Showing posts with label FIU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FIU. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Some preliminary thoughts about #Broward's 2021 #redistricting process. Final map gets voted on at what's likely to be a very spirited December 7th meeting, where some political careers may well be snuffed out


Some preliminary thoughts about #Broward's 2021 #redistricting process. Final map gets voted on at what's likely to be a very spirited December 7th meeting, where some political careers may well be snuffed out

Even as I was writing my first draft of this post this afternoon, I got word that an additional Broward County redistricting meeting has been scheduled for Saturday October 30, 2021 at 10AM, but it's... virtual. 🙄 Zut alors!

It's the last "public" meeting to comment before the last 4 draft maps are presented to the Broward County Commission for their thumbs up or down, scheduled for December 7th.

20210927_201323.jpg

My experience in the past is that the Sun Sentinel's Lisa Huriash is usually a fair-minded reporter, with a good sense of perspective re how simple or complicated an issue might be and what's necessary to present an accurate account of what's really at stake.
But here, on the issue of Broward reconfiguring its nine Commission districts, noticeably, she has failed badly

Also not mentioned is that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will be naming two interim Broward County Commissioners next month, as Barbara Sharief and Dale Holness had to resign in order to run in the #FL20 primary election that takes place two weeks from today, on November 2nd.

An election with nearly a dozen candidates where the winner will likely be someone who has failed to get 75%+ of the overall Democratic voters. Most of you longtime readers of the blog know that I hold both of these two Broward Commissioners in very low regard for their serial unethical machinations, serial poor judgment, and propensity for telling self-serving lies and half-truths, and general desire to play #IdentityPolitics at the worst possible times.
You never have to ask whether they are doing something for political reasons: they ARE.

Sharief's District 8 seat is up next November while the Holness' District 9 seat runs thru 2024, so my educated guess is that both seats will be on the ballot in just over a year, one for a full-term, and one to fill out the final two years.
You should start seeing articles next week about who DeSantis might choose and why.

Migration changes face of Broward, bringing new ideas and fresh flavors
By Lisa J. Huriash
October 11, 2021 

There were and are some very obvious and important facts and relationships that, at a minimum, should have been disclosed to readers there, but which, for whatever reason, weren't.

That includes connecting-the-dots on some of the people she quotes who I know with certainty have glaring conflicts of interests as it affects the public and public policy, including on the matter of redistricting, but Huriash stays quiet as a church mouse, which is why I have included the piece by Red 
Broward blogger Tom Lauder that accurately connects-the-dots that Huriash chooses to ignore,

If you can't access the Sun Sentinel article, let me know and I'll try to send a copy to you.

And yes, the Sept. 27 meeting I reference below is the one that was held at the Hollywood Library that I sent some of you an email about last month, before it took place, because there was no info about it anywhere in Hollywood, not even at the library itself, so the librarians knew nothing about it just two days beforehand.
Which is clearly not a good sign of the county's level of engagement on this.

Click screen grab below to enlarge!


























By the way, before the public meeting was held, there was a preview meeting held by the FIU redistricting consultants that was largely composed of area local elected officials, so they'd have a better handle on what the process is supposed to be and the issues involved in creating districts that are roughly equal population-wise, though they're allowed to have up to a 10% variance.
I saw many familiar faces coming out of the room before I and a handful of other Broward citizens went in for the public meeting.


Above, the evening's moderator, FIU professor Dario Moreno, the county's lead consultant on redistricting.

Above, District 6 Broward Commissioner Beam Furr, an official Friend of the Blog. As per usual, we spoke for a bit on some local matters before the meeting started.






Broward Commissioner Steve Geller in center



Because facts matter, and are worth recalling: At least three members of the county commission in the past 20 years not lived in their districts – Ben Graber, Lois Wexler and Stacy Ritter. 

"The law requires your legal residence to be in the district, while apparently your physical body can sleep somewhere else." -Buddy Nevins at Broward Beat, Dec. 4, 2011


Broward Beat
Gerrymander! County Commission Carves Out A Seat For State Rep. Marty Kiar

BY BUDDY NEVINS
December 16, 2011

State Rep. Marty Kiar of Davie is “extremely likely” to run for the Broward County Commission after commissioners on Tuesday gerrymandered District 1 to include Kiar’s home.

