For a new super-hero like Britt Reid to emerge, a newspaper mogul must die -Oh, well! The Green Hornet opens today in the U.S & U.K.

http://www.sonypictures.com/previews/movies/thegreenhornet/clips/2173/

The Daily Sentinel: "Who is the Green Hornet?"



http://www.sonypictures.com/previews/movies/thegreenhornet/clips/2732/

Interactive trailer: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thegreenhornet/itrailer/

http://www.greenhornetmovie.com/

U.K. ad: http://www.thedrum.co.uk/news/2011/01/13/17631-sony-pictures-go-to-great-lengths-to-plug-the-green-hornet/



The ABC-TV series from the 1960's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIwsqFjfKPs

I wonder if the fictional Daily Sentinel under the late newspaper mogul James Reid was routinely blowing-off covering local City Commission meetings, or blocking stories about the curious personal behavior of local female elected officials and instead, directing his reporters to write puff-pieces on real estate developments like... say, the Miami Herald:

For instance,
Midtown Miami sparking an urban renaissance
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/14/1776662/midtown-miami-an-everything-in.html

Has the era of the Miami Herald as real estate pimp returned?
Five months ago today, at least for two days, it did.

Seriously, Midtown? But there's no real there there.

FYI: The Herald deleted all the clever and well-written negative reader comments that were there for months that called into question many aspects of the article, including what was missing from the story.

-----

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/14/1776662/midtown-miami-an-everything-in.html
Miami Herald
Midtown Miami sparking an urban renaissance
By Elaine Walker
August 14, 2010

When a friend invited Sarah Weintraub to visit Midtown Miami over a year ago, she was reluctant, remembering the location just south of Miami's Design District as a ``dilapidated, horrible neighborhood.''

Fast forward to today and Weintraub, 23, not only lives in Midtown Miami, she's one of the area's biggest fans. She revels in the growing excitement of an urban lifestyle whose restaurants and retail beckon just steps from her door.

``I instantly fell in love with Midtown,'' said Weintraub, who moved from Coconut Grove into a one-bedroom rental in March. ``The energy is incredible.''

Somehow, amid a bleak real estate meltdown with shopping centers clinging desperately to tenants, Midtown appears to have caught on, fulfilling a long-desired demand for urban retail. For more than a decade no one could find a suitable place to make it happen, leaving the best shopping meccas a long drive away for residents of central Miami.

What makes this area different from other redevelopment plans is that Midtown was started from the blank canvas of an abandoned inner-city railyard. You had the benefit of two developers controlling a 56-acre site -- a rare find in urban Miami and about the same size as a suburban strip mall. Plus, they had financial help from the city to get started and the deep pockets to wait out the recession.

While Midtown started like many condo ghost towns, the developer got aggressive early with value-priced rentals aimed at drawing new, hip residents to the once blighted area.

SPILLOVER BENEFITS

The success of Midtown, in Wynwood at the corner of 36th Street and Miami Avenue, has helped energize the surrounding area. It has boosted the revitalized Design District directly to the north and spurred additional development in the surrounding commercial district.The entire area has become a destination, dotted with art galleries, high-end home furnishing stores and some of the area's best restaurants.

As for Midtown itself, a combination of new residents like Weintraub and hot new restaurants like Sugarcane and Mercadito have breathed life into the former no-man's land. Some liken it to New York City's Meat Packing District or SoHo in its early days.

A key catalyst has been the growing restaurant scene, drawing in new visitors from a wide area stretching from Miami Shores to Coral Gables.

``I like the vibe,'' said Michael Schwartz, who hopes to open a barbecue restaurant at Midtown. ``It's accessible, and it's close to everything,'' said Schwartz of Michael's Genuine Food and Drink in the Design District.

China Grill owner Jeffrey Chodorow also is negotiating on a Midtown location to launch a new version of the landmark chain, featuring new items in smaller portions with lower prices.

Coming soon: the fall opening of organic bistro Sustain, and an Italian cafe.

Whether it's someone who comes to play at Midtown or actually lives there, the convenience of everything in one place -- condos, offices, shopping and restaurants -- is helping drive the area's popularity.

``We can't accommodate all the people that are looking at Midtown now,'' said real estate broker Michael Comras, who has been working for Midtown Miami on retail and restaurant leasing. ``That's pretty amazing considering where we were two years ago.''

Back then, Shimon Bokovza, co-owner of Sushisamba, thought the owners of Midtown were ``out of their mind'' when they asked him to open a restaurant.

CONVINCING SKEPTICS

After visiting the complex regularly for about a year, Bokovza changed his mind.

He decided the key was creating a restaurant and lounge that would draw people from outside the area. But even when he signed a lease for Sugarcane Raw Bar & Grill, Bokovza couldn't get his financial backers to support him.

``Nobody believed this place was going to make it,'' said Bokovza, who put more of his own money into opening Sugarcane. ``You would go see the place and there was hardly anybody walking around.''

Since its January opening, Sugarcane has helped lead the way toward changing that, drawing crowds for happy hour and stretching into the late-night. Bokovza estimates 30 percent of his diners live in Midtown, with the rest coming from Miami Beach, downtown and beyond.

The strategy was much the same at Mercadito, which opened in March.

``We realized that we would have to reach out beyond Midtown to be successful,'' said Alfredo Sandoval, managing partner of Mercadito Restaurant Group.

Gary Bahadur, who lives in downtown Miami, is the kind of customer the restaurants are targeting. He comes to Sugarcane for Happy Hour every couple of weeks, goes to the casual taqueria that's part of Mercadito and also visits Midtown's big box stores like Target.

