Discourse.net

MDPLS Search Plugin Repaired

Only a few days after I contacted them to report a problem with the browser search plugin, the Miami-Dade Public Library System (MDPLS) has come through with a fix via Sr. Systems Analyst/Programmer Jose J. Rivero.

If you go to the MDPLS Library Tools & Gadgets page, you'll find a repaired and working search plugin, as well as an IGoogle Catalog Gadget and a Windows Vista Library Catalog Gadget. The search plugin works in IE and FF, and offers search completion too. But if you had the broken version, be sure to delete the old version before you install the new one.

Thank you, Mr. Rivero!

Previously:

• MDPLS Library Search Plugin is Broken (6/7/10)
• MDPLS Puts the Wow Back in the Wowbrary (8/26/10)

MDPLS Puts the Wow Back in the Wowbrary

I really love dealing with the people at the Miami-Dade Public Library System (MDPLS). They're so nice. (Maybe it's something about librarians. Our librarians at UM Law are also very nice. Then again the ones over in the main University library don't seem, based on my rather small sample, to be nearly as nice. But I digress.)

Here's yesterday's story.

For some time I have been a happy user of the Wowbrary. This free service gets information from libraries around the country, including MDPLS, about their new acquisitions and serves it up to readers (by subject area of interest) in the form of a tidy weekly RSS feed.

I read this feed in my feed reader, and pick out the books that sound good. I click the link in the feed for “borrow” and this (after a required MDPLS login) takes me to the MDPLS catalog page for the new book. Often these show as belonging to “collection development” or in cataloging or something, and it can take a few weeks before the book actually turns up in my local library but that is not a problem: as my request is in the system, I can set it and forget it until the book turns up. (The MDPLS online catalog allows users to request that books be delivered to their local branch regardless of where the copy may be held.)

This worked great for at least the last year and half (see Wow! MDPLS Does Wowbrary). That is, it worked until this week. All of a sudden, when I clicked through to a record for a book (I wanted Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks), everything looked the same – but it wasn't. I could click 'place a request', followed by 'submit request' just like I used to, but then instead of putting the request into the queue…it rejected me with the message,

Requests are not permitted for this title. Contact the library for assistance.

And it wasn't something special about the Culture. I tried several titles and they all produced the same result.

I was sad. It seemed that the MDPLS had instituted a landrush policy. Now I would need a way to keep track of which books were due to come in, and keep trying to reserve them until they become available at some random and unforeseeable time. Record-keeping. Work. Frustration. Loss of my place at the head of the queue for desirable new books. (There can be a high cost to being late to the party: A few months ago I put in a request for one of the multiple copies of “The girl who kicked the hornet's nest” and now I'm number 174 of 568 waiting for it.)

But then I had an idea. Why not call the folks at MDPLS and ask them to put it back the way it had been. Maybe this wasn't a policy change but just a glitch. And so, late yesterday morning, I did just that. In short order I was put through to a Ms. Lewis, who listened to my whole sad tale. At first she seemed a bit puzzled. Was this program something I paid for? No. Was I reserving the books through the Wowbrary itself? No. Was the error message maybe from outside the MDPLS system? No. Eventually Ms. Lewis asked me to write it all up and email to her so that she could pass the whole thing on to the right technical people. Which I did.

And about four hours later, Ms. Lewis called me back to ask me to test whether it was fixed. And it was.

Not only that, but now it's better than it used to be. With the old MDPLS cataloguing system, I used to have to do a new logon for each book, even in a single browsing session, which was something you didn't have to do with multiple requests within the MDPLS system. Now even when I make multiple Wowbrary-originating requests in a single session, I only have to log in the first time!

The most amazing part of this story to me is that Ms. Lewis thanked me for reporting the problem.

And she said she's signing up for the Wowbrary herself.

Meanwhile, Jeff Levinsky of the Wowbrary tells me that they've served up information on 48,041 new titles at the Miami-Dade library since the wowbrary began covering it a few years ago

Please don't tell anyone. I don't need the competition for the new books.

(Now do you suppose I can get the MDPLS to fix the Search Plugin? It's broken, and the folks at librarysearch.org don't seem to be updating their to-do list.)

Earlier posts:

• Miami-Dade Libraries Fail to Renew Domain Name (9/11/2008)
• Miami-Dade Public Library Backsliding on Whitelisting Sites (11/14/2006)
• Kudos to the Miami-Dade Public Library (12/17/2005)
• Wireless Woes at the Miami-Dade Public Library (12/10/2005)

Shorter Miami-Dade Ballot Guide

Here's a quick summary of my recommendations for the lower part of Miami-Dade ballot — the non-partisan races that often don't get the attention they deserve:

Circuit Judges - Group 45: Samantha Ruiz Cohen

Circuit Judges: - Group 62: Robert Kuntz

County Judges - Group 7: Edward Newman

County Judges - Group 11: Flora Seff

School Board District 6: Dr. Kitchka Petrova

Charter Amendment Eliminating the Office of County Manager: NO

Home Rule Charter Amendment Authorizing County Commission to Abolish Municipalities of Twenty or Fewer Electors: YES

Home Rule Charter Amendment Relating to Franchises: NO

Explanations for these suggestions will be found in these five blog posts:

Part I: Introduction
Part II: Circuit Judges
Part III: County Judges
Part IV: School Board, District 6
Part V: Miami-Dade County Charter Amendments

Early and absentee voting in Miami-Dade is now open. Details on how to register and vote are in Part I of this series. I'll try to remember to re-run this post on election day, which is Tuesday, August 24th.

(Meanwhile, perhaps this summary will attract the South Florida Daily Blog?)

Voter's Guide to the Miami-Dade Downballot - Part V: Miami-Dade County Charter Amendments

Votes on charter amendments make judicial elections seem a model of clarity and participation. Voters are given impenetrable summaries on the ballot. Even in their abbreviated form they are fairly long, and I wonder how many voters bother to read them. Of the voters who bother to read them, only a fraction can understand them, particularly as they are often deliberately opaque. Even if you can parse what they mean, it would be impossible to understand the implications without a much greater knowledge of local politics than any normal person would want.

So it pays to be prepared.

Charter Amendment Eliminating the Office of County Manager

Shall the Charter be amended, effective November 2012, to eliminate the office of the County Manager as a charter office which currently assists the Mayor in administering County government?

Of the three initiatives, this is the only one that feels at all like a hard call. The proposal would abolish the position of County Manager, the non-partisan professional who used to run the county back in the days of our 'weak Mayor' form of government. In 2007 Miami-Dade county switched to a “strong Mayor” government, taking a lot of the County Manager's power and giving it to the elected Mayor. The argument for this new amendment is that the County Manager is now basically redundant. The argument against the amendment is that the County Manager still has plenty to do, and Miami-Dade County needs all the professionalism it can get.

I opposed the 'strong Mayor' amendment. While he is far from perfect, the uncomfortable truth is that Mayor Alvarez is one of the better Miami-Dade (or just Dade County) Mayors in recent history. We've had some pretty terrible ones, and it seemed wrong to me to concentrate power in the Mayor's office just because we happened to temporarily have a decent person in the job. Similarly, even if — and opinions differ — the County Manager isn't really needed now, we may need one the next time we have a truly corrupt county Mayor. History suggests that won't be far in the future.

The Herald recommends a NO vote. I agree, and plan to vote NO on the County Manager amendment.

Home Rule Charter Amendment Authorizing County Commission to Abolish Municipalities of Twenty or Fewer Electors

Shall the Miami-Dade County Home Rule Charter be amended to add to the provision that no municipality shall be abolished without the municipal governing body calling an election and without the approval of a majority of electors at such election to provide that the Board of County Commissioners may by ordinance abolish municipalities with twenty or fewer electors?

To be honest, I had no idea what this was about when I first read it. Here's how the Miami Herald explains it:

This is aimed at Islandia, the municipality in Biscayne National Park that was created in 1960 to pave the way for a mega resort. Environmentalists blocked plans to develop the 33 specks of land, and now just six people — mostly park rangers — are registered to vote on what is largely federal property.

Taxes are collected, but there is no municipal authority to spend them: The county finance department is sitting on almost $6,000 in unclaimed checks. The Miami-Dade tax collector says the city “went off the radar.''

The last mayor went west and hit the lottery. Tax reports have not been filed to the state in more than a decade.

This city exists in name only.

The Herald recommends a YES vote, and that seems reasonable to me.

Home Rule Charter Amendment Relating to Franchises

Shall the Charter be amended to make it consistent with the practice of all Florida Charter Counties by allowing the Board of County Commissioners to grant a franchise or amend a franchise agreement upon approval by a two-thirds vote of board members present without requiring subsequent approval by a majority of the electorate as is currently provided for in the Charter?

This one is just sleazy. Weirdly, the explanation appears in a Herald editorial but not as far as I can tell in any of its news columns:

Voters are likely to be baffled by the thickly-veiled ballot language in the last of the charter amendment questions. The proposal asking whether voters would like to give up their say in county franchise agreements fails to mention the only entity that has such a contract: Florida Power & Light.

In other words, this amendment attempts to clear the decks to ram through a sweetheart deal for FP&L without having to submit to the voters for their approval. Don't be fooled: Vote NO on this amendment.

Part I: Introduction
Part II: Circuit Judges
Part III: County Judges
Part IV: School Board, District 6
Part V: Miami-Dade County Charter Amendments (today)

Voter's Guide to the Miami-Dade Downballot - Part IV: School Board District 6

(Find your School Board District here.)

There are a lot of candidates for School Board in District 6:

• Alex Diaz
• Dr. Maria Peiro
• Dr. Kitchka Petrova (vote for this one)
• Raquel Regalado
• Dr. Eduardo Zayas-Bazán

Raquel Regalado, 36, is a trademark and patents attorney with a law degree from St. Thomas in 2001. While I do think legal training is a good background for the school board, and it would be nice to have a younger member of the Board, it's hard to think of many legal specialties less relevant to the job. (Now, a real estate attorney or CPA….) Indeed, the candidate's resume generally seems rather light on relevant experience. The Herald endorsed Regalado as did the United Teachers of Dade, the teachers' union. (I would expect better from the Herald. Sadly, I don't expect better from the UTD.) The elephant in the room, however, is the identity of Regalado's father, a subject explored in the Miami New Times's With No Experience and Lots of Cash, Miami Mayor's Daughter Raquel Regalado Runs For School Board.

Dr. Zayas-Bazán, 74, a Professor Emeritus in Foreign Languages at East Tennessee State University, is the candidate who has raised the most money after Raquel Regalado although she has out-raised him by about 3:1. He was the subject of an extensive and largely sympathetic New Times profile in 2008 relating to his participation as a frogman in the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Based on their answers to this questionnaire, particularly their support of student-led group prayer in the public schools and their pandering willingness to endorse a blanket ban on government funds to any agency or organization that offers abortions — even for activities that have nothing to do with abortion — despite this issue's irrelevance to the School Board race, I am opposed to Dr. Maria Peiro, Dr. Eduardo Zayas-Bazán and Raquel Regalado.

That leaves Alex Diaz and Dr. Kitchka Petrova. Mr. Diaz was a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali, and has relevant work experience with nonprofits, youth groups and in education. He sounds like the kind of person who belongs on the School Board. But.

As it happens, I know Dr. Petrova because she taught science to one of my sons in Ponce Middle School's IB program. She is an intelligent and kind person, and an excellent teacher. It would be amazing to have her on the school board (even if she has the lamest website of any of the candidates; here's a link to a scan of the inside of the Petrova campaign brochure).

Dr. Petrova has won some unusual awards, notably an Einstein Fellowship. Dr. Petrova is a member of the National Science Teachers Association. She also serves as a member of the Educator Advisory Board of Florida Agriculture in The Classroom, Inc and the Judging Panel of Toyota/TAPESTRY Grants for Science Teachers. (I've even run into her in the Coral Gables library as Dr. Petrova was poring over the applications; she takes this seriously!) In 2008 she was awarded a White-Reinhardt Educator Scholarship by the American Farm Bureau. In 2007, Dr. Petrova received the Excellence in Teaching about Agriculture Award for the state of Florida; and the 2007 National Award for Excellence in Teaching about Agriculture.

Dr. Petrova holds a Master's degree in Biology/Microbiology from Sofia University “St.Kliment Ohrdiski” (Bulgaria) and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from Moscow University “M.V.Lomonossov” (Russia). She is not your usual Miami candidate. And honestly, I suppose she doesn't really stand a chance. But even so…

I am voting for Dr. Kitchka Petrova for School Board District 6 and I urge you to do so too. I've even sent her a contribution. Zayas-Bazán (over $47,000) and Regalado (over $130,000) are the candidates with the big bucks in this race, so Dr. Petrova is the longest of long shots. Even so, it would be great if she won.

Part I: Introduction
Part II: Circuit Judges
Part III: County Judges
Part IV: School Board, District 6 (today)
Part V: Miami-Dade County Charter Amendments

Voter's Guide to the Miami-Dade Downballot - Part III: County Court

As I wrote in Part II, about the Circuit Court races,

Unlike most law professors I know, I support the idea of judicial elections at the state level, although if it were up to me I'd have the executive branch pick judges, perhaps with legislative confirmation, followed by a California-style retention election every few years in which there would be an up or down vote on the incumbent. If the vote was down, the executive would pick a new judge. It seems to me that the right question is “has this judge done a good (enough) job” — something voters might be able to figure out — rather than trying to figure out which candidate might be the best judge.

Florida's system, however, pits one or more challengers against the incumbent or else, lacking opposition, the incumbent wins reelection automatically. My personal view is that I will vote for the incumbent unless there's reason to believe they're doing a bad job. Fortunately, that only happens occasionally.

In both of the County Court races I support retaining the incumbent.

County Judges: Group 7

There are two candidates, Manuel 'Manny' Alvarez and the incumbent, Judge Edward Newman.

Judge Newman (UM Law '87) has been a judge since 1995 and, despite the occasional brickbat, he seems worth retaining. I admit that receiving candidate literature touting his years as an offensive guard for the Miami Dolphins as a qualification for being a judge did give me a moment's pause, but I got over it. His Dade County Bar Association poll numbers are good: 27.5% say he is exceptionally qualified and 50.9% say he is qualified. Here is Judge Edward Newman's Judicial Candidate Voluntary Self-Disclosure Statement.

Manuel “Manny” Alvarez (UM Law '86) doesn't seem to have filed a Judicial Candidate Voluntary Self-Disclosure Statement. He has a lot of relevant litigation experience, and good Dade County Bar Association poll numbers: 26.3% exceptionally qualified and 54.2 qualified. He was a co-recipient of the ACLU Act of Courage Award in 1998.

Word is that Mr. Alvarez would make a good judge. [Update (8/16): Those who disagree point to the 19-year-old incidents recounted in the DBR's 8/12 article, Judicial candidate was arrested on gun charge; to me the arguably relevant part isn't the dropped charges but rather the restraining order.] But Judge Newman doesn't seem like the sort of judge who deserves removal; on the contrary, despite the occasional critic of his tough courtroom style, there are many who say he's one of the good ones. The Herald endorsed Judge Newman.

I plan to vote for Judge Edward Newman.

County Judges: Group 11

There are two candidates, Michaelle Gonzalez-Paulson and Judge Flora Seff, the incumbent.

Judge Seff (UM Law '79), 57, has two years experience as a judge. Previously she was a state prosecutor for 28 years, including time as the head of the felony division. She got ratings of 31.8% exceptionally qualified and 45.8% qualified in the Dade County Bar Association poll. Here is Flora Seff's Judicial Candidate Voluntary Self-Disclosure Statement. I have not heard anything bad about her. The Herald endorsed Judge Seff.

Michaelle Gonzalez-Paulson, 38, graduated from St. Thomas Law school only nine years ago, which seems somewhat recent for someone wanting to become a judge. She doesn't appear to have filed a Judicial Candidate Voluntary Self-Disclosure Statement. Her bar poll numbers are not nearly as strong as Judge Seff's: 12.2% rated her exceptionally qualified, and 41.2% said she was qualified. More than twice as many respondents (46.6%) rated Ms. Gonzalez-Paulson unqualified as said that of Judge Seff.

This one is easy: vote to retain Judge Flora Seff.

Part I: Introduction
Part II: Circuit Judges
Part III: County Judges (today)
Part IV: School Board, District 6
Part V: Miami-Dade County Charter Amendments

Voter's Guide to the Miami-Dade Downballot - Part II: Circuit Court

There are four judicial elections on the August 24, 2010 ballot. Unlike most law professors I know, I support the idea of judicial elections at the state level as a reasonable democratic check on what I believe should be the expansive power of judges to interpret the state and federal constitutions. Although, if it were up to me, I'd have the executive branch pick judges with legislative confirmation, followed by a California-style retention election every few years in which there would be an up or down vote on the incumbent. If the vote was down, the executive would pick a new judge. It seems to me that the right question is “has this judge done a good (enough) job” — something voters might be able to figure out — rather than asking voters to try to guess from electoral statements which of two or more candidates might be the best judge.

Florida's system, however, pits one or more challengers against the incumbent or else, lacking opposition, the incumbent wins reelection automatically (as happened with most of the judges whose terms expired this year). There are also open seats when the incumbent retires. My personal view is that I will vote for an incumbent judge unless there's reason to believe they're doing a bad job. Fortunately, that only happens occasionally. But, as you will see, it does happen.

Today I'm writing about the two Circuit Judge contests. Next, in Part III, I'll look at the County Court races.

Circuit Judges: Group 45

There are two candidates, Judge Peter Adrien, the incumbent, and Samantha Ruiz Cohen.

Judge Adrien has a bad reputation. He got the lowest rating in the Dade County Bar Association’s judicial poll: 55% of respondents said he was 'unqualified'. That's pretty bad. And he gets reversed on basic issues of fairness to defendants that you'd think anyone would get right. See Foster v. State. Here's his Judicial Candidate Voluntary Self-Disclosure Statement. This is the rare sort of record that makes me think a judge is ready to be replaced.

Fortunately his challenger has a good record, and a fine reputation: 35.5% of respondents in the Dade County Bar Association’s judicial poll rated Samantha Ruiz Cohen as 'exceptionally qualified' for the bench and another 51.3% said she was 'qualified'. The Miami Herald endorsed Samantha Ruiz Cohen. (There doesn't appear to be a Judicial Candidate Voluntary Self-Disclosure Statement, however.) After graduating from Hofstra University School of Law in 1991 (a fact oddly absent from her campaign biography, perhaps because it's not a local law school?), she spent ten years at the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office. Then she jumped to civil litigation, and now does products liability cases in private practice. She has taught trial advocacy at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) and constitutional law to undergrads at FIU (I'm not sure if teaching law to undergrads is a plus or minus for a judge; maybe a plus in dealing with jurors…).

I'm going to vote for Samantha Ruiz Cohen and you should too. Incidentally, Judge Adrien got on the bench in an ugly election when he defeated an exceptionally fine Judge, his predecessor, Henry Harnage. Karma, I tell you.

Circuit Judges: Group 62

There are two candidates, Monica Gordo and Robert Kuntz. There is no incumbent. Both candidates are rated highly by their fellow lawyers in the Dade County Bar Association poll: 24.7% rate Kuntz as exceptionally qualified and 53% say he is qualified while a nearly-identical 24.5% rate Gordo as exceptionally qualified and 51.3% say she is qualified.

Robert Kuntz, 50, is a former journalist. He graduated from UM law in 1996 summa cum laude (which really meant something back then) and started out at Holland & Knight. Currently he practices commercial litigation at Devine, Goodman, Pallot, Rasco & Wells, with an emphasis on aviation law. The Unity Coalition endorsed him. Local certified sane lawyer Jack Thompson hates him, which may be a good enough reason for me to vote for Kuntz right there. Here's Robert Kuntz's Judicial Candidate Voluntary Self-Disclosure Statement.

Monica Gordo is only 35, which I believe to be about the minimum age for a judge given that I want them to have some experience-based wisdom. She graduated from UM Law in 1999, cum laude (which is good, but not as good as a summa), and has worked as a prosecutor since then. She's served as a Director of the Cuban American Bar Association. I know of no reason to think she'd be anything other than a fine judge, although I don't know that the local bench suffers from a shortage of former prosecutors. The Miami Herald endorsed Gordo because she has more trial experience than Kuntz. She also got the SAVE Dade endorsement. Here's Monica Gordo's Judicial Candidate Voluntary Self-Disclosure Statement.

Based on my personal knowledge of both candidates I'd be happy with either, but I am planning to vote for Robert Kuntz. As you can see from his judicial statement and other statements he's made during the campaign, he's a thoughtful person, the sort of person one wants on the bench. I like the fact he had another career as a journalist before he went to law school as I think it provides a healthy perspective. And he's smart (don't forget that summa). It is true that Mr. Kuntz has substantially less trial experience then Ms. Gordo, but he does have extensive general litigation experience. Lawyers from the civil side frequently see fewer full trials than members of the criminal bar, but it would be wrong to staff the local judiciary wholly with lawyers who are former prosecutors, PDs, or criminal defense lawyers.

Part I: Introduction
Part II: Circuit Judges (today)
Part III: County Judges
Part IV: School Board, District 6
Part V: Miami-Dade County Charter Amendments

Voter's Guide to the Miami-Dade Downballot - Part I: Introduction

Early voting for the upcoming primary and judicial election in Miami-Dade County begins today. The Sample Ballot for the August 24, 2010 Primary in Miami-Dade County is now available. (And it is already subject to one correction: Ronald Brise has dropped out of the race for District 108 State Rep.)

Most of the ink gets spilled on the high-profile primary races: the Senate (I'll vote Kendrick Meek, faute de mieux), the Governorship (Alex Sink), with a little oxygen left over for the race for Higher-Office-in-Waiting Attorney General (in which I'm strongly leaning Dan Gelber).

But little gets said about the the other contests and issues on the ballot, even though voting on these is in some ways as important. Because these are local races or ballot questions there is a smaller pool of eligible voters than for statewide rares, and being downballot many people don't even bother to vote. If you vote, your vote counts that much more. Unfortunately, it's hard to get information about judicial elections. Plus, many people don't even know which state legislative district they live in. Find out which Florida Representative district you live in, or if you know your zip+4 number, find your State Senator, State Rep and US Congress district using the tool in the left margin of the Florida State Senate homepage. (Note: in entering your zip+4 number, don't enter the “+” sign, just the nine-digit number.)

So I thought I'd say a few words about the downballot issues on which I'll be voting. I don't have a primary vote in either the US Congress race, the State House or the State Senate, or even the County Commission (I live just outside the hotly-contested District 8 in which Annette Taddeo is running; you can find your M-D County Commission district here) but there are still a number of choices to make: two circuit judges, two county judges, a school board member, and three county charter amendments. (I don't live in a community council district although some are also on the ballot.)

In the coming days I'll explain how I'm voting in each of these downballot races or issues and give some reasons. Here's the plan:

Part I: Introduction (today)
Part II: Circuit Judges
Part III: County Judges
Part IV: School Board, District 6
Part V: Miami-Dade County Charter Amendments

Incidentally, if you don't know where to vote use the handy precinct-finder. It's too late to register to vote for the primary elections, but not too late to vote in the November general election, as registration closes 29 days before the election. Check your registration status if you are unsure whether you are eligible to vote.

The Land of Second Chances

The Harvard Crimson (they publish in summer?) has a nice story on Edmond Joseph Gong who flunked out of Harvard Law after his first year — they said he would “never become a lawyer” — but after a stint as a reporter found a second chance in his home town, at the University of Miami School of Law from which he graduated in 1960.

Mr. Gong went on to become an Assistant US Attorney, then got elected to the Florida House, then the Florida Senate in 1966, making him the only nonwhite state Senator at that time.

It seems the letter telling him not to come back to Harvard Law served as a powerful inspiration…

Miami in Top 10 for College Degree Density

I was pleased and to be honest a bit surprised that Miami makes the top ten for College Degree Density:

(Via DeLong, via Barry Ritholtz via Richard Florida)

MDPLS Library Search Plugin is Broken

The librarysearch.org plugin for the Miami-Dade Public Library System no longer works, as a result of the MDPLS's (somewhat imperfect) upgrade of its library catalog.

I've put in a request for an upgrade. Here's hoping someone is paying attention.

Previous relevant item: Search Plugins for Miami-Dade Public Library.

Lawyer and Music-Lover

Julian Kreeger, a great friend of the law school and one of our super Adjunct Professors, is profiled in South Florida Classical Review's Julian Kreeger marks a quarter-century of bringing the finest chamber music to Miami.

Julian and his wife, Judith Kreeger, a leading Circuit Court judge, have more records (LPs, not CDs) in their home than I have ever seen outside a record store. The article says they have 25,000, and I believe it.

A genial, rumpled presence at the University of Miami’s Gusman Conccert Hall, Kreeger is among the small and disappearing group of leading independent presenters who have helped make South Florida a surprisingly rich place for live classical music.

“I wanted to do what I could to bring world-class performers to Miami, continue the good work of Friends of Chamber Music that started in 1955, and do it at affordable ticket prices,” said Kreeger, who presents his final concert of the season this Sunday. “I tried to bring to Miami some things that you might not expect.”

Although the music world places a premium on great performers, Kreeger is one of the world’s great listeners.

He's also a really nice guy.

The Weather is Here

It's raining like crazy out there — wet enough to be a tropical storm, although I guess the wind isn't strong enough to qualify.

UM just sent out the following oh so helpful note by email:

The University of Miami administration is monitoring the severe weather impacting South Florida.

At this time, all classes, events and clinical activities are on a normal schedule.

You are urged to monitor media reports and official reports posted online by the National Weather Service, http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mfl/ghwo/

(Why the passive voice?)

Anyway, the national weather service is all excited

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTH FLORIDA…UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL 1125 AM EDT MON APR 26 2010

FLZ063-066>075-168-172>174-270630-GLADES-HENDRY-INLAND PALM BEACH-METRO PALM BEACH-COASTAL COLLIER-INLAND COLLIER-INLAND BROWARD-METRO BROWARD-INLAND MIAMI DADE-METRO MIAMI DADE-MAINLAND MONROE-COASTAL PALM BEACH-COASTAL BROWARD-COASTAL MIAMI DADE-FAR SOUTH MIAMI DADE-
1125 AM EDT MON APR 26 2010

…STRONG TO LOCALLY SEVERE STORMS POSSIBLE EXTREME SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF SOUTH FLORIDA TODAY…

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH FLORIDA.

.DAY ONE…THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

THUNDERSTORMS: THUNDERSTORMS ARE LIKELY ACROSS EXTREME SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF SOUTH FLORIDA THE REST OF TODAY. ANY THUNDERSTORM COULD PRODUCE FREQUENT TO EXCESSIVE LIGHTNING, VERY HEAVY RAINFALL, STRONG WIND GUSTS AND SMALL HAIL. ADDITIONALLY THERE IS AN ISOLATED TORNADO
THREAT ACROSS THE REGION, ESPECIALLY ACROSS PORTIONS OF MIAMI-DADE AND MAINLAND MONROE COUNTIES.

TORNADOES: THE STRONGEST STORMS MAY BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING AN ISOLATED, BRIEF TORNADO OR TWO ACROSS SOUTH FLORIDA TODAY, ESPECIALLY ACROSS MIAMI-DADE AND MAINLAND MONROE COUNTIES.

WIND: ISOLATED SEVERE WIND GUSTS ARE POSSIBLE WITH THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORMS TODAY. THESE WIND GUSTS COULD BRIEFLY EXCESS 58 MPH.

HAIL: THE STRONGEST STORMS MAY PRODUCE SMALL HAIL UP TO PENNY SIZE ACROSS THE REGION.

WATERSPOUTS: WATERSPOUTS MAY FORM WITH LITTLE OR NO WARNING ACROSS ANY OF THE COASTAL WATERS.

FLOODING: LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IS LIKELY WITH THUNDERSTORMS AS THEY PROGRESS SOUTHEAST TODAY. THESE RAINS MAY CAUSE LOCALIZED STREET FLOODING AS WELL AS FLOODING OF URBAN AND POOR DRAINAGE AREAS. THIS MAY BE ESPECIALLY LIKELY ACROSS MIAMI-DADE COUNTY THE REST OF THIS MORNING AND EARLY AFTERNOON HOURS.

