Archive for August, 2009
Every time I see a County Commission Meeting notice in the newspaper I shudder. I wonder what is hidden in the announcements. On first look, the highlighted ones earn further research. I don’t have time right now, but the implications of some of these could be far reaching — such as "Amending consequences of a tie vote" and "Modifying vote requirements to delete or modify a restrictive covenant"
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The Smoky Mountain News reports on former county manager/ Information Technology Guru, Steve Shiver, executive and shareholder of a bankrupt amusement park; Ghost Town at Maggie Valley, NC. Ghost Town slipped under the management of Shiver and Miami investors at the height of the real estate boom. Along with bankers Bill Losner and Bob Eppling, Shiver helped turn South Dade into a speculative
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The Nation’s Capitol, where you would expect the ideals of America to be paramount, has a flaw. The People living in The District of Columbia have no representation — no Senators and no Congressmen or Congresswomen. This photo illustrates the frustration in the District. Even police cars sport the "Taxation without Representation" motto adopted for D.C. license plates. Protest is alive and well
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What makes ripples and does not come above the surface? In the Lake Worth Lagoon the muck monster has been filmed by environmentalists, reported on local television, and become a national media sensation, including an appearance on the Top 10 list of David Letterman. Who knew? The question; what kind of creature could evolve to survive the estuary highly polluted by run-off from sugar farms? At
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A partnership between the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County has yielded a slew of new bicycle safety bus stop advertisements targeting motorists. The main message: Share the road, give at least three feet of width when passing, and bicyclists have the right to use the full travel lane. Great message to spread, right?
Just one small problem: many of the ads were placed on the wrong side of the doublesided bus stop advertisement kiosks, which means that motorists (and bicyclists if riding properly) traveling along the city’s many one-way downtown streets will never see them!
I have been told that this unfortunate error will be rectified shortly. Let’s hope so…
Great ad, but not one motorist, bus driver, or bicyclist will see this on Northeast 1st Avenue.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida voted to approve a gambling compact with the governor Friday at a closed-door meeting of its tribal council in Hollywood, sources close to the negotiations told the Herald/Times.
But in what may be a deal-breaker for lawmakers who must ratify the agreement, the council refused to accept some provisions sought by legislative leaders, the sources said.
Gov. Charlie Crist and the tribe have until Monday to meet the legislatively-set deadline to complete an agreement to authorize slot machines, black jack and banked card games at its tribal casinos.
If Crist signs the agreement, he is expected to call a special session in October to have lawmakers sign-off on the deal, as required by law. Watching closely are the state's horse and dog tracks and jai alai frontons which were given unlimited poker games and lower tax rates on slot machines if the gambling compact with the tribe is signed.
The governor wouldn't comment on the tribe's decision Friday.
"Stay tuned for details Monday," he said at a Fort Lauderdale press conference to introduce his Senate appointee George Lemieux. LeMieux, Crist's former chief of staff, served as the governor's lead negotiator with the tribe.
Earlier this week, the governor and the tribe agreed to a plan to pay the state $150 million a year in exchange for operating the games at all seven of its casinos. But that went farther than the guidelines set out by the Legislature, which authorized the card games only at the tribe's Hard Rock casinos in Hollywood and Tampa and its two other casinos in Broward.
After weeks of negotiations this summer, the House's lead negotiator, Rep. Bill Galvano, conceded to give the tribe card games at its Immokalee casino but in turn wanted to allow for the prospect of casino games to be offered in Palm Beach County, Jacksonville and North Florida if legislators or voters approved them.
The change was seen as a way to help Palm Beach County Kennel Club, which has long sought slot machines, seek a referendum for slot machines. Senate President Jeff Atwater, a Republican, is from North Palm Beach.
But Galvano, a Bradenton Republican, said the goal was not intended to benefit any individual race track and the change was not sought by Atwater but originated from him and House staff.
"This isn't about any particular lobbying prowess of any particular group or a heavy-handed Senate president," he said. "It's about maintaining flexibility for any other parimutuel in the state."
He said it is the House and Senate's position that, "from a tax standpoint, it's better to have a parimutuel be allowed to expand than to get revenue sharing from the tribe."
