Broward County Commissioner Stacy Ritter Unplugged on Ethics, January 2010

Below are the verbatim comments of Broward
County Commissioner Stacy Ritter as recorded
before the Broward County Ethics Commission
meeting of January 13th, 2010.

I think they speak for themselves, and what
they say to me is that for all of her tough talk
and PR spin over the past few months,
Stacy Ritter DOESN'T want meaningful
pro-active ethical accountability in Broward
County government, and prefers that she
and her colleagues continue their stealthy
and unethical behavior behind games of
semantics in public, while playing puppeteers
behind-the-scenes.
Or are THEY the puppets, as some insist?

On Sunday I will have info and news for you
here about the Ethics Committee and the
Broward Legislative Delegation, both
of whom have VERY IMPORTANT public
meetings and votes coming in the next few
days.

The Delegation will be voting next Tuesday,
Jan. 26th, on their Draft of an Ethics bill from
2-4 p.m. at the downtown Broward College
campus on E. Las Olas Avenue, up on the
12th floor boardroom.
There have to be ten members for a quorum,
and at least one member must be a State Senator.

The next meeting of the Broward Ethics
Commission is two days later, Thursday
the 28th, from 5-8:30 p.m., where they will
react to what the Broward Delegation says.

I'll have agendas, bill drafts and links here
for you to peruse and try to bring you up
to speed on what's happening, good and bad,
as well as detail efforts to derail the focus
of the Ethics Committee so that it will be
weaker than it ought to be.

----------

http://www.cityethics.org/print/991
Broward County Legislators Drag the County's Ethics Feet
By Robert Wechsler
Created 2010-01-14 17:13

Also see www.sunshinereview.org
and http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Florida

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MAYOR (sic) RITTER: Well, thanks. I didn't ask to be on the agenda, so I appreciate you giving me a couple of minutes.

I have spent some time -- good morning everybody. Thank you for your service. I have spent some time going through the minutes of the past several meetings, and have been quite frankly disturbed at some of the comments that have been coming from this Committee and feel there are some assumptions that have been made here that

9 Ethics Commission 1-13-10 BS

are, quite frankly, wrong. I have seen it in other Commissions and Committees where you are asked to do things and you may not know exactly what the Commission does, so you are asking for changes to stuff that you're really not sure what we do. I’ve see it with the Management and Efficiency Study Committee, on which I sit. There are lots of decisions and conversations being said about things we already do, that people don't know we do or things we have tried to do that haven't worked. And there is not a whole lot of knowledge of the process, and I found that true in some of the comments that have come from this Commission. Just having received your draft, which is skeletal, it's going to be hard for me to make any comments on that specifically, but I'm concerned that there appears to be a perception from this group that the County Commission is full of corrupt elected officials who want nothing better than to line their pockets, and to date, we have had, since I have been on the Commission, in November 2006, one County Commissioner who has pled guilty to an offense that had nothing to do with his office and has been charged with an offense that has something to do with land use, not procurement, yet you have chosen to focus on procurement, and I haven't received a single e-mail from anybody in this county, either way, that focuses on procurement. There has never been a hint of scandal, as it relates to Broward County's procurement process, and yet, you wish to change a system that is quite frankly not broken. And I was most disturbed by my colleague Commissioner Wexler's comments as it relates to procurement, and what she perceives to be an issue, which I quite frankly don't see. You had all discussed with her, and this is the meeting she attended and I have lots of tabs that made me scratch my head, but she -- the Commissioner who sits on the most selection committees and who actually raised her hand three times yesterday to sit on

10 Ethics Commission 1-13-10 BS

the three selection committees that were on the agenda, seems to feel that Commissioners don't belong on the selection committee. Well, I like to lead by example, so if I don't think something should happen, I don't participate in the process. And so I scratch my head when one of my colleagues comes and says we should change something that she participates in quite freely, and gleefully, I might add.

When the conversation came to sand bagging, lots of people come to the table with agendas. I dare say that some of you have come with agendas too, which may not be what you are putting down on the public comment, but that doesn't make it illegal and it certainly doesn't make it unethical. If I'm sitting in a selection committee and I think company A is the best company, but company B is the stiffest competition, I may well choose to rank company B lower because I think company A should win. There is nothing wrong with that. There is nothing illegal or unethical in that, and if you want to know the reasons why we vote, all you have to do is ask us. Sometimes you will get the right answer and sometimes you will get the couched answer, but that is politics. I don't think the selection committee is broken.

Commissioner Wexler talked about intimidation of staff. The County Commission doesn't hire and fire staff, so they shouldn't be intimidated by us because we're not their bosses. The County Administrator is their bosses. And if they have issues with the County Administrator, they should take it up with her, not with us because we don't hire and fire the people that are sitting at the table with you.

There was a comment that not a lot of questions are asked by staff at selection committees because of the intimidation. I don't ask a lot of questions at selection committees, and I can promise you, I'm not intimidated by a single one of my

11 Ethics Commission 1-13-10 BS

colleagues. That is not the reason I don't ask questions. I don't ask questions because I read the proposals, which are thorough, and I listen and watch the presentations, which are equally thorough, and I make up my mind based on the proposals and the presentations. There is no intimidation there. I get my questions answered either beforehand or in the proposal and the presentation.

I think that your Inspector General local bill has some problems with it. You are allowing somebody who basically does what the auditor does. We're already paying for somebody to do much of what the Inspector General does, and I don't think the county needs an Inspector General and an auditor to overlap each other, and I think the County Commission, by the way -- I would certainly be willing to put an ordinance on the agenda to talk about an Inspector General. It's funny you want the Legislature to meddle in this, because in 2000, Mr. Scherer, you and I were on the same side of a strong mayor, to try to curtail the Legislators attempt to meddle into county business by putting a strong mayor on the ballot. We were at the same table to kill it, and our argument was, the Legislature shouldn't meddle in county business. They should take care of their own house and let the County Commission take care of its own house, but 10 years later, I know times change, people change and issues change, but I don't think the Legislature should meddle.