RIP CURRENTS: SOUTHWESTERLY WINDS OF 10 TO 20 MPH WILL LEAD TO A MODERATE RISK OF RIP CURRENTS AT THE GULF COAST BEACHES TODAY.

Looks like I'll have fun driving to physical therapy today.

It's Official: Annette Taddeo is Running for the County Council

It's been rumored for a while, now it's official: Annette Taddeo is going to run for the County Council in a bid to replace retiring local icon Katy Sorenson.

Driven by my commitment to community service, I am excited to officially announce my candidacy for Commissioner of Miami-Dade's District 8, an area that includes the cities of Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay, Homestead, and unincorporated Southwest Dade. The open seat is being vacated by the Honorable Katy Sorenson.

Leaders emerge in the face of daunting challenges. I was inspired to run because I want to offer my talents as a successful small business owner and community leader to help steer Miami-Dade through the churning seas of unprecedented economic woes. I'm a fiscally conservative businesswoman who believes Miami-Dade government should slash wasteful spending, operate transparently and provide maximum value to the real bosses, the tax paying residents.

Jobs, crime, healthcare, education and “hold the line” are priority issues. I'm going to work tirelessly to create local jobs, reduce crime, advocate for affordable healthcare, and prioritize education. I will be a vocal champion of sustainable growth, green initiatives and the preservation and protection of our natural environment with a keen focus on the Everglades.

Unfortunately, I don't live in District 8, but it would be great if Taddeo, who ran a good Congressional campaign in 2008, got elected…although as a reasonable person she could be mighty lonely on the Commission (as was Sorenson, more often than not).

Miami Herald Still Can't Cover the Housing Mess Properly

The Miami Herald has often been accused of shilling for local real estate interests (they used to buy a lot of ads). Excellent evidence for this accusation, or at least for one-sided local boosterism, can be found on today's front-page, top right, headline, which says in big extra-dark letters: Home sales up as prices stabilize.

The much smaller sub-head begins the clawback to reality: “In December, South Florida home sales continued to rise but prices still went down — although at a slower rate.”

Even so, explain to me how you get that headline about “prices stabilize” from this text:

(Paragraph 4) … Median prices fell just 5 percent in Miami-Dade and 2 percent in Broward in the year-to-year comparison. …

(Paragraph 6) … Realtors say more buyers are perusing property, and some believe prices have stopped their freefall …

(Paragraphs 10-11) Still, median home prices continued to fall, dropping 10 percent in Miami-Dade and 17 percent in Broward compared to November. The figures include only those homes sold by real estate agents.

Condominium sales skyrocketed in December, compared to the same month of 2008 — up 68 percent in Miami-Dade to 766 and 59 percent in Broward to 949. At the same time, median prices fell: down 16 percent in Miami-Dade and down 17 percent in Broward.

(Paragraph 12) …. Nationwide, the picture is different. .. prices rose from December 2008

So in fact the real story is that our prices are still falling more than the rest of the country's. Yet the headline reads “prices stabilize”.

I don't blame the reporter, Ina Paiva Cordle, for the headline, because we all know that editors not reporters do headlines. But I do blame the reporter for who gets quoted in this article:

• Frank Kowalski, president of Metro Dade Realty in Miami
• Marla Martin, spokeswoman for Florida Realtors
• National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun
• David Dabby, president of the Dabby Group in Coral Gables.
• Jan Herard, broker associate for Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate in Broward

Is there anyone on that list who doesn't have a financial interest in spinning positive news on home sales and prices? Well, the one person who isn't a realtor or doesn't work for one seems to be David Dabby. So what is this Dabby Group? The Herald doesn't tell us, so as readers we can't find out. Unless we fire up that browser and discover that the Dabby Group does real estate appraisals — something that also benefits from increase in transactional volume, if not necessarily as directly from increases in prices.

Can't the Herald find one independent voice to interview on this subject? There must be one in Miami somewhere. If not, folks, let me be the first to tell you that long distance is very cheap if you use Skype.

Is BarCamp Miami 2010 Happening?

So I see where WordCamp Miami is up and ready to go in mid-February (charging $30 (plus service fee) for tickets).

But what's the story with (free) Bar Camp Miami? Supposedly there will be a 2010 edition, but the BarCamp Miami web page is all 2009.

I hope it's still on. Anyone know what's up?

Run For the Hills! It's the Supersnake!

The Miami Herald warns that New python sparks fears of a 'super snake'. It seems that African Rock Pythons have been captured in Miami-Dade — probably vacationing from the Everglades in an attempt to warm up. Worse, some spotted were not captured. Worse still, one of the big ones that got away was carrying eggs (how could they get close enough to tell but not catch it?). And even worse than that, the Herald found a biologist who speculates the African Rock Pythons (pictured) might hybridize with our plentiful escaped Burmese Python population to create the headlined “supersnake”.

A three-day, state-coordinated hunt that started Tuesday had, by Wednesday, netted at least five African rock pythons — including a 14-foot-long female — in a targeted area in Miami-Dade County.

Those findings add to concerns that the rock python is a new breeding population in the Everglades and not just the result of a few overgrown pets released into the wild, according to the South Florida Water Management District.

In addition, state environmental officials worry that the rock python could breed with the Burmese python, which already has an established foothold in the Everglades. That could lead to a new “super snake,'' said George Horne, the water district's deputy executive director.

In Africa, the rock python eats everything from goats to crocodiles. There have been cases of the snakes killing children.

“They are bigger and meaner than the Burmese python. It's not good news,'' said Deborah Drum, deputy director of the district's restoration sciences department.

The area the snakes were found is about 15 miles due west of the law school. So, even though no one has yet spotted such a hybrid, RUN FOR THE HILLS!

Oh, wait. We don't have any hills in South Florida. Never Mind.

Iguanas Dropping From the Trees

When it gets cold around here, iguanas fall from the trees: ABC's rather over-the-top version of the story.

Here's a much more sober video account from Sherry L. Schlueter, Executive Director of the Wildlife Care Center in Ft. Lauderdale, who explains how to handle a frozen iguana.

Tame

Seen on a maling list of folks I mostly knew in college:

It's 7 pm in uganda and raining cats and baboons. We've been on the road, if u can call it that, for about 5 hours, with no end in sight. Sent from my blackberry…

If you ask me the “Sent from my blackberry…” line (added automatically I'd imagine), sort of undermines what precedes it.

Meanwhile, here it's not yet 9am and it's already 78 (26 C) and muggy here. But no baboons.

It's Cool Here!

Yesterday we had the windows open for the first time. And today should be nice too. Then another hot spell is on the way….

Today should remain on the mild side with highs in the mid- to upper 70s. Lows this evening are forecast to be in the mid- to upper 60s.

Then conditions should gradually warm over the course of the week.

On Tuesday, highs should return to the low 80s. By Wednesday, temperatures should climb back into the mid-80s.

I gather weather patterns are different elsewhere in the USA?

Hiaasen's Craziest Character is Real

I always wondered who could have been the model for “Skink,” my least favorite but perhaps most distinctive character in Carl Hiaasen's supposedly satirical but actually all-too-realistic novels about South Florida. I didn't like Skink because, unlike the other Hiaasen characters, he seemed too over-the-top to be real.

And now, thanks to St. Petersburg Times's article A lion builds a Cat 5 lair in the Keys, the secret is revealed. Skink is as true to life as everyone else in those books.

(spotted via Random Pixels)

[Note: “Cat 5” here refers to major hurricanes, not a gigabit LAN]

The University Of Miami School Of Law Announces Foreclosure Defense Fellowships

The Law School just issued this news release:

The South Florida community is ground zero for the national foreclosure crisis. In response, the University of Miami School of Law has created Foreclosure Defense Fellowships that will enable newly minted lawyers to give free help to local residents caught in the foreclosure crisis. The School of Law is one of the first schools in the nation to create a program of this kind in response to the crisis that is sweeping the country. Recent UM graduates will acquire real-world work experience and address a serious need in the community at the same time.

The foreclosure crisis is overwhelming the Miami-Dade legal system. One in every 28 homes in Miami-Dade County is in a state of foreclosure. Last year 56,656 foreclosures were filed in Miami-Dade County alone. Almost a third involve “owner-occupied homestead property” (residential homestead mortgage foreclosures) and a very large number of owners are unrepresented. The UM Foreclosure Defense Fellows will work to fill the gaps that this legal crisis has created within the South Florida community.

“These Fellowships engage the Law School and its recent graduates in a difficult but rewarding process that serves a great public need,” said Dean Patricia D. White.

Eight UM Law graduates were the winners of these fellowships. Six fellows – Siobhan Grant, Yolanda Paschal, Matthew Weintraub, Jaclyn Gonzalez, Francisco Cieza, and Bradley Shapiro – will work for the Legal Services of Greater Miami, Inc. (LSGMI). Two additional fellows – James Duffy and Berbeth Foster — will work at the Legal Aid Service of Broward County, Inc. They will receive a limited grant totaling $10,000 in exchange for working at least three days a week for 27 weeks, commencing in early October. The fellows will receive intensive training on October 2nd at a foreclosure workshop hosted by the UM School of Law, featuring April Charney, JD ’80, a consumer lawyer and nationally recognized foreclosure defense expert. The workshop will be held at the Whitten Learning Center on the University of Miami campus from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

In addition, three students from the School of Law’s LL.M. in Real Property – Jessica Davis, Dushyant Amish Jethwa, and James Walter – will inaugurate a clinical track in that program by providing 15 hours per week of free foreclosure defense representation. The LL.M students will work under the supervision of local lawyers who also will be working without pay. These fellows will be placed at “The Foreclosure Project,” created by Richard Burton, JD ’74, which provides free legal representation to homeowners facing foreclosure in Dade and Broward counties.

UM law professor A. Michael Froomkin describes how he came to create the Foreclosure Defense program: “Last fall, I was standing in front of the courthouse one evening talking to a local lawyer who was telling me about the thousand of foreclosure cases stacking up in the judges’ chambers, many with unrepresented parties who had valid defenses that were not being made because they didn't have a lawyer.” Froomkin recalls that the lawyer stated, “‘Someone should do something.’ And, right there, I decided that if no one else would do it, that it would be me.”

About Legal Services of Greater Miami

Legal Services of Greater Miami, Inc. provides innovative, effective legal services to help thousands of individuals in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties each year, creating a positive impact on the community as a whole. LSGMI is the largest provider of broad-based civil legal services for the poor in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, and is recognized in the state and in the nation as a model legal services law firm. Its diverse staff provides clients with legal services in three languages from its main, regional and neighborhood offices.

According to Carolina Lombardi, LSGMI Senior Attorney who oversees the Mortgage Foreclosure Defense Project, “There is an unprecedented need for legal assistance for homeowners facing the loss of their homes through foreclosure and we cannot help everyone who asks for our assistance. Legal Services of Greater Miami, Inc. is thrilled to have recent UM law school graduates working with us so that we can provide legal help to more homeowners.”

Despite being staffed by six full time staff attorneys, LSGMI is only able to represent a fraction of the low income home owners in Miami-Dade County who are facing the loss of their family home. The addition of the University of Miami School of Law Mortgage Foreclosure Defense Fellows will expand the number of low income homeowners LSGMI is able to assist while at the same time training new attorneys to address this serious community need.

About Legal Aid Service of Broward County

Legal Aid Service of Broward County, Inc. (LAS) has provided free civil legal services to the poor in Broward County for over 35 years. In 2005, a regional office in Collier County was opened to serve the civil legal needs of the disadvantaged population in Collier County. Despite having an experienced, culturally diverse staff of 60, including 21 attorneys in Broward County, LAS can only meet the needs of 40% of the clients who seek their help.

“In Broward County, we have seen over a 600% increase in foreclosure case filings since 2006,” said Legal Aid Service of Broward County, Inc. Director of Advocacy Shawn Boehringer. “Even before the foreclosure crisis, we had insufficient resources to address foreclosures. We certainly have not seen a 600% increase in funding to assist clients since 2006. We applaud Professor Froomkin and UM Law School for starting this pilot and we are looking forward to working with the talent they have provided us. UM is a great law school, and our clients will benefit tremendously from the assistance the fellows will provide.”

Ten Reasons Why You Should Teach Here -- And Three Why You Shouldn't (v. 3.0)

At the request of the Chair of the Appointments Committee, I am updating and republishing this note on teaching at UM. This marks the third annual appearance of this memo, which by US standards makes it a tradition.

For reasons explained below, we have a dozen new slots to fill, plus some replacements -- so despite the economy, we're hiring, and may be hiring a lot.

Ten Reasons Why You Should Teach Here — And Three Why You Shouldn't (v. 3.0)

1. Faculty

The best reason to come to U.M. is the faculty. At its best (which is to say, "outside of faculty meetings"), this is a faculty that believes ideas are serious things, but also is willing to play with them. You will see this most vividly at faculty seminars, especially those with external speakers. The faculty reads the paper in advance of the talk. It thinks about it. We don't let the presenter speak a long time — we want to have a discussion. There may be an element of performance in the questions and comments, but that usually just adds to the fun. Unlike some faculties I've heard about, we are not worshipers at the temple of sub-disciplinarity: faculty members feel comfortable commenting on papers far outside their own specialties, and they are usually right to do so as the distant perspective sometimes proves at least as valuable as the insider's. Visiting Professor John Flood gives a good description of the Miami seminar experience in Giving Papers at Miami (2008).

While faculty vary in the extent to which they will seek you out — some are shy; others are busy — they will almost all be happy to see you if you seek them out. If you are an entry-level hire, very few will treat you like a junior colleague; for most, you will be part of the family from the start. (That goes without saying for the more senior hires.) And it's an interesting family, including some big names in international law, arbitration, tax, law and society, law and identity, and several other subjects.

But don't take my word for it.  Here's what one of our more recent hires, Charlton Copeland, said a couple of years ago about his initial impressions of UM Law:

The faculty stood out for me at the AALS recruiting conference as one of the most intellectually engaged faculties with which I met over the weekend. They actually were interested in my writing projects, and gave me the sense that they took them and me seriously. My time with the committee ran out too quickly for me. My feeling of intellectual comfort with the faculty was only enhanced during my visit to the campus later in November, but that was augmented by my delight that this would be a group with which I'd be comfortable beyond simply discussing scholarly work. They were a bit quirky, and in a way about which I am excited. I am excited about the diversity of the city of Miami as well, and the opportunities that I think it will provide me to think about my areas of research in new ways — ranging from race and the the law (where the Law School has long been at the forefront in American legal education) to comparative separation of powers issues in Latin America.

2. Institutional style & institutional support

UM wants productive faculty, and it believes in research. But it isn't about telling you what to do. My own story may be instructive: I was hired thinking that I would be writing mostly about administrative and constitutional law. In fact, however, within a couple of years I had turned into an Internet lawyer, and was writing primarily about computers, networks and the law. At no time did anyone here ever suggest that this was a problem. What mattered to people was that I was publishing.

Another way in which UM may differ from some law schools is that our faculty is routinely interdisciplinary and international. Many publish in non-legal journals — a fact which does not necessarily help either our publication or citation counts since the legal tabulators tend to focus only on law journals. Although we recognize that there may be some reputational costs, we are not prepared to tell people where they should publish. We just want it to be good.

There is no international ghetto at UM (the same is true of tax, a traditional faculty strength). As a matter of unwritten policy, everyone is expected to teach a basic course outside their specialty; the result is both that we can have more internationalists (and tax scholars), and that there's a much greater community of overlapping interests.

3. Library

The University of Miami enjoys a superb law library, the result of a decision more than three decades ago to make library acquisitions a financial priority. And if we don't have it, the library will borrow it for you, no questions asked. (As one former librarian put it, "we aim to provide law-firm-quality service". And in fact, it is almost as good as a top law firm, and the librarians are much nicer.)

The law library has extensive holdings in related disciplines, notably political science, and of course the university library is literally next door, and it also has ever-growing electronic access to journals — which can even be accessed from your home office. We have a particularly strong collection in Latin American and Caribbean law, but also strong holdings in European law. We are weak in India, China, and Russia, and no doubt several other countries with non-Romance alphabets, so if your research involves heavy use of materials from one of those countries, you should check to see if we have you covered. I also have a sense that our holdings for pre-1940 materials are not as strong generally as for things published in the last 70 years. But I am continually having pleasant surprises when I consult Baron, the online card catalog. They've done some impressive buying over the years — which is a good thing, as the next major law library is a long way away.

4. Students

We have smart students with upwardly mobile ambitions. Some come from wealthy families, but for many a law degree will be the highest level of education ever achieved in their families — a matter of pride for an extended clan you may have the good fortune to meet at graduation. Despite the lures of nearby South Beach, UM students are by and large a studious lot: their awareness that few silver platters await at graduation usually translates into a commendable work ethic. At least until the end-of-term fog settles in, I find that my students have done the reading, and often have something to say about it. There is a little shyness — some students don't want to ask questions for fear of looking silly; other students worry about being labeled a "gunner" — but ordinarily class discussion can be pretty lively. Although we have more men than women as students, it is often the case that the women lead the discussions and make the most substantive contributions. Classes tend to be fun (at least for the instructor). Visiting professors from other law schools consistently remark on the high quality of classroom performance here.

The UM student body has improved greatly in the past decade. Our best students would be at home in any law school. Our worst students would have been near the middle of the class 15 years ago. The only fly in the ointment is that despite their good college grades and creditable LSATs, a substantial fraction of the class comes to law school unable to write as well as they think or speak. Overcoming this obstacle remains one of our biggest challenges. That said, every year we have students who write publishable papers in classes and seminars. It's been a particular pleasure to see those pieces go into print along side those of full-time academics.

Some of our students will go on to be national leaders; a much larger number will play key roles in the State of Florida, as judges, politicians, and leading members of the bar. Some people have described alumni reunions as state judges' conventions, but this is slightly unfair. On the other hand, there's no question that both Florida as a place, and UM graduates as important players in that place, have been at the center of major wrangles with national impact ranging from the 2000 election to the Terri Schiavo affair.

Aspiring faculty sometimes worry that they will not find good research assistants outside a top ten law school. It's true that I don't hear stories about students writing papers that professors then publish under their own name — as I did when I was a law student at Yale. But if you are looking for a research assistant rather than a ghost writer, then my experience suggests this is not a serious problem if you teach a first-year class. As a teacher in the larger first year classes you can identify the students who are good and who fit your style before they get too caught up in other things. Some of them will get on law review, and will be too busy to work for you; some of those that don't will work downtown for higher pay than the law school can offer, but usually there's someone you will be happy to have who will be happy to have the job in their second or third year. I can't claim that every research assistant I've had has been stellar, but I can say that some of them were amazing — and that they are harder to find when I don't teach first years. (And, despite not teaching a first-year class I had an amazingly good RA this past summer...and then lost her to the law review.)

5. Research support

Research support exists to make it easier for you to write. The most important part of UM's research support is its excellent law library. But it doesn't stop there: In addition to the collection itself, we have a staff of helpful law librarians who seem happiest when given difficult research requests. There's a document delivery service which will get you any book or article you ask for and deliver it to your office within a day if it's on campus or a few days if it must be sent from far away. (One down side: you can gain weight from the loss of movement caused by having everything come to you.)

At conferences I sometimes hear stories about places where senior colleagues try to tell tenure-track faculty what to write about (or, worse, forbid certain topics or styles). We don't do that. If anything, we have erred in the other direction — tip-toeing around junior faculty sensibilities so much that we may have provided insufficient mentoring.  In an effort to do better in that department, the faculty now enjoys the services of a "director of faculty development" — yours truly for the third and probably last year in a row— whose job it is to help colleagues (and especially pre-tenure colleagues) with their research and writing by identifying resources, serving as a sounding board, or just staying out of the way.

In addition, every faculty member has an office budget which allows you to hire a research assistant, books and supplies, and to travel to conferences. Each of these budgets is fairly generous, and the Associate Dean has discretionary funds to add to them up for good cause. In my experience, any cause I can bring myself to ask about has been treated as a good one.

6. The University

A generation ago it was "Suntan U". Today, under the (very) energetic leadership of Donna Shalala and an impressive suite of Deans, the University of Miami is joining the ranks of the leading research universities in the USA. For openers, President Shalala raised $1 billion for the University. YES, $1 BILLION. Now that it's in the bank, she's warming up for a new round of fund-raising. The lion's share of the first round went to the medical school, but we are told that the law school should be able to claim a bigger share of the next round -- and we'll need it because we've also been offered a chance to build a brand new building on a prime location on campus that is already zoned for construction (trust me, that matters).

More importantly, the past couple of decades have seen a transformation in the quality of both the students and the faculty in the arts and sciences. It's become hard for students to get in; and departments such as History, Psychology, Business, and Sociology have attracted faculties that include a wealth of potential collaborators, adding to existing strengths in Medicine and Communications. Both the law school and the University encourage inter-disciplinary collaboration. The law school has begun to take advantage of these resources but there's much waiting for you that remains untapped.

7. Perks

The law school wants to support your research, and we try to put our money where our mouth is. Entry-level faculty can apply for a summer research grant before starting work in order to prepare their courses. We light-load you (usually only one course per semester) during your first year to give you time to find your feet. You'll get a summer grant as of right every summer until tenure to encourage you to write — after that you'll have to submit proposals, and make good on them too. And you're entitled to a semester's leave before tenure, more or less in the term of your choice, in order to help you write.

The law school is located on a very beautiful campus in the center of suburban Coral Gables, itself a very pleasant city with excellent restaurants. Rumor has it that in the old days the university administration spent more on landscaping than books; whatever the truth, there's no question that the campus is very nice to look at. It also sports a state-of-the-art gym that's about three minutes walk from the law school around our picturesque lake (crocodile optional). The campus sports other useful amenities, including a faculty club, a food court, and an on-campus daycare.

8. Miami

Miami is a cosmopolitan city. Part of its identity is as the defacto capitol of Latin America; part is as an artistic and musical center; and then there's the celebrity-and-tourist thing. It's an attractive place for young and old, and — if you take care to live in the right school districts, or have kids who qualify for the right magnet schools, or are ok with private schools — a pretty easy place for the middle-aged pater and mater familias. Like many sunbelt cities, Miami is more sprawling mosaic than urban core and periphery. Both urban and suburban living are within easy reach of the campus. Our politics are fascinating and complex, with much political power held by first and second generation immigrants from Cuba, and to a lesser degree Haiti, and Central America. The region now enjoys a lively cultural life, with a rich music and dance scene and some creditable small theater companies. If you prefer nature to culture, there's always the nearby Everglades as well as world-class coral reefs for diving just south of Miami.  And one of my colleagues sometimes totes a surfboard.

If your work involves domestic issues, you will find them in Miami, which is the city of the future in ways both good and bad. Along with our glitz you will find us on the cutting edge of today's and tomorrow's political and social issues: immigration, environmental (think "Everglades restoration"), medical (think "retirees"), and all the social questions that big cities produce.

Housing costs are plummeting, many other living costs were already low, and there is no state income tax.  The University no longer offers new hires a deal in which the university will subsidize part of your home purchase in exchange for a proportionate share in the equity when you sell, but given what's happening to prices around here, you're still better off as a buyer today.

Did I mention how pretty it is here? Visitors are often stunned by the place, especially in winter.

9. Weather

Miami's weather is glorious for almost half the year; variable for another chunk, and miserable in the dog days of summer and early Fall. The good news is that much (but not all) of the miserable part comes when the law school is not in session, so you can escape if you choose. When the weather is nice, our central courtyard, the "bricks," becomes the social center of the community, a place where students and faculty mingle between classes. Even office rats like me end up looking healthier than the wan, pale, parka-clad figures I see huddling on the Boston subway. For those with outdoor ambitions, you can live on Miami Beach, or just enjoy the sea view from a balcony in a tower apartment in downtown Brickel.

10. The revolution is here -- and we have a great new Dean

In last year's edition of this memo, I wrote that the "revolution is here".   Well, it's even more here now.

Two years ago we undertook an unusually detailed and painstaking strategic planning exercise. That caused us to recommend a radical transformation in the faculty, and perhaps the style, of University of Miami School of Law. The biggest event of last year was the our Interim Dean sold this idea to the central administration. President Shalala made her commitment to a dramatic increase in the size of the law faculty, and to help raise funds for our new building, the centerpiece of her recruitment of our new Dean, Patricia White.

At present we have about half a dozen faculty under 40, only a few more between 40 and 50, another dozen or so between 50 and 60; the single largest group — well over a dozen —  are over sixty, including some well over sixty. Our hiring is resolutely in compliance with the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (of our last nine entry-level hires, two were very experienced lawyers well over 40), but given the overall composition of the entry-level market, it is likely that this age profile will change dramatically in the next few years.

But more than simply replacing faculty as they retire, we plan to do something dramatic: not just fill empty lines (and we have a few) but hire twelve new faculty in the next few years. What this means for our new hires is that they will find themselves at the heart of their new community — and have a chance to lead it — much earlier in their careers than they might otherwise.

Today, the law school enjoys a nearly unique chance to reinvent itself, and people with ideas and energy should find all the breathing room and opportunity they want.   We 'll create a host of new Centers and Institutes -- several are already in advanced stages of planning.  We've created a new Immigration Clinic this year and there is talk of more. We've figured out a quick, temporary, fix to the classroom space shortage by getting some classroom space outside the law quad). We're going to change some (but only some) of the ways we do teaching.  We're going to ramp up the scholarly enterprise by having more talks, more conferences, more happenings.  And we're going to be open to your new ideas.

Dean White thus arrives with a mandate to transform the law school. She comes to us from a successful deanship at ASU. She's already shaken up the way we do things -- I don't have to serve on any committees this year!!! -- and the year has barely begun. Next up are programs to create greater interaction with the University as a whole and deep collaborative relationships with certain schools and disciplines.

Oddly, the financial crisis works in our favor: the law schools hardest hit are those that depended on substantial endowments, and saw the value of their portfolio shrink; we're not one of the rich law schools, and our endowment income was only a small fraction of our budget; the losses don't affect us as much as they do some others. So far at least, we plan to start a major campaign for our new building more or less on schedule, with the idea we'd move in some five years from now.

Thanks to the central administration's backing, and the fortuity of events, we have a chance to do some major hiring while making other transformational changes. With the help of the right people, it could be exciting.

All that is very well, but honesty compels me to say that there are also some reasons why not everyone may be happy here. Indeed, there are three main reasons why you should not teach here:

1. Weather

If skiing is your passion, and neither waterskiing nor snorkeling are substitutes, then Miami may make you sad. It's hot and very humid here from July until the heat breaks sometime in October or September. That means you can have up to three and half months when it's not much fun to go outside. Plus, occasionally we get weather with a name. But we don't get snowstorms, avalanches, wildfires, earthquakes, random tornadoes, floods, or mudslides. If you want immunity to natural disasters, move to Rhode Island.

2. Language

Many people in South Florida speak Spanish as their first (and often only) language. The campus is Anglo — although some of the bilingual staff and students will speak Spanish to each other — so this is not a work issue. But it is a life issue: you will hear lots of Spanish in the stores and on AM radio. If you are the sort of person who can't cope with foreign languages around you, there's a strong chance you will not be happy here. I don't speak Spanish, and I only found it a noticeable handicap for my first few weeks here, when I would get lost driving around and stop at a store for directions, then wait impatiently while they went to find the English-speaker. It's a non-issue today unless I happen to go bargain shopping for some exotic household good, and indeed contributes to Miami's cosmopolitan vibe.

3. Geography

It's flat here — no mountains (and houses have no basements). More seriously, it's also far from many of the legal nerve centers. If you're doing national work and you are having meetings related to it, odds are the meeting will neither be in Miami nor even within driving distance. That means air travel. And while we have great direct air connections to most of the world and the law school is generous with travel support, we do not have a working time machine. Given the post-9/11 security regime at airports, and the increasing vagaries of air travel generally, it is rarely possible to have a meeting in New York or Washington without spending the night out of town. That can mean having to reschedule a class (something we allow for good causes), which is a pain for you and even more of one for your students. It certainly means that doing national committee work is always a substantial time commitment. It is almost 500 miles to the state line, and then where are you? Somewhere between Tallahassee and Moultrie, Ga.