Galvano could not be reached late Friday to react the Seminole tribe council decision. He said earlier this week that if the tribe failed to agree to some of the changes legislators sought and came back with a compact on Monday that "deviates significantly from where we intended to go as a Legislature," the legislature would be unlikely to accept it.
"It may be at that point that it goes to the feds [federal government]'' for resolution, he said.
Last year during the campaign, Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti had some nice photo opps with Deputy Maury Hernandez who survived a bullet to the head while on the job in 2007.
When Hernandez visited a BSO office last summer, Lamberti joked with him "ready to get working on those case files?'' the Herald reported.
But when — or if — Hernandez will return to work is no laughing matter now. When Hernandez met with BSO officials Aug. 5, they gave him one option: disability, said his attorney Lance Block. Hernandez has some brain damage and motor impairment but wants to return to work at BSO in some capacity. El Nuevo columnist Daniel Shoer Roth, who wrote about Hernandez on Monday, quoted Jose Pepe Lopez who said that this would not sit well with Hispanics who supported Lamberti's campaign. That led to more media coverage — and on Friday a reponse from Lamberti.
"I would like to clear up some published reports that our agency does not want Deputy Hernandez to return to duty and we are leaning on him to retire,'' Lamberti wrote in an email to employees. "We all love and respect Maury and want what is best for him. In a recent meeting with Maury, our benefits people outlined for him the benefits of a guaranteed-for-life disability pension.''
But that's not the only option, Lamberti wrote.
"I am presenting to him and his family all the possibilities and we are not going to mandate which one he chooses.''
A BSO spokeswoman declined to elaborate. Block said Friday that BSO has not offered other ''possibilities.''
"They are playing word games,'' he said.
He's a Republican. The other guy's a Democrat. And both Marco Rubio and Kendrick Meek are running for U.S. Senate. So is Gov. Charlie Crist. Guess what? They both bashed Crist's decision to appoint his former chief of staff, George LeMieux, to fill retiring Sen. Mel Martinez's seat until the 2010 elections.
Here's Rubio:
This is a disappointing appointment for Florida. George LeMieux is a talented political operative and the governor’s best friend, but that doesn’t make him the right choice to represent Florida in the Senate. Governor Crist had a wealth of consistent and principled conservative candidates to choose from, all of whom would have been a reliable check and balance on the excesses of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid agenda.
Here's Meek:
U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Miami) released the following statement after Governor Charlie Crist appointed George LeMieux to the U.S. Senate:
"From the moment Senator Martinez announced his retirement, Governor Crist placed his ambitions over Florida's needs. Floridians require a Senator working to ease their economic pain and achieve comprehensive health insurance reform, not a political appointee who serves the monied special interests.
"The Governor added another addition to his campaign team at taxpayers' expense. George LeMieux doesn't represent Floridians facing economic challenges – he represents privileged clients with expense accounts far removed from the realities Floridians are facing.
"Governor Crist was afforded a high responsibility with this appointment. Instead, he treated this process like a mockery, politicizing his selection by flying around the state at taxpayers' expense, touring major media markets and drawing this selection out. Well respected Floridians with a wealth of elected service experience from Congressman Clay Shaw to Mayor John Delaney to various Hispanic leaders were in a position to hit the ground running if appointed, but that possibility is now nonexistent.
"By appointing George LeMieux, Governor Crist's inner circle was rewarded with a U.S. Senate seat and Floridians are left lacking the representation they deserve."
Too bad, Judge Spencer D. Levine.
Gov. Charlie Crist had planned to attend his investiture to the Fourth District Court of Appeal at 3 p.m. but now he's got more pressing duties. He's planning to fly to Broward with George LeMieux, his newly-appointed U.S. Senator, for a celebratory trip back home to Broward.
The event is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the Fort Lauderdale city commission chambers, 100 North Andrews Ave.
Republican U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Miami — who passed on Gov. Charlie Crist's offer to consider him for the Senate appointment — said of George LeMieux: "I have known George LeMieux for many years and hold him in great respect. I look forward to welcoming him to Congress and to the Florida Congressional delegation, and to working closely with him in the critical months ahead."
Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson said: "There are some very important and immediate issues facing Florida, such as health care and protecting the military's testing and training ranges in the Gulf of Mexico. I intend to have a good personal and bipartisan relationship with the new senator, as I have had with Mel Martinez."