``It's a fun place,'' said Bahadur, 36. ``It's more relaxed than South Beach. Plus, they have parking, which is a big bonus in my book.''

When Miami's condo sales started to grind to a halt in 2008, developer Midtown Equities made the decision to rent the buildings designed as luxury condos rather than be forced into a bargain-basement sale.

The developer, which controls the residential and boutique retail, also refunded deposits on a third tower and put the rest of construction plans on hold.

That's not to say Midtown hasn't seen its share of foreclosures and litigation, from buyers who didn't want to close or service providers alleging they didn't get paid. Most of that litigation has been resolved.

``Our bet was on the long-term play,'' said Jack Cayre of Midtown Equities. ``We view it as more of an investment that requires us to put in more funds today before we can sell it at a higher base tomorrow.''

THE LONG HAUL

While Midtown Equities is losing money in the short run, experts hail the project an example of successful urban redevelopment, although it's a long way from finished.

``We got a great place,'' said Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, dean of the University of Miami School of Architecture and an advocate for mixed-use development. ``The bones and the genes that went in are absolutely of the best character. It will grow up well.''

The benefits of Midtown also have had a positive impact on surrounding areas like the Design District, Wynwood and Buena Vista.

Residents of Midtown say they frequent many of the restaurants, clubs and art galleries in these neighborhoods.

Jean-Jacques Chiche, owner of W Wine Bistro on the south end of the Design District, gets many Midtown residents as customers.

``Midtown has brought a lot of vitality to the area,'' Chiche said.

The co-owner of Buena Vista Bistro has had so much success in the area, six months ago he opened Buena Vista Deli. While it faces competition from Cheese Course at Midtown, he doesn't see it as an issue.

``We do a lot of deliveries to Midtown,'' said Cory Finot. ``Midtown for us is very positive. People are asking for our food.''

Finding a vacancy at Midtown Miami isn't as easy as it once was.

These days the developer has only a handful of vacant condos available for rent and people are renting units sight unseen. That's a dramatic change from where Midtown Equities started in 2008, giving away a month's free rent to fill up 557 condos -- or 60 percent of the units.

Many of the initial residents came from South Beach's West Avenue -- including artists who worked in the Design District and trend-setters in the gay community who weren't scared off by the area's location on the edge of urban rebirth.

They liked the combination of Midtown's proximity to the Design District and the accessibility to Miami Beach.

Ben Clark was drawn by the edgy feel of the neighborhood that reminded him of where he used to live in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood. He had first tried Brickell Avenue and found it was not his style.

``Brickell was a little too stiff for me, a little too planned and a little too perfect,'' Clark said. ``In Midtown there is cool stuff that makes me feel like I'm in a real city. Yet, you still have the modern conveniences that Brickell has.''

CHEAPER THAN SOBE

The value at Midtown was also a selling point. Residents were attracted by brand-new apartments with luxuries like wood cabinets, granite countertops, fancy gyms and swimming pools. Most of the rental units fall in the $1,250-$2,900 range, other than some larger three-bedroom units or penthouse apartments.

Those same units once sold for between $195,000 and over $1 million. This year, small units have gone for as low as $125,000.

Carolina del Rivero moved from Miami Beach because she got a brand new two-bedroom apartment with 1,700 square feet for a fraction of what she would pay on South Beach. Plus, she has a pool for her two boys to use on the weekends.

``On Miami Beach, if I got space like this I would be paying double or triple the rent for a building from the 1960s,'' said del Rivero, a 35-year-old single mom.

The bargains have had their downside for investors like Nathan Heber, who bought his two-bedroom Midtown condo near the peak of the market for $455,000. He had planned to flip the unit or rent it out. But when the market crashed and Heber couldn't rent it at a price that would cover his mortgage, he moved in.

While Heber and his wife, Dr. Jordana Herschthal, have grown to love Midtown, they sold the condo last month for a loss. Now, they're renting it back.

``We're paying less than half of what we used to pay between interest, property taxes and maintenance,'' said Heber, 33.

Since last fall, there has been a steady string of openings of new cafes, small boutiques and shops like Cheese Course, Dog Bar, Cherry Bomb Boutique and Sakaya Kitchen.

``I see Midtown as where Lincoln Road was in 1998 when there was nothing going on,'' said Steven Cohen, owner of Dog Bar, which opened this month at Midtown after years at the Miami Beach hotspot. ``We've always been pioneers.''

NAIL SALONS, BAGELS

The risk has already paid off for Lime Fresh Mexican Grill, which opened in November 2008. The restaurant is one of the chain's top performers and sales are up 25 percent this year, said founder John Kunkel.

``We had a good idea that we could do well, but from the day we opened it has been nonstop,'' Kunkel said.

That success is luring others. On the residential side, a nail salon, convenience store, yogurt shop, yoga studio, liquor store and bagel shop are now open or should be by the end of the year.

At the Shops of Midtown Miami, the retail component owned by Developers Diversified Realty, a HomeGoods store will open late this fall in the former Linen's 'n Things. Other new tenants coming this month: Guess Factory Store and Hurricane Wings & Grill. Two more restaurants are coming in October and industry sources say The Sports Authority is expected to take the vacant Circuit City space.

Allapattah resident Mariano Cruz goes to Target regularly and thinks it has helped his neighborhood.

``I love Midtown,'' said Cruz, interim chair of the Allapattah Business Development Authority. ``It's good because we don't have to travel anymore to go shop. We can spend money here.''

Patricia Smith comes at least once a week to lunch at Lime or shop at the Midtown Target from her Design District office. She also likes the Happy Hour at Sugarcane, but she doesn't come as much as she would like.