The opportunity for Kiar suddenly surfaced late Tuesday when commissioners suddenly placed a tiny sliver of northwest Davie in District 1.  That section just happens to include Kiar’s home.

Districting boundary lines are not drawn by accident at the county commission. Somebody wants Kiar in the race, either the Commissioners Lieberman and Stacy Ritter who redrew the district or those behind the scenes…or both.

Read the rest of the post at


A reminder: After resisting getting a Facebook account for... well, years, because I could not be bothered with one with everything else I was already doing, I finally gave in last month and created a new platform for myself at https://www.facebook.com/DavidSmith0215/,
mostly so that I could finally read and comment on what i saw at the Hollywood Residents - Speak Up group page, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1023412084491625/ which I urge you to join if you are a Hollywood resident not already reading it.

Don't agree with everything there, of course, but it's a much better informed group that a random group of residents, and includes almost daily posts by people I know and trust who want this city to be MUCH-BETTER than it is and has been in recent years. Just like me.

Typically, I comment on both my page and the group page a few times a week, but I'm trying to allow a few days in-between posts, plus, I usually try to mention things that I don't necessarily mention in my popular group emails, here on my blog, or at the very repetitive and often innocuous Hollywood Nextdoor page, so consider checking me out there as well.

Also, if you add my current phone number to your contact list and use WhatsApp, you can even see my occasional commentary on things important and otherwise via the STATUS page, so consider that, too.




Some other Florida redistricting stories worth catching up on:

Miami Herald
Miami-Dade has - a new redistricting map: Let the fights begin over voting boundaries
Douglas Hanks; Staff Writer
October 3, 2021
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article254682422.html


Understanding the Florida Legislature redistricting effort with former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida, Peggy Quince.
From WEDU-TV, PBS Tampa: Florida This Week, taped Sept. 24, 2021

Florida lawmakers look to avoid running afoul of courts when redrawing districts
'My promise to you is … we will do this right,' one lawmaker said

John Kennedy, Capital Bureau
USA TODAY NETWORK-FLORIDA

POLITICO Florida Playbook: The GOP’s redistricting promises
Tuesday, Sept. 21, 7:02 AM
BY GARY FINEOUT
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/florida-playbook/2021/09/21/the-gops-redistricting-promises-494407

Florida Trend
Senate kicks off redistricting process
Jim Turner | News Service of Florida | 9/21/2021
https://www.floridatrend.com/article/32208/senate-kicks-off-redistricting-process

South Florida Sun Sentinel 

Friday, October 21, 2011

Yet another Miami Herald WTF moment re the World Series -their unintentional dig at themselves reveals a shallow, poorly-edited, second-rate newspaper

Yet another Miami Herald WTF moment re the World Series -their unintentional dig at themselves reveals a shallow, poorly-edited, second-rate newspaper.

"History repeats itself."
How many times have we all found ourselves saying that aloud or thinking that thought silently when we've come across a situation that makes us shake our heads and discern a certain circularity in our part of the universe?

Well, at the Miami Herald -just as is true at Hallandale Beach City Hall for HB's beleaguered taxpayers, who are plagued by sleep-walking elected officials with little concern for public scrutiny of tax dollars going out to cronies- history seems to repeat itself quite frequently, often more than seems either logical or even possible.

At One Herald Plaza as is true at 400 S. Federal Highway, the preponderance of the facts tend to show that when it happens, it's almost always a bad experience for Herald readers wanting to be well-informed, and this past week was no exception.

History repeated itself a few times at the Herald this past week, and this was true despite the fact that I didn't even read Thursday's paper until late today -Friday afternoon, due to an unexpected trip to a local emergency room Thursday night due to a family medical situation.

So, where to start?
Well, first, the predicate.

Last year I shared with you a few stories about the Herald's perfectly dreadful sports coverage in general, and in particular, their half-assed coverage of the 2010 World Series between the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants in a November 3rd, 2010 post titled, quite accurately, The Miami Herald's dismal Pony Express-style coverage of The World Series -compared to the New York Times- is a bad omen for readers

Well, would you believe that they even topped themselves on Wednesday, even before the First Pitch?