This year I am not on our hiring committee. We're searching for both entry-level and experienced scholars. (And we're also inviting groups of scholars who think they'd like to collaborate, or maybe found a Center, to apply as a package.)

Whichever group you fall into, if you find the positives outweigh the negatives and have an interest in coming here, I'd be happy to try to answer any further questions you might have, either in comments to this entry or by private email. Get in touch, or contact the Chair of our Appointments Committee.

Watching Too Much Star Wars?

One of my colleagues blogs that The City Beautiful deploys imperial probe droids. He's got a photo to prove it, too.

“The City Beautiful” is Coral Gables's modest name for itself.

Go See Speed-the-Plow at the Gables Stage

My advice is to hurry to the Gables Stage to see Speed-The-Plow.

I saw it last weekend and I think it's one of the best productions I've ever seen in the area. It's a great David Mamet script, and the cast does a fine job of it (at least after the first five minutes which last Friday before they relaxed into it seemed worryingly stilted). Paul Tei, who despite his extensive local credits I don't think I'd seen before, plays Bobby Gould very effectively; Gregg Weiner, who I recognized from Summer Shorts, inhabits Charlie; and Amy Elane Anderson is a suitably ambiguous Karen.

The show closes Sept. 13. If you live in south Florida and like real theater, you should go.

We had such a good time that we decided to take the plunge and for the first time subscribe to the Gables Stage for an entire season's six plays. It's amazing what you can do when you don't need to worry about babysitters any more.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Via South Florida Daily Blog an only-in-South-Florida story:

A man with a tattoo of Britney Spears' name on his arm or neck allegedly stole a Chihuahua with pink earrings from a South Florida gay bar.

It Begins

Tropical Storm Ana is still far away and doesn't currently look like anything to panic about. The current forecast has a lot of uncertainty, mostly doesn't call for strengthening, and there are signs of shear (that's good). But it means we've entered the 'watch the forecast' season.

Foreclosure Miami

Here's a Google map of the foreclosure mess in Miami .

Each red dot is a property either in foreclosure or in pre-foreclosure proceedings.

More info on how it was put together at Healdsburg Housing Bubble Info

(spotted via Calculated Risk, Google Maps Shows Foreclosure Status)

Hours of schadenfreude potential. Or counting your blessings.

Welcome Home

We are back in Miami. The return journey was notable for its length, and especially for the ineptitude of baggage handling at MIA on our flight from Chicago. I'm used to the idea that you never get a bag off a plane in less than 29 minutes — the airport boasts that 95% of flights get their first bag within 30 minutes — but 50 minutes? For a domestic flight? On a weekday evening?

Someone did manage to get three or four bags off our flight about 35 minutes after we landed — and I bet they log it as within 30 minutes — but the fact is that not one more bag came off until about 50 minutes after the flight landed, so pretty much the entire plane's passengers were there (mostly tourists from the look of them) getting more and more steamed in the hot, crowded, low ceilinged baggage claim area around carousel 24.

MIA is festooned with signs bragging that it was selected as the 'airport of the year' last year.

About the 45 minute mark I went to the nearby baggage handling desk to ask if they had a complaint form. The man looked at me as if I was insane, or speaking a language he never heard of. Once that failed to drive me off, he started tapping on his computer screen. No, they don't have complaint forms, but there's a long-distance number you can call 24/7 or a PO Box you can write to. The lady behind me in the line said she was there for the same reason - to find out what they'd done with our flight's bags.

I was afraid I might know what was going on: could it be that the ramp rats were back? (In the past MIA has been plagued with a baggage theft ring.)

Then again, maybe it was the MIA TSA. They won an award too.

In the end, the bags appeared, and we dragged ourselves home.

South Florida's Quality Process Will Pick a Good US Attorney (This Time)

Southern District of Florida Blog has a good round-up on The US Attorney Interviews. We have a great panel and it is reassuring to read that it seems to be faced with a choice of several high quality candidates.

I just want to emphasize one large and one small point. The large one is the elephant in the room that the author of the blog post is too polite to mention: both the panel's questions and most of the answers are an at least implicit indictment of the tenure of the former US Attorney, now a law school Dean (apparently without tenure?) somewhere in this area.

The small point is that I was pleased but not surprised to read of the good questioning by panel member Justin Sayfie. Mr. Safyfie, now a big player in state GOP circles, was one of the best students I ever had. There are a lot of other very fine people on that panel, not least Georgie Angones from the UM law school administration, but it's especially nice to see former students not only doing well but also doing good.

SD Fla US Attorney's Office Circumventing Court Order

David O. Marcus writes in Southern District of Florida Blog: U.S. Attorney's Office still keeping cooperation secret from public,

Although Chief Judge Moreno and the rest of the SDFLA court have made plea agreements public again by allowing them to be accessed by PACER, the government is still attempting to keep cooperation agreements secret and off-line.

A number of AUSAs and AFPDs have emailed me the new government policy when a defendant is cooperating: Just delete those sections* from the plea agreement and include them in a letter agreement, NOT FILED WITH THE COURT. This new policy certainly circumvents the spirit of making deals open to the public. From what I understand, the prosecutors ask the court to go over the cooperation letter agreement with the defendant, but then ask for the letter not to be filed in the court record. I suspect that most judges will not abide by this request, especially because technically the letter is a matter of public record if reviewed in open court — so why not file it…

I might add that the proprietor of the shop engaged in this behavior is about to become the Dean of a law school. I wonder if this is what they will teach in their Legal Profession course?

FIU Makes a High-Stakes Bet on Alex Acosta

Controversial Alexander Acosta has been named Dean at neighboring FIU Law. See the AP story and the FIU statement. He'll be stepping down as US Attorney in a few days, and starts soon after.

FIU President Modesto A. Maidique said, “His connections at the national and local level and his proven leadership here at home will inspire the next generation of law students at FIU.''

I've never met Mr. Acosta, but I hear from those who have that he's a genuinely impressive human; smart, confident, very articulate. These are good qualities for a Dean. He'll need all those qualities, because jumping into academe is much harder than it looks. There have been some fine practitioner law Deans, but they are in the minority (cf. Why A Practitioner Dean Sounds Like A Better Idea Than It Usually Is). One thing to look forward to: a visit by Justice Alito, for whom Mr. Acosta clerked while he was on the Court of Appeals.

• Approving the 2004 Texas Redistricting plan in defiance of the unanimous conclusion, issued by the attorneys in the Voting Rights section, that the plan violated the Voting Rights Act.
• Taking an active or passive role in forcing out or silencing career (nonpolitical) staff, and replacing them with people without civil rights expertise but with demonstrated ideological and partisan loyalties
• At a minimum standing by while the infamous Bradley Scholzman tried to prevent minorities from voting. (And Mr. Acosta was told of problems with Schlozman, including a racially insensitive e-mail to staff, but did nothing.)
• Sending an unsolicited letter to an Ohio judge four days before the 2004 election in which Mr. Acosta urged the judge to allow Republicans to challenge the registrations of about 23,000 mostly African-American voters.

By some accounts Mr. Acosta did much better at the US Attorney's office than I would have predicted from his resume, or from his initial statement that his chief law enforcement priority would be porn rather than terrorism, narcotics trafficking or, say, public corruption. But there are also reasons to doubt whether things were as great as some local lawyers have liked to suggest: his office tried the Liberty City Six (Seven, Five, whatever) three times, at the cost of millions that surely could have been better spent. It was on Mr. Acosta's watch that prosecutors in the US Attorney's office made recordings of defense lawyer (and blogger) David O. Markus in violation of internal policies of the U.S. Attorney's Office and federal evidentiary rules. This lead U.S. District Judge Alan S. Gold, only a few weeks ago, to issue a strongly worded, 50-page opinion, reprimanding prosecutors from the US Attorney's office, and requiring the government to pay $600,000 in sanctions for Mr. Acosta's subordinates' misdeeds.

Although the gracious Prof. Wasserman says at Prawfsblog that the public nature of the FIU Dean search did not affect the outcome, one can't help wondering. Once a local reporter mistakenly identified Mr. Acosta as a leading candidate (when he was in fact at the top of a very long alphabetical list), that made it much more difficult for him not to be shortlisted. The faculty may or may not have wanted him. Then again, we don't know whether the other top candidates kept their hats in the ring, or whether this is something FIU law faculty member and irascible columnist Stanley Fish lobbied for, or FIU President Mitch Maidique just wanted.

I hope FIU Law prospers under Dean Acosta — their students and faculty deserve it, and it's certainly good for us intellectually to have another thriving faculty so near by.

Meanwhile, I'm happy about our new Dean. (See Patricia D. White to Be Dean of University of Miami School of Law.)

Studies in Comparative Stress Reduction

Blenderlaw catches something at fighting stress in the uk and in miami:

The BBC and the Miami Herald both addressed the issue of how to fight stress this week. The proposed solutions aren’t exactly the same. Top of the BBC’s list are lightboxes - which we don’t need in Miami!

The BBC’s list:

• lightboxes,
• get out in the garden,
• get yourself out of breath,
• cook a meal from scratch,
• stroke a cat,
• pat yourself on the back,
• take up a lifetime hobby,
• do something for someone else…for free,
• seek intimacy and
• good things take time.

The Miami Herald:

• exercise,
• positive thinking,
• hypnosis,
• massage,
• tai chi,
• yoga,
• laughter,
• music,
• meditation,
• biofeedback,
• make a friend,
• acupuncture and
• get going.

Blenderlaw again:

There are some similarities here: both lists suggest exercise and positive thinking, for example. But whereas the Miami list is largely focused on what the stressed out person can do for herself, the BBC’s list encourages more looking outwards. Even stroking a cat is presented as being a good thing partly because it involves giving: “in a way we reward ourselves by being nice”. Nowhere does the Miami list suggest that being nice to others or volunteering can help you fight stress.

She's right. But if I were making the Miami stressbusters list, suggestion #1 would be, “Don't drive.”

Minimal Human Decency Abridged

Fred Grim in the Miami Herald, Florida sex offender policy puts inhumane nightmare under bridge:

No, you think. That can't be. Not after two years. Makes no sense.

But they're still there, a bedraggled colony of outcasts, consigned to the bowels of the Julia Tuttle Causeway — as a matter of public policy.

No, you think. That's impossible. Last winter, state officials promised they'd solve the legal conundrum and international embarrassment that forced 19 sex offenders to live like rats under the concrete support beams of a causeway bridge. The camp's still there. Only the Tuttle bridge population has since grown to 48 men, crammed together in a nether existence of the Kafka kind.

Officially, of course, the state of Florida would never compel ex-offenders to live in unsanitary conditions in the dank underbelly of a freeway bridge, in tents, shacks, cars and two rusting campers. Yet parole officers have made it clear to ex-sex offenders who've served their prison sentences that they have no other options.

City and county laws have created so many overlapping forbidden zones — 2,000 or 2,500 feet from schools, day cares, parks, playgrounds, school bus stops — that the middle of Biscayne Bay has become an ex-offender's only allowable address.

“They check us here every evening. We've got to be here or we go back to prison,” said M.C., 48, who was banished to the bridge after his release from prison two years ago.

How can this be allowed to continue?

Previous posts

• Forcing Released Offenders to Live Under a Causeway: The Outrage Continues (12/07, numbers have grown to 30)
• Bridge to Nowhere (03/07, Miami promises corrective action)
• How Can We Tolerate This? (03/07, initial discovery that the government is requiring people to be homeless and to sleep under a bridge)

Wow! MDPLS Does Wowbrary

The good folks at the Miami-Dade Public Library System not only have a great online web-based catalog, but they are participants in the Wowbrary project to provide RSS feeds of new acquisitions by topic.

Check out the RSS Feeds for the Miami-Dade Public Library. They also have similar feeds for many other libraries around the US.

Miami is indeed erratic about providing quality public services — but the public library system is one of our hidden treasures.

Excellent Editorial on the Awful Stadium Deal

Michael Lewis, writing in Miami Today, summarizes the awfulness of the proposed deal whereby local taxpayers would build an expensive and largely unwanted domed stadium and basically gift it to the owners of the Miami Marlins. See As last-minute facts dribble out, stadium deal gets worse.

This story really has everything. Socialism for rich people. Kleptocracy. Secret deals with all the critical info kept from the public. Commissioners caving. The local newspaper, a pale shadow of its never particularly independent self when it comes to local issues that effect developers' pocketbooks, fully in the tank.

And of course the scandal of more or less wasting many hundreds of millions of dollars that could be spent on more pressing local needs.

(Spotted via Eye on Miami).

MoDo Does SoBe's Canyon Ranch

Maureen Dowd, the New York Times's drama queen of frivolity, takes a vacation in SoBe and pens Canyon Ranch in Miami Beach - What Recession?.

Choice bits:

To find out if spa guilt is rampant, Alessandra and I spent a long weekend at the new Canyon Ranch in the old Carillon Hotel in Miami Beach, which bills itself as the first condo, luxury hotel and wellness spa “of its kind!”

Like other spas, Canyon Ranch hopes to alleviate spa guilt by stressing the holistic benefits of “a deeper wellness,” “a healing energy,” “a Shamanic journey” — rather than simple exfoliating, waxing and cycling. It boasts a sensual 70,000-square-foot spa “where body meets soul” (while money leaves wallet).

But wait, it gets better.

I’d seen someone execute a daring escape from a spa once. Many years ago, when she was single, Nicole Miller, the pretty red-headed clothing designer, had broken out one night from the puritanical Golden Door in Escondido, Calif., and shown up the next morning with a cute guy and a satisfied smile.

At some spas, going AWOL produces a Mother Superior scowl from management. Here, the easygoing staff seems to expect it, even enable it. There’s a hair salon that will wash the massage oil out of your hair, give you a great blow dry and reasonably priced sun streaks, and send you on your way out into the warm night with some cheap dangly earrings.

I called the only person I knew in Miami and asked him to bust us out of there on Saturday night. Fortunately, he was chief of police, my pal John Timoney, so the great escape from Canyon Ranch went flawlessly in his white getaway S.U.V.

Gosh, that sounds familiar. Where have I heard something about Chief Timoney and his SUV? Could it be The Lexus Leprechaun in which the New Times wrote about his unethical and illegal acceptance of a free SUV from a local Lexus dealer? Could it be Miami's Top Cop Breaks the Law in which they described his stonewall when asked to testify about it? Or maybe is was when he had to buy the car at its $54K sticker price? Or that his ethics case was settled for a weeks pay and a $500 fine — which isn't much, but was the largest ethics fine in the history of the county (don't say it)? Or that there were suggestions the Chief might have committed perjury in a sworn statement in the case?

Not that MoDo lets on any hint of all that in her article. And why should she? The Chief took her somewhere nice:

Chief Timoney took us over to the most over-the-top spot in this over-the-top city: the leopard-skin-swathed, stained-glass-filled, Medusa-head-branded Versace mansion, a testament to what one man accomplished by reducing antiquity to a throw pillow.

The mansion, Casa Casuarina, had been turned into a private club but is now open to the public, with a restaurant on its patio that started out in September, and tours of the mannerist upstairs suites. We had a drink in the ornate bar with the owner, Peter Loftin, a mountain of Southern charm, a retired telecommunications mogul who bought the house for $19 million in 2000. Then we ate a sampling from the kitchen: a mound of succulent Kobe beef, fried pork belly, sea scallops with osetra caviar, black grouper, blue prawns cooked at the table on a salt block, foie gras with a riesling-pineapple-coriander emulsion and Meyer lemon tart and crushed amaretti mousse with vanilla-bean meringue, washed down by Champagne (Krug, Clos de Ambonnay 1995), at one of the outdoor tables under a tent by the elaborately tiled pool.

… did the NYT (or the Chief) really buy a champagne that costs $3,500 / bottle at retail? Somebody, or two somebodies, seems seriously overpaid. But then the Chief has long been known for high living and bashing into protesters and others. And it seems he makes $4,300 per week, so I guess he can afford it.

Having been fed and watered (no word about whether “Alessandra” came along), MoDo went back to work:

I had a massage where a woman walked on my back while holding on to rails in the ceiling — not relaxing — and another where I was rubbed down by a cute young Latino massage therapist wielding a mushroom-shaped ball wrapped in linen.

Aren't you glad that Maureen Dowd had a good time? And, in case you are wondering, we never do find out if “spa guilt” is “rampant”. Perhaps next time.

Anthropomorphizing Coral Gables

My hometown regularly gets written up in travel magazines, especially this time of year. It's usually amusing to see what travel writers choose to emphasize.

Here's one with a particularly odd and sexist leed: Coral Gables - The Hidden Gem of Miami

South Beach might be the party girl that you stay out with until the sun comes up, but its neighbor Coral Gables is much more like the girl-next-door. A bit more quiet and reserved, yet classy and upscale with substance and style, while showing off its classic beauty.

How should one anthropomorphize Coral Gables? Some kind of (sub)urban professional who likes a good time, but in moderation?

[Comments re-opened]

Sign of the Times (Cobb Salad Edition)

It's sort of a family joke, but every so often — not that often, but every so often, maybe a few times a year — I get a hankering for a Cobb Salad. For the past decade or more, when that happens I've dragged my wife, or sometimes the whole family, off to South Miami's Beverly Hills Cafe. I don't know how long it's been there, but 15 years at least. It wasn't expensive, and if wasn't super-cheap either, well they made up for it with big portions, fast and attentive service, and very nice hot rolls while you waited. And it was usually busy. Sometimes you had to wait. I even forgave them for expanding into the space formerly occupied by Joe's News, which, pre-internet was the best place to get out-of-town and international newspapers and magazines.

I got that Cobb Salad feeling today, and I took myself off to South Miami, just on the other side of US 1 from my neighborhood, but when I got to the Beverly Hills Cafe, so long a feature of Sunset Ave, there was a sign on the door that they're closed due to the recession. I don't know if it's the whole seven-location chain, or just the one near me, but either way, it was a surprise.

Then again, maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise. Most times over the years when I went there for lunch on a weekday, the place seemed full of local business types — especially real estate and banking folks. I guess they don't eat out so much these days.

(The parking lot behind the restaurant that used to have a guard and charge by the hour seems to have been taken over by the City of South Miami, and turned into city metered parking, which I suppose is the only tiny silver lining in the story. But they meter even on Sundays.)

Next best Cobb Salad that I know of in the area is at the Coral Gables Diner, in downtown Coral Gables, but it's further away and harder to park, the salad is smaller, not as nice, significantly more expensive ($15!?!), and their honey mustard dressing is lame.

Not to mention a lot of people must have lost their jobs, as the Beverly Hills was pretty big.

King Mango Strut's Final Year???

The New Times reports that this could be the Last Year for King Mango Strut? — a victim of red tape and increasing costs imposed by the City of Miami.

The King Mango Strut is a local tradition — a wacky parade for no discernible reason, about not too much, with lots of silly floats and marchers satirizing local politicians and current events. It's good pointless fun.

Dec. 28 at 2pm if you want to catch what might be the last, historic, Strut:

The strut route begins at the corner of Commodore Plaza and Main Highway. It turns left onto Main Highway and then turns left onto Grand Avenue at Cocowalk and turn left again at Commodore Plaza. If we are having too much fun we will go around again until we all fall down. Right after the strut, there will be parties all around the Grove.

Shortest Day Not Very Short

So today is the “Winter Solstice”. Apparently in other places that means it is dark and cold. Here, it means that it's warm and sunny.

UM should market itself as the 'Law School in Paradise'….

I Got Polled Last Night

A pollster called last night, wanting to speak to the “youngest male in the household who is over 18.” Which turns out to be me.

All the questions were about relations with Cuba — should we allow relatives to travel, everyone to travel, relatives to send remittances, foster cultural exchanges etc. The only two somewhat surprising questions were at the end: Would support for relaxing the embargo make me more likely to vote for a Congressional candidate? And, which is more important, the Cuba issue or health care, education and the economy?

They never tell you who sponsored the poll, so I don't know if this was for a news organization, or — it seems much less likely it being so early — for someone thinking of running for Congress in 2010.

Cheap Flight

In Airlines Cutting Fares for Holiday Season the Washington Post asks,

Nashville for Thanksgiving, anyone? Miami for Christmas?

Yes, Miami for Christmas. That's the ticket for me.

Rube Goldberg's Spirit Alive and Well in Miami

This place really is amazing. This morning's Herald had this beauty: Balloon birds = lights out,

A run-in between a singing Hannah Montana balloon and a flock of birds knocked out power to a Miami neighborhood Monday.

The incident unfolded about 7:30 a.m. outside Jose De Diego Middle School, 3100 NW Fifth Ave..

Fire officials said the balloon may have scared about 300 birds that roost on power lines near the school, knocking a line loose when the birds fled.

It caused a power outage in a five-block radius for a few hours, and forced the rescheduling of an event at the school with Superintendent Alberto Carvalho and Miami Mayor Manny Diaz.

All the birds survived.

The small pink-and-silver Hannah Montana balloon was the only thing that did not emerge unscathed — though it did greet Miami Fire Rescue personnel with the teen singer's hit The Best of Both Worlds.

Rube Goldberg would be proud.

Power was out in my neighborhood for most of Saturday afternoon. I wonder if we had a balloon too?

Notes From the Front Lines

Just spent an hour and a half before class handing out Taddeo leaflets at my local precinct. The isn't that long, but it is moving slowly — voters say it's a 40-70 minute wait.

One thing slowing the count is that many student voters are being rejected for social security mis-matches. It's a suspiciously large fraction of them. Originally the clerks were failing to give proper instructions about how the provisional ballots worked, and but for the presence of the voting rights attorney organized through the Obama campaign, those students would not have cast valid ballots. Fortunately, he was there, and the he explained to them what they had to do. Then he straightened out the clerks, and by the time I left the trickle of rejected voters had not lessened but it seemed they were being treated better.

Another issue is that all the students in two large dorms seem to have been sent erroneous voting cards which show their voting location to be my precinct when in fact they vote on campus. (I think I heard it was Eaton and Hecht, but I'm not sure.) If you are a UM student, look for signs by the entrance to your dorm giving you instructions where to vote, or call the elections department.

I hope this is simple error and not malice…

[ Find Your Polling Place | Voting Info For Your State | Know Your Voting Rights | Report Voting Problems ]

See Wait Times at Local Polling Stations

MiamiHerald.com has taken the data about waiting times at South Florida polling places and mapped them to make them easier to use on a somewhat real-time basis.

(Thanks to MM for the pointer.)

Meanwhile, I'm working through my sample ballot, and (in response to actual popular demand) plan to post a personal voting guide Real Soon Now™.

Early Voting Takes Determination

Colleagues who have voted early at the Coral Gables library report long lines, and long wait times.

To help students, faculty, and staff take advantage of early voting, the University will be providing free shuttle service to the Coral Gables library election site starting today. Shuttles from Stanford Circle on the Coral Gables campus will be running today, Thursday, October 23 and tomorrow, Friday, October 24 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.; next Monday, October 27 through Friday, October 31 from 12 to 6 p.m.; and Saturday, November 1 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Here's a snapshot of the table.

George Bush's Stealth Visit to Coral Gables

Even the traveling press isn't being told exactly where George Bush will be in Coral Gables tomorrow.

This is all the White House will say:

Coral Gables, Florida
2:35 p.m. EDT - EVENT: REMARKS AT A CONGRESSIONAL TRUST 2008
3:25 p.m. EDT RECEPTION
(CLOSED PRESS) LOCATION: Private Residence
Coral Gables, Florida

3:45 p.m. EDT - 4:30 p.m. EDT EVENT: MEETING WITH CUBAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY LEADERS
(TRAVEL POOL COVERAGE AT END)

LOCATION: Coral Gables Location
Coral Gables, Florida

I suppose they know that if they let anything out, the demonstrators would be out in force. Probably headed by an army of retirees who have seen their savings start to evaporate.

Yes, George Bush is afraid of angry grandmothers. Probably with good reason.

There Goes the Neighborhood

From the White House Press Office:

Friday, October 10

2:35 pm THE PRESIDENT attends a Congressional Trust 2008
Reception

Private Residence | Coral Gables, Florida

CLOSED PRESS

3:45 pm THE PRESIDENT meets with Cuban-American Community Leaders

TBA Location | Coral Gables, Florida

TBD PRESS

Miami Herald Naked Politics Blog coverage: President Bush heading to Miami to raise $$$

The White House says Bush — who has low popularity ratings but remains a formidable fundraiser — will attend a fundraiser at a private residence in Coral Gables benefitting the Congressional Trust 2008, a joint fund-raising operation that benefits both the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Republican National Committee.

Following the fundraiser, Bush is to meet with Cuban-American community leaders, the White House says.

Please, someone, leak the address.

Miami-Dade Libraries Fail to Renew Domain Name

I knew that times were tough for the county, but domain names are not that expensive.

It seems, however, that the Miami-Dade Public Library has failed to renew its domain name. Right now if you cruise over to http://www.mdpls.org you get a message from Network Solutions saying “mdpls.org expired on 09/05/2008 and is pending renewal or deletion.”

So I called the main library and reported it. The front-line person seemed dubious, “It worked yesterday,” but agreed to report it to (unnamed) higher-ups.

Here's hoping they get that online catalog back online soon. Heck, I'd gladly pay for it myself, if necessary (or possible).

By the way, MDPLS, if you are trying to save a buck you can get a much better deal on domain name registration by switching registrars.

Update (8pm): They're back…

Life In Miami

Either we have an inordinate number of Maseratis and Lamborghinis on the road or they all have the same schedule I do.

This morning, doing the school run, I found myself behind a black Maserati with the license plate “BIG HIT”.

I guess that's one explanation of how you pay for one…

(Lest I leave the wrong impression, I should perhaps explain that have no desire at all for a fancy sports car, or indeed any sports car; I can think of many things I'd rather do with obscene amounts of disposable income were the problem to arise. Now, if you were offering a pied-à-terre in Paris…)

Ten Reasons Why You Should Teach Here -- And Three Why You Shouldn't (v. 2.0)

I published a version of this essay last year.  At the request of the Chair of the Entry-Level Appointments Committee, to whom I can refuse nothing, I am updating and republishing it.

Ten Reasons Why You Should Teach Here — And Three Why You Shouldn't (v. 2.0)

1. Faculty

The best reason to come to U.M. is the faculty. At its best (which is to say, "outside of faculty meetings"), this is a faculty that believes ideas are serious things, but also is willing to play with them. You will see this most vividly at faculty seminars, especially those with external speakers. The faculty reads the paper in advance of the talk. It thinks about it. We don't let the presenter speak a long time — we want to have a discussion. There may be an element of performance in the questions and comments, but that usually just adds to the fun. Unlike some faculties I've heard about, we are not worshipers at the temple of sub-disciplinarity: faculty members feel comfortable commenting on papers far outside their own specialties, and they are usually right to do so as the distant perspective sometimes proves at least as valuable as the insider's. [Update: A recent visiting professor, John Flood, gave a good description of the experience of a Miami seminar in Giving Papers at Miami.]

While faculty vary in the extent to which they will seek you out — some are shy; others are busy — they will almost all be happy to see you if you seek them out. Very few will treat you like a junior colleague; for most, you will be part of the family from the start. And it's an interesting family, including some big names in international law, tax, law and society, law and identity, and several other subjects.

The faculty stood out for me at the AALS recruiting conference as one of the most intellectually engaged faculties with which I met over the weekend. They actually were interested in my writing projects, and gave me the sense that they took them and me seriously. My time with the committee ran out too quickly for me. My feeling of intellectual comfort with the faculty was only enhanced during my visit to the campus later in November, but that was augmented by my delight that this would be a group with which I'd be comfortable beyond simply discussing scholarly work. They were a bit quirky, and in a way about which I am excited. I am excited about the diversity of the city of Miami as well, and the opportunities that I think it will provide me to think about my areas of research in new ways — ranging from race and the the law (where the Law School has long been at the forefront in American legal education) to comparative separation of powers issues in Latin America.