``At night, I'm not too eager to come here by myself,'' said Smith, 33, a paralegal who lives in Key Biscayne. ``If I see it getting dark, I will probably leave soon. I don't feel that safe at night.''

The Wynwood/Edgewater neighborhood, with about 14,000 of Miami's approximately 480,00-plus residents, had 7 percent of the total crimes committed in the city of Miami last year. That's better than the Coral Way/Brickell corridor but slightly worse than Coconut Grove, according to Miami police stats.

TARGET WAS PIONEER

Target was the first to open its doors at Midtown in October 2006. Angel Blanco, Target team leader, says traffic has gotten better every year and the store is hoping to draw even more business when its expanded grocery department debuts on Sept. 12.

``We have a big opportunity here,'' Blanco said. ``It's going to be really good for business.''

Residents like Weintraub can't wait. She already takes full advantage of what makes Midtown unique.

At the Cheese Course, the employees know Weintraub's favorites: oatmeal cookies and Midnight Moon gouda cheese. After work at an employee benefits company, she craves a cup of frozen sangria at Lime Mexican restaurant. She knows the cashiers by name at Target, buys clothes at Loehmann's and decorated her apartment from West Elm.

``I park my car on Friday and I don't use it again until Monday,'' Weintraub said. ``Everything you need or want is right there. Plus, South Beach or Brickell Avenue are just a hop, skip and a jump away by cab.''

---------

The next day... the real estate PR onslaught continued...

Miami Herald
Midtown Miami overcomes challenges Growth at Midtown Miami hasn't been easy. But the project is overcoming its challenges.
By Elaine Walker

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/15/1775428/midtown-miami-overcomes-challenges.html

Why are there so many incompetent police officials & pols in South Florida? Miami-Dade police won't repay 'misspent' environmental funds used on flat-screen TVs. Yet another spot-on story by Matthew Haggman that reveals the true depths of the problem in Miami and environs: lack of #ethics & #competency

To those of you reading the spot-on Matthew Haggman story below outside of South Florida, the Miami-Dade County mayor Carlos Alvarez referenced in this article is the very same Carlos Alvarez that was formerly the Miami-Dade County Police Director.

He is also the same Carlos Alvarez that I believe WILL be successfully recalled from office on March 15th, owing to his lethargic, myopic leadership style, and his rather curious predilection for outright duplicity in dealing not only with his colleagues on the publicly-unpopular County Commission -in far too many instances to cite here- but also in his dealings with the general public.
The people who voted for him in the first place.

Alvarez is part of the harmful mass of middling-mediocrities of elected officials that I have long contended have held South Florida hostage for decades with their short-sighted ego and ethnically-driven brand of public policy that resembles nothing so much as a dog forever chasing its tail.
Somewhat humorous to observe from the outside, perhaps, but not so funny closer to the action, where it's just maddening beyond belief..

Consider what has happened politically to former City of Miami and Miami-Dade County mayors: NOTHING!

Hardly anyone ever talks about it, not even Channel 10's Michael Putney, but the fact is that in one of the largest cities in Florida -and the largest county in the fourth largest state of the country- is the exact opposite of a political launching pad: it's where political ambitions crash-and-burn.
In other states, those people would become governors or U.S. Senators, but here, they just disappear completely.
That's one of the reasons this area is so backward and why the I-4 corridor is considered by many objective observers to be both more important politically and home to more pols who can be elected statewide.
Soon, that black hole he's created in the universe thru his negative karma will swallow Alvarez whole, and he will disappear from sight entirely, recalled from office by an embarrassing margin.
(FYI: My father is a retired Miami-Dade police officer who was on the job for 25 years.)

Sadly for its citizen taxpayers who by now are long used to being the money pinata that is regularly bashed for loose change for purposes unknown -Miami-Dade Commissioners' discretionary funds- this terrific Matthew Haggman story shows what passes for governance in South Florida in the year 2011.
Cops intentionally and brazenly mis-using funds for purposes that have nothing to do with its original intent and nearly everyone involved is making excuses for it, led by the incompetent police officials and gutless Miami-Dade politicians who are the embodiment of the sick political culture, led by Carlos Alvarez, who will be pushed from the political stage with a vengeance in exactly two months for crimes of omission: lack of leadership.

And not that I'm the first person to say it among my circle of friends and acquaintances, but where the hell exactly has Miami-Dade Commissioner Sally Heyman been hiding?
The Northeast Dade district, that includes Miami Beach, is full of lots of smart and well-educated good-government types who have high expectations that whoever represents the district will be someone who's adept at keeping an eye peeled for exactly the sort of dubious behavior this article highlights: lack of effective internal controls and a complete absence of real punishment for people who abuse their authority.

For someone like Heyman, who has such a very high opinion of herself and her record in office, especially about what she thinks is her fiscal and ethical probity and sense of accountability, tell me, other than her vote against the Marlins Stadium in Little Havana, how can you not say that she's been slumping noticeably, almost sleep-walking since it was revealed in 2009 how much taxpayer money she doles out thru her Commissioner's discretionary fund.
Your taxes, her discretionary fund...

excerpts from I-Team: You Pay, Miami-Dade Commission SpendsJanuary 13, 2009 10:25 AM 
 

As the slumping economy drives most people to cut costs, the CBS 4 I-Team learned lawmakers aren’t doing the same with your tax dollars.

Here’s what the CBS4 I-Team Investigator Stephen Stock found after pulling the Miami-Dade county budget for the past three years.