First, you'll notice that they don't mention anything about the World Series above the masthead to lure readers to the sports section.
The sort of thing that in the past would've been a no-brainer.
Check.


Then when you get to the sports section, under the decidedly non-genius editorial leadership of Jorge Rojas, you notice that there is absolutely nothing about that night's Opening Game on the front page.
Check.

This, even while there is something about the Dolphins, Hurricanes and Panther and... oh yeah, a wire story about the Michigan State football team.
Really.

The first three are not so unusual being local teams and all, but seriously, a story on the front page about Spartan football but not the World Series?
Why?
We don't live in East Lansing.

As if to throw salt into the the open-wound that is the Herald sports section, they run a photo of FIU running back Kendrick Rhodes from Tuesday night's nationally-televised football game at Arkansas State.
But they have nothing about the game itself.
Nothing as in nada!

Just like they had nothing in the newspaper weeks ago -the next day- following FIU's biggest football victory ever, against the U of L Cards (Louisville), another game that was nationally-televised.
How f-ing embarrassing!!!

Oh, so you think it's just because the Herald's geniuses make the Broward edition the same as the Keys edition, as above?
Hmm-m... so doesn't that seem like a dis-service to the 40-45% of their readers who want accurate and timely information?

Especially given that the Herald has a printing press in Broward County on Pembroke Road less than four miles from me, where I'm also less than a mile north of the Miami-Dade County line?

Today, as if to show they are beyond redemption -they are, I was being rhetorical- today's sports section had a smarmy so-called "Web Poll" on its second page -at top of this post- with the following question, and I swear they really wrote this, apparently unaware of the irony of a crummy newspaper sports section like theirs that doesn't mention the World Series on its own front page asking its readers: Are you interested in the World Series?

The answers you could respond with are:

With the Marlins and Yankees at home I'm not interested

Very interested

Lost interest with the strikes

The World Series is going on?

When did we inherit the Yankees?
The next time you hear someone from a TV network or a national-known sports writer opine on the sorry state of South Florida sports fans, while it's clearly got grains of truth, what they always forget to mention is the dreadful state of their brethren in local South Florida radio/TV/newspaper sports Depts: they are largely awful and yet strangely verbose and testy, an awful combination for readers, listeners and viewers alike.

And full of people from New York who never made the successful transition to making this area "home" even after 20 or more years.

For those of you who live far from South Florida, understand this point and you will understand a lot of why Florida in general and South Florida in particular have so many intractable problems:
The states of California, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia absorbed the vast majority of the genuinely creative/talented or business-savvy New Yorkers who chose to flee that state since the early '80's, due to high taxes and the decreasing Quality of Life, while South Florida absorbed what was left of the emigres.

And it shows itself everyday in all aspects of life here, including the low aptitudes and smug attitudes of the South Florida news media.
We got stuck with all the Misfit Toys from New York.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Miami Herald rediscovers FL-17 race it's largely ignored; FL-17 candidate forum at FIU's Biscayne Bay campus Thurday at 5 p.m.

Not that they bear ALL the responsibility for this, per se, but why is the Miami Herald once again doing something that's so counter-intuitive by posting this story about a congressional race that they have largely ignored the past year, FL-17, that includes info about a Thursday afternoon candidate's forum, at 11:22 p.m. Wednesday night, instead of showing some sense and doing so Tuesday night for Wednesday's print edition, so more readers and voters would have a chance to attend?

Isn't the candidate forum information time-sensitive?

Seems like it to me!

The Herald's longstanding and almost spiteful refusal over the years to run items like that early when they can actually be of practical use to readers, the final consumers of their product, is really something that gives frequent critics of the newspaper like me, even more ammunition than we need.

Frankly, it makes the reporters and editors seem EVEN MORE distant and removed from the concerns of readers.

In most major newspapers, that particular info would've run in the paper on Sunday, so that concerned readers could make plans to attend.