2. Institutional style & institutional support

UM wants productive faculty, and it believes in research. But it isn't about telling you what to do. My own story may be instructive: I was hired thinking that I would be writing mostly about administrative and constitutional law. In fact, however, within a couple of years I had turned into an Internet lawyer, and was writing primarily about computers, networks and the law. At no time did anyone here ever suggest that this was a problem. What mattered to people was that I was publishing.

Another way in which UM may differ from some law schools is that our faculty is routinely interdisciplinary and international. Many publish in non-legal journals — a fact which does not necessarily help either our publication or citation counts since the legal tabulators tend to focus only on law journals. Although we recognize that there may be some reputational costs, we are not prepared to tell people where they should publish. We just want it to be good.

There is no international ghetto at UM (the same is true of tax, a traditional faculty strength). As a matter of unwritten policy, everyone is expected to teach a basic course outside their specialty; the result is both that we can have more internationalists (and tax scholars), and that there's a much greater community of overlapping interests.

3. Library

The University of Miami enjoys a superb law library, the result of a decision more than two decades ago to make library acquisitions a financial priority. And if we don't have it, the library will borrow it for you, no questions asked. (As one former librarian put it, "we aim to provide law-firm-quality service". And in fact, it is almost as good as a top law firm, and the librarians are much nicer.)

The law library has extensive holdings in related disciplines, notably political science, and of course the university library is literally next door, and it also has ever-growing electronic access to journals — which can even be accessed from your home office. We have a particularly strong collection in Latin American and Caribbean law, but also strong holdings in European law. We are weak in India, China, and Russia, and no doubt several other countries with non-Romance alphabets, so if your research involves heavy use of materials from one of those countries, you should check to see if we have you covered. I also have a sense that our holdings for pre-1940 materials are not as strong generally as for things published in the last 70 years. But I am continually having pleasant surprises when I consult Baron, the online card catalog. They've done some impressive buying over the years — which is a good thing, as the next major law library is a long way away.

4. Students

We have smart students with upwardly mobile ambitions. Some come from wealthy families, but for many a law degree will be the highest level of education ever achieved in their families — a matter of pride for an extended clan you may have the good fortune to meet at graduation. Despite the lures of nearby South Beach, UM students are by and large a studious lot: their awareness that few silver platters await at graduation usually translates into a commendable work ethic. At least until the end-of-term fog settles in, I find that my students have done the reading, and often have something to say about it. There is a little shyness — some students don't want to ask questions for fear of looking silly; other students worry about being labeled a "gunner" — but ordinarily class discussion can be pretty lively. Although we have more men than women as students, it is often the case that the women lead the discussions and make the most substantive contributions. Classes tend to be fun (at least for the instructor). Visiting professors from other law schools consistently remark on the high quality of classroom performance here.

The UM student body has improved greatly in the past decade. Our best students would be at home in any law school. Our worst students would have been near the middle of the class 15 years ago. The only fly in the ointment is that despite their good college grades and creditable LSATs, a substantial fraction of the class comes to law school unable to write as well as they think or speak. Overcoming this obstacle remains one of our biggest challenges. That said, every year we have students who write publishable papers in classes and seminars. It's been a particular pleasure to see those pieces go into print along side those of full-time academics.

Some of our students will go on to be national leaders; a much larger number will play key roles in the State of Florida, as judges, politicians, and leading members of the bar. Some people have described alumni reunions as state judges' conventions, but this is slightly unfair. On the other hand, there's no question that both Florida as a place, and UM graduates as important players in that place, have been at the center of major wrangles with national impact ranging from the 2000 election to the Terri Schiavo affair.

Aspiring faculty sometimes worry that they will not find good research assistants outside a top ten law school. It's true that I don't hear stories about students writing papers that professors then publish under their own name — as I did when I was a law student at Yale. But if you are looking for a research assistant rather than a ghost writer, then my experience suggests this is not a serious problem if you teach a first-year class. As a teacher in the larger first year classes you can identify the students who are good and who fit your style before they get too caught up in other things. Some of them will get on law review, and will be too busy to work for you; some of those that don't will work downtown for higher pay than the law school can offer, but usually there's someone you will be happy to have who will be happy to have the job in their second or third year. I can't claim that every research assistant I've had has been stellar, but I can say that some of them were amazing — and that they are harder to find when I don't teach first years.

5. Research support

Research support exists to make it easier for you to write. The most important part of UM's research support is its excellent law library. But it doesn't stop there: In addition to the collection itself, we have a staff of helpful law librarians who seem happiest when given difficult research requests. There's a document delivery service which will get you any book or article you ask for and deliver it to your office within a day if it's on campus or a few days if it must be sent from far away. (One down side: you can gain weight from the loss of movement caused by having everything come to you.)

At conferences I sometimes hear stories about places where senior colleagues try to tell tenure-track faculty what to write about (or, worse, forbid certain topics or styles). We don't do that. If anything, we have erred in the other direction — tip-toeing around junior faculty sensibilities so much that we may have provided insufficient mentoring.  In an effort to do better in that department, the faculty now enjoys the services of a "director of faculty development" — yours truly as of a year ago — whose job it is to help colleagues (and especially pre-tenure colleagues) with their research and writing by identifying resources, serving as a sounding board, or just staying out of the way.

In addition, every faculty member has an office budget which allows you to hire a research assistant, books and supplies, and to travel to conferences. Each of these budgets is fairly generous, and the Associate Dean has discretionary funds to add to them up for good cause. In my experience, any cause I can bring myself to ask about has been treated as a good one.

6. The University

A generation ago it was "Suntan U". Today, under the (very) energetic leadership of Donna Shalala and an impressive suite of Deans, the University of Miami is joining the ranks of the leading research universities in the USA. For openers, President Shalala raised $1 billion for the University. YES, $1 BILLION. Now that it's in the bank, she's warming up for a new round of fund-raising. The lion's share of the first round went to the medical school, but we are told that the law school should be able to claim a bigger share of the next round -- and we'll need it because we've also been offered a chance to build a brand new building on a prime location on campus that is already zoned for construction (trust me, that matters).

More importantly, the past couple of decades have seen a transformation in the quality of both the students and the faculty in the arts and sciences. It's become hard for students to get in; and departments such as History, Psychology, Business, and Sociology have attracted faculties that include a wealth of potential collaborators, adding to existing strengths in Medicine and Communications. Both the law school and the University encourage inter-disciplinary collaboration. The law school has begun to take advantage of these resources (I, for example, am working with a team on health privacy issues that includes participants from both the Business School and the Med School), but there's much waiting for you that remains untapped.

7. Perks

The law school wants to support your research, and we try to put our money where our mouth is. Entry-level faculty can apply for a summer research grant before starting work in order to prepare their courses. We light-load you (usually only one course per semester) during your first year to give you time to find your feet. You'll get a summer grant as of right every summer until tenure to encourage you to write — after that you'll have to submit proposals, and make good on them too. And you're entitled to a semester's leave before tenure, more or less in the term of your choice, in order to help you write.

The law school is located on a very beautiful campus in the center of suburban Coral Gables, itself a very pleasant city with excellent restaurants. Rumor has it that in the old days the university administration spent more on landscaping than books; whatever the truth, there's no question that the campus is very nice to look at. It also sports a state-of-the-art gym that's about three minutes walk from the law school around our picturesque lake (crocodile optional). The campus sports other useful amenities, including a faculty club, a food court, and an on-campus daycare.

8. Miami

Miami is a cosmopolitan city. Part of its identity is as the defacto capitol of Latin America; part is as an artistic and musical center; and then there's the celebrity-and-tourist thing. It's an attractive place for young and old, and — if you take care to live in the right school districts, or have kids who qualify for the right magnet schools, or are ok with private schools — a pretty easy place for the middle-aged pater and mater familias. Like many sunbelt cities, Miami is more sprawling mosaic than urban core and periphery. Both urban and suburban living are within easy reach of the campus. Our politics are fascinating and complex, with much political power held by first and second generation immigrants from Cuba, and to a lesser degree Haiti, and Central America. The region now enjoys a lively cultural life, with a rich music and dance scene and some creditable small theater companies. If you prefer nature to culture, there's always the nearby Everglades as well as world-class coral reefs for diving just south of Miami.  And one of my colleagues sometimes totes a surfboard.

If your work involves domestic issues, you will find them in Miami, which is the city of the future in ways both good and bad. Along with our glitz you will find us on the cutting edge of today's and tomorrow's political and social issues: immigration, environmental (think "Everglades restoration"), medical (think "retirees"), and all the social questions that big cities produce.

Housing costs are plummeting, many other living costs were already low, and there is no state income tax.  Plus, the University has taken bold steps to help faculty find good housing by offering new hires a deal in which the university will subsidize part of your home purchase in exchange for a proportionate share in the equity when you sell, an offer that puts many very nice homes within reach.

9. Weather

Miami's weather is glorious for almost half the year; variable for another chunk, and miserable in the dog days of summer and early Fall. The good news is that much (but not all) of the miserable part comes when the law school is not in session, so you can escape if you choose. When the weather is nice, our central courtyard, the "bricks," becomes the social center of the community, a place where students and faculty mingle between classes. Even office rats like me end up looking healthier than the wan, pale, parka-clad figures I see huddling on the Boston subway. For those with outdoor ambitions, you can live on Miami Beach, or just enjoy the sea view from a balcony in a tower apartment in downtown Brickel.

10. The revolution is here

In last year's edition of this memo, I wrote that the "revolution is coming".   Well, it's here.

As a result of an unusually detailed and painstaking strategic planning exercise last year we are undertaking a radical transformation in the faculty, and perhaps the style, of University of Miami School of Law. We have at least six open jobs at present, with the likelihood of much more turnover as faculty retire (couples welcome!). The next three to five years stand a good chance of determining the future course of the school for a generation to come.   Hiring is going to be a big part of that transformation.

At present we have less than half a dozen faculty under 40, only a few more between 40 and 50, another dozen or so between 50 and 60; the single largest group — well over a dozen —  are over sixty, including some well over sixty. Our hiring is resolutely in compliance with the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (of our last nine entry-level hires, two were very experienced lawyers well over 40), but given the overall composition of the entry-level market, it is likely that this age profile will change dramatically in the next few years.

But more than simply replacing faculty as they retire, we hope to do something even more dramatic. Under the leadership of Interim Dean Paul Verkuil, we've asked the Provost to authorize us to hire a very large number of additional faculty, over and above the half-dozen openings we have already. 

What this means for our new hires is that they will find themselves at the heart of their new community — and have a chance to lead it — much earlier in their careers than they might otherwise. The coming turnover and expansion in the faculty, coupled with this year's Dean search introduces an element of uncertainty about what we'll be like in the future that may not be to everyone's taste. Fortunately, the faculty engaged in a successful strategic planning exercise last year, which means that any new hires will be spared that chore at least.  But it also means that we're going to be growing and experimenting. 

Today, the law school enjoys a nearly unique chance to reinvent itself, and people with ideas and energy should find all the breathing room and opportunity they want.   We 'll create a host of new Centers and Institutes -- several are already in advanced stages of planning.  We're going to change some (but only some) of the ways we do teaching.  We're going to ramp up the scholarly enterpirse by having more talks, more conferences, more happenings.  And we're going to be open to your new ideas.

I hope that people reading this will come join us in building something wonderful.

All that is very well, but honesty compels me to say that there are also some reasons why not everyone may be happy here. Indeed, there are three main reasons why you should not teach here:

1. Weather

If skiing is your passion, and neither waterskiing nor snorkeling are substitutes, then Miami may make you sad. It's hot and very humid here from July until the heat breaks sometime in October or September. That means you can have up to three and half months when it's not much fun to go outside. Plus, occasionally we get weather with a name. But we don't get snowstorms, avalanches, wildfires, earthquakes, random tornadoes, floods, or mudslides. If you want immunity to natural disasters, move to Rhode Island.

2. Language

Many people in South Florida speak Spanish as their first (and often only) language. The campus is Anglo — although some of the bilingual staff and students will speak Spanish to each other — so this is not a work issue. But it is a life issue: you will hear lots of Spanish in the stores and on AM radio. If you are the sort of person who can't cope with foreign languages around you, there's a strong chance you will not be happy here. I don't speak Spanish, and I only found it a noticeable handicap for my first few weeks here, when I would get lost driving around and stop at a store for directions, then wait impatiently while they went to find the English-speaker. It's a non-issue today unless I happen to go bargain shopping for some exotic household good, and indeed contributes to Miami's cosmopolitan vibe.

3. Geography

It's flat here — no mountains (and houses have no basements). More seriously, it's also far from many of the legal nerve centers. If you're doing national work and you are having meetings related to it, odds are the meeting will neither be in Miami nor even within driving distance. That means air travel. And while we have great direct air connections to most of the world and the law school is generous with travel support, we do not have a working time machine. Given the post-9/11 security regime at airports, and the increasing vagaries of air travel generally, it is rarely possible to have a meeting in New York or Washington without spending the night out of town. That can mean having to reschedule a class (something we allow for good causes), which is a pain for you and even more of one for your students. It certainly means that doing national committee work is always a substantial time commitment. It is almost 500 miles to the state line, and then where are you? Somewhere between Tallahassee and Moultrie, Ga.

This year I am not on our entry-level hiring committee, but I am on our lateral hiring committee.  Whichever group you fall into, if you find the positives outweigh the negatives and have an interest in coming here, I'd be happy to try to answer any further questions you might have, either in comments to this entry or by private email.  Get in touch.

Ike (2): Spot Gas Shortages

On my way back from running an errand this afternoon, I stopped off at the local gas station that usually has the best prices to fill up my tank, as it was on the way home.

They were out of gas.

So was the place across the street.

However, a mile up the road they had plenty of gas, for four cents a gallon more.

Ike (1)

Ike seems to be drifting away from us. But you can't be too careful. We're open Monday. Here's the latest official law school news:

The University's Emergency Advisory Committee (“EAC”) met today at 3:00 P.M. to discuss the progress of Hurricane Ike. The University and the Law School will be open for all daytime classes and activities tomorrow, Monday, September 8th, 2008, and the current plan is to be open for all Monday evening classes and activities as well. However, the EAC will meet tomorrow at 6:30 a.m. and again at 12:30 p.m. to decide if any changes have to be made to the evening schedule. We will send an updated email and update the Law School's website following each of these meetings. For those of you with evening classes and activities, please make sure to check your email and visit the website during the day tomorrow. No decisions have been made about Tuesday.

I wouldn't be surprised if the U. closes on Tuesday, and it feels like an excess of caution on Wednesday.

It's perfectly nice out at present…

I Don't Like Ike

Hurricane IKE — heading straight for us?

Forecaster Blake says, “One should not focus on the exact 4 and 5 day forecast positions because large uncertainties exist at those times.”

I still don't like Ike.

Miami Votes

'Rumpole', he of the Justice Building Blog, describes his experiences voting in our primary/judges/etc election here in Miami today in DEMOCRACY IN ACTION,

Here is democracy in action- Miami style:

I parked and approached the polling site. There were several elderly women sitting on chairs surrounding the entrance. Upon seeing me, they immediately sprung into action, grabbed their walkers or canes and cards containing ads for various candidates and descended upon me.

Now I ve lived in Miami long enough to understand most Spanish, so I immediately recognized when an elderly woman loudly insulted the heritage and family members of Fidel Castro while thrusting a Rick Corona for Judge card into my hand. Another woman attempted to press a voting slate into my hand while complaining, I m pretty sure, of the Dolphins decision to release their kicker from last year and go with a rookie. She also doesn t like the 3-4 defense, which she made quite clear to me in Spanish while handing me a Harvey Ruvin for Clerk card.

Finally, as I almost entered the polling place I felt a distinct tug on the back of my Team USA Basketball shirt that I always wear when traveling. A woman thrust a slate of candidates into my hand and told me in no uncertain terms that I had to vote for them. My Spanish is not great, so I carefully inquired if I could vote for anyone else?
NO came the loud response. These were the people I must vote for. I waived over a polling marshal, whom I m pretty sure I recognized from the security screening at the REGJB. Therein ensued a loud argument in Creole and Spanish between the marshal and the woman.

I walked into the voting area adjusting my Team USA shirt and handed another elderly woman aren t their any retired men who work at polling stations? my election card and driver s license.

WHO ARE YOU ? she screamed at me in Spanish. Well I certainly wasn t about to reveal my identity as the blogger at this point, so I said my real NAME.
NO. WHAT ARE YOU? My spanish isn t great so I had not correctly understood the first question. It has been a long time since anyone ever seriously asked me that question and it caught me by surprise.

American? I ventured.

NO. WHAT ARE YOU? She screamed again. She was shouting in Spanish loud enough to actually wake up the other poll workers.

A human being? I mumbled, although some who read my blog might disagree. Really I just want to vote.

Another poll worker came over and explained I needed to tell her if I was a Republican or Democrat. The crisis being settled, I signed my NAME, received a ticket, a large folder and a special pen and was sent to the voting booth.

So much for electronic voting. We are now back to the days of SATs and the like. It s the good old fill in the oval with the special pen.

…

After you vote you have to take your ballot to an optical screening machine. The one I used was one of the newer ones, which I could tell because the tape holding it together was still sticky. A polling official came over and took my ballot and (I kid you not) carefully looked at every choice I made.

“What are you doing?” I said.

She replied in Spanish that she was checking to make sure I voted correctly.

“I don't think you're allowed to do that” I said. And she scowled at me like I was a relative of Fidel Castro. Another official came over and I inquired if voting in the United States Of America was by secret ballot.

“Que?” was the response. I did not know the phrase “secret ballot” in Spanish, so I had to wait several minutes for another supervisor to come over, wherein I explained the situation. The three of them huddled for a few minutes, casting glances at me that I had not seen since I had tried to board a plane earlier in the morning. Eventually the supervisor and returned and explained to me (and I have not made any of this up) that If I really wanted to, I had the right to have the ballot put through the electronic screener without it being reviewed.

I opted for that decision, and someone pulled a starter cord and the high tech optical screener coughed to life and I put my ballot through and voted.

I love this country. And I really love my town. Who could think of moving anywhere else, when this kind of entertainment is available for free?

I voted too. It wasn't nearly as entertaining in my precinct.

Feh [Fay (6)]

OK, it's grey out (although a little less than yesterday) and unusually windy (although not as much as last night around 2am). It rained a lot, but it's not raining this morning. There's more crud than usual on the street and sidewalks. But all the neighbors' piles of cut branches are still there, so the wind can't have been that bad.

I'm happy to have a bonus day at home, I can do some catch-up writing and tidying, but this was in 20/20 hindsight unnecessary. And they should do it again next time, because by the time you know it's necessary it's too late.

So I have two questions:

• Barometer is down to 1003, what's with that?
• Is Fay dumping lots of water where we need it — in the Lake Okeechobee aquifer (and the other three that almost dried up)?

Answer those, and I can get on with worrying about Invest 94.

Fay (5)

We're closed tomorrow too:

The University Crisis Decision Team met at 6:00 P.M. today and decided that the University and the Law School, including the Law Library, will remain closed tomorrow, Tuesday, August 19th. We expect to be open for business as usual on Wednesday, August 19th. Our website has been updated and will be updated again if plans for Wednesday change. Additional information may also be obtained from the University's website at http://www6.miami.edu/prepare/ or the University's Hotline at (305) 284-5151.

Almost no rain at this moment, and the occasional tiny gap in the lower level of low and fast-moving clouds (but it looks like there are more clouds above). Wind at ground level is not great, but those clouds are really moving westwards, or maybe WNW.

Barometer down to 1005.

Fay (4)

Public schools are closed tomorrow. No word yet on the University.

Very wet out there. Very grey. Some wind. Barometer in my bedroom is down to 1006.

Fay (3) [updated]

We're closing, according to this email I just got:

The University Crisis Decision Team met at 11:00 am today and decided that the University and the Law School will close as of noon today. All afternoon and evening classes are cancelled and the Law Library will close as well. The University Crisis Decision Team will meet at 6:00 PM today to determine whether or not we will be open tomorrow, Tuesday, August 19th. Our website will be updated as new information becomes available. We will also send another email after the meeting. Additional information may also be obtained from the University's website at http://www6.miami.edu/prepare/ or the University's Hotline at (305) 284-5151.

It's very very grey out, and there's a steady strong but not torrential rain. There's a little wind now, although it's been dead calm for much of the morning.

Update: Here's the official UM announcement (the above was from the law school):

University of Miami Closes at 12 Noon Today

After closely monitoring the progress of Tropical Storm Fay and taking into consideration deteriorating weather conditions, the University of Miami will be closing at 12 noon today. The University's campuses are safe and secure.

This closure applies to operations on all campuses, except for clinical activities at the medical school. All University of Miami hospitals are operating normally. Outpatient clinics will remain open until all scheduled patients have been cared for or contacted.

Residence Hall desks will remain open for check-in today and tomorrow for student move-in.

Details on other closures include:

* All libraries will close at 12 noon.
* The Wellness Center will close at 12 noon.
* Shuttle buses will stop running at 2 p.m
* The Canterbury Preschool will close at 2 p.m.
* The Bookstore will close at 12 noon.
* Retail food services will close at 1 p.m.
* Dining halls will serve lunch until 12:30 p.m. and dinner will be served from 4:30 to 6 p.m.

And now (1:40pm) it's raining torrents. Judging by the trees, though, the wind isn't strong yet.

Fay (2)

They closed the public schools, but (barring something strange, and an announcement at 8:30 tomorrow morning) the law school is not closing tomorrow.

I think both administrations are right. The storm track has shifted a tiny bit away from us, but there's still a lot of uncertainty. We're going to be ok in the morning, but there is an appreciable chance of road chaos in the afternoon, in the unlikely event Fay strengthens and zags. There's often no way for parents to hear about early closures of the schools while at work, nor to get their kids. Law students on the other hand are far less numerous, and generally self-propelled.

We can close the place a lot faster than a public school if we need to. And we probably won't need to. If anything Tuesday looks dicier than Monday, and that too is not looking so bad at present.

Folks in the Keys, or on the west coast of Florida seem to have more to worry about.

Meanwhile, on the home front, we've done almost all our laundry. But we'd have done than anyway.

Fay

WHEN FAY IS OVER WATER…IT APPEARS THAT ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR STRENGTHENING THROUGH 72 HR. THUS…THE INTENSITY WILL BE CONTROLLED BY LAND INTERACTION AND THE RESULTING IMPACTS ON THE STORM STRUCTURE. ALL GUIDANCE FORECASTS STRENGTHENING…AND THE INTENSITY FORECAST FOLLOWS SUIT IN BEST AGREEMENT WITH THE SHIPS MODEL. HOWEVER…THIS IS A LOW CONFIDENCE INTENSITY FORECAST. FAY COULD STRENGTHEN RAPIDLY IF IT BECOMES WELL ORGANIZED OVER WATER. ON THE OTHER HAND IT MIGHT NOT STRENGTHEN MUCH AT ALL IF LAND INTERACTION PREVENTS ORGANIZATION.

(from Tropical Storm Fay, Discussion Number 4)

They moved the track just enough east to make it more likely Miami gets roughed up a bit; we're now at a 50% cumulative probability to get hit by at least tropical storm level winds, up from about a third last night. Tropical Storm level winds knock down trees, cause some flooding, but other than losing power (almost none of our region's cables are buried, everyone is too cheap to pay the upfront cost, not to mention the higher maintenance), we tend to be fine. True hurricane winds do more, depending how strong they are, although the weakest technical hurricane isn't that much worse that tropical storm.

So we face two known unknowns: the track — which is always uncertain, as hurricanes zig and zag in ways we don't yet know how to predict (and a tiny difference is huge to the people underneath) — and, more unusually, great uncertainty about intensity. There's often some, but not this much. I hear via the grapevine from the hurricane experts at RSMS that the envelope of possibilities stretches up to a category three hurricane, which would be a pretty nasty one.

We filled up the car; did some shopping last night. I got some gas to run the generator. Roads seem a little busier than usual, but that could have been true just with back-to-school (public schools start Monday, as does the Law School). The gas station had no queues. We have hurricane glass now, so my major per-hurricane activity of putting up metal shutters is a thing of the past.

We don't have a giant ton of food, but we have enough to get by for several days. I feel like I should do more to prepare, but can't think what.

Video of Coral Gables in 1950

Someone sent me a link to this kicky, kitschy, video of Coral Gables in 1950, from an ad promoting Chevrolets.

Many of the scenes are recognizable today, although Parrot Jungle has moved from its wonderful nearby location.

UM features at the beginning; campus attire has changed even more than the buildings, most of which are still around if not so spanking new any more.

'Eye on Miami' Dreams Big Dreams

Eye on Miami, increasingly the hot local government blog in Miami, offers us a big dream in, Humanity's last innings:

In Miami, politicians like the green Mayor of Miami Manny Diaz have circled their wagons around a $3 billion plan to build more attractions, including a professional baseball stadium at terms that guarantee a financial windfall for the private owners of The Florida Marlins.

I wish our coral reef were a baseball stadium.

It really is amazing that with all the things Miami needs — paying for better schools, paying for cleaner water & waste disposal, that the big project being pushed by the Mayor is a new baseball stadium and a tunnel to the port. Unfortunately, the lawsuit seeking a referendum on the the $3billion project rushed through city government at the speed of lightening seems to be running out of steam. I would have liked to see at least a referendum on this project, which while it may have some good parts seems dubious over-all.

Miami Wakes Up to Political Normality (This is Good for Democrats)

David Rieff has a long piece in tomorrow's NYT magazine about Cuban-American politics in Miami, provocatively titled, Will Little Havana Go Blue?.

The main conclusions track what those of us who live here see around us: Cuban-American politics are being changed by a generational shift (a rising generation that is American first and treats its hyphen much they way other ethnic groups do), and a political differences between recent immigrants and the revanchists who have been here 40-50 years. The recent escapees are much less willing to support policies that prevent them sending money to relatives left behind, and which limit their ability to visit their families still trapped in Cuba.

The result is a breakage of the monolithic support for the GOP and for its candidates. Particularly hurt are the Diaz-Balart brothers, who suffer from poor constituent services and a failure to bring home the kind of bacon that their storied predecessors — Claude Pepper, Dante Fascell — did.

Although Rieff doesn't address this directly, it turns out that Joe Garcia's vicious mockery of the Diaz-Balarts as a “one trick pony” may be right on the mark.

Rieff's piece contains another bit of wisdom. Miami's shift to normal politics away from unthinking equation of the GOP as the natural home for Cuban-Americans does not mean automatic victory for Democrats.

The lesson for local campaigners is obvious: Cuban-Americans being up for grabs means that they will need to be addressed in the same way as other swing constituencies: with appeals on the issues they care about (housing, jobs, health, social security, as well as Cuba) and — and this is probably key — turnout will rule. The community is no longer monolithic. Just like with many other communities that means whoever gets out their voters will win.

It's going to be a turnout election down here.

FIU Law Dean Leonard Strickland Announces Resignation

At neighboring FIU, founding Dean Leonard Strickman has announced his resignation, effective a year from now. (This is the usual heads-up to allow a school to find a replacement.) Strickman's tenure was noted by several achievements, notably recruiting a serious faculty and steering FIU law to accreditation in the shortest possible time.

Interestingly, the announcement appears in FIU Law's online newspaper which appears to have a thriving comments section. One of the goals of UM's draft strategic plan is to create an online space for student-faculty and student-student interaction. Whether ours is going to be purely student-run, or have a dose of administrative intervention remains to be determined as do many questions about focus, access and comments policy. Perhaps here UM can learn from FIU's example.

Personally, whoever rides herd on it, I hope we create a forum that is as open as possible — while having some sort of mechanism to promote civility.

Miami Is a State of Mind

Local blogger BlenderLaw, finds that where you live does make a difference…, and that living in Miami starts to mess with one's perceptions:

Visiting Asheville, NC, after living in Miami for a while, the ingles supermarkets signs looked to me as though they were advertising something English, or for English people (in Spanish) - and this happened the 4th and 5th and even 10th time of reading the signs. I'm not sure I would have read them that way 10 years ago.