I think that there are, by the way, Legislatures who have been accused of things. Legislatures who have gone to jail, but I don't see you talking about them. There are Legislatures who actually work for businesses that have business in front of the Legislature, and vote on their issues, but I don't see you talk about their conflicts. I don't see you talk about the conflicts in Congress. I see you talk about selection committees,

12 Ethics Commission 1-13-10 BS

that Congress doesn't sit on selection committees; that the Legislature doesn't sit on selection committees. But the Legislature doesn't sit as the executive branch, which the County Commission does. The Legislature doesn't sit as the judicial branch, which the County Commission sometimes does, and we always sit as the Legislative branch. So really you can't compare -- and by the way, I have experience. I can speak from both angles. I was a Legislature. I know what is going on up there that nobody seems to care about. All you seem to care about is one of us is going to jail for something that had nothing to do with what he did here at the county, and I do not mean to diminish the offense. It was horrendous and no elected official should ever betray the public confidence, but you're going to allow an Inspector General to investigate anonymous complaints. Now as someone who has been the subject of anonymous attackers on the web, I can tell you that is really harmful. I believe also I have a constitutional amendment to confront my accuser. Now with an anonymous complaint, I lose that. How can you do that? How can you not let me, if I'm accused of something, defend myself to the person who is the accuser. I could go on. I have lots of notes and tabs.

I notice that last week you had Charlotte Greenbar come to speak to you. She notoriously hates the County Commission. She notoriously hates the School Board. She made some comments about School Board members shouldn't sit on selection committees either, but I don't see anybody talking about that either, and I recognize that your purview is the County Commission, yet you have on occasion, gone outside of that and discussed things that are not within the quote purview of the Ethics Commission. If you want to, and we all want to make sure that our elected officials are trustworthy, and by the way, I'm not sure you could ever make 100 percent of the public believe that that

13 Ethics Commission 1-13-10 BS

is true. Those people who think we're dirty will always think we're dirty, no matter what we do or say, and those people who think we aren't will always think that. Then you might want to broaden it. You might want to broaden your local bill and say you know, it applies it Legislatures too, and it applies to municipal officials and it applies to the School Board and it applies to the Hospital District Commissioners and it applies to every Water Control Board supervisor in this county, to every single special district supervisor in this county, which there are 97, because quite frankly to single out the County Commissioner for something is wrong. If you want to talk about elected officials and corruption, let's talk about elected officials and corruption, but to paint us all on this County Commission with a broad brush, when I have seen members do nothing illegal or unethical –have seen members do things for their own reasons, which I may not agree with, but they are elected to do that, and if the public doesn't

like the job we're doing, then the public knows how to get rid of us.

MAYOR RITTER: If I may conclude.

COMMISSIONER DE JESUS: If you could close, because the Mayor is here for his appointed time.

MAYOR RITTER: Thank you.

And this isn't personal, Bill. You and I have a personal relationship that completely transcends this, and I hope that you would know that. We're disagreeing on an issue, but we're not disagreeable. I still count you as a friend and I still hope that you count me as one at the end of the day.

MR. SCHERER: I do. 16 Ethics Commission 1-13-10 BS

MAYOR RITTER: I think that perception of lobbyists is also misunderstood. And lobbyists purvey the system anyway. Politics and lobbyists, just like politics and sex sort of go hand-in-hand, sometimes in my house they are one and the same, but we just had a major procurement on the court house. Construction manager on the court house, the winner had no lobbyist, knocked on everyone of our doors all by himself.

MR. SCHERER: That is why I fired mine.

MAYOR RITTER: Well, good for you.

But the point is that yes, sometimes it happens that way and sometimes it doesn't. We just did the financial services. Now the winner did have representation. The person I voted for had no representation. It happens. It's not always the fact that the lobbyist client wins, but it is sometimes the fact. That is just true in life. Lawyers represent clients. We want our clients to win, just like the lobbyists want our clients to win. And by the way, I told my appointment, Ken Fink, that he is free to do -- not told me. He can do whatever he wants. He is a grown man. But I have put no pressure on him --

MR. FINK: Thank you.

MAYOR RITTER: -- and he and I have argued like cats and dogs on this. We have screamed at each other, but at the end of the day he is going to do what he thinks is right and I'm going to tell him he is wrong, but I think if you are moving towards a, Miami Dade system, which is what looks like is happening, is a big mistake. The last major project in Broward County was the rental car center at the airport. Before my time, Commissioners sat on the selection committee. It came in under budget and on time. The last major project in Miami Dade was the airport, which came in a billion 17 Ethics Commission 1-13-10 BS

dollars over budget and did not come in on time, and the only people that you can complain to are the staff, not the elected officials, and I mean no disrespect to the staff, but the staff controlled the process in Miami Dade and staff spoke to the staff, not to the elected officials.

So at the end of the day, if you are looking for accountability and transparency, in my opinion, and with all due respect to this Committee and the intelligence of this Committee, I think you're heading down the wrong path. You will not find accountability or transparency if you hand this over to the non-elected officials. Thank you.

COMMISSIONER DE JESUS: Thanks for your time.

MAYOR RITTER: Thanks for letting me speak. I didn't -- I came to monitor, but a politician with a microphone. Good luck.

COMMISSIONER DE JESUS: Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Why it doesn't pay to play paparazzo to a Capercaillie -they go for the jugular!

Meanwhile, back in Sverige... Jenny Modin
of Expressen reports on a bird that's on the
prowl, and which has it's eye -and beak-
firmly on usually mild-mannered Ola Petersson.

Jenny gets Ola to describe how, while hunting,
he literally walked into a hornet's nest
-of feathers!- when he innocently pulled-out
his cell phone to snap a shot of a capercaillie
perched up in front of him on a stone,
along a snowy forest road.

When the bird got closer to him, Ola quickly
switched to film mode.

Fortunately for us, despite Ola's obvious chagrin
at what happened to him, he's a very good sport
and gives us a play-by-play of his embarrassing
fowl run-in, and has shared his video with the
world to tell the tale!

Proving Mark Twain's maxim true once again:
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight,
it's the size of the fight in the dog."

It's almost like one of those awful Canadian-made
Sci-Fi films that the SyFy Channel is always
foisting upon us at 2 a.m. on Saturday mornings,
usually featuring lots of snow and bored city
teenagers at an isolated cabin.
But Ola is a better cinematographer!