Yet curiously, events that the
Herald or owner McClatchy or previously, Knight-Ridder, was sponsors or co-sponsors of, no matter how parochial or picayune, were/are always given lots of play in advance.
We all know that to be true, so why the disparity?

By the way, I'm NOT a big fan of FIU Prof.
Dario Moreno, who is quoted below in the story, as I've almost always found his appearances on local TV newscasts or public policy shows -usually Michael Putney's excellent This Week in South Florida (TWISF)- to be the worst kind of sycophantic conventional wisdom, with him offering no original take on anything.

Almost as if he was at pains to criticize anyone, which, perhaps he is.

When I see Prof. Moreno on the tube, I tune-out and change the channel.

There are a number of holes in this story but it's so damn blah, why shoot a fish in a barrel?

Well, because I can.

U.S.-1/Biscayne Blvd./Federal Highway is the dividing line between Kendrick Meek's current 17th CD and the dreaded Debbie Wasserman-Schultz's 20th CD. (DWS)


It might interest the reporters -and those of you living far from here- to know that contrary to what they wrote, ALL of Aventura is in DWS territory.

Is it really too much trouble to expect news reporters to actually know what is and is NOT in the 17th CD when they write about it?

I mean there are maps of it after all, right?


Yes, I even posted one here for you to examine, and there's one anchored on the blog.
Here's the link:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?state=FL

The east side of West Dixie Highway is the dividing line for the City of Aventura, so the people who live in Miami-Dade County north of North Miami Beach -where I grew-up- and west of Aventura, are, technically in unincorporated M-D County, NOT Aventura, despite what the businesses there may call themselves or what they put on their signs or business cards.
Just ask the Post Office or any Aventura cop -they know.


See this handy map: http://skyhighhomes.com/picture/northeastdademac.pdf

And as discussed here previously, it's why the well-regarded Aventura Waterways Charter K-8 school, which I'd love to see replicated in Hallandale Beach, is NOT really in Aventura proper.


Not that the residents living on the other side of Dixie Highway don't want to be in it, but the City of Aventura powers-that-be don't want 'em because in their minds, pure and simple, the area isn't affluent enough.


I know all about this border not just from living so close to it, but because every time I see my barber in the M-D neighborhood of Ojus, which is in that no-man's land, we discuss it, just like we did yesterday for the umpteenth time.

See the
Skylake-Highland Lakes Homeowners Assocation website for backstory at
http://skyhighhomes.com/outside_home.asp, in particular, here:
http://skyhighhomes.com/item_list.asp?subcat=44&subtitle=Annexation%2FIncorporation

As has been previously mentioned here in previous discussions of Meek, DWS and the South Florida CDs, the
grand bargain the FL legislature made many years in carving-out the CDs, knowing that Carrie Meek was going to run, was to put as many African-Americans as possible in 17 and as many Jewish voters as possible in the 20th.

That's why the 20th CD has the strange shape it does and why Hallandale Beach, where I live, and not listed in the story, a city that's only 4.2 square miles, is actually divided in two, when its small size ought to make it even more important for the it to entirely be in the same district.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?state=FL&district=17
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?state=FL&district=20

The Broward County Commission districts also divide the city, albeit on a much smaller scale, since a sliver of NW HB is in District 8, formerly repped by the indicted
Diana Wasserman-Rubin, and currently unrepresented at the Commission until November, while 95% of the city is currently repped by Sue Gunzburger in District 6.

http://gis.broward.org/maps/webPDFs/CommissionDistricts/comdist8.pdf

http://gis.broward.org/maps/webPDFs/CommissionDistricts/comdist6.pdf


And you thought that electoral districts were actually supposed to be "compact" for the benefit of residents like the law says?
Nope!


As for the dopey comments of self-serving
Broward Democratic Party poobah
Mitch Ceasar about possible low-turnout in the Broward part of the district, well, they're typical.

Explain how on the one hand that you'd imagine that people will turn out to vote in the
Sue Gunzburger vs. Steve Geller fight for Broward County Commission District 6, but counter-intuitively, not cast a ballot in a primary for Congress?

If anything, it's very likely that the Broward part of FL-17 will have a higher voting-rate than the part located in Miami-Dade County.