Read the rest of the story at:
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2009/01/13/i-team-you-pay-miami-dade-commission-spends/

-----
excerpt from I-Team: M-D Commission “Carrying Over” Controversy
March 3, 2009 3:41 PM

District 4 Commissioner Sally Heyman agreed.

“I like opportunity to have it when we need it,” Heyman told the I-Team.

“This is not my money. It is an office fund, it is the people’s money,” Heyman said.

The people’s money that builds up into a financial kitty to be used any way a commissioner wants with little oversight, debate or public input.

Here’s how it works.

Any money budgeted for commissioners’ district offices NOT spent in one fiscal year carries over. It accrues in future years.

Commissioner Sally Heyman says her preliminary records show she has $1,006,000 in carry-over.

Add up all 13 Miami-Dade Commissioners’ carry-over for fiscal year 2007-2008 unaudited and you are talking about almost 4 million dollars in their carry-over kitty. That’s $3,816,000 of your tax dollars that has accrued in carry-over budgets over the years with little oversight, process or debate.

Read the rest of the story at: http://miami.cbslocal.com/2009/03/03/i-team-m-d-commission-carrying-over-controversy/

-----
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/13/2015129/miami-dade-police-wont-repay-misspent.html

Miami Herald
Miami-Dade police won't repay misspent environmental funds
By Matthew Haggman
January 13, 2011

The Miami-Dade Police Department is acknowledging it misspent funds meant to fight environmental crime on flat-screen TVs, SUVs and firearms.

"Clearly inappropriate,'' Police Director James Loftus says.

But putting the money back into the green funds, as the county's inspector general has requested? Not so fast.

"No, we are not,'' county police spokeswoman Nancy Perez said.

Miami-Dade Inspector General Christopher Mazzella said in a recent memo to Mayor Carlos Alvarez that the police have adopted many of his recommended fixes, following a scathing IG audit that found the police used two environmental trust funds as a kitty for pricey purchases with little connection to environmental crime-fighting.

But the police department is flatly rebuffing two IG recommendations: that it stop using green-fund money to pay expenses such as monthly cellphone and aircard bills, and that it repay the misused public dollars.

"We continue to stand by our original recommendations that the Trust Funds be reimbursed,'' Mazzella said in a Dec. 21 memo to Alvarez.

The police department isn't obligated to follow the IG's recommendations, unless the mayor or the county commission act. And there's little push coming from the county executive's office.

Mayoral spokeswoman Victoria Mallette would only say in a statement that "administrative procedures have been strengthened.'' When pressed whether the mayor thinks county police should pay up, she referred questions to Loftus and hung up.

The standoff is the latest chapter in a scandal that erupted last year over county stewardship of funds that were meant to combat polluters. Instead, amid "overall chaotic administration,'' the funds were steered to "excessive, unreasonable, or unnecessary'' purchases, the IG audit found.

The IG's inquiry, following a Miami Herald series last year that detailed dubious spending, focused on nearly $6 million spent from 2000 to 2009 from two funds: the South Florida Environmental Task Force Trust Fund and Florida Environmental Task Force Trust Fund.

More than $1.1 million was spent on vehicle-related expenses, including the purchase of 23 SUVs and trucks that went to top brass rather than environmental investigators working in remote areas. Another $1.1 million went for cellphones used, in many cases, by officials in non-environmental departments.

Three Sharp 52-inch flat screen TVs were snapped up for about $6,000. Nearly $35,000 was spent on 30 Smith & Wesson M&P-15 rifles and holographic sights. Police justified the firearms on the grounds that an environmental investigator might encounter "a wildlife poacher armed with a high-powered rifle.''

Three Segways were bought for $25,000. One was used periodically to patrol MDPD's suburban headquarters, and two were found "sitting unused in a warehouse,'' auditors found.

The episode served as an embarrassment for embattled Mayor Alvarez, who is facing a recall vote on March 15.

Division Chief Frank Vecin, a close ally and supporter of Mayor Alvarez, was in charge of fund spending. At one point, Alvarez was ferried around in a Chevy Tahoe purchased with green-fund money. The county mayor later returned the automobile, saying he didn't know it was bought with funds meant to fight polluters.

The revelations of fund mismanagement prompted the retirement of Vecin.

"The IG believes the funds were managed improperly,'' said C. Michael Cornely, Vecin's attorney. "It was their opinion. To me, the IG justifies its existence by looking for things and making issues out of things that are not really an issue.''

The two environmental funds, created in 2000 by the county commission and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, were established to help fight polluters in South Florida, which the county has called a "drum dump capital.'' Funding sources included fines and court judgments.

Police director Loftus -- named to the top job in February, after spending questions were already being raised -- now says new money will not be accepted into the two funds. The remaining balance in the accounts is $1.5 million.

In defending his position that the police department need not repay the misspent dollars, Loftus contends that over the life of the trust funds, the department paid some $27 million out of its general fund for the salaries and benefits of officers and directors working environmental investigations -- that, in sum, the contribution of personnel costs far offset the questioned expenses.

Mazzella responded that the trust fund money was "to augment, not replace'' general funds.

If they police were to repay for misspending, the precise amount isn't clear, though the August audit provides a road map.

"We left it to the police to determine what was justified, and repay what was not,'' said Mazzella.

Miami Herald staff writer Martha Brannigan contributed to this report. 

-----  
In case you were wondering, yes, the Frank Vecin mentioned above, the Carlos Alvarez supporter who was in charge of those environmental funds, is the same Miami-Dade police commander who, in the words of Channel 4 News' I-Team , had:

"allegedly been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by developers to expedite their request for permits and provide access to top county administrators, has agreed to retire..."