Här går tjädern till attack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZMvCqX7CTU



See also:
http://www.expressen.tv/
http://www.youtube.com/ExpressenTV
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/c/capercaillie/index.aspx
http://www.expressen.se/

Transportation news you missed last week while you were freezing, but is it a real improvement?

Not saying whether or not I think this particular
news about Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood's
apparent change in policy is good or bad,
true or false, as it relates to what will happen
in Florida, esp. High-Speed Rail or commuter
rail funding, et al, but I thought I'd share it with
you all after I found it while looking for something
else this morning.
For a partisan website, it's actually put together quite well.

----------

Some great news slipped under the radar last week
by desmoinesdem,
Tue Jan 19, 2010 at 12:57:08 AM EST
http://mydd.com/2010/1/19/some-great-news-slipped-under-the-radar-last-week

------

Another look at the same issues.

National Journal Experts Blog
Transportation
Are New Transit Guidelines An Improvement?
January 19, 2010

Last week Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood proposed new livability-based funding guidelines for major transit projects and rescinded Bush administration requirements that based funding decisions on how much a project shortened commute times compared to its cost. The criteria determine which projects get funded under the Federal Transit Administration's New Starts and Small Starts programs.

Read the rest of the posting at:
http://transportation.nationaljournal.com/2010/01/are-new-livability-guidelines.php

Their blog homepage is:
http://transportation.nationaljournal.com/

FYI: Haiti debacle meets self-promotion: CBS4's Stephen Stock on Wyclef Jean's Foundation's Questionable Spending, Top-heavy with personnel/PR costs

In case you missed it last night on Channel 4's
Eleven o'clock newscast, Stephen Stock is on
the case!

CBS4, www.wfor.com
Wyclef Jean's Foundation Questionable Spending
Jan 15, 2010 11:12 pm US/Eastern
Stephen Stock reporting
http://cbs4.com/iteam/Wyclef.Jean.Haiti.2.1430087.html

Video is at: http://cbs4.com/video/?id=89759@wfor.dayport.com

See also: http://cbs4.com/iteam

Today's Washington Post has this story:
Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti Foundation under fiscal scrutiny
By Susan Kinzie
Washington Post Staff Writer

By Friday morning, just days after the earthquake hit, Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti Foundation had raised more than $1.5 million.

Undoubtedly, Jean's celebrity helped draw in donors: He's an internationally known musician from Haiti who won a Grammy with the Fugees and went on to a hugely successful solo career. But an analysis of the charity's tax returns raises questions about how it has spent money in the past, with administrative expenses that appear to be higher than comparable charities and payments to businesses owned by the musician and a board member, including $100,000 for a performance by Jean at a 2006 benefit concert.

Read the rest of the story at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/15/AR2010011504024.html

Tom Llamas above the scenes of the devastation in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Former WTVJ-TV/NBC6 reporter Tom Llamas,
born and raised in Miami, and now at WNBC-TV
in New York, reporting from above the scenes
of the devastation in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.



You can follow his reports at http://twitter.com/TOMLLAMAS4NY

WSVN-TV's Carmel Cafiero and Anthony Pineda earn Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for Pill Mills series

Honorees will be presented with their awards
Jan. 21 at a ceremony at Columbia University
in New York.

Read the official announcement here:
http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/cs/ContentServer/jrn/1165270069766/page/1175295284582/JRNSimplePage2.htm

Sort of surprised that SFLTV didn't already
have this up on their site since Alex is usually
on top of this sort of thing,
http://www.sfltv.com/
but sometimes, as I know well, you just need
a break from your computer, and perhaps
that's the case here.

Most recent Pill segment from December
10th, 2009 is at:
http://www.wsvn.com/features/articles/carmelcase/MI138544/

Archives of Pill Mills reports and other Carmel
Cafiero investigative stories are here:
http://www.wsvn.com/features/archive/carmelcase/1/

Rally for Haitian Earthquake Victims in Hollywood Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

January 14, 2010

My friends,

This is probably one of the most important emails I have written since I was elected Mayor of Hollywood. I do not need to tell you that Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, was rocked by a horrific earthquake. The Red Cross estimates at least 50,000 innocent people have been killed. As you have surely seen on television, the island nation has been virtually destroyed.

I, along with community leaders and city staff, have organized a rally in the downtown Hollywood ArtsPark (a/k/a Hollywood Young Circle) on Sunday, January 17, 2010 at 1:30 p.m.

The purpose of this rally is to show that people in the tri-county area are united in their effort to assist the victims of this tragedy, and that the need to raise funds is greater than ever.

This is the only rally currently scheduled to occur in South Florida, and the victims of this earthquake need our help, now. This is South Florida's opportunity to show that we stand united with the victims and their families. Thank you for your time. I look forward to seeing you this Sunday.

Peter Bober
Mayor
City of Hollywood

re 1/11/10 Ben Smith in POLITICO: Game over: The Clintons stand alone; Haiti

I've held off on posting this for a few days since
there was so much discussion of the contents
and short-term implications of Game Change
by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin
over this past weekend on the network chat
shows, I didn't want to add this to the pile
when you couldn't properly appreciate it.

I personally know that at least a handful of you
have actually started reading it, but Ben Smith's
overview below is the best I've seen so far
because he sees past the individual anecdotes
towards the larger un-mentioned story,
the fall of the House of Clinton.
After you've read it, I think you'll agree.

Last year I was running Ben's POLITICO
widget on my blog, along with their 44 widget
for Obama stories, so people could easily
access his entertaining and informative pieces,
but I seemed to run into constant technical
problems with those widgets, so I reluctantly
pulled them down.

Thursday 2:00 p.m.
By the way, it's just my opinion, but 46 hours
after the earthquake in Haiti, I find it completely
unbelievable that the the U.S. military and our
erstwhile Allies in the region seem NOT to have
established a working unit to coordinate logistics
and air traffic control at the Port-au-Prince
airport, the way we quickly did at the Baghdad
airport
after our invasion, which I supported.

I know the latter had many months of planning
overall, but on the other hand, I think it's fair
to remind you that this time, we know that
nobody will be shooting at us, right?

Sufficient number of trucks to move planes
stuck on the airport out of the way and placed
on the perimeter so they don't pose a safety
hazard, gas re-supply trucks to handle refueling,
mobile air traffic control units, modules,
helicopter techs, etc.

