Archive for July, 2009
VancityallieMiami-Dade Homicide Detectives are investigating the death of a wealthy Sarasota building contractor found dead on the ocean floor this morning. Daniel Robert Pochedley went missing…
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One day, when we are all living under the Sink administration –no, no, not just in Florida, but in the entire nation– we can look back at this Washington Post blog post as the first public utte…
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via FlistedSo, listen. Riptide is really not interested in the break-up of Kim Kardashian and Saints Player Reggie Bush, but RadarOnline (owned by the same South Florida masters of the National Enqui…
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Today’s photo of the day comes from MigRodz’s Flickr. By the way, be sure to join our Miami New Times Flickr group. …
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Hey all, if you are a member of Facebook join our growing group of Miami 21 supporters! It is really important that commissioners know that there is popular support for the plan from their constituency, so don’t be shy. We also updated our ‘My Commissioner’ tab for those of you who don’t know what district you live in (and who you should be writing letters of support to!) I live in District 4, represented by Tomas Regalado. Who is your commissioner?
Bicycling Magazine has announced that they and Jamis Bicycles will be coming to Miami on August 27th.
The reason?
Miami has been selected as a “BikeTown.” This is no doubt due, at least in small part, to the continued advancements that the city has made since that very magazine ranked the city as one of the three worst in America in which to cycle. Please visit the BikeTown website to sign up to win one of 30 bicycles that will be given away that day.
To win, all you have to do is explain why a bicycle would change your world. We will post more specific info as it becomes available. We hope to see you there so we can all show Bicycling Magazine how far the city has come, and more importantly where it is going.
I’m not in Miami today to attend, but a last minute gathering is now scheduled for tonight at the River Lounge, located at the Epic from 6-9pm. $10 donation gets you in plus FREE drinks & specials. MIAMI 21 friends, supporters (including planners) will be there to answer your questions and give you more information.
If you have never been to a MiaSci event, get ready to be impressed. It’s Miami’s best professionals event.
And this time, we’ll be showcasing the elements of EPIC’s downtown residences’ that are MIAMI 21-supported, like the public access to the waterfront and the high density in the urban core.
Hope to see you there-
(All donations go to the Miami Science Museum, whose beautiful new home will be in Museum Park. More details tonight!)
The already heated debate over Amendment 4, known as Hometown Democracy, got hotter than a summer day in Tallahassee Thursday, as presenters on each side offered a window into the issue fthat has polarized growth advocates and reform activists across the state.
Leslie Blackner, the Palm Beach County attorney and one of the authors of the ballot initiative that will ask voters to require that changes to a county's comprehensive growth management plan get voter approval, called the measure "a very simple thing.'' It gives voters veto power and "only effects comprehensive plans."'
On the opposing side was Ryan Houck, director for the Chamber of Commerce-supported group called Floridians for Smarter Growth. He summed up the issue as "a great problem, wrong solution,'' because "everything will be voted on."
"It’s like taking a two by four to a fruit fly,'' he said "You’re probably going to miss the fly and do a lot of damage in the process."
Blackner said Houck and his organizatio is lying about the effect of the amendment and that it will stop local elected officials from "handing out comp plan changes like Halloween candy" to benefit greedy "evil developers." The result is that there is "millions of authorized developments authorized on the books waiting to break ground" and that there is as much residential development already on the books to house 100 million Floridians.
Houck said that Blackner lives on Palm Beach island and "shares a zip code with the Kennedy Compoud" while the chairman of his group is former South Bay Mayor Clarence Anthony. "Why should Ms. Blackner's neighbors get a vote on if South Bay wants a civic center,'' he said. "It's not fiar. It's not democratic."
Blackner responded that if the county's growth plan is sound, there will be no need for an amendment. "Ryan's job is to make things confusing and technical so that people just throw up their hands and walk away,'' she said.
The Humane Society of the United States is thanking the House Judiciary Committee for passing a bill to prohibit the importation and transport of Burmese pythons and African rock pythons — but it says the proposal — introduced by Rep. Kendrick Meek — has been weakened and "more needs to be done." The society notes the original bill would have banned additional species of deadly snakes — not just two.
It says interests supporting the commercial pet trade worked with lawmakers to "weaken the bill and dramatically gut important provisions."
“The Humane Society of the United States commends Chairman Conyers and the Judiciary Committee for addressing the urgent need to stop the trade in large constrictor snakes as pets,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS. “As the bill moves forward we hope the Congress will take a more comprehensive approach and prohibit the trade in other species that pose similar threats. By prohibiting only two species, Congress would be addressing only a portion of the problem.”
The society wants the legislation to include a ban on the import and interstate trade of reticulated pythons, amethystine pythons and anacondas.
"H.R. 2811 takes a proactive approach by establishing policy to prevent Burmese pythons from spreading to other parts of the country and to block African rock pythons from being introduced," the society says. "However, by covering only these two species, the trade can move to other large constrictors."
Meek in a release said the full House is expected to vote on the bill in September after summer recess.
He called it a "sensible environmental and public safety measure."