I believe I wrote that many months ago in a few posts criticizing the FL-17 candidates who were refusing to come to Broward and campaign in cities like, yes, home sweet Hallandale Beach.

Now THERE'S your real story!


------

Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/11/1772338/1-open-seat-10-candidates-an-unpredictable.html

Florida International University and the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce will host

a candidate forum for Congressional District 17 at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Wolfe University

Center Theater, FIU Biscayne Bay Campus, 3000 NE 151st St. in North Miami.

The forum, co-sponsored by The Miami Herald and Univisión/Channel 23, will be moderated

by WPLG-ABC 10 political reporter Michael Putney.

Marleine Bastien, Phillip Brutus, Scott Galvin, Shirley Gibson, Rudy Moise, André Williams

and Frederica Wilson have confirmed their attendance.


1 open seat + 10 candidates = an unpredictable election

By Patricia Mazzei and Carrie Wells

August 12, 2010


For nearly two decades, nobody has had to figure out how to win Florida's 17th Congressional District.

Neither U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek nor his mother, Carrie -- the first person elected to the seat when it was redrawn in 1992 -- faced more than token opposition, if any.

But now Meek is running for U.S. Senate, and the nine other Democrats vying for his seat are working without a road map to model their races. Forced to devise their own strategies, the campaigns have not focused on capturing votes in the entire district, a safe Democratic seat that stretches from Overtown to Pembroke Pines.

Instead, they are carving out niches, trying to muster just enough votes to eke out a victory in the Aug. 24 primary. The winner will face attorney Roderick Vereen, running without party affiliation, in November.

With so many candidates splintering the vote, one candidate would win the primary with as little as 15 percent of the ballots cast, said Kevin A. Hill, an associate professor of political science at Florida International University.

"Anything could happen in that election,'' he said. "It's a total crapshoot.''

The race is also unpredictable because the district's more than 600,000 residents are as diverse as they come. A majority of voters are black -- mostly African American, though the district has the largest concentration of Haitian Americans in the country -- and there are pockets of whites and Hispanics.

"This election may answer whether it's an African-American seat, a Haitian seat or probably a bit of everything,'' said Mitch Ceasar, chairman of the Broward Democratic Party.

With Meek opting not to endorse anyone in the primary, the candidates have worked to shore up their natural bases as they crunch numbers to determine which is the district's biggest voting bloc.

Frederica Wilson has relied on an existing network in her Florida Senate district, which overlaps with much of the congressional district. The same is true for state Reps. James Bush III and Yolly Roberson and former state Rep. Phillip Brutus. To complicate allegiances further: Brutus and Roberson used to be married to each other.

None of those districts encompass all of Miami Gardens, home to two other candidates: Mayor Shirley Gibson and Councilman André Williams. As the third-largest city in Miami-Dade and the state's largest predominantly African-American city, a well-known official could amass enough votes to win with little need of support from elsewhere.

The same is not true for smaller cities like North Miami, where candidate Scott Galvin is a councilman. As the only white candidate in the race, he could collect votes in Miami Shores, North Miami Beach and Aventura.

Haitian Americans -- who depending on varying estimates make up between an eighth and a quarter of the vote in the district -- could swing the election.

Yet it is unlikely for Haitian Americans to vote as a unified bloc, with four Haitian-born candidates in the running: Brutus, Roberson, activist Marleine Bastien and entrepreneur Rudolph "Rudy'' Moise.

Looking elsewhere for support, Bastien, founder of Haitian Women of Miami, has tried to rally like-minded activists and the female vote. Moise, running with deep pockets after putting more than $1 million of his own money into the race, has gone on TV and sent campaign mailers to become better known.

His media campaign could reach some voters in Miramar, Pembroke Pines and Hollywood, which together comprise about a third of the district. Hollywood Mayor Peter Bober recently endorsed Moise, citing his "real-world experience.''

"The key for the candidates is to somehow make sure Broward does not believe itself to be a stepchild of the district,'' Ceasar said. "If that occurs, then the risk becomes greater that the turnout in the Broward portion is exceedingly low.''

