Archive for November, 2009
It is a slow news day, so time for a story from my past.I got a job for the Rock Magazine "Circus," working under the Publisher Gerry Rothenberg, managing the classified page and doing anything else that no one else would do.It was the mid 70′s, "Blondie" and Alice Cooper were white hot, and Arnold Schwartzennegger was just about to sizzle (his dad wrote the mag a letter asking that we write
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That’s one of the several mixed-up points in the Herald front page story: "Noses pressed to glass, local artists experience Basel." Yes: "… Greater Miami trails far behind cities that boast older, more sophisticated and better-funded art scenes." This is a city whose public commitment to art is Britto deep.The point about cities and art is that first you have to cultivate, then you can harvest
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Over 100 cyclists gathered last night at Governmenet Center to participate in a very special Critical Mass ride. The group was joined by the family & friends of Rodolfo Rojo, a teen who was struck and killed by a speeding car on October 30th. Memorial t-shirts courtesy of his friends & family were given to the attendees before the start of the ride. An image of Rodolfo was on the front of the shirt with the message “Live life to the fullest”, a bicycle and “Share the Road” was on the back.
Shortly after 7pm the group took to the streets, we started in downtown Miami and traversed north on Biscayne Blvd to 114th street to pay tribute. A Ghost Bike was placed just a few yards from where Rodolfo was struck and killed. Bradley Kelly, one of Rojo’s best friends who was riding with him and witnessed the tragedy that night set up the memorial.
At the memorial site we were awaited by more family & friends of Rojo. Cyclists converged to pay their respects and placed white roses on the ghost bike, the group then released balloons in unison celebrating the life of Rodolfo Rojo. It was a chilly and at moments somber ride last night. I believe everyone invoved was quite touched by the whole experience.
Below is a video from the memorial celebration.
You can read a bit more about Rodolfo Rojo and the organization he was a part of here. It’s obvious he had a very bright future ahead of him.
Though Rodolfo’s untimely death received little to no media attention soon after the tragedy, it now appears to be finally getting the recognition it deserves.
Local Spanish news station América TeVé 41 was present, their news story aired last night and can be seen here.
The Miami Herald ( Friday 11/27 edition) also covered Rodolfo’s death & the Critical Mass ride in his honor. The piece can be read in it’s entirety by clicking on the image below.
I hope passerby’s see the Ghost Bike and are reminded that a young man lost his life here because of someone’s recklessness.
Rodolfo Rojo 1991-2009
Thirty people plus from a foreign country come ashore at Turkey Point Nuclear Reactor site and THEY finally had to call security, after having been there approximately 8 hours, never having been detected by a single nuke plant guard. Does that blow you away?This is where they want to put 2 more reactors, the most nuclear power reactors in the entire nation? Isn’t this suppose to be a highly
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The Human Services Coalition, a group of non-profit agencies in Miami, is rallying their community members to learn more about lobbying. The HSC must have watched the results of lobbying in Miami Dade County and finally came to the same conclusion that the Eye on Miami bloggers have been preaching for years – follow the money.An article,Whose Money is Behind Political Campaigns?, in their
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As a special session seems likely on rail issues, opponents of the proposed SunRail commuter system say it's the same old bad deal. The issues: cost, liability for taxpayers and federal protections for railroad workers on the tracks the state wants to buy from CSX for Central Florida commuter rail.
Will taxpayers be liable if CSX, which will continue to operate on the taxpayer-owned lines, causes an accident? Who knows? FDOT isn't producing any documentation showing what the deal is. Lakeland Sen. Paula Dockery has had to put in a public records request to find out. No response so far. What will the cost of the deal be? Who knows? FDOT isn't saying. Will railroad workers, who enjoy federal railroad protections, lose their labor rights? Who knows? FDOT isn't saying.
Yet we're going to have a special lawmaking session next week on the matter, anyway. And the fate of Tri-Rail funding hangs in the balance. So, potentially, does the state's application for high-speed rail money, which partly depends on the state showing more support for rail. AFL-CIO President Mike Williams just wrote a letter asking lawmakers to scuttle the SunRail deal. Expect the unions to make their case in Washington as well, where a certain president owes Big Labor a few favors and where mistrust is high of a Republican-led Legislature that went out of its way to once stop a bullet train plan that they now claim is a must for Florida.