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2010/06/23/i-team-police-commander-steps-down/

At the same time Vecin was assisting various developers as CEO and as President of Oak Tree Development, he was also in charge of the police department’s Intergovernmental Bureau, which is responsible for investigating illegal contractors and criminal violations of the county’s building code.
In other words, he was being paid by the very same developers and builders his police unit might be called upon to investigate. Instead it was the developers who found themselves with a valuable friend in the police department.

Here's the link for that I-Team story which also reveals how much Vecin was getting for his handiwork from The Terra Group:
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2010/06/20/i-team-frank-vecin-beyond-the-badge/

Not that things are any better in the City of Miami.. cops paid overtime for work they didn't do.
That's how it's done down here!
 
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2008/12/10/i-team-money-for-nothing/

Tomorrow, Friday January 14th, 2011 may well be like Friday the 13th for carpetbagger state Rep. Joe Gibbons at Hallandale Beach City Hall

I'm still not entirely sure whether I will show-up for the supposed legislative meeting Friday morning at 11 a.m. with State Sen. Eleanor Sobel and carpetbagging State Rep. Joe Gibbons at Hallandale Beach City Hall, but if I do, I suspect it may be very unpleasant for Gibbons.
And that also goes for the city which doesn't currently follow the state's existing laws and Constitution, proof of which is right on city hall property if you are the least bit observant.

My multiple, formal complaints to Tallahassee about Gibbons NOT meeting the state's residency requirements for political candidates, the very barest of bare minimums, are just about ready.

Trust me, everyone in Tallahassee who needs to know about it will know about it.
You know me, I'm all about transparency.For more on Gibbons and the issues involved:
http://www.blogger.com/posts.g?blogID=7001629133953783160&searchType=ALL&txtKeywords=&label=Joe+Gibbons

What do you know, at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday the 13th, less than 20 hours before Friday's City Commission meeting, there's nothing about it on the city's website -where it's supposed to be:
City Commission Meetings
http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/index.aspx?NID=226


You have to know to look for "SPECIAL MEETING"


Oh, okay!
http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/files/2011-01-14/Agenda%20Outline%20for%202011-01-14%2011-00.htm


Below, an excerpt from an email sent by Hallandale Beach City Commissioner Keith S. London to concerned HB citizens.

SPECIAL MEETING AGENDA (Supporting Docs)

http://www.cohb.org/files/2011-01-14/Agenda%20Outline%20for%202011-01-14%2011-00.htm

CITY COMMISSION, CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH

FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2011 11:00 AM

1. CALL TO ORDER

2. ROLL CALL

3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

4. CITY BUSINESS

A. Consideration of the City's Legislative Action Plan (City Manager) (See Backup) CAD#008/10 (Staff Report, Supporting Docs)

B. Pursuant to Chapter 23, Section 23-105, Award of Contracts, RFQ #FY 2008-2009-01 State Lobbyist and State Funding Proposal, Authorize the City Manager to Renew Current Agreement with Corcoran & Associates, in an Amount not to Exceed $36,000. (City Manager) (See Backup) BP#007/11 (Staff Report, Supporting Docs)

5. OTHER

The National Journal's Yochi Dreazen on the new garrison state of Washington, D.C.: “Walled Off Washington"

Commemorative plaque located by the Document Door in the United States Capitol
IN HONOR AND REMEMBRANCE OF THE HEROISM DISPLAYED BY OFFICER JACOB JOSEPH CHESTNUT AND DETECTIVE JOHN MICHAEL GIBSON UNITED STATES CAPITOL POLICE WHO, ON JULY 24, 1998, HERE BRAVELY GAVE THEIR LIVES DEFENDING THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL
DEDICATED BY THE HONORABLE J. DENNIS HASTERT, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND THE HONORABLE STROM THURMOND, PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Capitol_shooting_incident_%281998%29

At the exact time of the 1998 incident above -near Tom Delay's office- I was over in the Rayburn Building across the street.


Former Wall Street Journal Military Correspondent Yochi Dreazen, now in his sixth month at The National Journal, http://nationaljournal.com/ has a good story on the philosophical and public policy debate on personal security among the official Washington set that's only gotten more hysterical following last week's shooting in Tucson, as that perpetual Inside the Beltway debate over ease-of-access to elected officials vs. adequate security safeguards, and the well-known arguments that underpin the two sides, are both re-evaluated.

-----

The National Journal
ANALYSIS
Walled-Off Washington

How free can a society be when its elected officials are kept further and further away from those they represent?
By Yochi J. Dreazen
Monday, January 10, 2011 | 2:55 p.m.
Updated at 3:07 p.m. on January 10.

It’s hard to remember, but Washington wasn’t always a city of walls.

Thomas Jefferson held a public reception at the White House after his second inaugural, and citizens were able to freely wander through the building to personally ask presidents like Abraham Lincoln for jobs and other favors. Harry Truman took long walks around Washington each morning protected by just a handful of Secret Service agents. Capitol Hill had no roadblocks or barricades, and cars and trucks passed directly in front of the White House as they drove down Pennsylvania Avenue, one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares.

Today, those seem like postcards from a forgotten era.

Read the rest of the story at: http://nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/washington-not-always-a-city-of-walls-20110110

Frankly, there are some people I can think of on Capitol Hill who have long believed that the public already had TOO MUCH access to them and their staffers, yet had no problem in meeting lobbyists in questionable public places where the security was lax to say the least, and where all kinds of things could happen if someone were so inclined.

I've personally seen questionable personal behavior at the area's three main airports among well-known elected and appointed officials -and the press- that was really over-the-top, and while perhaps not exactly TMZ-worthy, was NOT at all what the constituents back home, or even the top echelons of their Dept would want to see or know anything about.