While I haven't seen these stories myself,
I have already heard from friends who know
about these things that UPS and FedEx
would like to use some of their planes to bring
supplies, starting initially from their hubs of
Memphis and Louisville down there, and
then return quickly, perhaps to Miami
and Hollywood-Ft. Lauderdale to keep
shuttling back-and-forth, and maybe
even deploy some of their logistics
professionals down there.

Why?

So we DON'T see the absurd sight of:
a.) people passing supplies hand-to-hand
instead of using conveyor belts or fork lifts, or
b.) well-meaning charity groups dropping boxes
of supplies into huge crowds of desperate people,
with the entirely predictable chaos.

But UNTIL the airport is completely cleared
and secured, they can't, and therefore nothing
of significance is going to happen.

At 2:10 p.m., I've yet to see a shot of the airport
under control.

Popular South Florida blogger and activist
Chaz Stevens from Deerfield Beach, a veritable
one-man tidal wave of information and enthusiasm
and a sharp-eyed watchdog for public transparency
and accountability from state and local government
at his blog, Acts of Sedition,
http://www.actsofsedition.com/ wrote
in earlier that I may be wrong.

Actually, you are wrong I believe. Two Coast
Guard Cutters (one by the name of Forward)
are off the coast of Haiti providing air traffic control.

Chaz is no doubt right, but I was referring to the
airport itself, per se, though perhaps I was not so
clear when I sent this out as an email a few minutes
ago.

My sense of things is that some of the reporters
there are going out of their way not to criticize
the chaotic recovery efforts thus far, but once
that dam has been breached, it won't stop.

Then it's Obama's tar-baby, whether that's
fair or not.
With the MLK holiday on Monday and even
more Americans home watching the awful scenes
unfold before them on TV, right before his
State of the Union speech, our response
to this tragedy, such as it is, will be firmly
placed around his neck.
Just saying...

-----

POLITICO
Game over: The Clintons stand alone
By: Ben Smith
January 11, 2010 06:05 PM EST

A new book is out with a highly critical but unsourced portrait of Hillary Clinton. This familiar occurrence — it’s happened too many times to count over the years — has usually been greeted with an equally familiar response: A fast and furious counterattack from the Clinton inner circle.

What’s notable about the highly publicized release of “Game Change,” however, is the virtual silence from the Clinton camp. The lack of public outrage seems to mark the sputtering end of what was once known as the Clinton political machine and underlines a fact that onetime Clinton loyalists acknowledge: The book’s primary sources about the former candidate and current secretary of state are her own former staffers and intimates.

Read the rest of the story at:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31345.html#ixzz0cQXHlJSP

---------

See also:
The Atlantic Online
Marc Ambinder's excellent blog, which I get everyday
"The Juiciest Revelations In "Game Change"
January 8 2010
http://politics.theatlantic.com/2010/01/the_juiciest_revelations_in_game_change.php


Los Angeles Times
BOOK REVIEW 'Game Change' by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin
The political journalists provide juicy insider tidbits about the 2008 presidential candidates, their spouses and other players, but it's hard to see the enlightenment behind the entertainment
By Tim Rutten
January 13, 2010
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-et-rutten13-2010jan13,0,4331192.story


An excerpt of the book that ran in
New York magazine last Saturday

Saint Elizabeth and the Ego Monster
A candidate whose aides were prepared to block him from becoming president. A wife whose virtuous image was a mirage. A mistress with a video camera. In an excerpt from the new book Game Change—their sweeping account of the 2008 campaign—the authors reveal that, inside the Edwards triangle, nothing was too crazy to be true.

Read the excerpt at:
http://nymag.com/news/politics/63045/

Next shoe to drop if Crist removes her (again): Michelle Spence-Jones to run for Meek's congressional seat from jail. LOL!

"I try to be a very ethical person, I try to do things right,''
-Michelle Spence-Jones
DISTRICT HOPEFULS RECORDS' SHORT OF PRISTINE,
Miami Herald, November 25, 2005
by Michael Vasquez

Little did South Florida know when former Miami
mayor Manny Diaz's senior advisor on urban issues
got in power, that she'd be his lasting legacy and
the punch-line to keep Miami's national reputation
as a political and social laughingstock front and center.

Just imagine how different things would be if Richard
Dunn II had been elected in the late November 2005
run-off?
But that wasn't what the Herald's Editorial
Board wanted to see, so...




Suspended Commissioner Spence-Jones re-elected,
Video by Chuck Fadely, Miami Herald


Miami Herald
THE HERALD RECOMMENDS

October 18, 2005

OUR OPINION: FOR MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, DISTRICTS 3 AND 5

If contentious issues and multiple contenders for office are signs of a healthy democracy, then Miami voters have no worry. In District 2, incumbent City Commissioner Joe Sanchez and challenger Luis Fernandez, a lawyer, are locked in fierce debate over the best ways to manage the city's growth and finances. In District 5, eight candidates are looking to wrest the seat away from incumbent Jeffrey Allen, who was appointed last year to replace the late Arthur Teele. Mr. Teele had been suspended in a corruption investigation.

Voters are left with the daunting task of making sense of the issues and winnowing down the candidate list to just two choices. These are our choices:


DISTRICT 5

Incumbents usually have a strong advantage, but that is not the case here.

Jeffrey L. Allen, 49, appointed to replace Mr. Teele last October, has few political skills and has done little for the constituents of this needy district, which includes Overtown, Little Haiti, Spring Garden, Buena Vista and Wynwood. Fortunately, three of the candidates who seek to replace him - consultant Michelle Spence-Jones, 38, barber-shop owner Willie L. Williams, 46, and businessman Georges William, 52, - are well-qualified and each would do a credible job. But Ms. Spence-Jones, a former senior advisor to the mayor on urban issues, is the clear choice to replace Mr. Allen.

When Ms. Spence-Jones talks about economic development and creating more affordable housing, she does so from the perspective of someone who has worked closely on the political and practical steps necessary to turn those ideas into reality.

Unlike with Mr. Allen, Mr. Williams and Mr. William, no question about where she actually lives detracts from Ms. Spence-Jones' candidacy.

She would offer incentives or subsidies to developers to encourage affordable-housing projects and believes the city can do more to address the needs of senior citizens for food, shelter and medications during hurricanes or other emergencies.