Below is Williams letter. We asked FDOT for comment. Nothing in response. All aboard!
“The Florida AFL-CIO has worked tirelessly over the past few weeks in an effort to play a meaningful and constructive role in crafting a compromise among all interested parties that would enable the SunRail project to move forward, the Tri-Rail system to have a dedicated funding source and high speed rail to move forward. It was our goal to achieve a compromise that would allow broad-based support of this legislation that included a wide, bi-partisan coalition of Republicans and Democrats interested in advancing Florida’s public rail system, while at the same time assuring such system created the highest-quality job force and safety conditions possible. In fact, we believed based upon the good faith efforts of the Florida Senate that we were very close to achieving such a compromise. But due to a lack of cooperation or compromise from FDOT, the Administration and the Florida House, the legislation being considered for the proposed special session next week fails Florida workers by continuing to enable FDOT to have unfettered authority to fire railroad workers subject to federal railroad protections and safeguards and replace them less qualified, less experienced transit employees not subject to federal railroad protections or safeguards.”
“Therefore, the Florida AFL-CIO and our half-million members across Florida must reiterate our strong opposition to the CSX/SunRail transaction and the implementing legislation currently being considered for a special session. As it has from its conception, this transaction remains nothing short of government-enabled union busting by FDOT, a move that threatens vital protections for thousands of workers and, by extension, the safety of the riding public.”
“While we respect and commend the goal of bringing commuter rail to Greater Orlando, we oppose this transaction and future transactions authorized by any implementing legislation that will give FDOT unfettered authority to enter into future projects that destroy federal railroad worker protections and railroad worker jobs.”
“It has become clear that FDOT’s primary purpose of the current SunRail deal is to ensure that federal railroad worker protections including, but not limited to, federal collective bargaining rights, federally-protected pension plans and federal railroad worker’s compensation protections become unavailable to workers in all future state-acquired rail corridors. FDOT’s goal here is, put simply, to decimate federal railroad protections in Florida’s railroad system, putting the jobs of thousands of railroad workers, their families’ livelihoods and the safety of the riding public in jeopardy. The Florida AFL-CIO has no choice but to fight aggressively against the SunRail enabling legislation as long as getting around federal railroad worker protection laws remains a component of the deal.”
“Today, we began a concerted and aggressive outreach to our friends and allies in the Florida Senate to oppose this legislation and to characterize it for what it is: a direct attack on organized labor. We have asked them to stand with us against the implementing legislation, against a special session being called and against this deal until such time that a legitimate, meaningful compromise has been achieved on the labor issue. Unfortunately, that time has not yet arrived and a special session on SunRail is premature. Should one occur next week, we will be asking our friends in the Senate to vote against the implementing legislation.”
“The Florida AFL-CIO stands strongly in opposition to the SunRail transaction and will continue to fight for the Florida’s railroad workers until such time that their issues are addressed. We will fight for their jobs, their benefits, their rights and their dignity.”
I don’t know Larry Spring, City of Miami chief financial officer, beyond watching him on local TV during one of the final hearings on the Marlins’ stadium boondoggle of the century. It was amazing and dumbfounding to watch Spring stammer under questioning. In the end, it didn’t matter that Spring lacked answers or facility with the numbers of the deal (George Burgess couldn’t have been the ONLY
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Chris Brown is not a nice guy. He’s not a good guy. And he doesn’t deserve a break, no matter what Kanye West, Terrrence Howard, or Akon say. Nor does he deserve anyone’s money Sunday w…
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On this Thanksgiving weekend USF fans better be thankful for all the opportunities Miami, inadvertently or not, have given the insurgent Bulls in their short history. Our exit from the Big …
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During his first visit to South Florida since joining the Senate, Republican George LeMieux talked about how he's looking out for Florida — and for the man who put him in office, Charlie Crist. He also discussed the nationwide debate over the right course for the Republican party. Story here.