“Invasive snakes, particularly Burmese Pythons, have devastated Florida’s delicate ecosystem and represent a major public safety threat," he said. "Banning the import of these dangerous foreign species moves us one step closer to eliminating this danger once and for all.”
President Obama today named 16 recipients of the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom, including Florida International University's Pedro José Greer. He's in august company with Stephen Hawking, the late Jack Kemp, Sen. Ted Kennedy, Desmond Tutu and former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
The White House says the award — America’s highest civilian honor — goes to "individuals who make an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors." And it says awardees were chosen for their work as agents of change. "Among their many accomplishments in fields ranging from sports and art to science and medicine to politics and public policy, these men and women have changed the world for the better. They have blazed trails and broken down barriers. They have discovered new theories, launched new initiatives, and opened minds to new possibilities."
Said Obama: "These outstanding men and women represent an incredible diversity of backgrounds. Their tremendous accomplishments span fields from science to sports, from fine arts to foreign affairs. Yet they share one overarching trait: Each has been an agent of change. Each saw an imperfect world and set about improving it, often overcoming great obstacles along the way. Their relentless devotion to breaking down barriers and lifting up their fellow citizens sets a standard to which we all should strive. It is my great honor to award them the Medal of Freedom.”
He'll present the awards at a ceremony Aug. 12. Greer, a physician, is an assistant Dean of Academic Affairs at the Florida International University School of Medicine, where he also serves as chair of the
Department of Humanities, Health and Society. He's the founder of Camillus Health Concern, an agency that provides medical care to over 10,000 homeless patients a year in Miami. He's also the founder and medical director of the St. John Bosco Clinic which provides basic primary medical care to disadvantaged children and adults in Little Havana and has been recognized by Presidents Clinton, Bush, Sr., and
Carter for his work with Miami's poor .He is also the recipient of three Papal Medals as well as the prestigious MacArthur "genius grant". He currently has a joint private practice with his father, Pedro Greer, Sr.
Nancy Goodman Brinker is the founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world’s leading breast cancer grass roots organization. Brinker established the organization in memory of her sister, who passed away from breast cancer in 1980. Through innovative events like Race for the Cure, the organization has given and invested over $1.3 billion for research, health services and education services since its founding in 1982 and developed a worldwide grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists who are working together to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find cures. Brinker has received several awards for her work, and has also served in
government as U.S. Ambassador to Hungary (2001 – 2003), Chief of Protocol of the U.S. (2007 – 2009), and Chair of the President’s Cancer Panel (1990). In May, Nancy Goodman Brinker was named the first-ever World Health Organization's Goodwill Ambassador for Cancer Control.
Stephen Hawking is an internationally-recognized theoretical physicist, having overcome a severe physical disability due to motor neuron disease. He is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, a post previously held by Isaac Newton in 1669. In addition to his pioneering academic research in mathematics and physics, Hawking has penned three popular science books, including the bestselling A Brief History of Time. Hawking, a British citizen, believes that non-academics should be able to access his work just as physicists are, and has also published a children’s science book with his daughter. His persistence and dedication has unlocked new pathways of discovery and
inspired everyday citizens.
Jack Kemp, who passed away in May 2009, served as a U.S. Congressman (1971 – 1989), Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (1989 – 1993), and Republican Nominee for Vice President (1996). Prior to entering public service, Kemp was a professional football player (1957 – 1969) and led the Buffalo Bills to American Football League championships in 1964 and 1965. In Congress and as a Cabinet Secretary, Kemp was a self-described “bleeding heart conservative” who worked to encourage development in underserved urban communities. In the years leading up to his death, Kemp continued seeking new solutions, raising public attention about the challenge of poverty, and working across party lines to improve the lives of Americans and others around the world.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy has served in the United States Senate for forty-six years, and has been one of the greatest lawmakers – and leaders – of our time. From reforming our public schools to strengthening civil rights laws and supporting working Americans, Senator Kennedy has dedicated his career to fighting for equal opportunity, fairness and justice for all Americans. He has worked tirelessly to ensure that every American has access to quality and affordable health care, and has succeeded in doing so for countless children, seniors, and Americans with disabilities. He has called health care reform the “cause of his life,” and has championed nearly every health care bill enacted by Congress
over the course of the last five decades. Known as the “Lion of the Senate,” Senator Kennedy is widely respected on both sides of the aisle for his commitment to progress and his ability to legislate.
Billie Jean King was an acclaimed professional tennis player in the 1960s and 1970s, and has helped champion gender equality issues not only in sports, but in all areas of public life. King beat Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match, then the most viewed tennis match in history. King became one of the first openly lesbian major sports figures in America when she came out in 1981. Following her professional tennis career, King became the first woman commissioner in professional sports when she co-founded and led the World Team Tennis (WTT) League. The U.S. Tennis Association named the National Tennis Center, where the US Open is played, the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in
2006.
Reverend Lowery has been a leader in the U.S. civil rights movement since the early 1950s. Rev. Lowery helped organize the Montgomery bus boycott after Rosa Parks was denied a seat, and later co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a leading civil rights organization, with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Rev. Lowery led the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. Rev. Lowery is a minister in the United Methodist Church, and has continued to highlight important civil rights issues in the U.S. and worldwide, including apartheid in South Africa, since the 1960s.
Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow, the last living Plains Indian war chief, is the author of seminal works in Native American history and culture. He is the last person alive to have received direct oral testimony from a participant in the Battle of the Little Bighorn: his grandfather was a scout for General George Armstrong Custer. A veteran of World War II, Medicine Crow accomplished during the war all of the four tasks required to become a “war chief,” including stealing fifty Nazi SS horses from a German camp. Medicine Crow was the first member of his tribe to attend college, receiving his master’s degree in anthropology in 1939, and continues to lecture at universities and notable institutions like the United Nations. His contributions to the preservation of the culture and history of the First Americans are matched only by his importance as a role model to young Native Americans across the country.
Harvey Milk became the first openly gay elected official from a major city in the United States when he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977.Milk encouraged lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) citizens to live their lives openly and believed coming out was the only way they could change society and achieve social equality. Milk, alongside San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, was shot and killed in 1978 by Dan White, a former city supervisor. Milk is revered nationally and globally as a pioneer of the LGBT civil rights movement for his exceptional leadership and
dedication to equal rights.
Justice O’Connor was the first woman ever to sit on the United States Supreme Court. Nominated by President Reagan in 1981, she served until her retirement in 2006. Prior to joining the Supreme Court, O’Connor served as a state trial and appellate judge in Arizona. She was also as a member of the Arizona state senate, where she became the first woman in the United States ever to lead a state senate as Senate Majority Leader. At a time when women rarely entered the legal profession, O’Connor graduated Stanford Law School third in her class, where she served on the Stanford Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. Since retiring from the Supreme Court in 2006, O’Connor has served as Chancellor of the College of William and Mary, on the Board of Trustees of the National Constitution Center, and participated in the Iraq Study Group in 2006, as well as giving numerous lectures on public service. She has received numerous awards for her outstanding achievements and public service.
Sidney Poitier is a groundbreaking actor, becoming the top black movie star in the 1950s and 1960s. Poitier is the first African American to be nominated and win a Best Actor Academy Award, receive an award at a top international film festival (Venice Film Festival), and be the top grossing movie star in the United States. Poitier insisted that the film crew on The Lost Man be at least 50 percent African American, and starred in the first mainstream movies portraying “acceptable” interracial marriages and interracial kissing. Poitier began his acting career without any training or experience by
auditioning at the American Negro Theatre.
Chita Rivera is an accomplished and versatile actress, singer, and dancer, who has won two Tony Awards and received seven more nominations while breaking barriers and inspiring a generation of women to follow in her footsteps. In 2002, she became the first Hispanic recipient of the coveted Kennedy Center Honor. Propelled to stardom by her electric performance as Anita in the original Broadway premiere of West Side Story, Rivera went on to star in additional landmark musicals such as Chicago, Bye Bye Birdie, and Jerry’s Girls. She recently starred in The Dancer’s Life, an autobiographical musical about her celebrated life in the theatre.
Mary Robinson was the first female President of Ireland (1990 – 1997) and a former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997 – 2002), a post that required her to end her presidency four months early. Robinson served as a prominent member of the Irish Senate prior to her election as President. She continues to bring attention to international issues as Honorary President of Oxfam International, and Chairs the Board of Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI Alliance). Since 2002 she has been President of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative, based in New York, which is an organization she founded to make human rights the compass which charts a course for globalization that is fair, just and benefits all.
Janet Davison Rowley, M.D., is the Blum Riese Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine, Molecular Genetics & Cell Biology and Human Genetics at The University of Chicago. She is an American human geneticist and the first scientist to identify a chromosomal translocation as the cause of leukemia and other cancers. Rowley is internationally renowned for her studies of chromosome abnormalities in human leukemia and lymphoma, which have led to dramatically improved survival rates for previously incurable cancers and the development of targeted therapies. In 1999 President Clinton awarded her the National
Medal of Science–the nation's highest scientific honor.
Desmond Tutu is an Anglican Archbishop emeritus who was a leading anti-apartheid activist in South Africa. Widely regarded as “South Africa's moral conscience,” he served as the General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) from 1978 – 1985, where he led a formidable crusade in support of justice and racial reconciliation in South Africa. He received a Nobel Peace Prize for his work through SACC in 1984. Tutu was elected Archbishop of Cape Town in 1986, and the Chair of the South Africa Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1995. He retired as Archbishop in 1996 and is currently Chair of the Elders.
Dr. Muhammad Yunus is a global leader in anti-poverty efforts, and has pioneered the use of “micro-loans” to provide credit to poor individuals without collateral. Dr. Yunus, an economist by training, founded the Grameen Bank in 1983 in his native Bangladesh to provide small, low-interest loans to the poor to help better their livelihood and communities. Despite its low interest rates and lending to poor individuals, Grameen Bank is sustainable and 98% percent of its loans are repaid – higher than other banking
systems.It has spread its successful model throughout the world. Dr. Yunus received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his work.