Okay for South Florida, perhaps, but not among the professional institutional set.

Plus, there are SO MANY sieves in security up there, it's ridiculous.
Anyone who has worked there for any length of time can recite all sorts of specific places and circumstances where something could be done simply and quickly with few the wiser.

After 9/11, some effort was made to change some of these places, but others, well, not as much as you'd expect.

When you live just five blocks from the U.S. Capitol, as I did for a while my first year in Washington, you think about all sorts of things, and when you see the U.S. Capitol Police and The Supreme Court Police everyday, security and safety is on that list, especially when you are walking back at night, after work, from your daily walk over to The Washington Monument and back, listening to either talk radio or NPR.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_Police

I personally believe that elected representatives who have unreasonable fears should simply hire their own security at their own expense, not ours. If you don't like the working conditions, there's always somebody happy to take your job.
You are completely replaceable.

Many new congressmen and staffers come to town under the mistaken belief that The U.S. Capitol Police are like White House-detailed Secret Service agents and are ready to take a bullet for them. They're not!
http://www.uscapitolpolice.gov/home.php

Having gotten to know many of them over the years because I tended to go to the same floors in the same House and Senate building because of my job and interests, and there are only so many places to cross the street, I can tell you that, collectively, their worst fears were very stupid congressmen -or even stupider staffers- who put themselves in harms way by their foolish personal behavior and choices, and who seem to expect the Capital Police to extricate them.

Representatives who refuse to use prudent judgment or who continually cause problems become quickly known among the police force. Then they become quickly well-known to the media and the general public.

Former Georgia Rep. Cynthia McKinney is perhaps the most obvious example I can think of, and it bears mentioning here that even among the female cops, there's a belief that, for whatever reason, the female Reps are esp. reluctant to follow the simple rules that everyone else MUST follow.

Nobody cares that you used to be the mayor of Dog Patch, ran a Fortune 500 company or were formerly the House Minority Leader in dopey Florida.
You are a dime a dozen!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,189553,00.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/20/washington/20brfs-010.html?_r=1&ref=cynthiaamckinney

Consider this: based on what we now know about the depth of his myriad problems with substance abuse and anger control, do you honestly think that Patrick Kennedy, now a former Congressman, never drove his car while not under control on the side-streets near the Capitol office buildings? Really?

http://www.wusa9.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=49033 http://www.uscapitolpolice.gov/pressreleases/2006/pr_05-05-06.php

The first thing I thought of when he was arrested was that he was very lucky that he never hit anyone at night, because a D.C. jury would have made an example out of him in a way that would simply not ever happen back in Rhode Island.

See also:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/11/sen-leahy-sees-a-downside-to-more-security/

http://nationaljournal.com/

Darrell Issa, GOP’s New House Oversight Chair, Asks Businesses Which Regulations Burden Them; where's the replication in Hallandale Beach, Broward?

My comments follow this interesting ProPublica story from last Tuesday that I had originally meant to post and comment on before the end of the week, some of which were shared via an email last Wednesday to the Usual Suspects on my email list.
This is an expanded version of that.

GOP's New Oversight Chair Asks Businesses Which Regulations Burden Them
by Marian Wang
A letter from Rep. Darrell Issa asks businesses and trade groups to help identify regulations his Oversight committee should target.

Because of my delay in posting it, it has since been updated, which is the version below.

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ProPublica http://www.propublica.org/

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=B8tYkNV9BxbjLsyaILpmm1BNoB8NYXjY

GOP’s New Oversight Chair Asks Businesses Which Regulations Burden Them

by Marian Wang ProPublica, Jan. 4, 2011, 12:31 p.m.

1/6: This post has been updated.

We’ve noted that many of the incoming Republican chairs of powerful House committees have criticized the Obama administration’s “job-killing [1]” regulation of the financial and energy sectors, among others.

One of these, Rep. Darrell Issa, has sent letters to more than 150 businesses, trade groups and think tanks calling for their input on which regulations are burdening them and hurting jobs [2], Politico reports. From the text of the letter [3], which NBC has posted:

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is examining existing and proposed regulations that negatively impact the economy and jobs.

In fiscal year 2010, federal agencies promulgated 43 major new regulations. These regulations ranged from new limits on “effluent” discharges to new rules for Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations. The new limits on “effluent” discharges from construction sites will cost $810.8 million annually resulting in the closure of 147 construction firms and the loss of 7,257 jobs. In total, the administration estimated the cost, often referred to as the hidden tax, of the 43 new regulations to be approximately $28 billion, the highest single year increase in estimated burden on record, resulting in thousands of lost jobs. This new burden is on top of the $1.75 trillion estimated burden of existing regulations.

As a trade organization comprised of members that must comply with the regulatory state, I ask for your assistance in identifying existing and proposed regulations that have negatively impacted job growth in your members’ industry. Additionally, suggestions on reforming identified regulations and the rulemaking process would be appreciated. Please submit your response as soon as possible, preferably before January 10, 2010. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact my office at ...

The National Association of Manufacturers and the National Petrochemicals and Refiners Association, two groups that received letters, told Politico that in their responses to Issa they pointed to new EPA greenhouse gas rules as an example of burdensome regulation.

As we’ve written, since being named as the incoming chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Issa has sought to allay fears that he will use his new position—which includes subpoena authority—to initiate partisan investigations [4]. He’s already requested information from many administration officials as well.

“Asking a question shouldn’t be labeled as partisan or political,” his spokesman told Politico. He also said that with their letters soliciting feedback on regulation, “[it] was a broad net that we cast.”