Turnout is expected to be low everywhere. In 2006, the last time Meek drew a primary opponent, about 36,000 people -- or 16 percent -- of the district's 220,000 registered Democrats voted.

This time around the seat is more competitive, but some campaigns and political observers say a candidate could still win with as few as 10,000 votes.

That makes relying on one group for support particularly risky.

And, of course, whoever is elected will have to represent everyone in the diverse district. That tall order could mean a streak of competitive elections among Democrats battling for the seat in the future.

"It is difficult,'' said Dario Moreno, an associate professor of political science at FIU. "That's why the Meeks were so successful.''

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

June 3 is 'IU Day' on the Big Ten Network; Isiah Thomas

June 3 is 'IU Day' on the Big Ten Network, DirecTV Channel 610
TV schedule is below some of my icons borrowed from my
South Beach Hoosier blog,

GREAT SCOTT, IT'S INDIANA!

Great Scott, It\
Scott May Shoots Down Michigan, April 5, 1976

THE CHAMPS!

The Champs!
Hoosier Hero Isiah Thomas, April 4, 1981


IU All-American and Olympian StevE Alford on the cover of the 1987 Media guide

INDIANA HOOSIER SPIRIT AT ASSEMBLY HALL

Indiana Hoosier Spirit at Assembly Hall
IU cheerleaders doing a 360° circle turn at half-court.


IU head basketball coach Tom Crean at his press conference
in Bloomington. With his hiring, South Beach Hoosier's prediction
-and wish- came true!
Now, we can finally get back to the IU tradition: an emphasis on
playing smart, playing hard, playing as a team -and winning with class.
And graduating!
No more one-and-done recruits!


The Championship Banners: 1940, 1953, 1976, 1981, 1987
Assembly Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

------------------------------------

http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/c-varsityclub/spec-rel/060309aab.html

Today is 'IU Day' on the Big Ten Network

June 3, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - June 3rd on the Big Ten Network has been named "IU Day,"

and all programming on Wednesday will be involving the Indiana Hoosiers!

COMPLETE PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE
6:00 a.m.- The Big Ten's Greatest Games: 1990 - Kentucky @ Indiana [Basketball]
8:00 a.m.- The Big Ten's Greatest Games: 2006 - Iowa @ Indiana [Football]
10:00 a.m.- Big Ten Short Stories: Indiana Hoosiers
10:30 a.m.- #1 NBA Draft Picks
11:00 a.m.- Men's Soccer: Indiana @ Ohio State
1:00 p.m.- Big Ten Friday Night Tailgate: Indiana
2:30 p.m.- Big Ten Short Stories: Indiana Hoosiers
3:00 p.m.- The Big Ten's Greatest Games: 1999 - Illinois @ Indiana [Football]
5:00 p.m.- Men's Golf: Match Play Championship
8:00 p.m.- The Big Ten's Greatest Games: 1987 NCAA Tournament Championship - Indiana vs. Syracuse
9:30 p.m.- Big Ten Short Stories: Indiana Hoosiers
10:00 p.m.- The Big Ten's Greatest Games: 1981 NCAA Tournament Championship - IU vs. North Carolina
12:00 a.m.- The Big Ten's Greatest Games: 2007 - Purdue @ Indiana [Football]
2:00 a.m.- Big Ten Short Stories: Indiana Hoosiers
2:30 a.m.- #1 NBA Draft Picks
3:00 a.m.- Men's Golf: Match Play Championship


In the Heart of a Great Country, Beats the Soul of Hoosier Nation
"In the Heart of a Great Country, Beats the Soul of Hoosier Nation." -South Beach Hoosier, 2007

Those of you who have written, called or wondered
when I was FINALLY going to be writing something
about Isiah being hired as head coach at FIU, and
the Miami media's tempest-in-a-teapot over his hiring,
should know that something was already written weeks
ago on him and the over-the-top media coverage,
where lots of usually sober TV and print reporters
were sloppy with facts and heavy with insinuations
in ways that you rarely see on local news coverage
-even in Miami!

It's in cold storage right now, waiting for the right time
to bring it out, a day that is fast approaching.

South Beach Hoosier/Hallandale Beach Blog
South Beach Hoosier/Hallandale Beach Blog