For District 5, we recommend MICHELLE SPENCE-JONES.

Having already backed a racially-divisive and conspiracy-
minded candidate who was keeping it under her hat until
she got elected, Spence-Jones, who failed to win a majority
of the vote, the Herald's editorial Board played the role
it relishes -kingmaker:

Miami Herald
THE HERALD RECOMMENDS

November 26, 2005

OUR OPINION: FOR MIAMI CITY COMMISSION DISTRICT 5

Voters in this runoff election have a choice on Tuesday between candidates with similar ideas about the district's problems, but sharp differences in their approach to the job. That should make the choice relatively easy for voters because one approach is divisive, and the other offers a chance for effective leadership, something the district sorely needs.

Michelle Spence-Jones, a former top advisor to Mayor Manny Diaz, is the better choice for this district, which includes communities such as Wynwood, Little Haiti, Buena Vista, Spring Garden, Overtown and Liberty City.

In the Nov. 8 election, Ms. Spence-Jones, 38, got slightly more votes (32 percent) than her closest rival, Richard Dunn, (28 percent) in a crowded field of nine candidates. Mr. Dunn, 48, pastor of a Pembroke Pines church, is running an aggressive anti-establishment campaign that pitches Ms. Spence-Jones as a ``yes man'' to the mayor. The problem with that is that Ms. Spence-Jones' record shows her to be strongly independent and nobody's rubber stamp.

The fact that Ms. Spence-Jones once worked for Mayor Diaz and enjoys his confidence is an asset that, hopefully, she will put to good use on behalf of the district. Both Ms. Spence-Jones and Mr. Dunn say that they would work to bring more jobs and affordable housing to the district.

As the mayor's senior advisor on urban issues, Ms. Spence-Jones has been actively engaged in working on such projects in Overtown, Liberty City and other areas in the district. In addition to jobs and affordable housing, Ms. Spence-Jones says she wants to focus on neighborhood-revitalization projects that can improve the quality of life for residents and help to reverse the departure of residents from the district.

This district is long overdue for an effective leader.

For Miami City Commission, District 5, The Herald recommends MICHELLE SPENCE-JONES.

Twelve percent of eligible voters cast votes.
Spence-Jones wins 57 percent to 43 percent.
Apathetic Miami-Dade African Americans get
the Commissioner they deserve.

And now, all these years later, I know more
about Marvin Dunn's poor judgment than
I did back when I actually voted for him in
the '80's, and urged others to do so, as he
has become her apologizer-in-chief in the
pages of the Herald

What the hell happened to him?

Trust me, LOTS of well-informed people
in South Florida wonder about that, too,
including many whose names you'd recognize.
But I know how to keep a secret, so....

-----

The first time the words "Michelle Spence-Jones"
appeared in the Miami Herald was April of 2004.
But that was many pet shop visits ago for her with
taxpayer funds.

Miami Herald
KING BLVD. VISIONARIES FACE LEGACY OF LOSS

April 4, 2004

By Andrea Robinson

Another plan to spruce up Martin Luther King Boulevard resurfaced this week and Liberty City grocers Reginald and Howard Thomas, whose shop has seen more than 20 years of such talk, just shook their heads.

"This used to be like a mall area,'' said Howard Thomas, 51, stacking bunches of collard greens as he recalled an era when sidewalks were packed with customers. "Now, it's more like a ghost town.''

His father, Reginald Thomas, the 87-year-old owner of Thomas Produce Market, on Northwest 62nd Street and 14th Avenue, is particularly skeptical.

He's competing for a dwindling clientele and yet last year, he says, the city of Miami told him he could no longer display fruits and vegetables on the sidewalk in front of his store, one of the few methods he still has to lure motorists who zip through on their way to Interstate 95.

"Ain't nobody putting money over here,'' he said, more than a bit exasperated. "Every time they put money here it goes somewhere else.''

In more than two decades, both men have heard myriad promises that government would pour millions of dollars into the area in hopes of bringing back businesses that left - most notably after the deadly and devastating 1980 McDuffie riots. Violence broke out in mostly black areas of the city after four white county police officers were acquitted of beating a black motorcyclist to death.

Now a community development agency, along with city and county officials, is offering still another plan, this one with even higher ambitions than usual. Officials say they hope this plan will reinvigorate the downtrodden area to attract new businesses, customers - and tourists.

The proposal, first unveiled a year ago today, is to bring a mix of shopping plazas, street improvements, park upgrades and - for the first time - cultural landmarks to the Liberty City and Little Haiti areas. Later this year, private developers will begin construction of a $9.3 million plaza at the site where Winn-Dixie stood for years at King Boulevard and Northwest Sixth Court, in the shadow of I-95.

Nearby, the city is planning a cultural Art Walk where national and local celebrities such as basketball star Alonzo Mourning will leave their footprints in wet cement. The design will be similar to the gold star sidewalk tributes at Domino Park in Little Havana and the handprints in front of the Jackie Gleason Theater in Miami Beach.

Further along the boulevard, Internet kiosks and monuments are proposed to pay tribute to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other Haitian- and African-American leaders and events.

Also on the drawing board are plans for $26.8 million in upgrades to four city of Miami parks on or near the boulevard. Funding will come from a $255 million homeland defense/neighborhood improvement bond approved by Miami voters in 2001.

STREET IMPROVEMENTS

The city and Miami-Dade County have committed another $3 million for facade and street improvements along the boulevard, between Northwest Seventh and 37th avenues.

Another plan - though much less developed - calls for a transportation hub to bring a sorely needed parking garage to the area. The federal government so far has allocated $4.5 million to acquire property near Northwest 62nd Street and Seventh Avenue - another nearby major commercial artery.

Last year, when the plan was first discussed, more than 1,400 people came out to hear King's youngest daughter, the Rev. Bernice King, implore them to rekindle the boulevard's economic and social vitality.

Tonight, the community will gather for a second "Reclaim the Dream'' street service and candlelight vigil to remember the 36th anniversary of the assassination of King.

But it may be hard to build enthusiasm among folks like the Thomases, with their struggling grocery store, when few of the proposed changes are visible. David Chiverton, chairman of tonight's service and treasurer of the Martin Luther King Economic Development Agency, which spearheaded the drive, concedes progress has been slow. The first year, he said, was spent trying to win the confidence of area residents.