Update: The Hill has posted the full list [5]of recipients of businesses and groups that received Issa's letters.

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Far from the sand and surf and perpetual automobile gridlock of Hallandale Beach, a very sharp congressman from SoCal named Darrell Issa, someone who's familiar with all three in his northern San Diego district, and who became a multi-millionaire thru marrying a quality product, marketing savvy and high-technology -Viper car alarms- is asking some very reasonable questions in his role as the new head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

But first, the obligatory back-story: When I first moved to D.C., in those pre-Internet days, one of my best and closest friends was a staffer for that particular Comm. when John Conyers was the voluble Chairman, a man with a knack for getting in the national spotlight.

Sometimes, if I had the time, I'd agree to go with her into her office on Saturdays to help her catch-up on work and make sense of things, since that particular high-profile Comm. was constantly being deluged with requests for materials, like testimony from a hearing, that reporters and columnists and TV networks from all over the country wanted.
But mostly reporters, editors and produccers within the Beltway.

Those Saturday mornings of coffee and bagels and CNN in the background, with she and I walking round and round a large conference table with dozens of envelopes laid out on it with the individual reporter's info request on a Post It, and plopping-down whatever they needed, seem rather quaint now, since it could all be done in seconds digitally.

Obviously, much of our banter centered on our own lives and what was going on in town politically, but as you'd guess, it also included her giving me the low-down on which reporters we were helping out were friendly and professional, and who was not.
Over the years, her diagnosis was close to 100%, as I met many of those very same people in work-related or social situations.

(Sometimes, during the summer, after our mail distribution project and whatever else on Capitol Hill was history, we'd head over to the large apt. complex of a mutual friend in N.W. Washington that hosted one of the greatest summer pool scenes in the area.
Sometimes, even epic to be honest.

The only problem -if you can call it that- was that my Congressional staffer 'friend' was very
good-looking, esp. in a bikini. Normally, you wouldn't think that would be a problem, and it never had been before, but.. I came to realize over time that because she and I spent so much time together in and around the pool, I was never going to ever meet any interesting women there, even though they were, quite literally, everywhere.
All because of appearances, i.e. her knock-out good-looks and the first impression appearance that she and I were more than just friends.

I know this because more than once, when I'd get up to grab a Coke from the vending machjne nearby, or while by myself at the deep-end of the pool, hanging on the side, just relaxing, whether to actually find out some intel or merely just a harmless meaningless remark, an attractive woman would say to me, "So, is your girlfriend here today?"

When I'd reply, "Oh, you mean X, she's not my girlfriend, she's just a close friend," I guess I wasn't too convincing, because they seemed disinclined to believe the truth.
Apparently all those hours of us talking and being like book-ends in the pool had led to, well, misconceptions. Ladies and gentlemen, let's just say that that chapter of the book ought to be called "When your friend's beauty kills the best laid summer plans!)

When X took off on vacation in the summer, she was kind enough to let me drive her very sporty car. You know, to keep it in good condition!

I was only too happy to oblige her by driving up to Camden Yards on weekends for Oriole games -instead of taking the MARC baseball train from Union Station- or drive over to Annapolis with a date on the Chesapeake.
Those were the days!
End of back-story

To me, one of the great things about Issa, compared to many other congressmen, and GOP congressmen in particular, is that he's never forgotten his roots, when nobody wanted to help him, or the red-tape he dealt with when first starting his company.

He hates red-tape but he also hates business people who talk in generalities -and has little regard for execs born with a silver spoon- so the idea that he is in a key position to tell many well-known American businesses who have complained for years about red-tape of one sort or another, to finally be specific or shut the hell up, is great news for taxpayers and small business owners who aren't cronies of pols or officials in their city, as is the case here in
Hallandale Beach.

Speaking of HB, Issa was the person who personally bankrolled the beginning of the successful recall effort in 2003 against Calif. Gov. Gray Davis.
Hmm-m-m... speaking of recalls, I'll soon have some news about the possibility of one here in the coming months.

He is being very clear -identify what specific rules or regs are problematic to them.
Now if their business is poorly run and not delivering a good quality product or service to consumers at a price they can afford, I think we'd all agree that the regulations are the least of the problems.
But if they're doing what they need to do to remain competitive, well, then, it'll get very, very interesting, and we all benefit from hearing the unvarnished truth.

The recent meeting I attended on the discontent on Fashion Row in HB revealed to me the the true level of the city's myopia with burdening businesses with the most ridiculous rules -practically inviting them to leave the city .

Hallandale Beach City Hall's chronic inability to accept their fair share of the blame for how things are going in this city, much less, show some common sense, was demonstrated over-and-over again.

I wish we could see something like Issa's effort replicated here in Hallandale Beach and Broward County in general, where a public forum could be held to find out what are the most consistently contentious items of disagreement, and why are certain businesses/entities seemingly allowed to violate code compliance -and common sense- for years.

And why the city itself is one of the very worst offenders, something that is self-evident to anyone paying close attention.
Like yours truly.


South Florida Sun-Sentinel
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2010-12-31/news/fl-cn-fashion-0102-20101231_1_business-owners-paint-fashion-row-district

Hallandale Beach working to boost Fashion Row District
By Sergy Odiduro
December 31, 2010

After years of wrangling with Hallandale Beach, Michele Lazarow is finally going to paint her building purple.

"For years I have been trying to paint my building. I gave up and then I thought I would paint a mural," said Lazarow, owner of a clothing and accessories boutique in the Fashion Row District, which is situated along Northeast First and Second avenues, north of Hallandale Beach Boulevard.

