It's NOT exactly Breaking News that Miami Heat majority owner Mickey Arison, one of the U.S.'s richest citizens, chairman and CEO of Carnival Corp, the world's largest cruise line operator, and THE wealthiest person in the state of Florida according to Forbes magazine, continues to stiff Miami-Dade County taxpayers for tens of millions of dollars and promised improvements for YEARS.
http://blogs.forbes.com/joselambiet/2010/09/23/florida-boasts-third-highest-number-of-billionaires-in-2010-forbes-400/
But Channel 4 I-Team reporter Jim DeFede, in his impressive spot-on marshaling of facts will no doubt open the eyes of many South Florida residents who were previously in the dark, and show the true character of the influential individual that the Miami Herald regularly lionizes, with little criticism of him ever making it into print.
The most fascinating aspect of that answer is the willingness of the county to simply abdicate any responsibility they might have in making sure they are not losing a possible source of money.
The new Miami-Dade County mayor, to be elected in two weeks, on May 24th, needs to use the bully-pulpit and let everyone who is anyone know that taxpayers down here won't be played for suckers in the future.
The last time I saw a good fact-filled report on this topic, which emphasized the missing bayfront public park that Arison was required to construct as part of his agreement, was probably 4-6 years ago by WPLG-TV/Channel 10's Glenna Milberg.
Related article is at:
http://miami.cbslocal.com/