"When you talk about the black community, it sometimes drags out,'' Chiverton said. "We've made great strides in the last year, just having money in place and having interest from developers.''

City officials keep reemphasizing that improvements, especially cultural markers, have the potential to draw tourists and their dollars to what has been an economically depressed neighborhood for about 24 years.

"We want to create a cultural destination for people. But in order for them to come, you have to give them something to see,'' explained Keith Carswell, the city's director of economic development.

For Carswell and two of the city's other principals in the project, Michelle Spence-Jones and Clarence Woods, the project is personal. All grew up in or near Liberty City.

All of them have family who still live in the area, and Carswell and Spence-Jones recently purchased homes there as well.

"The difference is the level of commitment and passion behind this plan,'' Woods said. ``At the end of the day if we don't produce we have to go home and explain.''

LOOKING BACK

Moselle Rackard, who has lived near 62nd Street for more than 40 years, remembers a day when grocery stores and department stores such as Shell City, Lerner, and Jackson Byrons were on or near the boulevard. And on Seventh Avenue, nightclubs were the draw, attracting blacks and whites from Miami Beach.

"The whole place was vibrant. You didn't have to leave the neighborhood for anything,'' she said.

Rackard, who is 70-something, wonders what changes are in store. Her hope: A mid-or upper-level store such as Macy's or Dillard's will locate an outlet shop near her home.

"I don't see why not. We pay taxes [and] we like good clothes,'' she said.

As for Reginald Thomas, he'll believe the changes are real once he sees something concrete - literally. He wants to see the lot adjacent to his store finally paved for parking.

And he'd really like to display his vegetables on the sidewalk again.

"We aren't bothering anybody. We're trying to help people,'' he said. "All I've tried to do is make a dollar and to help someone along the way.''

REMEMBERING KING

* The second annual Reclaim the Dream ceremony to remember the 36th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. begins at 5 p.m. today along Northwest 62nd Street in Miami.

* Participants, which include community and civic leaders, will march from Northwest Sixth Court to the main stage at Eighth Avenue. Speeches, gospel music and a candlelight vigil will follow.

* For more information, call the Martin Luther King Economic Development Corp. at 305-757-7652.

------

Amazingly, three weeks later, the Sun-Sentinel
was on hand at what we now know to be the
scene of the crime, publishing this puff-piece,
breathlessly quoting special events coordinator
Spence-Jones' pronouncements:

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
BUSINESS OWNERS LOOK FOR UPTURN -
NW SEVENTH SEEN AS HEART OF REBIRTH

By Diana Marrero, Miami Bureau

April 25, 2004

Up and down Northwest Seventh Avenue, shop owners are taking part in a tiny revolution: trying to reclaim a once-thriving thoroughfare they say has been in decline far too long.

They continue to work here because Liberty City is their home. After years of neglect, small-business owners say the area is finally seeing signs of an economic turnaround.

"This is my community, my streets, my home," said Edward Colebrook, owner of Shantel's Lounge, which specializes in down-home barbecue and spicy conch salad. He's among the dozens of merchants who have banded together for monthly cultural events they hope will attract visitors and boost business.

With "Soul on Seventh," community leaders in Liberty City hope to revitalize their neighborhood, much like Little Havana's "Cultural Fridays" sparked new life on Calle Ocho.

When people like Colebrook look around their neighborhood, they see a place where people know each other's names, black faces adorn murals and the names of African-American leaders are memorialized on buildings and streets.

Once a flourishing black middle-class neighborhood, Liberty City is still the kind of place where middle-aged men gather to play checkers. Large banners dot the area's main drag, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, reminding people to "Reclaim the Dream."

The dream might have drifted when Liberty City began to decline in the 1960s. As freeways intersected neighboring Overtown, displaced residents who lost their homes overcrowded Liberty City.

The area's sudden growth attracted a number of mostly white owners who built cheap apartment complexes, then failed to maintain them. As integration gained momentum across the country, black professionals left, fueling the area's decline.

It seems fitting that Seventh Avenue would be at the heart of the area's rebirth, said Michelle Spence-Jones, a special events coordinator for the city of Miami. The first soulful celebration -- featuring food, jazz and a Bahamian junkanoo band -- took place Feb. 27. More than 500 people attended. The events are scheduled for the last Friday of each month.

"This was the life of the black community," Spence-Jones said, admiring the rows of storefronts that still thrive on the avenue.

They include places like Happy 2 B Nappy, which specializes in natural hair care for black women; Timbuktu Marketplace, where artists gather and sell their wares; New World Cafe, where a French-trained chef from West Africa serves chicken wings and African dishes on special order; and Body, Mind & Soul, a health food shop where customers can order a veggie burger while shopping for African herbs.

"We need to bring people back to Seventh Avenue," said Elaine Black, executive director for the economic development coalition, Tools for Change. Black notes that several redevelopment projects in the area are already in the works.

"Give us five years," Black says. "Liberty City will be the place to be."


Five years later it isn't and we know
at least one of the many reasons why.

South Florida's Civil Society in 2010: Doral creating a "Citizen's Audit Board" at their Wednesday City Council meeting

City of Doral creating a "Citizen's Audit Board" at their Jan. 13th Council meeting.
The city council previously approved this at
First Reading at their December 9th meeting.




Published in Miami Herald on 12/31/2009

I'm not personally aware of other cities around
here that already have this, but maybe someplace
known for being well-run like Coral Springs does.

Have you heard about similar existing groups in
South Florida and how they've been run?

Something worth considering in every city hall,
duchy and burg in South Florida, to be sure.

As is this:

Excerpt from
"Pillars of Integrity: The Importance of Supreme Audit Institutions
in Curbing Corruption"
Edited by Kenneth M. Dye and Rick Stapenhurst, 1997.
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
http://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/library/18120/pillars.pdf

I. Corruption

News media around the world are reporting on
corruption on a daily basis; and clearly demonstrate
that it is not something that is exclusively, or even
primarily, a problem of developing countries. Recent
events in Europe and North America have shown all
too clearly that corruption is not something that is
exclusively, or even primarily, a problem of developing
countries.