Today's Discovery In Applied Informatics

I have found what I believe to be one of the last types of information for which search on the Internet remains utterly useless: finding where fireworks stands might located in the South Dade area.

I did discover that there's a store in Key Largo, but that's kinda far.

The big July 4 celebration in Coral Gables at the Biltmore has been canceled again — perhaps permanently. And the family doesn't want one of those boxes they sell in Publix this year…

Best Evidence that the Miami Herald is Doomed (and How to Save It)

It was a good paper 15 years ago. And despite some subsequent slippage, there were real signs of life. I thought hiring DeFede was a great move a few years ago; firing him was super-stupid. Other than Fred Grimm and the soon-to-be departed Ana Menendez, who still shine, the local section, which used to be the best part, is a five-minute read. If the kids didn't like the comics so much, I'm not sure I'd keep my subscription.

The Miami Herald has gotten pretty dull.

And the sign of the times that makes me think it's not going to get better isn't the 17% cut in staff detailed at How will staff cuts affect The Miami Herald?, although that's sure to hurt, but rather this gem in the same article:

… a group of 15 distinguished Miami-Dade County leaders quietly have been meeting on their own over the past four months to make recommendations for what they think The Miami Herald should be.

Miami is a diverse, fragmented community with many media options, but because of its wide circulation, The Miami Herald can be the glue that holds us all together, one of the group s members, Florida International University President Mitch Maidique, explained.

Other members include United Way President Harv Mogul; UM trustee and Coral Gables attorney Dean Colson; Marvin O'Quinn, chief executive of Jackson Memorial Hospital; UM President Donna Shalala; Miami-Dade County School Superintendent Rudy Crew; attorney Aaron Podhurst; and Flagler Development Group President Adolfo Henriques.

The Herald didn't pick this committee, but I am pretty sure they'll get a very respectful listen. And the makup of this group exemplifies what's wrong with the Herald. This is not a challenge-the-status-quo kind of a club. But if you want to sell papers, you have to give voice to the afflicted and afflict the powerful.

Want to fix the Herald? Start by putting the guys at Eye on Miami in charge of the Metro section. Or at least give them serious column inches and the power to assign a couple reporters.

President Shalala can be an iconoclast when she wants to be. I wish I thought there were any chance she'd recommend the Herald hire Genius of Despair and Gimleteye. It's hard to see how anything less radical can save the paper.

Jessica Carvalho Morris Joins Amnesty International USA Board

Congratulations to Jessica Carvalho Morris, JD '03, who is the Director of UM Law's International and Foreign Graduate Programs, for being elected to the National Board of Directors of Amnesty International USA.

Jessica has been the coordinator for the Miami Chapter of Amnesty since January 2004.

Rich Miami, Poor Miami

According to a recent survey Miami is 29th among the Worlds Richest Cities, by estimated personal net earnings in 2008. And it's fourth among the large US cities on the list.

These calculations are based on wage figures, social security contributions and working hours in 2006 for fourteen widespread professions. Uniform criteria were used with regard to work experience, age, marital status etc. The wage index was weighted by the share of each occupation in overall employment and overall income and also by gender. The figures relate to pay net of taxes and social security contributions. In calculating the 2008 update of the wage index, USB not only took account of exchange rates and inflation, but also factored in that part of the economic growth was due to productivity improvements and was therefore passed on to employees in the form of higher pay.

Of course, Miami is also a leader in poverty. (#1 in a list of poorest American cities with population over 250,000 when ranked by median household income, 2006).

Assuming the validity of the methods — a big assumption — I'm guessing this means we have a low median wage, but a higher average wage due to the presence of a substantial group of some really really rich folks, and of course lots of rich people living off unearned income and/or comfortably retired.

We must have an amazing Gini coefficient.

Black Friday

The University of Miami Law School got pasted in the latest US News law school rankings: dropped 12 places. Our faculty reputation rank still puts UM in the top 50, but lots of the other metrics hurt.

Dean Lynch has sent out a note to the community about it. I'll post the text if and when I get one; in the mean time all I have is this .gif version, which is what they sent us.

Update: .pdf version of Dean Lynch's letter.

An Obituary With Bite (and Affection)

Most obituaries in the Miami Herald are kind of boring. Not this one, Herald librarian one of a kind, for Rose Klayman, a former Herald librarian, sometime Playboy bunny, and neighborhood fixture:

A hard-drinking, two-pack-a-day smoker who swore like a sailor, Rose Klayman died of respiratory failure.

…

She loved management conspiracy theories and gossip, and treasured her grudges.

In a bad mood — which was often — she could be mean as a snake. But she cared deeply about the colleagues she liked and turned herself inside out for them.

“She was a natural news researcher who loved the news, loved the work and loved helping reporters,” said one-time boss Elisabeth Donovan. “But it requires a calm demeanor, and Rose was never calm.”

She was, however, frequently kind, attentive and motherly, committing small acts of generosity like bringing a colleague designer jeans from a thrift shop and reminding another to keep his head up and “not let the bastards get you down.”

Former library colleague Ruthey Golden recalls that her friend “was always buying some homeless man or woman food. I know one cold day she came to work with no coat, crying. I said, 'Rose, what's the matter?' She said, 'I had to do it, Ruthey… . I just gave that woman laying in the street my coat. I feel bad for her.' That's just how Rose was.”

She loathed and loudly cursed the officious, and abusers of power.

And those are only some of the choice bits.

Search Plugins for Miami-Dade Public Library

Thanks to the kind work of librarysearch.org volunteer Johnathan Mayo, there's now a browser search plugin for the Miami-Dade Public Library System catalog.

I've got to learn to write these. It looks so easy, but my first try bombed…

Anticlimax Dept.

The link in my RSS feed to the New York Times web site promised Burger Armageddon in Miami. Wow!

What a letdown: they're having a contest for best burger. I imagined a Miami story. At least bribes. Maybe sex. Perhaps some gunplay. But no. Just meat — lots of meat — and cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions and pickles.

At least there's lots of meat.

Is This Right?

I am not by any stretch of the imagination a local government lawyer, so someone who actually knows about this stuff please chime in…

Eye on Miami spotted this little piece of Democracy in action. Here's the quoted text of Miami-Dade's new ordinance:

“Ordinance relating to county boards, amending Section 2-11.88 to provide that any person who has a pending lawsuit against the county shall not be eligible to serve on a county board unless this requirement is waived by two-thirds vote of the members of the board of county commissioners, providing severability, inclusion in the code and an effective date.”

Is that Constitutional? I wouldn't mind if it weren't, but on what theory?

It appears that local Boards are usually appointed by the County Commission itself:

Sec. 2-11.38.1. Process of appointment.
(a) Vacancies occurring on any board shall be advertised in publications of general circulation. Twice a year advertisements shall appear setting forth a list of all County boards; any special qualifications necessary for membership on the board; and the County telephone number to call for additional information.

(b) Prior to its making appointments to County boards, the Board of County Commissioners shall be furnished a list setting forth the qualifications and demographic background of all new candidates for membership, along with a list of the qualifications and demographic backgrounds of the present members of the board to which an appointment is being made.

(Ord. No. 80-136, § 5, 12-16-80)

…so it's possible that under a 'greater power includes the lesser' argument, since the Commission makes the appointment anyway, it can tie its own hands in this manner.

There's presumably no US Constitutional right to equal consideration for Board membership, so I am dubious about an equal protection argument. And while there's a certain sort of First Amendment feel to the issue, I don't think lawsuits are protected speech — they're protected as part of due process. Here, arguably, no one is being denied their right to sue the County, they're just being forced to pay a political price. Is that a due process violation? Absent any research, I'm not sure.

Certainly from a standing point of view, the strongest case would be a sitting Board member who got thrown off a Board for bringing a lawsuit.

And what about the Florida Constitution? Again, I'm no expert, but I'm not sure I see an obvious hook here either…

This strikes me as a very pig-headed public policy, one designed to make life hard for local activists. But is it unconstitutional?

BankUnited Blacklists 191 Miami Condos

I don't pretend to understand the ins and outs of the Miami real estate market, and especially not the condo market (which seems largely divorced from the single-family housing market), but this looks like a big deal to me: via Eye On Miami, the news that BankUnited blacklists 191 condo projects.

Colbert Does Coral Gables

I've tried to avoid linking to shows subject to the writers' strike, but I can't resist pointing you to this very funny Colbert bit about my hometown, Coral Gables. And it's not just funny, it's about a genuine legal issue that I wrote about in There Goes the Neighborhood?.

(spotted via South Florida Daily Blog…something I have a feeling I may be writing often)

A Tiny Note From the Frontlines of Democracy

I had occasion to visit the Coral Gables public library at opening time this morning (a fruitless search for a lost cell phone which turned out to have never left the house).

The library is one of the local polling places that is open for early voting, and there were actual voters there (not me, I'm waiting for the last minute). There were also actual canvassers, four of them, stationed by the entrance to the library parking lot.

Keeping in mind that we have some ballot amendments as well as the two party primaries, what candidates or causes do you suppose that these four people were supporting? (Hint: there was more than one working together, but not all four were there for the same reason.)

Answer below.

Three guys were there with t-shirts and literature supporting a “YES” vote on Amendment One, which would limit property taxes. Confusingly, they asked me to vote to legalize slot machines in Miami-Dade county, which is actually “county question 3”. The fourth person, a literally little (5'?) old lady, had RUDY! flyers.

Why, I asked the three guys, given that there's a war on, is this the issue that gets you excited? The said something about getting money for the county. And it was unfair that the Indians got the revenue and “we” didn't. Didn't say a word about the property tax amendment (which likely would starve local government and kill off important services).

I asked them if they were being paid to be there, and they denied it, but in a sufficiently shifty way that I had my doubts.

As for the nice lady with the RUDY! literature, her reason for being there was easier to grasp: “I think he'd be a great President!” (“Not like that Hillary woman” chimed in the ringleader of the Amendment One crowd.) I asked her how she could support someone who tried to postpone New York's elections, but she didn't know what I was talking about.

For the record, I was talking about this incident:

In late September Mr. Giuliani summoned Mr. Green, who was running in the Democratic primary, to his command post.

Mr. Giuliani, as Mr. Green recalled, was blunt: I want to remain in office three more months. I have a great team, I can lobby Washington. I’m being reasonable, he cautioned; my supporters want me to run for a new term.

Oh yes, he added, I need your answer tonight.

Mr. Green was taken aback. Yom Kippur, the holiest of Jewish holidays, was hours away. His closest advisers, many of whom were Jewish, would not pick up the phone.

“He made it clear he would invest his Churchillian popularity in hitting whomever did not go along with him,” Mr. Green said in an interview.

That many wanted the mayor to stay on is undeniable. But American electoral democracy rarely pauses. Abraham Lincoln held elections in 1864. Franklin D. Roosevelt stood for re-election as World War II raged.

“It was a very dangerous idea,” said Mr. Schwarz, the former corporation counsel. “The knight on the white horse is always indispensable in his own mind.”

Five days after the attacks, anonymous leaflets urged Mr. Giuliani to run. The governor had postponed the Sept. 11 primary. But when a mayoral aide inquired about pushing back other election dates, Mr. Pataki refused.

This is why I call Giuliani a Peronist and think of his as a person whose instincts are inimical to democracy. It's interesting that his supporters don't know about it. And he's losing anyway.

It Rained Iguanas This Week

It says in Nostradamus: No Black man can be elected President until it rains Iguanas.

Well, while I was lying in bed feeling sorry for myself, it got real cold out (for Florida) and then it rained iguanas. Really:

When the temperature falls below a certain level, the large green lizards drop out of the trees and litter the ground.

…

It was raining iguanas at Bill Baggs Thursday morning.

Many of them aren't hurt, though, just in a sort of suspended animation from the cold.

Coral Gables's Mysterious Nativity Scene

This elaborate nativity scene is prominently displayed in downtown Coral Gables near the corner of Ponce De Leon and Alhambra, on a little circle of land that might be public, or might be an amenity belonging to a nearby office building. It has no sign on it saying who erected it or how it got to be there.

Google Maps actually has a good image of it:

I've never taught or litigated an Establishment Clause case, but I was under the impression that if this is public land, there has to be a sign on such a display explaining who paid for it, lest it appear to be a city-purchased religious display. Then again, it might be private land. Indeed, one of my colleagues tells me that there used to be a church where the building next to the circle now stands (the tall thin building in the image above), and speculates that when they sold the land they held on to this piece (or kept an easement) just for this purpose. Could be: but why no sign claiming credit?

MTV Picks UM Student as Florida Rep for National Vlogger Program

MTV has just set up a national corps of citizen-journalist vloggers: they've hired a young person from every state and DC to do weekly video reports covering politics in their state.

Florida's correspondent is Anthony Wojtkowiak, a fourth-year student in UM's Communications program,

I am a fourth year Video-Film Honors student in the School of Communication at the University of Miami. This year I will travel to Dominican Republic and Kenya to do journalistic reports about projects meant to help the poor. I was an intern and am now a consultant for Knight Foundation. I also edit a web site at University of Miami called mediaforchange.org. It has tools and ideas for how to get involved in activist causes, but is unfortunately down for repairs right now. I was a Resident Assistant in Pearson Residential College for three years and I really enjoy impacting people's lives positively. I hope to be a postive role model for young people, and I hope to make a difference and find other people who will do the same.

Commissioners and Desperate Developers Do Dirty Deal

Despite the language, I'm with Critical Miami on the substance of this one:

Ladies and gentlemen, your county commission is out of its collective fucking mind: They just approved $347 million for a new Marlins stadium (more then double what the actual team will contribute!), overrode the UDB veto (to allow building past the development boundary, and note that Katy Sorenson, Rebeca Sosa, Carlos Gimenez, and Dennis Moss are the only ones that stood up against development), and generally passed the whole downtown overhaul that was proposed last year. I'm with them on the streetcar and on Museum park, but not much of anything else. Update: The budget for the 800-unit replacement to the Scott and Carver housing projects can suddenly accommodate only about 150 units.

Ungood. The money for the Marlins is especially stupid since there's precious little evidence that the community actually wants to spend tax money on them. Or that they deserve it.

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz on the Presidential Election

Miami is blessed (?) with both a city government and a county government. So there is a Mayor of Miami-the-city and a different Mayor of Miami-Dade-the-County. I live in Coral Gables, just south of Miami-the-city, but inside Miami-Dade County.

All this is a warmup to introducing this video from Mayor TV, an initiative to get big-city Mayors to talk about the issues that they think the Presidential candidates should be addressing. One of the first to participate is Manny Diaz, Mayor of Miami-the-City.

Not being a constituent, I don't follow Manny Diaz as closely as I do Carlos Alvarez, but I think he did a good job in this video. Apparently, this is characteristic, at least if this complaint from a local columnist in 2005 is to be believed:

Speaking as a columnist, I can say that Manny Diaz has been an absolute disaster as mayor of Miami. As Diaz's first term in office draws to a close and he quietly raises funds for his re-election campaign — a campaign in which he has yet to draw an opponent — it's hardly an exaggeration for reporters to deem his administration as having presided over the worst state of affairs at city hall in three decades. In other words, Miami is finally beginning to resemble a properly functioning municipality instead of a punch line.

For folks trying to live, work, and raise families here, this turnabout is nothing short of miraculous. Our local press corps, however, has grown accustomed to a steady diet of headline-grabbing corruption indictments, dire financial crises, and incidents of bizarre personal behavior better suited to a junior-high playground than an organ of government. And so the prospect of four more years of Manny Diaz is chilling. After all, chronicling the rise of competence never won anybody a Pulitzer.

Did I mention that Mayor Diaz has a JD from the University of Miami School of Law?

Dolphins Win a Game

Dolpnhins win a game. Will wonders never cease…..

Forcing Released Offenders to Live Under a Causeway: The Outrage Continues

Readers may recall an angry anguished posting of mine from March, How Can We Tolerate This? recounting policies of Miami-Dade county which forced five released sex offenders to live under a bridge because there was no available housing they were allowed to live in due to rules prohibiting sex offenders to live within 2500 feet of a school — any school. This was followed up with Bridge to Nowhere, reporting that the County had swung into action — and moved the people to a different outdoor location under the Julia Tuttle Causeway.

Well, eight months later, not only are they still there, their numbers have grown. Now instead of five we have about twenty who are forced to live rough because they county won't let them live (almost) anywhere else.

The story was picked up by national media outlets, and for a few weeks the bridge was a source of widespread disbelief. Statements were made, resolutions were passed, letters were sent — but nothing changed. Since then, much to the relief of local politicians, no doubt, the situation seems to have quietly faded from public memory.

But the numbers kept growing. More than 30 men have been sent to live here in the intervening months. A few have since left — the majority of them arrested for minor violations of probation, two or three were able to move out, and two have disappeared. But most — as of press time, at least 20 — remain under the bridge, even though many have families willing to house them. Everyone agrees the situation under the Julia Tuttle has become untenable, but so far neither local politicians, nor the courts, nor the state legislature have been willing to do anything about it.

…

How much of Miami-Dade County, exactly, does the 2,500-foot ordinance cover? Pretty much all of it, according to a map produced by the county and distributed to police and newly released sex offenders. It shows schools in the county — private, charter, and public — each with a colored blob around it representing the 2,500-foot sex-offender no man's land. The blobs cover the map; the only open patches are Miami International Airport, a few farm tracts in the Redland and near the Everglades, and, perhaps ironically, much of the well-to-do town of Pinecrest, which is protected from most sex offenders by property values instead of ordinances. (Sex offenders, like any other kind of felon, overwhelmingly tend to be poor.)

…

State and local leaders have taken turns abdicating responsibility for the problem of homeless sex offenders — that is, sex offenders made homeless by local law. Politicians have dumped it, whenever possible, back and forth onto one other like a game of hot potato.

…

There are other places sex offenders can live. On Krome Avenue in Northwest Miami-Dade — past the vacant lots, junkyards, and farms — sits a small, rundown trailer park, inhabited mostly by Mexican families, laborers, and agricultural workers. Three sex offenders are registered as living there. Far from any school, park, playground, or daycare center, the location might seem ideal. Except for one thing: Every day, around 3 p.m., a dozen women gather in front of the park to wait for a dusty yellow school bus to drop off their children. They scream and squirm their way to their mothers' sides and walk away with them, hand in hand.

Asked if the 2,500-foot ordinance is pushing sex offenders into poor communities, [Ron] Book [chair of a county task force that is supposed to be considering the issue] pauses. “I don't have to like it,” he says. “Look, I don't have all the solutions.”

This is not just a Miami problem:

In July, Fort Lauderdale probation officers came up with six different bridges to which they planned to assign sex offenders on a rotational basis.

Let us be really clear on what is happening here: the state — in the form of probation officers — is ordering these released persons to live outdoors, in a squatters camp under the causeway, because there is no other place they can live. Failure to stay there is a probation violation which will have them returned to jail.

This must, by any sense of the law, be cruel and unusual punishment: people are not even allowed to live in the homes they previously inhabited. In some cases the causeway-bound have spouses and own homes, but as a result of this rule they cannot live together.

The county's rule must be unconstitutional. But the wheels of justice grind slowly,

At least two challenges to Miami-Dade's ordinance are already brewing. On November 7, the Public Defender's Office filed a memo in support of a motion to declare the county ordinance unconstitutional and pre-empted by state law. The ACLU is looking into challenging the law as well.

Read the whole thing.

MiamiBeach411.Com Hosts A Dinner

Last night I had the good fortune to attend a Miami bloggers' holiday party at the Tuscan Steakhouse, hosted by the urbane and charming Gus Moore of Miamibeach411.com.

Miami has a diverse and vibrant local blogging scene of which, given my more varied interests, I am only a vestigial part, so I appreciate very much being included along with local giants such as Miamibeach411.com (now a very numerous gang indeed) and Stuck on the Palmetto, which turns out to be a written by some smart adverting guys in their spare time, and not by moonlighting frustrated city planners as one might have imagined.

Other blogs represented included:
* Ipanemic
* Sex and the Beach
* Miami Rhapsody
* All Purpose Dark
* Dan Renzi (he's apparently famous for something)
* Fanless (warning: will hurt your eyes)
* Blenderlaw
* Miami Condo Investments (two guys, suprisingly upbeat)
* Miami Vision Blogorama
* A Mom, A Blog and the Life In-Between (the same person also does a Coral Gables Blog and another I didn't catch).
* South Beach Real Estate Blog
* Burnett's Urban Etiquette
* Miami Fever's Photos (a flicker stream)
* Restaurant Gal

No sign of Greener Miami though.

I am not good at circulating at crowded parties, and as a result I didn't get to talk to several people there whose blogs I read and who I would have liked to meet. I'll try to do better next time.

The group seemed more beach than suburban, and had a surprisingly large number of very recent transplants to Miami. And the food was good!

But it was a bit of a shock to be told by one local blogger about the secret plan to replace the dollar with the Amero. Who knew?

I had fun and look forward to the next one.

Miami Is Different

Lifehacker asks, How Do You Prepare Your Car for Driving in the Winter? [Ask The Readers].

It's easy: at some point in December I stop putting up the sun shade on the dashboard.

Citizens Insurance and Other South Florida Public Bodies May Lose Big If State Fund Collapses

I'm not reading much about it in the local newspaper, but I gather from the Tallahassee Democrat that we here in South Florida are at risk of bearing a large share of the losses coming from the collapse and likely fire-sale liquidation of Florida's Local Government Investment Pool (LGIP). And this even though the local county government pulled out its money before the fund temporarily (?) closed redemptions.

The LGIP is a 25-year-old fund that was designed to let local governments, especially smaller ones without investment advisers, to make some short-term returns on tax revenues. The money is supposed to be readily available for payments of bills and payroll, so it's basically a money-market fund for local government. One that has fancy financial advisers, and still ended up holding some dodgy mortgage-backed securities and being long in Countrywide Financial Corp.

Calculated Risk is all over this story. The basic facts of the run on what amounts to a non-bank bank fund are at Bloomberg, Florida Schools Struggle to Pay Teachers Amid Freeze (Update4): The smarter investors pulled out somewhere between $8-$13 billion during the past month. The slower dumber ones are stuck with an illiquid investment of uncertain value — and many of them need the cash for operating expenses.

Add in the unintentionally darkly funny Florida Governments Reject Idea of Accepting Losses on Pool, in which politicians acted as if bluster could replace economic reality,

A newly formed advisory panel composed of Florida school and local government officials with money frozen in a state-run investment pool said they won't accept a return of less than 100 percent of their investment.

Slow-moving parties are left holding the bag, which still has $14 billion invested in it, but much less if you try to take it out. And who are among the top 20 investors in this decaying fund? Why lots of people around here. Of the (nominal) $14 billion left in the fund, a full seventh, $2 billion, was left there by my insurance company, the state insurer of last resort, Citizens Insurance Co. Depending on the size of the losses, I can imagine much higher premiums next year.

Number seven on the top-20 list is the Southwest Florida Water Management District, which has $285.4 million at risk. Miami-Dade Community College, with $146 million, is number 20. Several near-by counties are also on the list, but not it seems Miami-Dade itself, which pulled out its money before the fund stopped permitting withdrawals.

The strangest part of this story is that it does seem like panic is the worst thing that could happen here. From what I can figure out, originally the mortgage-backed paper was only a small percentage of the fund's holdings. As it has been liquidating assets to pay the governments pulling out, the fund has been selling more quality paper than the illiquid stuff. But as a result, the mortgage-backed paper becomes a larger percentage of the remaining holdings, making remaining investors ever-more nervous. Which is why the fund called a halt to redemptions.

At present, it may be that the 'bad' paper (not all of which is necessarily bad — the problem is no one knows so no one wants to buy it at anywhere near face value) is still only 10% of total assets. But it's a bank run: no one is going to put money in here, and everyone has a rational fear of coming at the tail end, when the mortgage-backed securities might be all that is left.

Actually, it's not even all mortgage-backed structured investment vehicles (SIVs):

The fund's $900 million of asset-backed commercial paper that was downgraded to default amounts to 6 percent of its assets. Another $650 million, or 4 percent, is invested in certificates of deposit at Countrywide Bank FSB, a unit of Countrywide Financial Corp. The bank's rating was cut to Baa1, three levels above junk status, by Moody's Investors Service on Aug. 16.

The pool owns $168 million of debt from KKR Atlantic Funding Trust cut to D from B by Fitch Ratings on Oct. 8. It also has $356 million issued by KKR Pacific Funding Trust, cut to D from B by Fitch Ratings on Oct. 2. Fitch said the cut to default on the debt reflected non-payment under the original terms. The debt was restructured to extend the maturities to February and March, and interest payments are continuing.

…Florida's pool has $180 million of paper from Ottimo Funding, cut to D from C by S&P on Nov. 9. S&P said an auction of Ottimo's collateral “did not generate cash proceeds'' to repay the asset-backed commercial paper.

The pool also holds $175 million of short-term debt issued by Axon Financial Funding, the SIV also held by Montana. It was cut to D from C by S&P this week. S&P said Axon failed to pay liabilities maturing Nov. 26, causing an “automatic liquidation event.''

Florida isn't alone here: there are similar problems in many other states.

Oh yes, and PayPal too: PayPal customers' cash exposed to illiquid assets.

Update: And Norway, U.S. Credit Crisis Adds to Gloom in Arctic Norway. Norway?

I Am Now a Locavore

I am now a locavore.

This morning we picked up our first box of local produce from Redland Organics & Bee Heaven Farm, Miami's Community-Supported Agriculture, which proudly calls itself “the southernmost CSA in the USA.” They deliver to a member's house, not all that far from where I live.

There was a healthy mix of things in the box — not too much of anything. Mostly leafy things, but also radishes, herbs, and (if the packing list is to be believed) avocados. I didn't have time to look carefully because I have an all-day committee meeting…

Miami is a "Brain Gain" Zone

Miami is a “brain gain” zone, defined as “share of a county's population that is college-educated.”

Click for a bigger picture.

We're not alone:

Nationwide, all types of metropolitan counties enjoyed a brain gain on average, with major metropolitan areas gaining the most. On average, nonmetropolitan counties that were not adjacent to a metropolitan area fared the worst. Somewhat surprisingly, all rural counties enjoyed a brain gain on average.

Not Xmas in October

According to the latest forecasts, Tropical Storm Noel looks as if it is neither going to strengthen enormously, nor hit the US.

However, the National Weather service would like you to know that this storm is not pronounced in the same way as a synonym for Christmas ([Middle English noel, from Old French, variant of nael, from Latin nātālis (diēs), (day) of birth, from nātus, past participle of nāscī, to be born.])

Tropical Storm NOEL Forecast Discussion PLEASE NOTE THAT THE PRONUNCIATION FOR THE THIS STORM'S NAME IS NOL…WITH A LONG O SOUND AND JUST ONE SYLLABLE…OR EXACTLY LIKE THE WORD KNOLL.

No umlaut, got it?

In Which I Do What I am Told

Ed Bott says that I should gloat.

So, OK, I'll gloat.

List of Miami Food Blogs

Miami is a great food town. And here's a nice list of Miami food blogs (spotted via the cool and committed Critical Miami blog).

DC Mores v. Miami Mores

I grew up mostly in DC, moved around for a while, landed in Miami 15 years ago.

Even so, it's interesting to read a recent DC transplant's take on D.C. vs. Here. Some of it is familiar; other parts remind me that I don't get out very much. A few choice excerpts:

D.C.: Business casual during the week, including collared golf shirts and khakis for men, and slightly more cute, conservative tops for the women in their khakis–skirts or pants.

Here: Interesting casual all the time, including flip flops on men wearing khakis and flowing linen shirts, and women wearing tops plunging way past there. To work?

…

D.C.: Getting work done before dinner, then working more after dinner.

Here: Everyone, I mean everyone, looks like they’ve had work done. Am I in L.A.?

D.C.: I am entitled to that table. My name is sometimes in the news.

Here: I am entitled to that table. I just am.

D.C.: I know the owner (except they rarely do).

Here: I know the owner (good God, they all really do).

…

D.C.: Eat by 6:30 p.m. at the latest on a weeknight and go home.

