time for them to take their exam to become a registered nurse or an airline pilot. There is a reason for standardized testing and it does not have to do with racism. If anything, the coddling of children is to prevent them from realizing their true potential and that is an overt form of racism. When I write this I think of all those kids running around in the courtyard oblivious to the fact that their teachers at Douglas Elementary do not believe that they have capacity to learn.

I am no expert and my simple courtyard survey can’t paint a picture of the entire problem. However, twenty parents should be raising hell at Douglas Elementary School for an explaination..

*13/704/13*

Town Hall Meeting and the good news is – it did not rain.

I just walked back from the Miami Herald’s Town Hall meeting over at the Historic Lyric Theatre. The meeting was about the recent housing scandal, affordable housing and corruption in Miami government. It sounded like a three hour shouting match wrapped in the same political puffery that we are used to seeing. All the local polits were there even the elusive Dorothy Mindingall wo I think aides roused out of bed (I am not sure how to spell her last name).

On the way back home from the meeting, I spoke to a homeless man and his wife Alice who live in hte lot across the street from the theatre. He said, “everything was OK and at least it did not rain today.” The Herald’s Tom Fiedler and the Miami commissioners and the polits and all those housing NGO should talk to this wise man.

*12/704/13*

Never Give Up!

If I have one motto it’s “never give up.”

So maybe that’s why I am so irked after talking to this nut today at the Dorsey playground. What he theorized was that the city needs a hurricane. A direct hit like Andrew plowing thru Homestead. I listened. He tells me that before Andrew Miami was just a backlot to the world. Then came the hit. People were faced with adversity and they had there backs against the wall. The storm brought opportunity for foreign workers blah blah blah. So we give up and wait for a storm? Then I get home and read this “Party’s Over” column by Ana Menendez. What is wrong with the world. You mean to tell me that these realtors awash in people’s life savings are having a hard time? Bullshit. Now that they have to work for a living it’s now tough times. Tough times is shoveling shit for less than minimum wage. Tough times is sleeping in the gutter waiting for the day labor place to open. Tough times is walking across town to stand in line for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And for most of us there was never a party in the first place.

So the solution is we wait for the hurricane to wash all our troubles away?

Never give up. A hurricane is not the solution. The solution is in the fight. And it is a real fight that we all are in. Why is the traffic so bad? It is because someone gave up. I drive I-95 and might see one or two Highway Patrol officers – I do see them at construction sites everywhere!. Why is the public transportation so unreliable? I have never seen a public official on a bus. Imagine if police officers were not afraid to walk the neighborhood.

If those condos do not sell then this entire city will turn into a ghetto. That’s right one big air conditioned ghetto. Where were the city planners when the permits were being handed out? Now it is time for everyone to go to work and do the job they are getting paid for. Maybe some brain in the system will see the benefit of buying one of these properties for the city since I am sure a fire sale is coming soon. Maybe we can now get a City Hall in Miami..

*11/704/13*

Ernesto Blows by us

It’s 4:40 am. I am at the job working my regular shift. In the background I am playing the Buena Vista Social Club DVD which I got at Blockbuster several days ago. Watching it I nightdream of Macondo and other lost paradises..

Ermesto ended it’s visit as a gentle breeze. We were spared all the endless special reports. I watched Channel 23 since the focus was on the weather. They have the most beautiful weather woman named Jackie Guerrido. Watching the channel helps me with my spanish..

As they show the city of Cienfuego I think of a corner in Overtown where the people hang out not because they like to stand in the street but because there is no air conditioners in the building. Once when I was a friend driving through he said something ignorant, no, maybe just elitist about the people outside their houses. I just let it slide. You can classify people by how they react to differences in people’s lifestyles. How can you judge someone driving past them at 40 miles an hour?

I spoke to someone today who thinks that the city is going to run aground again. He spoke about bonds being tied to real estate firms and a major corporation going bust. The shock waves will wash away the weak.. Here we go again with the pessimism. Someone please write something positive about Miami.

A kid from my building ran up to me today with a piece of paper in his hand. He wanted to prove to me that he got homework from his teacher for the hurricane break. I was stunned! This young guy was proud that his teacher gave him homework. I wish that more teachers start believing in our local children..

Anyway, the gas stations made some money today as well as the supermarkets. We were supposed to have more storms but so far we have been lucky. We went to Publix yesterday to buy some gallons of water and extra juice. They were out of the water. The line was thirty people deep. Oh I should mention that we went back to the Brickell Publix or as we have named it – the Single Serving Publix. We have never seen a family there and rarely any children. The place is packed full of Yuppies, and their maids. I did see a Nanny once with someone’s child..

We ended up putting the juice back and leaving without anything. The people were getting really pushy and rude. We went to our neighborhood corner store and they were fully stocked with everything that the Publix had and at the same prices! A lesson was learned..

*10/704/13*