She told officials at a recent meeting that she struggles to boost her store's visibility while adhering to city codes, and that she often received conflicting information.

"I felt like my head was going to explode," she said.

City officials are now reaching out to business owners like her.

"We have met with the Fashion Row District to get some of their concerns," said Liza Torres, manager of the city's Community Redevelopment Agency. "We want to create a district committee to present their priorities and goals so that we can bring it back to the commission."

At the meeting, a range of planned improvements for the area was discussed, including creating a two-way street and increased police patrols. Also discussed were expedited permitting and commercial loans and grants offered by the CRA.

Participants were urged to fill out a survey ranking goals for the district, including landscaping, increased public parking and signage improvements.

Mayor Joy Cooper said the outreach is part of an overall strategy to jumpstart the area.

"We want to make it a fun and funky district where there is entertainment and shopping, creativity and artists, and bring it back to what it used to be during its heyday, but with a little bit of edge," she said.

The district, formed in the 1960s, was a haven for tourists and bargain hunters who sought out trendy and unique clothing and accessories. But the rise of nearby shopping malls and large retail stores have hurt the area.

Some merchants said that dealing with a labyrinth of city codes and regulations has hurt their competitiveness.

"They talk a lot about beautifying the area, but there aren't enough business owners on the board to push the businesses' agenda," Josh Glansberg said. "There are so many rules and regulations, and they are so unclear that the people that are enforcing them don't even know what they are."

Sue Gordon, who has operated a business in the area for more than 30 years, was cautiously optimistic after the meeting.

Editor claims his own 'newspaper' is "not a reputable newspaper" but a real estate supplement with [his] news & views attached; so much for truth!

The creeping, under-the-radar menace of faux newspapers has been spotted once again, and this time, by a very reputable source: reliable, take-no-nonsense Arlington Yupette -All About Yuppie Arlington. http://arlingtonyupette.blogspot.com/

Back in Northern Virginia, she is on the case of the curious ethical situation involving Scott McCaffrey, a managing editor of a so-called community paper who doesn't mind practicing cronyism while engaged in... well, apparently, NOT old-fashioned journalism by his own admission, since he is reported to have said on his blog that the Sun Gazette is "not a reputable newspaper" but a real estate supplement with [his] news and views attached.
Well, I guess he would know, wouldn't he?

http://www.sungazette.net/

Too bad he didn't let the readers in the area in on the joke a whole lot earlier than this.

Like say, well, when I lived in Arlington County from 1989-2003, and along with thousands of other discerning residents, couldn't help but wonder why such weird sycophantic things kept appearing in the Sun-Gazette that seemed to have no real basis in fact, but often seemed more like PR copy straight from the entrenched interests in the county, the smallest in the U.S., but one full of smart, affluent and well-educated people who know how to get their voices heard in the one-party state known by some as the People's Republic of Arlington.

Better late than never on the whole truth will set you free thing, I suppose, but that doesn't really change the basic facts of the ethical tangle McCaffrey's in with the local Chamber of Commerce, now does it?
Nope!

Arlington Yupette, the brave blogger whom I've mentioned previously in this space,
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Arlington%20Yupette, who holds a mirror to the face of the longstanding back-slapping and red-tape generating bureaucracy of Arlington County government and its sycophants in the community, has the story today: Citizens Demand McCaffrey Resign from Arlington Chamber's BOD
http://arlingtonyupette.blogspot.com/2011/01/citizens-demand-mccaffrey-resign-from.html

I realize that on this story, I'm sorta out of The Loop -or Beltway- but having done a little checking on this today, including making some phone calls to some reporter and producer friends at competing news organizations, where exactly is The Washington Post on this story?

One affecting what the Sun Gazette calls "the most affluent audience in the Washington D.C. metro area."

Just wondering.
I ask because it sounds like real news to me.

Maybe a real news story in the Post's Metro section, not simply posting a pro-Virginia Democratic blog post online: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/politics/blog-network/2010/12/arlington_sun_gazette_now_repr.html

Sadly, having lived in Arlington County for 15 years, until 2003, this attitude of the faux newspaper surprises me not a whit.
This is how cronyism works there -brazenly and with lots of attitude.

Want to muscle Arlington business owners into giving money to your preposterous ego-driven group, well, there's many precedents I can think of for that, but the latest is this from November: County Board Reportedly Helping Fairlington Civic Association Extort Shirlington Restaurant Owners
http://arlingtonyupette.blogspot.com/2010/11/county-board-reportedly-helping.html

I should know, since here in Hallandale Beach, we have a little faux community newspaper of our own, the South Florida Sun-Times, and in their case, the city commission gave them tens of thousands of dollars in CRA funds that are supposed to be used to combat blight within certain clearly-defined geographical areas of the city.

Instead, it keeps a very bad idea afloat -taxpayer-funded "news," where they ONLY write positive "news" about Hallandale Beach City Hall.
Never is heard a discouraging word...

That is, if you call the words they print "news," and not flat-out PR spin, as numerous fact-filled posts here on the blog have proven time and again to a fare-thee-well.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/South%20Florida%20Sun%20Times

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/South%20Florida%20Sun-Times

It's hard to imagine a more ridiculous, self-serving and un-true headline than this one from August 13, 2009 in the faux community newspaper, the South Florida Sun-Times: AHEAD OF THE GAME: Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper continues to do the job residents elected her to do -once again!
.



The faux newspaper that serves as the propaganda arm to Hallandale Beach City Hall and the Joy Cooper regime, the South Florida Sun-Times.

As always, if you spot this creeping faux newspaper menace in your own community, here in the U.S, or overseas, let me know about it.