Here: Eat by 10 p.m. at the latest on a weeknight and go home.

Restaurant Gal is the sort of local, personal, blog I'd read regularly for the fun of it…if I had the time.

(Spotted via link from MiamiBeach411)

Post Does Pickups

The Florida Third DCA decision that I wrote about in There Goes the Neighborhood? has grabbed the attention of the Washington Post: Appeals Court Finds Ugly Implications in City's Anti-Truck Law.

Spot What's Missing

This info-graphic of Coffee Drinks Illustrated strikes me as sadly deficient. Have a look, see if you can figure it out what's missing, then click below for my attempt to fill the gaps.

First, there's my basic drink:

Or, there's the Miami version, the Cuban coffee:

There Goes the Neighborhood?

I live in one of the most regulated communities in the USA, the city of Coral Gables, Florida. It is one of the original planned communities, and it sports rules about everything — especially about houses and yards. You need a permit to get more than $100 worth of work done on your home. You need the city's approval of the color you plan to paint the exterior of your house, and of any interior piece that might be visible from outside. And the acceptable color palate is limited.

The “City Beautiful,” as it modestly styles itself, provides fine services, its employees are polite and proud, and even the cops are model citizens (by local community standards). Property values may not skyrocket like some neighborhoods, but the city's restrictive zoning and building policies have protected values in downturns. Mostly, it's a nice place to live, even if the Building Dept. has made my life hell for more than two years by repeatedly rejecting my applications for the final permit I need to finish a long-running expansion of my house. (The process of protecting me from having an inadequate railing on my staircase has resulted in my having no railing for almost two years. Don't ask.)

Yesterday, however, a court struck down one of the city's most notorious rules. In order to maintain the tone, Coral Gables prohibits any trucks from being parked in front of homes overnight. If you can fit your truck in your garage that's fine, and all homes except some of the oldest ones are required to have garages, but no trucks on the street at night. The Gables has its own little fleet of code enforcement police who drive around and ticket people for putting out their trash too soon, letting vegetation obstruct your (required) house number, or parking the dreaded truck in the dark.

Looks like they will have one less ticket to write. In Kuvin v. City of Coral Gables the 3rd DCA overturned the lower court and held that Coral Gables's application of its truck ban to a resident's pickup truck (a Ford F-150), who happened to live in a house without a garage, violated his federal Constitutional liberty rights — at least as applied to the facts of his truck.

Personally, I have no particular view on the merits of parking pickups. But as a legal matter, it's an interesting opinion, in which the Court strikes down the rule as an impermissible infringement on the liberty of Coral Gables citizens.

First, the Court says the ban can't be justified as an attempt to preserve the residential character of the neighborhood because this pickup wasn't a commercial vehicle. In fact, however, the majority of F-150 on the road probably are used as commercial vehicles — a subject on which the court does not appear to have taken evidence. It's unclear to me that the Constitution requires the City to differentiate in the manner the court assumes is necessary.

The argument that the ordinances may be supported on aesthetic grounds is just as unacceptable. Apart from pure matters of taste, concerning which government cannot be involved, Metromedia, Inc. v. City of San Diego, 453 U.S. 490, 510 (1981), there is nothing to distinguish Kuvin’s truck or others like it from what some might think are even more aesthetically displeasing cars or, even more plainly, from one of whatever make or model which is in obvious disrepair or just plain dirty

But there is a larger issue at stake here. Absent any legitimate basis for the ordinances, what remains is that the City Parents disapprove of a perhaps unorthodox vehicle and the possibly diverse taste and lifestyle which may be reflected by its ownership.

For a governmental decision to be based on such considerations is more wrong; it is frightening. Perhaps Coral Gables can require that all its houses made of ticky-tacky and that they all look just the same,10 but it cannot mandate that its people are, or do. Our nation and way of life are based on a treasured diversity, but Coral Gables punishes it. Such an action may not be upheld.

The concurrence emphasizes the distinction between a permissible ban on commercial vehicles, and one based on aesthetics. In other words, if the ban had been on working trucks, it could have reached other Ford F-150s but not this one; I suspect that enforcing such a rule might be difficult.

Even so, however, the concurring judge was very much on board for the main point:

As applied to this case, the city ordinances prohibit anyone driving a personal use light truck from parking in the private driveway of a Coral Gables property owner. Similarly, an owner of a Ford F-150 vehicle is also prohibited from parking in a Coral Gables metered-parking space or other public area of the City during the evening and overnight hours of every single day. Thus, under the subject ordinances, anyone wishing to dine in Coral Gables may not park his/her personal use light truck in any public area of the City or any residential driveway.

The dissent appears to agree that there is a legally significant difference between regulations aimed at a personal use vehicle and those aimed at commercial or recreational vehicles. However, the dissent dispenses with this critical distinction and would uphold the ordinances on the ground that appellant’s personal use light truck “looks commercial.” Presumably, the same reasoning could be used to uphold a prohibition against the intrusion of Hummers within city limits because they are “military looking.” Like Judge Schwartz, I find this distinction to be frightening. It would allow government to regulate the types of personal use vehicles its citizens drive simply based on their outward appearance.

Such a holding embraces George Orwell’s dystopia, where personal rights are subverted by the government.

So there you have it — Coral Gables: liberated at last — the fundamental right to park a pickup truck has been vindicated!

Were it not for the difficulty of getting this sort of issue before the state Supreme Court, I'd think this is an opinion was a good candidate for appeal. As the dissent puts it:

The majority concludes that the ordinances are unconstitutional as applied to Kuvin because, while an ordinance may constitutionally preserve the residential character of a neighborhood by restricting commercial vehicles, restricting personal use trucks is unconstitutional, and ordinances enacted for purely “aesthetic grounds is just as unacceptable.” While Judge Cortiñas in his concurring opinion acknowledges clear precedent in this state holding aesthetic considerations to be a valid exercise of the City’s police power, he, however, concludes that the ordinances in question are unconstitutional as applied to Kuvin’s personal use pickup truck because, in his mind, the regulation of this particular pickup truck, a 1993 Ford F-150 pickup truck, which he refers to as a “light truck,” is not rationally related to aesthetics. In other words, Judge Cortiñas is of the view that this particular model of pickup truck is more aesthetically acceptable than all other open bed pickup trucks.

Ten Reasons Why You Should Teach Here -- And Three Why You Shouldn't

Hiring season is approaching — indeed, today is the day that hiring committees get to see the first round of AALS faculty appointments register forms — and the law blogs are full of unusually good advice for lawyers wanting to enter the teaching profession. In recent years I've felt constrained about what I could say publicly about the hiring process because I was a part of a hiring committee. But this year, as far as hiring is concerned, I am just a regular faculty member, so I can speak more freely.

Rather than repeat the general advice you can find elsewhere, I thought I would instead say a few things about a subject I know particularly well: teaching here at the University of Miami School of Law. Although our overall US News rank is very middle-of-the-pack, due mainly to our large size, our faculty has a relatively high reputation rate both in US News and other comparable surveys. But none of these (flawed) indexes really reflect much about what a faculty member's life is like, and thus they are even less useful to an aspiring faculty member than they are to would-be law students.

So, aspiring law professors and future colleagues, I've compiled ten reasons why you should teach here — and three why you shouldn't.

1. Faculty

The best reason to come to U.M. is the faculty. At its best (which is to say, “outside of faculty meetings”), this is a faculty that believes ideas are serious things, but also is willing to play with them. You will see this most vividly at faculty seminars, especially those with external speakers. The faculty reads the paper in advance of the talk. It thinks about it. We don't let the presenter speak a long time — we want to have a discussion. There may be an element of performance in the questions and comments, but that usually just adds to the fun. Unlike some faculties I've heard about, we are not worshipers at the temple of sub-disciplinarity: faculty members feel comfortable commenting on papers far outside their own specialities, and they are usually right to do so as the distant perspective sometimes proves at least as valuable as the insider's.

While faculty vary in the extent to which they will seek you out – some are shy; others are busy – they will almost all be happy to see you if you seek them out. Very few will treat you like a junior colleague; for most, you will be part of the family from the start. And it’s an interesting family, including some big names in international law, tax, law and society, law and identity, and several other subjects.

2. Institutional style & institutional support

UM wants productive faculty, and it believes in research. But it isn't about telling you what to do. My own story may be instructive: I was hired thinking that I would be writing mostly about administrative and constitutional law. In fact, however, within a couple of years I had turned into an Internet lawyer, and was writing primarily about computers, networks and the law. At no time did anyone here ever suggest that this was a problem. What mattered to people was that I was publishing.

Another way in which UM may differ from some law schools is that our faculty is routinely interdisciplinary and international. Many publish in non-legal journals — a fact which does not necessarily help either our publication or citation counts since the legal tabulators tend to focus only on law journals. Although we recognize that there may be some reputational costs, we are not prepared to tell people where they should publish. We just want it to be good.

There is no international ghetto at UM (the same is true of tax, a traditional faculty strength). As a matter of unwritten policy, everyone is expected to teach a basic course outside their specialty; the result is both that we can have more internationalists (and tax scholars), and that there's a much greater community of overlapping interests.

3. Library

The University of Miami enjoys a superb law library, the result of a decision more than two decades ago to make library acquisitions a financial priority. And if we don't have it, the library will borrow it for you, no questions asked. (As one former librarian put it, “we aim to provide law-firm-quality service”. And in fact, it is almost as good as a top law firm, and the librarians are much nicer.)

The law library has extensive holdings in related disciplines, notably political science, and of course the university library is literally next door, and it also has ever-growing electronic access to journals — which can even be accessed from your home office. We have a particularly strong collection in Latin American and Caribbean law, but also strong holdings in European law. We are weak in India, China, and Russia, and no doubt several other countries with non-Romance alphabets, so if your research involves heavy use of materials from one of those countries, you should check to see if we have you covered. I also have a sense that our holdings for pre-1940 materials are not as strong generally as for things published in the last 70 years. But I am continually having pleasant surprises when I consult Baron, the online card catalog. They've done some impressive buying over the years — which is a good thing as the next major law library is a long way away.

4. Students

We have smart students with upwardly mobile ambitions. Some come from wealthy families, but for many a law degree will be the highest level of education ever achieved in their families — a matter of pride for an extended clan you may have the good fortune to meet at graduation. Despite the lures of nearby South Beach, UM students are by and large a studious lot: their awareness that few silver platters await at graduation usually translates into a commendable work ethic. At least until the end-of-term fog settles in, I find that my students have done the reading, and often have something to say about it. There is a little shyness — some students don't want to ask questions for fear of looking silly; other students worry about being labeled a “gunner” — but ordinarily class discussion can be pretty lively. Although we have more men than women as students, it is often the case that the women lead the discussions and make the most substantive contributions. Classes tend to be fun (at least for the instructor). Visiting professors from other law schools consistently remark on the high quality of classroom performance here.

The UM student body has improved greatly in the past decade. Our best students would be at home in any law school. Our worst students would have been near the middle of the class 15 years ago. The only fly in the ointment is that despite their good college grades and creditable LSATs, a substantial fraction of the class comes to law school unable to write as well as they think or speak. Overcoming this obstacle remains one of our biggest challenges. That said, every year we have students who write publishable papers in classes and seminars. It's been a particular pleasure to see those pieces go into print along side those of full-time academics.

Some of our students will go on to be national leaders; a much larger number will play key roles in the State of Florida, as judges, politicians, and leading members of the bar. Some people have described alumni reunions as state judges’ conventions, but this is slightly unfair. On the other hand, there’s no question that both Florida as a place, and UM graduates as important players in that place, have been at the center of major wrangles with national impact ranging from the 2000 election to the Terri Schiavo affair.

Aspiring faculty sometimes worry that they will not find good research assistants outside a top ten law school. It's true that I don't hear stories about students writing papers that professors then publish under their own name as I did when I was a law student at Yale. But if you are looking for a research assistant rather than a ghost writer then my experience suggests this is not a serious problem if you teach a first-year class. As a teacher in the larger first year classes you can identify the students who are good and who fit your style before they get too caught up in other things. Some of them will get on law review, and will be too busy to work for you; some of those that don’t will work downtown for higher pay than the law school can offer, but usually there's someone you will be happy to have who will be happy to have the job in their second or third year. I can’t claim that every research assistant I’ve had has been stellar, but I can say that some of them were amazing — and that they are harder to find when I don't teach first years.

5. Research support

Research support exists to make it easier for you to write. The most important part of UM's research support is its excellent law library. But it doesn't stop there: In addition to the collection itself, we have a staff of helpful law librarians who seem happiest when given difficult research requests. There's a document delivery service which will get you any book or article you ask for and deliver it to your office within a day if it's on campus or a few days if it must be sent from far away. (One down side: you can gain weight from the loss of movement caused by having everything come to you.)

At conferences I sometimes hear stories about places where senior colleagues try to tell tenure-track faculty what to write about (or, worse, forbid certain topics or styles). We don't do that. If anything, we have erred in the other direction — tip-toeing around junior faculty sensibilities so much that we may have provided insufficient mentoring, In an effort to do better in that department, the faculty now enjoys the services of a “director of faculty development” — yours truly as of a few weeks ago — whose job will be to help colleagues (and especially pre-tenure colleagues) with their research and writing by identifying resources, serving as a sounding board, or just staying out of the way.

In addition, every faculty member has an office budget which allows you to hire a research assistant, books and supplies, and to travel to conferences. Each of these budgets is fairly generous, and the Associate Dean has discretionary funds to add to them up for good cause. In my experience, any cause I can bring myself to ask about has been treated as a good one.

6. The University

A generation ago it was “Suntan U”. Today, under the (very) energetic leadership of Donna Shalala and an impressive suite of Deans, the University of Miami is joining the ranks of the leading research universities in the USA. For openers, President Shalala raised $1 billion for the University. YES, $1 BILLION. Now that it's in the bank, she's warming up for a new round of fund-raising. The lion's share of the first round went to the medical school, but the rumor is that the law school might be able to claim a bigger share of the next round.

More importantly, the past couple of decades have seen a transformation in the quality of both the students and the faculty in the arts and sciences. It's become hard for students to get in; and departments such as History, Psychology, Business, and Sociology have attracted faculties that include a wealth of potential collaborators, adding to existing strengths in Medicine and Communications. Both the law school and the University encourage inter-disciplinary collaboration. The law school has begun to take advantage of these resources (I, for example, am working with a team on health privacy issues that includes participants from both the Business School and the Med School), but there's much waiting for you that remains untapped.

7. Perks

The law school wants to support your research, and we try to put our money where our mouth is. Entry-level faculty can apply for a summer research grant before starting work in order to prepare their courses. We light-load you (usually only one course per semester) during your first year to give you time to find your feet. You'll get a summer grant as of right every summer until tenure to encourage you to write — after that you'll have to submit proposals and make good on them too. And you're entitled to a semester's leave before tenure, more or less in the term of your choice, in order to help you write.

The law school is located on a very beautiful campus in the center of suburban Coral Gables, itself a very pleasant city with excellent restaurants. Rumor has it that in the old days the university administration spent more on landscaping than books; whatever the truth, there's no question that the campus is very nice to look at. It also sports a state-of-the-art gym that's about three minutes walk from the law school around our picturesque lake (crocodile optional). The campus sports other useful amenities, including a faculty club, a food court, and an on-campus daycare.

8. Miami

Miami is a cosmopolitan city. Part of its identity is as the defacto capitol of Latin America; part is as an artistic and musical center; and then there's the celebrity-and-tourist thing. It's an attractive place for young and old, and — if you take care to live in the right school districts, or have kids who qualify for the right magnet schools, or are ok with private schools — a pretty easy place for the middle-aged pater and mater familias. Like many sunbelt cities, Miami is more sprawling mosaic than urban core and periphery. Both urban and suburban living are within easy reach of the campus. Our politics are fascinating and complex, with much political power held by first and second generation immigrants from Cuba, and to a lesser degree Haiti, and Central America. The region now enjoys a lively cultural life, with a rich music and dance scene and some creditable small theater companies. If you prefer nature to culture, there's always the nearby Everglades as well as world-class coral reefs for diving just south of Miami.

If your work involves domestic issues, you will find them in Miami, which is the city of the future in ways both good and bad. Along with our glitz you will find us on the cutting edge of today's and tomorrow's political and social issues: immigration, environmental (think “Everglades restoration”), medical (think “retirees”), and all the social questions that big cities produce.

Housing costs tend to be high, but many other living costs are low and there is no state income tax. The University has, however, taken bold steps to address the housing issue by offering new hires a deal in which the university will subsidize part of your home purchase in exchange for a proportionate share in the equity when you sell, an offer that puts many nice homes within reach.

9. Weather

Miami's weather is glorious for almost half the year; variable for another chunk, and miserable in the dog days of summer and early Fall. The good news is that much (but not all) of the miserable part comes when the law school is not in session, so you can escape if you choose. When the weather is nice, our central courtyard, the “bricks,” becomes the social center of the community, a place where students and faculty mingle between classes. Even office rats like me end up looking healthier than the wan, pale, parka-clad figures I see huddling on the Boston subway. For those with outdoor ambitions, you can live on Miami Beach, or just enjoy the sea view from a balcony in a tower apartment in downtown Brickel.

10. The revolution is coming

The next five years will see a radical transformation in the faculty, and perhaps the style, of University of Miami School of Law. We have at least six open jobs at present, with the likelihood of much more turnover as faculty retire (couples welcome!). The next three to five years' appointments, including that of our next Dean, stand a good chance of determining the future course of the school for a generation to come.

At present we have only ten full-time faculty under 50, and only fourteen between 50 and 60; the remaining 17 are over sixty, including some very much over sixty. Our hiring is resolutely in compliance with the age discrimination in employment act (of our last six entry-level hires, two were very experienced lawyers well over 40), but given the overall composition of the entry-level market, it is likely that this age profile will change dramatically in the next few years.

What this means for our new hires is that they will find themselves at the heart of their new community — and have a chance to lead it — much earlier in their careers than they might otherwise. The coming turnover in the faculty, coupled with this year's Dean search introduces an element of uncertainty about what we'll be like in the future that may not be to everyone's taste. Fortunately, the faculty is engaged in a strategic planning exercise this year which means that any new hires will be spared that chore at least. At present, the law school enjoys a nearly unique chance to reinvent itself, and people with ideas and energy should find all the breathing room and opportunity they want. I hope that people reading this will come join us in building something wonderful.

All that is very well, but honesty compels me to say that there are also some reasons why not everyone may be happy here. Indeed, there are three main reasons why you should not teach here:

1. Weather

If skiing is your passion, and neither waterskiing nor snorkeling are substitutes, then Miami may make you sad. It's hot and very humid here from July until the heat breaks sometime in October or September. That means you can have up to three and half months when it's not much fun to go outside. Plus, occasionally we get weather with a name. But we don't get snowstorms, avalanches, earthquakes, random tornadoes, floods, or mudslides. If you want immunity to natural disasters, move to Rhode Island.

2. Language

Many people in South Florida speak Spanish as their first (and often only) language. The campus is Anglo — although some of the bilingual staff and students will speak Spanish to each other — so this is not a work issue. But it is a life issue: you will hear lots of Spanish in the stores and on AM radio. If you are the sort of person who can't cope with foreign languages around you, there's a strong chance you will not be happy here. I don't speak Spanish, and I only found it a noticeable handicap for my first few weeks here, when I would get lost driving around and stop at a store for directions, then wait impatiently while they went to find the English-speaker. It's a non-issue today unless I happen to go bargain shopping for some exotic household good, and indeed contributes to Miami's cosmopolitan vibe.

3. Geography

It's flat here — no mountains (and houses have no basements). More seriously, it's also far from many of the legal nerve centers. If you're doing national work and you are having meetings related to it, odds are the meeting will neither be in Miami nor even within driving distance. That means air travel. And while we have great direct air connections to most of the world and the law school is generous with travel support, we do not have a working time machine. Given the post-9/11 security regime at airports, and the increasing vagaries of air travel generally, it is rarely possible to have a meeting in New York or Washington without spending the night out of town. That can mean having to reschedule a class (something we allow for good causes), which is a pain for you and even more of one for your students. It certainly means that doing national committee work is always a substantial time commitment. It is almost 500 miles to the state line, and then where are you? Somewhere between Tallahassee and Moultrie, Ga.

As I said at the outset of this essay, this year I am not on either our entry-level or lateral hiring committees. But if you find the positives outweigh the negatives and have an interest in coming here, I'd still be happy to try to answer any further questions you might have, either in comments to this entry or by private email.

Local Governments Eye Wifi Monitoring

Today's Herald runs a big scare story on how pedophiles use wifi (sort of like they use telephones, cameras and cars, isn't it?), Wi-Fi helps child porn exchanges thrive.

Along side it is a somewhat more balanced story, Local governments try to balance security, privacy. There are a few interesting quotes, including these:

As the Internet becomes a more common way of accessing medical records, political activity and financial transactions, groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation argue that government utilities have no business peeking into their residents' records.

“It's tremendously important that we don't capture or record what websites people are going to,” said Michael Froomkin, a University of Miami law professor and member of both the foundation's advisory board and Alvarez's steering committee.

Stored personal information can be used in a variety of intrusive ways, he said, whether illegally snatched by an unscrupulous employee or legally sold to marketers seeking to target their ads.

Miami Beach hopes to launch wireless service later this year, which — unlike the county's project — will be free to residents and visitors. Software will watch for suspicious activity and track where users are located but not which websites they visit.

“If any such monitoring reveals criminal activity, that could be turned over to authorities, but this is not like Big Brother,” said Miami Beach spokeswoman Nannette Rodriguez.

What is “suspicious activity” and how is it divorced from where you go on the web? And exactly how is that not like Big Brother? Ms. Rodriguez doesn't explain. If it's volume of use — e.g. high volume email that looks like spammning — I could understand it, although even here there are hard issues: for example, without peeking at the content how do you distinguish a phishing scammer from a person running a political campaign?

Hurricane Season

from Frank Kaiser's “Suddenly Senior” mailing list, the “Top Ten Reasons Hurricane Season Is Like Christmas”

10. Decorating the house (boarding up windows).
9. Dragging out boxes that haven't been used since last season (camping gear, flashlights).
8. Last minute shopping in crowded stores.
7. Regular TV shows preempted for “specials”.
6. Family coming to stay with you.
5. Family and friends from out-of-state calling.
4. Buying food you don't normally buy … and in large quantities.
3. Days off from work.
2. Candles.

1. And the number-one reason Hurricane Season is like Christmas…At some point you know you're going to have a tree in your house!

On a more serious note, we're having an African dust storm this weekend, straight from the Sahara Desert, which seems to have some dampening effect on hurricanes, or be correlated with one.

In general, Saharan dust storms, which generally arrive between June and August and can shroud sunsets in a pale yellow haze, can be our friend:

For reasons not completely understood, the dust storms or the meteorological conditions that accompany them tend to suppress the development of hurricanes.

''They somehow work on cloud mechanisms,'' Prospero said.

Moreover, they help build Florida — literally.

Top soil in much of the state includes copious amounts of reddish African dust, deposited over countless eons.

''Africa is contributing to our soils here in Florida,'' Prospero said. “What you are seeing is geology at work, very slowly.''

A Day in the Park in Didsbury

I am currently in East Didsbury. Didsbury is a little village which has been subsumed into greater Manchester and now falls just within the outer limits of the city. Long known as a home to academics from the nearby University of Manchester, in recent years Didsbury, or at least West Didsbury which is the other part of town, is also gradually becoming something of a fashionable home to media figures of various degrees of fame. The formerly sleepy village center has long enjoyed a first-class cheese shop, the Cheese Hamlet, but in recent years has also accumulated an increasing number of nice restaurants with a variety of Asian and Mediterranean cuisines.

On Saturday we walked a few blocks to a local park which was the setting for the annual village fair. In addition to rides for the kids, there were dozens of booths either raising funds for good causes (mostly local schools) or publicizing good causes (everything from local history to Amnesty International and helping Darfur). What particularly struck me, however, was the large sign on the booth that had the most prominent location by the entrance, “Free the Miami Five”.

The booth, it seems, belonged to the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, a group that sports three web sites, and which has gotten very worked up about the trial of five Cuban agents convicted in 2001 of conspiracy and being foreign agents. From what I recall of the trial — being here on a slow and expensive dial-up link I'm not going to look up the details (but invite commentators to do so) — there were valid questions about whether a Miami jury could give alleged Cuban agents a fair trial, or whether the trial should be moved elsewhere. And, if I recall, not all the judges who looked at the issue were of the same view. And although, from what I recall, the basic mechanics of the trial were fair, a reasonable person could question the decision as to the jury. In fact, my knee-jerk reaction — not knowing the facts of how the actual jury was selected, which I'm sure might change my mind — is that a change of venue to somewhere less reflexively anti-Castro might have been a pretty good idea to ensure the fairness of the jury pool.

What's odd, though, is to pick on this case, of all the justice-related issues in the USA (much less the world), as the one to make an issue of in a park in East Didsbury. If I were going to try to get the good people of Didsbury worked up about a US justice issue, or a Cuba-related justice issue, I might start with Guantanamo. Somewhere not too far down the list we might have the treatment of political dissidents in Cuba itself. Or maybe the move in Florida to cut the pay of court-appointed defenders in order to save a buck and make sure that they can't afford to mount much of a defense. The “Miami 5,” for all that there may be a question about the underlying fairness of the jury selection for their trial, would not be near the head of my list.

I have no idea to what extent the “Cuba Solidarity Campaign” represents something genuine among the British soft left, or to what extent it is funded by the Cuban government or whatever remains of the Communist International. Despite its location, their booth didn't seem to be nearly as popular as the ones offering used books, or the various tombolas, or the one selling very good Indian snacks. Still, “Free the Miami 5” was a funny first thing to see at at the Didsbury fair.

It Figures

As everyone knows, Deborah Jeane Palfrey is accused of running a Washington DC. escort service that fronted for a prostitution ring. Her defense strategy is to get ABC to help her to identify her clients (from her phone records), so that she can then call them and have them testify that that they did not have sex with that woman (or man?). Palfrey's version is that her perfectly legal sexual fantasy escort service sent folks who had a contract with her promising not to break the law, and she would be shocked to learn otherwise — and wants the big-name DC types to back her up.

The Miami angle in all this is her lawyer, who it seems came up with this weird but in some sense clever defense strategy, is one Montgomery Blair Sibley who, while admitted in Florida, is facing disbarment for being a being a “vexatious litigant” — in Miami!. His other claim to local fame is that he enjoyed 77 days in a Miami jail for refusing to pay child support.

And according to The Colorful Case of A Well-Named Lawyer, his father is “Harper Sibley Jr., one of the richer and more powerful developers in Florida.”

Somehow it seems right that there would be a Miami link to a good sex & politics scandal.

Surviving Miami Cop Stops

The Justice Building Blog's “Rumpole” had a satiric posting the other day about how to survive Miami cop stops:

When Stopped by a Metro Dade Police Officer, it is recommended to fold the fifty behind the license and place the thumb over the money and the forefinger over the license. Hand the license to the officer and discretely slide the currency into the officer’s palm. Those of you that have been to Joes and not waited long for a table know how to do it.

When stopped by the City Of Miami or Miami Beach, it is appropriate to immediately advise the officer of any special medical conditions so that they may beat you in a manner that does not aggravate the injury. The City of Miami Beach specifically recommends that you place your wallet in your hand and curl into a fetal position. When the “appropriate amount of force necessary to subdue the unruly motorist” has been applied, Miami Beach requests that the payment to the officer be proffered prior to the arrival of Fire Rescue.

Hialeah and many departments in Broward like to taser their drivers as a way of “warming up” the parties, however quick thinking motorists can negotiate a lower voltage with a private chat with the officer before the taser is used.

Here are a few other “Do’s” and “Don’ts”:

Do: alert the office to any unusually large amount of drugs or money in the car.

Don’t: offer to split the dope with the cop.

Do: Comment on the professionalism and courtesy the officer exhibits when you are pulled over.

Don’t: mention Rodey King, Arthur McDuffie, Officer Lozano, Johnny Cochran, or any type of Ticket Clinic.