Clearly, corruption is a complex issue. While its roots
are grounded in a country’s particular social and
cultural history, political and economic development,
bureaucratic traditions and policies, one can generalize
to state that corruption tends to flourish when
institutions are weak and economic policies distort
the marketplace (World Bank, 1997b).
It distorts economic and social development, by
engendering wrong choices and by encouraging
competition in bribery rather than in the quality
and price of goods and services.
Moreover, it is the poor countries—and the poor
within poor countries—which can least afford the
costs of corruption (Langseth, Stapenhurst and
Pope, 1997). Moreover, evidence suggests that if
corruption is not contained, it will grow and that
once a pattern of successful bribes is institutionalized,
corrupt officials have an incentive to demand
larger bribes, engendering a “culture” of illegality
that in turn breeds market inefficiency (Rose-
Ackerman 1996).

Corruption has been described as a “cancer.”
It violates public confidence in the state and
endangers social cohesion. Grand corruption
—where millions of dollars change hands,
is reported with increasing frequency in rich
and poor countries alike. Petty corruption is
less reported, but can be equally damaging;
a small bribe to a public servant for a government
service may only involve a minor payment,
but when such bribes are multiplied a million
times, their combined impact can be enormous.
If left unchecked, the accumulation of seemingly
petty bribes can erode legitimacy of public
institutions to the extent that even noncorrupt
officials and members of the public see little point
in remaining honest (World Bank, 1997b).

Forms of corruption need to be contained for
practical reasons. Faced with the challenge of at
least maintaining, if not improving, standards of
public service delivery, no country can afford the
inefficiency that accompanies corruption. While
some may argue that corruption can help grease
the wheels of a slow-moving and over-regulated
economy, evidence indicates that it increases the
costs of goods and services, promotes unproductive
investments, and leads to a decline in the quality
of public services (Gould and Amaro-Reyes
1983). Indeed, recent evidence suggests that rather
than expediting public service, corruption may be
more like “sand in the wheels” : recent corruption
surveys in Tanzania, Uganda, Ukraine and elsewhere
show that people paying bribes to public
officials actually received slower service than those
who did not.

Simply defined, corruption is the abuse of public
power for personal gain or for the benefit of a group
to which one owes allegiance. It occurs at the intersection
of public and private sectors, when public
office is abused by an official accepting, soliciting,
or extorting a bribe. Klitgaard (1996) has developed
a simple model to explain the dynamics of
corruption:

C (Corruption) = M (Monopoly Power) +
D (Discretion) – A (Accountability)

In other words, the extent of corruption depends
on the amount of monopoly power and discretionary
power that an official exercises. Monopoly
power can be large in highly regulated
economies; discretionary power is often large in
developing countries and transition economies
where administrative rules and regulations are often
poorly defined. And finally, accountability may
also be weak, either as a result of poorly defined
ethical standards of public service, weak administrative
and financial systems and ineffective watchdog
agencies.

Successful strategies to curb corruption will
have to simultaneously seek to educe an official’s
monopoly power (e.g. by market-oriented reforms),
discretionary power (e.g. by administrative reform)
and enhance accountability (e.g. through watchdog
agencies). Such mechanisms,
when designed as part of a national effort to
reduce corruption, comprise an integrity system.
This system of checks and balances, designed
to manage conflicts of interest in the public sector,
limits situations in which conflicts of interest
arise or have a negative impact on the common
good. This involves both prevention and penalty.
An integrity system embodies a comprehensive
view of reform, addressing corruption in the public
sector through government processes (leadership
codes, organizational change) and through civil
society participation (the democratic process,
private sector, media).

Thus, reform is initiated and supported not only
by politicians and policy makers, but also by
members of civil society.

Exactly!

C'est vrai! France 24 reports Eric Rohmer dead at 89, influential French New Wave film director

Heard the sad news around Noon.

See http://www.france24.com/en/ or watch LIVE in English at
http://www.france24.com/en/aef_player_popup/france24_player#

New York Times put something up around 1:13 p.m. this afternoon.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/eric-rohmer-new-wave-film-director-has-died/

I saw many of his films, like most of the French New Wave films I've seen, at film art houses while living in Chicago and Washington, D.C., as well as the National Gallery of Art, and while he was certainly an acquired taste for some American film-goers, I was a person who found his films very... quoi, interesting and idiosyncratic?

When they were good, they were very good, indeed, and gave you a lot to talk about with your friends and significant others afterwards, before you went home.
Lots of nights walking on cold Chicago sidewalks talking about morality and ambiguity in the modern
world.

So much more enlightening than rehashing for the 1,001st time whether The Tribune Company
was ruining the Cubs!

On the front of the videotape of his 1971 film Claire's Knee, the distributors run excerpts of New York Times film critic Vincent Canby's review, creating perhaps the most perfect blurb you could ever hope for on a film:
"Original, complete, mysterious... practically perfect."

That it was.



Great view of original poster:
http://www.starandshadow.org.uk/on/film/435

"One of the most extraordinary directorial careers in the history of cinema"
- SIGHT AND SOUND

In their DVD review of the box-set, Eric Rohmer's Six Moral Tales, in the BFI's Sight and Sound,

http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/ Tim Lewis got to the very heart of what animated Eric Rohmer:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/3493

The six films comprising this series offer different sketches of the same dilemma. A man falls in love with a woman, thereby forming a commitment, either in fact or in principle, and then must navigate safe passage through sexual temptation by relying on (and sometimes discovering) his moral code, proving himself worthy of that love. Rohmer's brand of morality is subjective and non-judgmental; his characters include students and petits bourgeois and the idle rich, Catholics and atheists, singles and marrieds-with-children, and their standards vary. The point is "to thine own self be true" as the series depicts the ways in which thoughtful people can meet themselves in the mazes of their own stratagems, and how their true selves are sometimes at odds with the people they think they are or aspire to be.

Monday night's public meeting of Notter's Three Amigos -Bring hand warmers! Where are BECON's TV cameras?

Last Wednesday we got word that...

Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/1411248.html

Broward ethics panel to take public comments
By Patricia Mazzei
January 6, 2010

The three-person panel tasked with proposing improvements to how the Broward public school district does business will hold its first public hearing next week.

The Commission on Education Excellence Through Integrity, Public Ethics and Transparency will seek public input at 6 p.m. Monday at the Dillard Center for the Arts, 2501 NW 11th St., Fort Lauderdale.