Harry Castro, former brother-in-law of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, said Miami-Dade cops beat him up early Easter morning — in an apparent case of mistaken identity.

…

Police ordered Castro out of the Mercedes at gunpoint. Castro was trying to unbuckle his seat belt when officers yanked him from the car and slapped on handcuffs.

''They started beating the hell out of him,'' [his lawyer] said. “They kicked him in the side. They kicked him in the head. His face is completely swollen, one eye is black and blue and purple and almost completely swollen shut. There's road rash all over his face.''

So maybe Rumpole wasn't kidding?

Time for Some Enterprise Journalism on Campus

UM undergrads have, it is said, the highest indebtedness of any students in the USA. (It must be more than the high tuition — something about the lifestyle….)

Which makes it all more important for some local student journalist to find out if there is a local angle to this national story about student lenders and their sweetheart deals with college loan officers. The idea was to seduce or bribe the loan officers into steering student borrowers to certain companies, rather than those with the best deals. The New York Times has had a series of stories about these dubious deals (here's the latest), concentrating on NY area universities.

What I want to know is whether anything like that happened here at UM. Not that I have the least fact to suggest that it did. But given the size of the student body and its propensity for debt, we do seem like a natural market for that sort of thing. Were university loan officers contacted? If so, did they give in to blandishment or take the high road?

Too Little, Too Late

The Miami Herald did something weird this weekend. After weeks of totally ignoring the story about the homeless people forced to live under a bridge because they are sex offenders who are barred from living in the housing they might afford, the Herald finally published something about it. The story was first exposed by the New Times, the local alternative weekly (see How Can We Tolerate This? and Bridge to Nowhere) about a month ago. This weekend the Herald finally published something — the AP version of a national story. And nowhere does the Herald mention that it was scooped weeks ago by its local rival. [Note: above edited for clarity.]

I presume the Herald ran the AP piece since it was running nationally. But that doesn't explain the shameful total lack of interest for an entire month. Surely the Herald ought to have someone on this story?

Bridge to Nowhere

You may recall a post last week — How Can We Tolerate This? — pointing out a New Times exposé that Miami was requiring homeless sex offenders, whose housing options are severely constrained by local ordinances, to sleep under a bridge on pain of arrest if they were not found there when regularly monitored by their probation officer.

I thought that was pretty disgusting. And that the article was in the grand tradition of muckraking journalism.

One week later, we can now see the effects of this public shaming. Miami officialdom has swung into action:

Following revelations by New Times that a parking lot under the State Road 836 bridge was being used by probation officers as a dumping ground for homeless sex offenders — and that the lot was located within 2500 feet of eight schools, in violation of a county ordinance — two men were moved from under the bridge and placed … under another bridge. Their new home is under the Julia Tuttle Causeway. Surrounded by water, palm trees, and endless traffic, they now, presumably, reside a legal distance from schools.

…

Florida Department of Corrections officers who ordered the men to live in the parking lot won't face punitive actions, DOC spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said in an e-mail. “We are one piece of the puzzle,” Plessinger wrote. “The issue of how Miami-Dade, Florida, and this country deal with sex offenders is one that must be addressed not only by the DOC, but by lawmakers, the court system, and the community as a whole.”

We are, some say, judged by how we treat the least and worst among us. At this point, we can only hope that view is mistaken.

U. Miami Makes Top 20 in New Law School Ranking

I've yet to see a ranking system for law school that I trust. Leiter's was the least bad, and it had problems. US News is so badly constructed that it's a joke, and the fact that it now is morphing into a self-referential feedback loop just makes it worse (studies show that USN rankings increasingly define reputations, and a lot of the USN ranking is based on … reputation).

But if we're going to have biased ranking systems, I prefer those that are biased in our direction. So may I introduce you to the Lawdragon 25 Leading Law Schools, based on where members of the Lawdragon 500s graduated from law school. They put the University of Miami School of Law at #18 in their rankings.

Which sounds great, but shouldn't be taken too seriously. Even if we trusted Lawdragon to tell us who the best lawyers in the US are, the survey is strongly biased to large schools, since it compares total number of law school alumni among the 'elite' without discounting for school size.

But that bias works for us, so I guess now we can claim to be a “top 20 law school”.

Realistically, however, I would not put UM among the top 20 US law schools if only because we don't have the resources that come with the sort of massive endowment the top 20 schools tend to have, and because first year classes here are very big.

For what it's worth, I do think that we ought to be somewhere low in the second 20. US News, which is as biased against size (and location in provincial legal markets) as Law Dragon is biased for bigness, ranked UM at 65 — a massive problem for the school. Average the two scores [ (18+65)/2 = 41.5] and you get something more plausible although not methodologically defensible.

How Can We Tolerate This?

“The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets or steal bread.”
— Anatole France

Well, not in Miami, baby.

In Miami, the law in its majestic stupidity and evil requires three poor people to sleep under a bridge.

Yes. Really.

The Miami New Times has the story:

Swept Under the Bridge — It's 5:45 a.m. and still completely dark when a car pulls off NW Twelfth Avenue and makes its way silently through the complex of streets just south of the county criminal court. The car turns into the jury parking lot, otherwise completely empty. It creeps past the massive concrete pillars under the State Road 836 bridge, makes an abrupt turn, and stops. The door opens and a stocky, middle-aged man exits. He walks over to a pile of cardboard, bends down, picks up a flap, and peeps. Then he does the same to a pile of rags. Finally he re-enters his car and leaves. After a minute, the rags and cardboard begin to stir — three men stand up and begin packing their things.

The men are convicted sex offenders. The car, which visits every morning before dawn, belongs to Benito Casal, a state Department of Corrections (DOC) probation officer who enforces their 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. curfew. If they aren't under the bridge between those hours, he will have them hunted down and arrested.

…

Court files, DOC documents, and probation case notes reveal that state authorities are not only aware the three sleep at the location just north of the Miami River — they sent them there. Unable or unwilling to find housing for the offenders as they left prison, probation officers Benito Casal, Kimilyn Cohen, and Robert Leiry began sending them to the bridge more than six months ago. Several circuit court judges may have known of the placement. Miami-Dade Police are aware of their location as well. Two of them list their address in the county's sex crimes bureau database as NW Twelfth Avenue and Twelfth Street, and the third is incorrectly registered as living at his victim's address.

…

The idea to stash offenders under the bridge seems to have originated within a county probation office; very possibly it was Casal himself who started the practice. On June 12, 2006, Casal's notes indicate that he notified the court that “if the subject is released without a residence, I will have to place him under the bridge….” Sanchez would be sharing the location, the probation officer added, “with another sex offender that is residing there.” The other offender is not identified, and it's unclear whether there were others before him.

On August 17, 2006, Casal ordered Sanchez under the bridge. But he wasn't acting alone. According to his notes, he informed a probation officer named Ilzee Rabel, who works in Circuit Court Judge Diane Ward's division, of his decision. Whether Ward herself was ever told is unclear. She didn't return several phone calls or an e-mail seeking comment. But one thing is clear: By this past February 9 Casal had visited the site near the child abuse center at least 118 times to enforce Sanchez's curfew.

That's right: the government is requiring people — maybe people who are very not nice, but still people — to be homeless and to sleep under a bridge.

Repeat: the government is requiring people to be homeless and to sleep under a bridge.

Donna Shalala Gets a New Part-Time Job

President Bush today appointed former senator Bob Dole and former health and human services secretary Donna E. Shalala to co-chair a new presidential commission that will look into problems at the nation's military and veterans' hospitals.

Sometimes Miami Law Is Just Like on TV

I like to tell prospective and incoming law students that real-life law is nothing like what you see on TV. But the trouble is, we live in Miami, a place where much more often than it should be real-life law is just as wacky as what you see on TV.

Take for example this account of the past five days in the annals of Miami Law:

(1) a murder trial in which the witnesses give credible evidence that detectives threatened them (including in one case threatening to take the witness's kids into care) in order to get them to give perjured testimony incriminating the defendant — but the increasingly pathetic-looking Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office says it has no intention of investigating whether the cops are bent;

(2) another murder case that lacked a body now features a lead detective who, on the witness stand, was made to admit to sleeping with a key witness.

(3) A local lawyer who runs a massive ticket-fixing business shot and killed an armed mugger by using the handgun he keeps in the glove compartment of his black Mercedes.

In other local traffic news, six-year-old girl foils carjacker by beating on him

“I smacked him on the head with my book”.

(4) Local Hollywood Police Chief James Scarberry blew a three-year-long FBI sting operation into corruption by officers on his force by blabbing about it to at other cops and local politicians. Not surprisingly, word quickly got out to the prime suspects who immediately tried to resign, stopping the investigation into their associates in its tracks and wasting a giant amount of police work. When first confronted about it the Chief told the press a series of lies, which he's gradually been recanting.

(5) A prominent local builder was jailed yesterday, charged with embezzling public funds to buy a sculpture of a giant watermelon slice. He very vigorously contests the charges, and was photographed giving the finger to a reporter.

Local slice of life

(6) Cops arrest blogging photojournalist for taking crime scene photos.

(Post inspired by Justice Building Blog.)

Do-It-Yourself Book Banning in Miami Schools

Local uber-blog Stuck on the Palmetto reported it first: Book Banning: Business As Usual In Miami-Dade County (UPDATED).

It seems some parents are tired of waiting for the school board to hear their complaints, so they are seizing copies of a book that is insufficiently anti-Cuban for their tastes from right off the school shelves. Not state action here — pure vigilantism.

And the Herald got there eventually.

NOVA Behaving Badly

The University of Miami may not have behaved as well as one might wish in dealing with the demands of its striking janitors last year, and worse with students who supported the union, but at the end of the day the University stepped up to the plate and offered a decent contract.

The same cannot be said about Nova Southeastern University, which is engaged in a very unfortunate — I almost wrote something much worse — campaign to prevent a similar unionization of its workers. Their jobs are being handed off to new sub-contractors. Workers active in the union movement are not being rehired by these new contractors.

Coverage of NOVA behaving badly can be found in the article linked right above, and in Better wages, healthcare not enough, a column by Ana Menendez.

Rumpole on the Rampage

The Justice Building Blog, a gossipy yet serious attempt to talk about what happens in the local courts, is on a bit of a roll recently: I recommend both Diary of a Mad Jurist and Traffic.Parking (about how to improve conditions in traffic court). Having been through it recently, I especially like the idea of moving traffic ticket soundings (in which the magistrate offers most offenders a plea — usually, so many dollars, no points) online. But I wonder if the proposed rule about never allowing continuances isn't a bit harsh. Even the feds allow them for illness, for example.

On the other hand, I do think that last week's post about the TV exposé of local cops is a bit late (unless maybe the local station is doing reruns?). I wrote about it a year ago.

Love & Traffic Court

Today's Miami Herald has a cute Valentine's Day story about a Broward County couple finding love in traffic court.

When I went to traffic court a couple of weeks ago, all I got was my ticket dismissed. And as the cop didn't show up, I didn't even get to explain why the ticket — supposedly for stopping several inches beyond the line at a stop sign but in fact for behaving legally in a manner not enjoyed by a police officer — was an outrage. So much for my first pro se appearance in court…

Note to self: if you wear a tie to traffic court in Miami, they all think you are a lawyer representing someone else.

Pres. Shalala does Colbert

UM President Donna Shalala appeared on the Colbert show the other day. She endorsed Sen. Clinton for President, agreed with Colbert that Iran is supporting terrorists and (with a little prompting) that they are “absolutely” the enemy and said she was against universal health care.

The high point of this fairly dismal segment may have been when Pres. Shalala said she brought her own pillow to cabinet meetings in the Clinton administration. Unfortunately, this was not because the meetings were so dull, nor it seems for pillow fights, but just to sit on. Or perhaps it was when she got that frightened look in her eye — surely a rare event — as Colbert asked this former President of the University of Wisconsin to imitate the sound a cheese curd makes when you bite it.

Please Help Me Debunk Superbowl Tailgate Rumor

There's this rumor going around that I refuse to believe. Please help me debunk it.

The story -- related to me at dinner in all seriousness by a serious person who convinced me that he believed it-- is that Homeland Security have banned tailgate parties at the Super Bowl, which you may have heard is being held in Miami this year.

I've been somewhat distressed to see how meekly Americans put up with 'security theater' requirements that restrict their freedoms while adding at best minuscule amounts to actual security. But if the day comes when football fans will give up their tailgate parties due to some diktat from Homeland Security, well, that's the day that I'll have to admit beyond peradventure that the people who hate our freedoms have won.

I did a little google search and can't find anything which suggests such a limit might be in force, which strengthens my belief that this is an urban legend. (I did find some fun debunking of other Super Bowl related urban legends.)

I did find this long list of security restrictions on what you can bring into Dolphin Stadium but I don't read this as applying to the parking areas where the tailgate parties happen.

SUPER BOWL GAME DAY RESTRICTIONS

Every person attending Super Bowl XLI at Dolphin Stadium is required to have a ticket, regardless of age or size.

Screening Procedures for Those Attending Super Bowl XLI

Security screening at Dolphin Stadium will be significantly heightened for the Super Bowl. Many items usually permitted in NFL events will not be allowed into the Super Bowl. The National Football League and the Miami-Dade Police Department strongly recommend that spectators minimize the number and size of all items carried into the Stadium.

All items carried by spectators will be carefully inspected and potentially not allowed into the Stadium. Spectators are urged to bring nothing larger than a very small purse or bag. The NFL, Dolphin Stadium and the Miami-Dade Police Department will not hold prohibited or excluded items for spectators.

Safety and security of all fans is still at the forefront in preparation for Super Bowl XLI.

THE FOLLOWING ITEMS CANNOT BE BROUGHT INTO DOLPHIN STADIUM:

Weapons, Knives and Explosives
Fireworks
Camcorders
Laser Lights and Pointers
Strollers
Inflatables (Beach Balls, etc.)
Throwing Objects (Footballs, etc.)
Poles or Sticks
Banners
Animals (Except Service Animals)
Noisemakers and Horns
Food and Beverages
Containers of any type:

* Coolers (of any size)
* Bottles
* Cans, Hairspray
* Camera and Binocular Cases/Tripods
* Mace / Pepper Spray

* Backpacks
* Duffel and Grocery Bags
* Luggage

Additional Information

Size Requirements -- All permissible items carried by spectators must measure no more then 12 inches x 12 inches x 12 inches.

Cameras and Binoculars -- Small cameras and binoculars will be allowed. Camera cases and binocular cases of any size are prohibited. No spectator cameras with lenses over six inches (6") long will be permitted. Again, camcorders will be prohibited.

Electronic devices -- Spectators are strongly urged not to bring electronic devices of any sort into the Stadium. Any electronic device will be thoroughly inspected causing delays of the individual spectator, as well as other patrons. Electronic devices include, but are not limited to, cellular telephones, pagers, miniature televisions and radios, and personal digital assistants (PDA's).

Prohibited items and items determined to be not appropriate for entry into the Stadium will be the responsibility of the ticket holder and cannot be accepted or checked by the NFL, Dolphin Stadium or the Miami-Dade Police Department. We urge spectators to secure these items in vehicles or hotel rooms.

The cooperation, patience and understanding of spectators is greatly appreciated by the National Football League, Dolphin Stadium and the Miami-Dade Police Department. The cooperation of all spectators will greatly aid in the level of security provided to all in attendance at these events.

Undervotes in the Recent Election

Looks like I wasn't the only person to notice the weirdly high rate of undervotes in the special election. But could you imagine a more belittling treatment than this story in the Herald today?

More than 1,000 Miami-Dade residents failed to cast a vote, or had a vote that did not count, in Tuesday's strong-mayor referendum — a tiny percentage of the overall tally but still worrisome to some voter advocates watching the single-question ballot.

Though the difference wasn't anywhere near enough to swing the election — unlike November's disputed Sarasota election to replace Rep. Katherine Harris — the “undervotes” are still a concern, with election-reform advocates leery of touch-screen machines that do not leave paper trails.

“People don't go there and forget what they went for and walk out. I don't buy that,” said Sandy Wayland, president of the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition.

Still, what makes these undervotes different and less sensational than others is that Miami-Dade absentee voters on optical-scan paper ballots cast nearly as high a percentage of undervotes.

an independent study that cites new evidence of machine failure in Sarasota County and concludes that misleading ballot design, voter turnoff and other theories do not account for the “extraordinarily high undervote rate” in the county.

The authors of the report, who said they performed a statistical analysis of electronic ballot and “event log data” from the November election, said they were “unable to propose a convincing mechanism based on voter, machine or ballot characteristics that completely explains the phenomenon.

“In a nutshell,” wrote authors David Dill and Walter Mebane, “the excessive CD-13 undervote rate in Sarasota County is not yet well-understood and will not be understood without further investigation.”

Once again, if you get all your news in print, you're missing out.

Charter Amendment Passes

Here's a table, filched from the county elections office:

CHARTER AMENDMENT

744 of 744 Precincts Completely Reporting
		Percent	Votes
YES		56.48%	84,351
NO		43.52%	64,984
Total			149,335

Wait a minute….

Ballots Cast: 150,399. Votes total 149,335.

More than a thousand people turned up to vote for this (or submitted absentee ballots) and voted blank? What's up with that? Isn't that a remarkably high rate of spoiled e-ballots for an election with exactly ONE question on it?

What If They Gave an Election and Nobody Came?

Early voting and absentees broke about 2:1 in favor of the “strong mayor” but the actual number of votes cast was minuscule. Out of 1,050,581 eligible voters, only 42,171 voted in favor, and 23,197 against, for a spread of under twenty thousand. Today's voters should be a little more numerous, but with 281 of 744 precincts counted, we're only up to a total of 95,987 votes cast, and the election-day vote is split almost 50/50, with a slight edge to the “no” side.

If this trend were to speed up just a bit, it might become another nail-biter; at present rates, though, the “no” vote isn't catching up quite fast enough. Since the votes are not evenly distributed geographically, and I have no real sense of who has reported and who hasn't, I don't think the trend means much, so anything could still happen ….

Update: With 5/7 of the precincts reporting, the yes vote is now slightly ahead even with today's voters. The spread remains small — about 22,000 votes — but that's out of only 126,000 or so cast. Voter turnout is well into double-digit percentages, though, so that's something.

Were Those Miami-Dade Electoral Mailings Fraudulent?

It's election day today on the Charter Reform, and I'm going to vote FOR it. If you're a Miami-Dade County resident and registered to vote, I urge you to do the same. Turnout will be very light so your vote counts more than usual.

Meanwhile, it's business as usual.

Fraudulent mailings is an old Miami tradition, and it looks as if the lurid mailings I blogged about the other day could be in keeping with tradition.

At least, that's the story at Eye On Miami, FRAUD ALERT in Miami! Political Action Committees and mass mailing by geniusofdespair. It seems that the “Citizens for Unity and Common Rights PAC” is remarkably hard to find. And that its main protagonist, supposedly one Bernardo Bestard, is also sort of hard to find — and has a remarkably protean signature.

Why Not Blame the Boss?

Judge Moore had refused to grant a continuance in the past. This time, he granted the government's request for a continuance, but he was not happy about it. Apparently the government threatened to dismiss the entire indictment if the continuance wasn't granted. Both sides have reason to be upset — the defense prepared for trial, made reservations for hotels in the Keys, flew in witnesses and so on because this was a firm trial date. The prosecution is rightfully upset because the lead prosecutor has been ill and in the hospital, which is, of course, good cause to continue the case.

Here's what I want to know: neither the DBR nor Mr. Markus connect this fiasco to the current, rather inexperienced, management at the Southern District. Yet, one of the many things that went wrong, and which the full article makes clear angered the judge, is that the number two lawyer on the case left the US Attorney's office some time ago, but apparently no one told the other side or the court. And when the lead lawyer got ill, there was no backstop in place, the government was at the last minute unprepared for trial, and it had no choice but to say it would dismiss if a continuance wasn't granted.

Why isn't this sort of management failure exactly the sort of thing that should be the responsibility of Mr. R. Alexander Acosta, who despite relative youth and rather thin credentials was parachuted into the job over the heads of the deputy US attorney, who had about 20 years of experience, and was recommended by the previous incumbent?

I'm not and never have been a prosecutor, so the question is more than rhetorical. Anyone know?

Miami-Dade 'Strong Mayor' Initiative (herein of Lurid Campaign Brochures)

We're having an election this Tuesday here in Miami-Dade County. Indeed voting started several days ago. But you'd hardly know it from the coverage, which until the last couple of days has been almost non-existent, and still remains quite light.

Voter turnout is expected to be minimal. Yet the issue — who should hold the whip hand over the top officials in the county bureaucracy and thus have effective control of major decisions in s spending and public policy — is an important and difficult one. We currently enjoy (if that's the term) a 'weak mayor' form of county government that gives the County Commission great power to hire and especially fire major county bureaucrats, including the county manager, and the people who run the airport, the schools, the housing department and so on. It's fair to say that the performance of many of these departments is poor on good days and frequently appalling. And in my opinion perhaps the biggest reason for the unacceptable level of incompetence, cronyism, and corruption is the influence of patronage and influence networks (or, if you prefer, patronage and graft networks) in which the members of the county commission figure prominently as ringleaders or beneficiaries. Not all of this is illegal; some of it involves legal graft, called campaign contributions. Some of it is even the dysfunctional result of sincere attempts to achieve various policy outcomes, something which around here seems to produce disorganization when originating from a multi-member body.

Given the mess, three's an enormous temptation to say change, any change, surely must be to the good. Unfortunately, there are also some reasons to fret about what a 'strong major' would be emboldened to do. While the incumbent mayor strikes me as more honest and competent than the dominant faction on the Commission, this is far far from inevitable. And the long-run political implications are not ideal either — the county Mayor becomes a significant political force in the state, which given who they have been is not all that attractive a prospect.

As you might expect, the public debate, to the extent we are having one, has little to do with the real issues. There's a danger of the Mayor doing a lot of bad things; it's hard to imagine him stealing more than the current crowd, if only because there's only one of him and many of them.

As I mentioned, the campaign has been surprisingly invisible. So far, I've gotten exactly two pieces of direct mail in this election. Both came yesterday, and both are from the anti-amendment faction, the people who want to keep the status quo in place, one characterized by cronyism, corruption and inaction by the Commission. Not that you'd guess it from this classic piece of Rovian-class projection. I'm posting small images below; each is a link to a larger .pdf image.

First mailer:

Front:


Back:

Second mailer:

Front:


Back:

As I said, the mailers are something between hilarious and dishonest, since at present it's the Commission that is more implicated in the corruption infesting the county bureaucracy.

• Eye on Miami, For Strong Mayor by gimleteye
• 26th Parallel, Strong Mayor
• Coral Gables View, A Strong Mayor-County Manager Government for Miami-Dade
• Gay South Florida, Alvarez's stance angers Christian coalition
• CityDebate.com, Strong Mayor Needed To Clip The Wings Of An Arrogant And Out Of Control Miami-Dade County Commission

Some of those authors express reservations, ones which I tend to share, but even so on balance I think I'm for it. The Commission has failed to meet too many local challenges. (Over?) centralizing responsibility will at least make it easier to know exactly who to blame.

Congratulations to FIU and Barry Law Schools

Word has just reached me (code for: I started reading the stuff piled in my "in" box) that FIU and Barry law schools both achieved full ABA accreditation in December.

Congratulations to all. The FIU achievement is particularly impressive, as they did it in the minimum time possible under the rules.

Miami Is a State of Mind

So it seems that this very respectable law prof from another university reads this blog. And what does he send me? A link to this:

Overheard in New York

To Make Her Crazy Enough to Fit In:

Chick #1: I didn't get into any of the colleges on the east coast I applied to. I'm so bummed.
Chick #2: But you got into Miami -- that's pretty cool.
Chick #1: But that's not on the east coast. I'm going to have to get a passport and some crazy shots to go there.

--W 10th & Bleecker

Miami: Beachcombing Was Never Like This

Miami Herald, Big coke float a mystery,

A police officer made an unusual discovery in Hollywood Tuesday: a half-million dollars' worth of cocaine.

The cocaine -- about 37 kilos (more than 81 pounds), wrapped tightly in cellophane -- had likely been at sea for a month before washing ashore at North Beach Park, 3501 N. Ocean Dr., said Capt. Tony Rode, a Hollywood police spokesman.

The cellophane package was coated with barnacles, he said.

Forget those metal detectors on the beach...

We're #1! More's the Pity.

South Florida has been awarded the coveted #1 ranking as the public corruption capital of U.S..

Between 1996 and 2005, a record-setting 576 people were convicted of federal corruption charges in the district that extends from Key West to Sebastian, according to the agency's most recent annual report.

Actually, the award is a bit of a misnomer -- given that it is awarded for the most public officials convicted of corruption, it could easily mean that we're the leader in dumb and corrupt public officials. Maybe in Chicago or DC they are smarter at covering their tracks. Or maybe we have better prosecutors.

In any case, I would like to go on record as saying that this award is unfair to both of the smart, honest, hard-working public officials in South Florida.

I'm sure that there are at least a couple.

I Don't Expect Much Sympathy For This

I don't expect much sympathy for this, but it was so cold out today that I had to wear a sweater. And we're running the heater in the house this evening. I'm told it could get down to to the low 40s (that's a few degrees centigrade) tonight.

We do expect a brief annual cold snap, but never this early in the year.

Miami-Dade Public Library Backsliding on Whitelisting Sites

Back on Dec. 17, 2005, I posted an item entitled Kudos to the Miami-Dade Public Library which said,

I have to praise the Miami-Dade Public Library system. Once I escalated my complaints about their new wireless service they have done almost (but not quite) everything I asked for.

They unblocked digicrime.com from the PC network. They are going to put into place procedures which allow on-the-spot blocking overrides for the laptops they lend out in the library (!). They regret that they don't see a secure means of providing a similar on-the-spot override for users who bring their own laptops, as they think that would 'compromise security'.

But most importantly, they've unblocked port 22 so I can use ssh! And they were very nice about it, too. (Please, nobody mention some of the things you can do with ssh tunnels, ok?)

I'm impressed.

Well, a good chunk of that statement is now inoperative. I am posting this from the Kendall branch, and my attempt to reach digicrime.com just produced this glorious message:

Access to this site is restricted 1

Hacking the site is www.digicrime.com

Not only is this infuriatingly uninformative, but it represents a grave breach of faith with library patrons. How many other whitelisted sites have been surreptitiously re-blocked?

At least ssh is still open...

My Captain's Tavern Post is at 'Critical Miami'

Captain's Tavern, a rare foray into restaurant reviewing, is up at Critical Miami thanks to the Miami Cross Blogination project.

And it already has four comments.

Election Aftermath

We had torrential rain all day yesterday, which undoubtedly depressed turnout in South Florida below the low levels ordinarily expected for unexciting primaries.

The results are interesting but hard to figure. In the process of losing the state, Rod Smith beat Jim Davis in supposedly liberal Miami-Dade -- which certainly surprised me. Did Smith mis-allocate his resources? Or did his voters turn out while Davis's stayed dry?

Katherine Harris won her state senatorial primary, which is just delightful. She was imploding so badly I was starting to worry she might lose to someone without her instinct for political suicide.

Despite a pretty one-sided ballot question, Miami-Dade voters again rejected a proposal to pay their commissioners a decent salary.

State Sen. Alex Villalobos overcame heavy campaigning by Gov. Jeb Bush to beat Frank Bolaños by a slim margin -- the issue was Villalobos's supposed 'treachery' in voting his district rather than following Jeb's orders when Jeb made his final effort to gut Florida's class-size amendment. Villalobos was the deciding vote and Bush was incandescent with anger. Jeb and his pals reportedly spent $2 million trying to punish Villalobos and it (just barely) didn't work.

In my local school board race the incumbent beat off a far-right challenge. And nearby, one of the more complacent figures on the school board got forced into a run-off he'll probably win.