The independent group was convened after the September arrest of suspended School Board member Beverly Gallagher in a federal corruption probe. Gallagher has pleaded not guilty to charges that she took $12,500 from undercover FBI agents for a promise to influence a decision on a school construction project.

To serve on the commission, Superintendent Jim Notter chose former Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth; Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler, a former state legislator; and attorney W. George Allen, who filed the lawsuit that forced the district to desegregate almost 40 years ago.

Reader comments at
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/1411248.html?commentSort=TimeStampAscending&pageNum=1


Then on Friday we heard...
My emphasis in red below

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-school-ethics-panel--20100109,0,1614300.story

Ethics panel set for first public hearing on school district
By Kathy Bushouse, Sun Sentinel
January 10, 2010

In the past few months, the Broward school district has been hammered by the arrest of a School Board member, allegations of contractor ripoffs and an investigation of a transportation department besieged by accusations of nepotism and sexual harassment.

On Monday, the panel created in October to scrutinize the district's policies and practices will have its first public hearing to set priorities on what it should investigate.

"We're going out to see what the people want," said attorney W. George Allen.

Allen, former Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth and Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler are running the Commission on Education Excellence Through Integrity, Public Ethics and Transparency.

They have not set a firm timetable for the investigation.

The panel was created by Broward Schools Superintendent James Notter and School Board member Maureen Dinnen after the Sept. 23 arrest of Beverly Gallagher on corruption charges involving school construction, and shortly after board member Stephanie Kraft disclosed her husband's business ties to School Board lobbyist Neil Sterling.

The Florida Commission on Ethics also is investigating a complaint against Kraft that she misused her position to help Prestige Homes developer Bruce Chait.

Chait was arrested in December and charged by state prosecutors with bribery, unlawful compensation and perjury.

Earlier, in the summer, district auditors alleged two contractors ripped off more than $750,000 after Hurricane Wilma repairs.

The auditors said there were signs of collusion and coercion, as well as inflated and falsified documents so the companies could be paid.

After the panel was formed, the school district began an investigation into its transportation department.

The department's top two administrators — Ruben Parker, director of transportation services, and Lucille Greene, director of student transportation — were reassigned. Officials won't discuss specific reasons for the investigation.

But the Broward Teachers Union asked Gov. Charlie Crist and Attorney General Bill McCollum for independent investigations last month. The union said the transportation department's problems included kickbacks in exchange for jobs, bus safety issues, nepotism and sexual harassment.

The governor forwarded the union's complaint to the Office of the Statewide Prosecutor.

That office is the "best entity to not only review the material but also to intitiate any necessary investigations," said Crist spokesman Sterling Ivey.

McCollum's office said the union's concerns are outside the attorney general's jurisdiction. McCollum's office reccomended the union contact the state's ethics commission, auditor general or the statewide grand jury, according to a letter dated Dec. 17.

Allen said the group spent the past two months getting organized. Now that the group is ready to work, he hopes to move quickly and make recommendations the district will adopt.

"I would hate to do work and then just turn it in as a written report, and nothing happens," Allen said.

Notter said the district would not automatically adopt all of the panel's recommendations but will consider them. He said all the district's operations and policies are open for review.

"They're going to come back with items that we need to revise, revamp, tweak, or frankly, maybe initiate brand-new," Notter said.

Monday's hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Dillard Center for the Arts, 2501 NW 11th St., Fort Lauderdale. For those unable to attend, the commission also is working on a website with an e-mail address and telephone number so people can send in tips.

The panel was promised complete independence from the district. Its leaders won't be paid, but the district will foot the bill for the staff.

Butterworth, Seiler and Allen were picked because of their long histories of community service.

Allen's selection raised some questions because he is registered as a lobbyist representing Bencor Inc., a company that offers alternatives to Social Security for district employees.

Allen said he didn't view it as a conflict because he hasn't lobbied for the company for years.

So far, the panel has met with some skepticism. One teacher sent e-mail to Seiler, saying she was concerned that Notter and Dinnen "handpicked a three-man (no woman) commission for a 90-day fact-finding analysis."

But such panels can be a step toward restoring public confidence in a beleaguered institution, said Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

"I think that putting together a group like this is probably a good idea, especially where you've had many instances of alleged corruption or ethical violations," Jewett said. "… I'm not going to say that empanelling a group of citizens to look at this is going to solve all the problems, but it is a good step."

Kathy Bushouse can be reached at kbushouse@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4556.

How did Broward Schools Supt. James Notter's
Three Amigos NOT already have some means
of broadcasting or webcasting Monday night's
meeting figured-out by 5 p.m. last Friday?
Seriously.
Talk about gross incompetentcy!

(FYI: That's at the SAME time and date as
Broward County's previously-scheduled first
official Census 2010 meeting of social/religious/
community activists, which happens to be at
the Hallandale Beach Cultural Center.
See http://www.broward.org/eventhighlights.htm )

If these Broward School geniuses had any
common sense, they'd grab some of those
BECON TV cameras that Broward taxpayers
have ALREADY paid for and truck them
to Dillard to air Butterworth & Co. LIVE
on Channel 63. That would be so easy, and yet...

I'd call Ann Murray's School Board office
to find out why this isn't taking place if I
thought I'd get a straight answer out of her,
but...

Maybe if every official person with a Ed.D.
after their name is shivering in that room at
Dillard Monday night, someone downtown
will get off their butt and finally fix the
thermostat that controls school room temps,
so it's not as cold inside as it is outside.

Wow, that should've been the media
lede last week:
clueless Broward Schools HQ!

See Akilah Johnson's blog post on that
from Thursday at bottom.

If you're going to tomorrow night's meeting,
I recommend a visit to Target beforehand,
and get some Coleman-brand hand warmers
-they're excellent.


South Florida Sun-Sentinel Schools blog
Broward classrooms just as cold as outside, teachers say
Posted by Akilah Johnson

January 7, 2010 05:40 PM

Students and teachers in many Broward County public schools didn’t shed their scarves and gloves once this week’s lessons began. Instead, they shivered inside classrooms nearly as cold as the weather outside.

Read rest of this at:
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/educationblog/2010/01/broward_classrooms_just_as_col.html#comments