In the judicial races there was a pretty decent result. There's an odd phenomenon going on in South Florida judicial elections: in the past election or three, certain serving judges with strong records -- the kind of people one might hope would cruise to retention unopposed -- have been drawing opponents. In what seems to be crude ethnic politics, the judges drawing opponents are usually those with non-Hispanic names, and the challengers are frequently relatively inexperienced lawyers with Hispanic names. The hypothesis, not disproved by yesterday's results but certainly not strengthened by it either, is that a substantial number of voters just go down the list looking for the Hispanic names. Indeed, a number of non-Hispanic female judges and candidates who happen to be married to Hispanic men have changed their names to hyphenated forms before running.

So how did we do? You can see how I voted. Not everybody I voted for won, but the results were not bad:

County Court Group 1: Patricia Marino-Pedraza;
County Court Group 4: Robin Faber;
County Court Group 9: Victoria Del Pino;
County Court Group 10: Ana Maria Pando;
County Court Group 11: Karen Mills Francis;
County Court Group 12: Steve Leifman;
County Court Group 14: Gloria Gonzalez-Meyer;
County Court Group 27: Shelly Schwartz;
County Court Group 39: Bronwyn Miller:
County Court Group 40: Don Cohn;
County Court Group 43: runoff between Michael Bienstock and Jose Fernandez;
Circuit Court Group 25: Dennis Murphy;
Circuit Court Group 42: Larry Schwartz:
Circuit Court Group 78: runoff between Valerie Manno-Schurr and Jose Sanchez-Gronlier;
Circuit Court Group 79: Tony Marin;
Circuit Court Group 80: runoff between Marisa Tinkler Mendez and Cathy Parks

Ivan Hernandez lost to Robin Faber, which is very good. But Ana Maria Pando crushed Sari Teichman Addicott -- I wonder why?

Judges Shirlyon McWhorter, Mike Samuels, and Bonnie Rippingille were also defeated. But each of the new judges are people with solid credentials -- and in the case of Don Cohn, super-solid credentials. Hispanic-named challengers with little experience managed to get a lot of votes in some cases (which I find a little worrying), but not enough.

Overall a messy result, but not bad for democracy.

Ernesto We Hardly Knew You

Well, talk about anticlimaxes.

But, it's only the beginning of the season:

...TROPICAL WAVES...

AN EASTERN ATLANTIC TROPICAL WAVE IS ALONG 30W/31W S OF 17N MOVING W NEAR 15 KT. LOW-MID LEVEL CLOUD MOTIONS ON NIGHT CHANNEL VIS IMAGES AND THE FIRST FEW VIS IMAGES THIS MORNING SHOW CLEAR CYCLONIC CIRCULATION ABOUT THE WAVE AXIS. CLUSTERS OF SCATTERED MODERATE/ISOLATED STRONG CONVECTION ARE NOTED FROM 6N-14N WITHIN 200NM OF EITHER SIDE OF THE WAVE AXIS...THOUGH SHOWER AND TSTM ACTIVITY REMAINS DISORGANIZED AND ANY FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THIS SYSTEM SHOULD BE SLOW TO OCCUR.

A HIGH AMPLITUDE TROPICAL WAVE IS ALONG 44W S OF 23N MOVING W NEAR 10 KT. A 1012 MB LOW IS ALONG THE WAVE NEAR 16N. SHOWER ACTIVITY WITH THIS SYSTEM IS LIMITED...AND DEVELOPMENT...IF ANY...IS EXPECTED TO BE SLOW TO OCCUR AS THE LOW MOVES WESTWARD. A COUPLE SMALL CLUSTERS OF SCATTERED MODERATE CONVECTION ARE SEEN IN THE VICINITY OF THE SURFACE LOW FROM 15N-19N BETWEEN 42W-46W.

Ernesto Advances Slowly

Grey, very grey, overcast. Drippy with occasional bouts of rain, but not thing violent--yet. The center hasn't made landfall yet, and the new track is a little west of us anyway, so I may not see the worst of it, (although some models have landfall only a few miles south of here). In any case, it seems to have decided to top out at tropical storm levels.

As Forecaster Pasch put it,

Discussion: Tropical Storm Ernesto: DURING THE DAY...ERNESTO BECAME SOMEWHAT MORE ORGANIZED-LOOKING ON RADAR AND SATELLITE IMAGES. RECENTLY ... HOWEVER ... THE PRESENTATION HAS BECOME A BIT RAGGED-LOOKING ON THE IMAGERY. FLIGHT-LEVEL WINDS HAVE NOT INCREASED...AND THE FALL IN CENTRAL PRESSURE THIS AFTERNOON WAS ROUGHLY COMMENSURATE WITH THE TYPICAL SEMI-DIURNAL PRESSURE CHANGE. IN OTHER WORDS ... ERNESTO IS NOT STRENGTHENING. IT IS SOMEWHAT PUZZLING WHY THE TROPICAL CYCLONE HAS NOT INTENSIFIED TODAY.

Update (6pm): The rain got here.

The Best Laid Plans

Miami will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday.

No, not just the public schools and the university, although we're closed for two days. Pretty much the whole town.

And the joke is that

• the Ernesto forecast has (for now) been demoted to a tropical storm until it gets to points far north of us and
• the storm has slowed a bit: even on the original track it wasn't supposed to hit until late Tuesday afternoon.

False alarms are nowhere as bad as the real thing, but I find that the irregular procession of even false alarms take their toll -- there's something very ... distracting ... about the real possibility of slowly oncoming doom, even when it starts seeming somewhat less likely. And those makeup classes are a pain for all concerned.

Yesterday I had a chance to stock up on gasoline for our generator with almost no lines, but didn't -- and the storm track moved over Miami a few hours later. Today I stocked up on gas (the line wasn't that bad, maybe 10-15 minutes) and within minutes of coming home with the goods learned that Ernesto was being downgraded.

I believe this constitutes the basis for a testable hypothesis.

*Sigh* (Ernesto Edition)

The latest hurricane track has shifted to put Ernesto right over us. They're saying category one (modulo uncertainty), which in principle should be not so bad except that the last two times last year it was fairly bad -- and my roof still isn't fixed from last year.

I suppose that after class this afternoon I will have to go and get some gasoline to run my generator if the power goes out; by this time there will undoubtedly be long lines for gas and spot shortages.

I hear that the public schools will be closed tomorrow. The university is currently meeting to decide if we'll be open tomorrow and should have an announcement out very soon. (It was in fact due 20 minutes ago.) On the current forecast, things might get messy by Tuesday's evening rush hour, which makes planners very reluctant to order a normal day, but also means that if you close, most of the day it's for no reason. But with the schools shut, if you open, people have to either stay home or bring their kids. It's a mess.

Miami In the Pink

Pink means "hurricane watch". The good news, though, is that Ernesto isn't strong right now. It will weaken over land, strengthen over water -- thus the critical question seems to be at what angle it hits Cuba: if the diagonal angle is right it will weaken a lot; otherwise it may be stronger.

Ernesto Forecast Turns North

Nothing to get excited about....yet.

But that pink line is creeping this way.

School Board Persists in Book-Banning Folly

It's election season here in Miami and that means it's time for stupid posturing with taxpayer money. Today's installment is brought to you by the School Board, which voted to waste a lot of money appealing a case it has no hope of winning:

Continuing its efforts to remove a controversial children's book, the Miami-Dade School Board voted this afternoon to appeal a federal judge's ruling that forced the district to keep Vamos a Cuba and 23 other titles on school library shelves.

In a 5-2 decision, with two members absent, the board said it wanted to protect the right of the district to determine the content of school libraries, rather than leave it up to a judge.

''Do we have a right to protect our children?'' said board member Frank Bolaños, who joined Agustín Barrera, Perla Tabares Hantman, Ana Rivas Logan and Marta Pérez in voting for the appeal. "I think we have the right and responsibility to do that.''

...

The debate has become a passionate cause for some Cuban exiles, who have cited errors in the book and believe it omits so much about life's hardships under Castro as to render it inaccurate and misleading.

The issue intensified during the spring as two review committee and Superintendent Rudy Crew said the book should stay on shelves, only to be overruled by the School Board in a politically charged 6-3 vote.

The debate inspired attorney Manny Anon to challenge Barrera in next month's elections and has a been a powerful political undercurrent in outgoing Bolaños' Republican-primary challenge to incumbent state Sen. Alex Villalobos.

Of course, given current events, this may the last ride for that particular hobbyhorse. As it is, the whole show ws starting to wear thin -- this time the relevant parents' committees and the school bureaucrats both stood up against book banning. Only the craven School Board took a dive. Around here, that's actually progress.

Broward Cops Laugh About Shooting Rubber Bullets at Innocent Protestors

I've written before about the ugly "Miami Model" of suppressing protesters, free speech and civil rights in general all in the name of making the city safe for the FTAA negotiators. (See Notes From FTAA Fontlines (Nov. 20, 2003); Miami's FTAA Aftermath: Happy Officials, Allegations of "Police State" Tactics (Dec. 04, 2003); More on Miami FTAA Protests (Dec. 23, 2003).)

Well, it seems it was even uglier than we suspected. The post-FTAA investigation of the police's tactics didn't just whitewash police who fired on innocent civilians, but actually praised them. In a training video. While laughing. Cut to yesterday's Herald, Attorney incensed after viewing FTAA police video:

As a middle-aged Coral Gables attorney, dressed sharply in a red suit jacket, skirt and black slingback heels, Elizabeth Ritter stood out among the throng of protesters on Nov. 20, 2003.

Frustrated that she couldn't do business because the Miami-Dade County Courthouse was shut down that week during the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit, she hastily made a sign that read ''Fear Totalitarianism'' and decided to stand with the protesters.

The sign, however, became her shield against a barrage of rubber bullets fired at her by a legion of Broward Sheriff's deputies in riot gear. And, in an image captured by a videographer, she is shot in the head as she cowers in the street.

And now another video, recently released, raises questions about the degree to which police, specifically, Broward Sheriff's deputies, were encouraged, -- and even praised -- for using force against Ritter and other protesters.

...

The tape, recorded for training purposes, shows Major John Brooks -- then a captain -- addressing dozens of deputies in an outdoor BSO tent.

''How about yesterday, huh?'' Brooks says, complimenting the officers for their work during the protests. ``I would go to war with everyone here.''

Brooks continues, ``I went home, I couldn't sleep, I was just so pumped up about how good you guys were . . . Nobody broke ranks. You're the best I've ever been with.''

Sgt. Michael Kallman, a BSO counterterrorism unit officer, addresses the group next. A voice off-camera says, ``What about the lady behind the sign? We have intel on her?''

The officers laugh.

Kallman smiles and says, ``The good news about being able to watch you guys live on TV is that the lady with the red dress, I don't know who got her, but it went right through the sign and hit her smack dab in the middle of the head!''

He raises his forefinger and zooms it toward his forehead.

The cops all laugh.

Another officer asks, off-camera, ``Did I get a piece of her red dress?''

BSO'S RESPONSE

No disciplinary action has been taken against any officers in the video, said BSO spokesman Elliott Cohen.

Here's why, again from the Herald:

it wasn't trade issues that brought Ritter and her friends to downtown that day. The attorney thought it was overkill that the police had all but shut down the city.

''My city, my hometown, was becoming a police state,'' she said.

A videographer captured what happened next, showing Ritter walking alone in front of a line of BSO deputies on NE Third Street.

As the deputies advance, Ritter turns around to face them and raises her sign.

A barrage of projectiles is fired. She kneels, holding her sign above her head as a shield.

Ritter is shot five times -- in her legs, upper body, and shoulder. And when she kneels on the ground, the sign above her head, a projectile rips through it and strikes her in the head.

Hard rubber projectiles typically leave welts and bruises, but at close range can pierce the skin, or rarely, kill.

'I turned around and said, `Why did you hit me?' Is a woman in a business suit a threat?'' Ritter recalled in a recent interview.

A MISTAKE?

'But then I thought, `That must have been a mistake.' A police officer isn't going to shoot me on purpose.''

Ritter walked around downtown in a daze, finally getting a ride home. Although her head and body were bruised and she was upset, she decided not to make an issue of what happened.

Then, last month the BSO videotape emerged as a result of a public records request from the Miami Civilian Investigative Panel.

Its existence was first reported by the Daily Business Review.

Tropical Storm Chris

Here we go again. Looks as if Tropical Storm (and eventually Hurricane?) Chris has got us right in the cross-hairs:

There's nothing currently in the forecast to suggest it will turn either, but it's not moving fast, so there's plenty of time for everything to change. Meanwhile, though, the current forecast says there's about a 10% chance it will hit here early in the weekend.

Fidel and Miami

Following the announcement that Fidel Castro had ceded power (temporarily?) to his brother Raul, they were dancing in the streets of Miami last night, just on the chance that Fidel might be dead. It seems ghoulish to me, to dance on the grave (or would-be grave) of anyone, even a dictator who, however just some of the grievances that propelled his revolution, has since strangled his people and condemned them to needless economic, political, and cultural poverty (while improving health care and repelling a US invasion). But I am not an exile, or the (grand)child of an exile, cut off a stone's throw from the ancestral land.

When I moved to Miami, one of the nightmare scenarios for civic authorities was that Fidel Castro would die and a couple of million Cubans would take a boat ride in order to resettle in Miami. The city had an entire master plan, with heavy police presence, near-martial law, a big command post, lots of shiny cop toys. In light of the number of people willing to come during the brief period that Castro had opened the gates, the scenario seemed plausible, even if the reaction seemed somewhat militaristic. Meanwhile, an important revanchist segment of the local Cuban exile power structure dreamed of returning to Cuba to take up the reigns of power that they or their fathers (always fathers) had been forced to surrender when Batista fell. I think they expected to be greeted with flowers, to reclaim their expropriated property, and to be acclaimed -- or perhaps instantly elected -- rulers. It all seemed rather Bourbon and unrealistic to me. Cuba might be stuck in an economic time warp, but socially and politically it had moved on since 1959. Plus the view from the more recent exiles -- frequently drawn from the bottom of the economic and social ladder -- sounded somewhat different than the view from the top. I foresaw disappointment at best, and more likely strife. These were, after all, the sons and brothers of Brigade 2506, and assorted other paramilitary groups that were still active up through at least the early 1990s.

But Fidel proved to be a tough old bird, and a decade and a half makes a difference. The exile generation is now mostly too old to dream of ruling, much less fighting, although not too old to seek back family property and dream of economic development ... with a whiff of economic domination ... a dream that seems congenial to the next, and entrepreneurial, generation. The US is home to many second and third generation exiles, and for many their quest in post-communist Cuba will be for investments, for second homes, for nannies and au pairs.

It's unclear, though, whether the old fear of a mass exodus of Cubans to Miami, a 'Mariel boatlift on steroids,' still remains valid. Today's papers don't say much on the subject, other than to say that the county government has activated its Emergency Operations Center. The Herald reports that the feds are just standing by for now,

The U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are on standby until they receive official word to go on alert for their Cuba Plans.

''It's a little too early,'' said Zachary Mann, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

I'm sure we'll be hearing more about this in the next day or two.

Miami's Dangerous Terrorist Cell

The Justice Department has a terrible track record of exaggeration when it comes to claiming that they've uncovered terrorist cells in the US. As the Carpetbagger reminds us,

By any reasonable measure, the Bush administration's track record on exposing dangerous terrorist plots isn't terribly impressive. When Abu Zubaydah was captured in Pakistan in March 2002, the president described him as al Queda's chief of operations and emphasized the significance of his capture. Bush was wrong. The plot to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge wasn't quite what it was cracked up to be. Jose Padilla was not actually prepared to detonate a dirty bomb in DC. Former Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge eventually conceded that flimsy evidence led the administration to raise the threat level in 2004.

Wild speculation: You don't suppose the Seas of David Cell was just trying to scam their "al-Qaeda contact" (FBI informant) out of a lot of cool shit, do you? Reading the indictment (pdf) is suggestive.

...

Have you noticed that if explosives appeared on either wish list, the indictment hasn't considered it worth mentioning? Have you noticed that $50,000 is a lot of money, vehicles you can drive and that you could probably find buyers for bullet proof vests and firearms in Liberty City without too much trouble?

They weren't Muslims. They weren't al-Qaeda. Could they just have been (incompetent) scam artists?

Back to the Carpetbagger (although there's lots more in both posts for anyone interested in the case),

Just to be clear, I'm not saying that the capture of these lunatics is trivial. These people clearly wanted to kill innocent people and commit domestic terrorist attacks. Intelligence officials deserve kudos for infiltrating the group and stopping these would-be terrorists before they became dangerous.

That said, anyone who claims that the administration just broke up a plot to attack the Sears Tower is overstating what's occurred here. The "Miami 7" could hardly attack a convenience store.

Moreover, this seems to be a pattern with the Bush gang. There's a major announcement that receives blanket coverage about terrorist plots -- which turns out to be far less significant than advertised. Dick Cheney said yesterday that this cult in Miami was "a very real threat." Except, after scratching beneath the surface just a little, there's ample reason to believe that's not the case.

NBA Champs Miami Heat 95, Dallas Mavericks 92

Just saying.

Miami-Dade Schools Ban Cuba Book

A parent complained that an insipid children's book, part of a series of picture books on nations and cultures of the world, was too pro-Cuban. The two local committees that reviewed the book said it should not be banned. The head of the school system said it should not be banned. But the Miami-Dade school board -- led by a man who's about to run for State Senate -- decided to ban it anyway.

Lawsuits to ensue.

Depression

Tropical Depression One, that is.

From the look of the projected path, not coming near here, but the 2006 hurricane season sure hasn't wasted much time getting started.

UM Law Suffers Network Outage

Our network at the law school is down due to a failure of the so-called Uninterruptible Power Supply. Mail to me at my non-UM address will reach me.

Miami: We're #1

Miami is #1. No, not basketball. Miami Motorists Rated Rudest:

Stressed Miami drivers speed, tailgate and cut off other drivers so frequently that the city earned the title of worst road rage in a survey released Tuesday.

It's true that Miami roads are populated by dangerous maniacs. But their behavior isn't always simple rudeness because, as Dave Barry once explained, "Miami is a place where everyone drives according to the rules of his home country."

That said, I will admit that it's pretty surprising how many parents dropping off their kids at school in the morning can't be bothered to pull over, but just stop their (large) SUVs in the middle of the small side street. Then have a little chat with someone. And how many Mercedes I've seen this week alone parked on the line to take two spaces in a crowded parking lot.

'Rumpole' Finds a Cause

[Update (5/11): As noted by a commentator, Rumpole retracts!

THE FOLLOWING POST IS INCORRECT. RUMPOLE BLEW IT. SEE THE POST ON 511/06. JUDGE FARINA HAS NOT ORDERED ANY INTERPRETER NOT TO INTERPRET FOR A DEFENDANT'S FAMILY. SORRY. WE BLEW IT.

"Rumpole" of the Justice Building Blog, now quite the talk of Miami-Dade litigators, has found a Cause, and it's a good one:

JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG: NO HABLA INGLES....EVER

Here is the scene:
A lawyer is in court.
The Defendant is in custody.
There are sensitive plea negotiations at sidebar.
The case gets reset.
The defendant has to surrender his passport, pay a large fine and restitution before the case gets settled and he can get out of jail.
The new court date is two weeks away.

The interpreter does her job in court and on the way out the attorney wants to tell his client's family the new court date and what needs to be done.

The attorney signals to the interpreter, who walks over and in Spanish asks the people if they are defendants.
They politely tell the interpreter that no, they are the family of the defendant who was just in court and they ask her what happened and when they have to be back in court.

The Interpreter reaches into her pocket, pulls out her reading glasses, clears her throat (ahhem) and loudly says for all to hear:

HEAR YE HEAR YE, BY ORDER OF THE CHIEF JUDGE OF THE ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR DADE COUNTY, I CANNOT ANSWER ANY OF YOUR QUESTIONS.
FURTHERMORE, BY ORDER OF THE CHIEF JUDGE, I CANNOT TRANSLATE ANY INSTRUCTIONS FROM YOUR ATTORNEY.
YOU MAY NOT BE TOLD THE NEXT COURT DATE.
YOU MAY NOT BE TOLD WHAT JUST HAPPENED.
WELCOME TO THE ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF DADE COUNTY.
I AM AUTHORIZED TO CONVEY TO YOU THAT THE CHIEF JUDGE, ON BEHALF OF ALL OF THE JUDGES OF THE ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT,
WISHES YOU A VERY NICE DAY.

This is not the rule elsewhere, not even in nearby Broward, which is not perhaps the watchword for sensitivity to non-English speakers and minorities. As Rumpole says, "WHEN BROWARD TAKES THE LEAD IN RACIAL OR ETHNIC SENSITIVITY, THEN YOU KNOW SOMETHING IS WRONG."

The Alienware Next Door

Who knew that Alienware was in Miami? A fact I only just discovered from AOL News - Alienware Racks Up Video Gamers, Big Bucks.

Of course if you think about it, it makes perfect sense.

Now I just have to figure out how to get them to give me a machine to, um, review for a few years. Which is probably less likely now that they have been acquired by Dell...

DeFede Case in the Columbia Journalism Review

Under the title "Miami Noir," the Columbia Journalism Review has an unsparing, borderline cruel, account of the DeFede affair.

Related posts:

• The DeFede Case (Updated)
• DeFede: Just a Misdemeanor?
• DeFede's Tale
• DeFede Won't Be Prosecuted

Padilla is Here

Padilla Brought to Face Civilian Charges: Jose Padilla is in Miami.

For a place so far, physically and psychologically, from the centers of financial and political power in this nation, we really are at the epicenter of all kinds of interesting things here in Miami.

Kudos to the Miami-Dade Public Library

I have to praise the Miami-Dade Public Library system. Once I escalated my complaints about their new wireless service they have done almost (but not quite) everything I asked for.

They unblocked digicrime.com from the PC network. They are going to put into place procedures which allow on-the-spot blocking overrides for the laptops they lend out in the library (!). They regret that they don't see a secure means of providing a similar on-the-spot override for users who bring their own laptops, as they think that would 'compromise security'.

But most importantly, they've unblocked port 22 so I can use ssh! And they were very nice about it, too. (Please, nobody mention some of the things you can do with ssh tunnels, ok?)

I'm impressed.

Wireless Woes at the Miami-Dade Public Library

The Miami-Dade Public Libraries, where I tend to hang out on Saturday afternoons because that is where the kids' chess club meets, has a nice new new free wireless service but it's infested with about the most restrictive web filters and port blockers it has ever been my misfortune to encounter.

Not only do they block digicrime.com, but they block download.com. And many other harmless sites also. And of course they block the archive.org versions of those pages too.

The library PC's in the adult section of the library also operate under this highly censored regime. But when one tries to reach a blocked web site on one of those machines one gets an informative error message, and it is possible to request an override code from a librarian. In contrast, the wireless blocking happens in an a most uninformative way: Trying an http connection to a blocked site on the wireless access produces a long delay, followed by this informative popup:

The connection was refused when attempting to contact 192.168.99.32

Even armed with the knowledge that one's browsing is blocked, one is still out of luck: at present the library has no means to override the blocking for wireless users. We can of course use a desktop (if one is available – they're quite popular), and ask for an override code; this workaround means that the blocking has a decent chance of skirting the First Amendment rules that constrain library content censorship.

And did I mention that anything other than port 80 (http web access) and port 443 (https secure web access) appears to be blocked too? I am unable to telnet or more importantly to ssh to my mail server. Why on earth should the library block me getting my email? Indeed it in was the search for a proxy tunneling tool that I hit the download.com block; there may be a method to their madness. (Is there a way to do ssh over http?)

The branch librarians are sympathetic, especially about the blocked sites, but they don't control the filter list or the wireless port blocking policies. And they don't get "ports" at all. All that computer stuff is handled by some distant, faceless, unresponsive central administration. So my requests for changes to the policy, so far, go unheeded, including written requests a week ago to unblock a site, and open port 22.

Only mildly relevant links:

Miami-Dade Public Library Internet/Workstation Policy

Miami-Dade County Liability Disclaimer and User Agreement (which states, notably, "Anyone using this system expressly consents to administrative monitoring at all times by Miami-Dade County and its authorized agents and contractors. You (User) are further advised that system administrators may provide evidence of possible criminal activity identified during such monitoring to appropriate law enforcement officials. If you (User) do not wish to consent to monitoring, exit this system now." This would be a good exam question for someone as it suggests a rather broad waiver of the right to anonymous speech...)

Miami Won't Be Checking ID (Updated)

According to the local ACLU, whom I'd called to volunteer my services, the news story quoted below is all wrong:

This is a story the AP screwed up in two significant ways and they will soon be releasing a revised, corrected version. First, Chief Fernandez called AP to complain that he did not say that the Miami police would be stopping and demanding identification from people. Second, [executive director of ACLU of Florida,] Howard [Simon] was not told of the alleged stop and ID plan when he was contacted. Howard has talked to the reporter and will now be quoted as saying "If the Miami police plan on stopping people and demanding identification without any reason to believe that there is criminal activity, that is unconstitutional."

Update: Here's how the start of that AP story reads now:

Police are planning "in-your-face" shows of force in public places, saying the random, high-profile security operations will keep terrorists guessing about where officers might be next.

As an example, uniformed and plainclothes officers might surround a bank building unannounced, contact the manager about ways to be vigilant against terrorists and hand out leaflets in three languages to customers and people passing by, said police spokesman Angel Calzadilla. He said there would be no random checks of identification.

"People are definitely going to notice it," Deputy Police Chief Frank Fernandez said Monday. "We want that shock. We want that awe. But at the same time, we don't want people to feel their rights are being threatened. We need them to be our eyes and ears."

"No Random checks of identification"

Miami Announces Plan for Random ID Checks

Miami cops go 'in-your-face' to deter terrorists - U.S. Security: Miami police announced Monday they will stage random shows of force at hotels, banks and other public places to keep terrorists guessing and remind people to be vigilant.

Deputy Police Chief Frank Fernandez said officers might, for example, surround a bank building, check the IDs of everyone going in and out and hand out leaflets about terror threats.

Leaving aside the obvious point that this won't deter terrorists, who will obviously have some sort of fake ID, and who by implication have already braved the cameras that are always running in banks, this plan sounds like an organized series of illegal suspicionless search.

We accept the dragnet approach to stopping cars on the roads due to the legal rule (legal fiction?) that driving is a 'privilege, and hence more regulable than, well, walking.

But that rule doesn't apply to walking. Although the devil is always in the details, so one needs to know more before taking any firm stands, I don't see the legal (or constitutional) justification for this dragnet approach to pedestrians.

If so, this plan is ripe for challenge, although I wonder if the 11th Circuit is likely to be the most hospitable place for such a law suit.

(Related post: ID Card Required to Ride a Public Bus?)

Update: I'm told that both the police official and the ACLU official quoted in the story now say the article is all wrong.

Sex Offenders Mapped Near UM

Via MapSexoffenders.com, I produced a map of convicted sex offenders near the UM campus.
Who would have guessed we'd have so many?

Waiting for Wilma: Category 3 Now, Category 2 Tomorrow

I suppose this (Wilma Advisory #35) is what the folks at RSMAS knew was coming:

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 115 MPH...185 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. WILMA IS A CATEGORY THREE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. LITTLE CHANGE IN STRENGTH IS EXPECTED UNTIL LANDFALL OCCURS ...AND WILMA WILL LIKELY MAKE LANDFALL AS A CATEGORY 3 HURRICANE. SOME SLOW WEAKENING IS FORECAST AS WILMA CROSSES THE SOUTHERN FLORIDA PENINSULA... BUT THE HURRICANE IS FORECAST TO STILL BE A SIGNIFICANT CATEGORY TWO HURRICANE BY THE TIME THE CENTER REACHES THE FLORIDA EAST COAST EARLY MONDAY AFTERNOON.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 85 MILES...140 KM... FROM THE CENTER...

[...]

THE TORNADO THREAT ACROSS THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN FLORIDA PENINSULA ... AND THE FLORIDA KEYS... HAS INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY. SCATTERED TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON.

So someone, somewhere is going to get battered. Here, it could be ok, it could be inconvenient for several days, it could be worse than that....

Mind you, at present it's not raining here just south of Miami, and only a bit gusty. Well, actually, quite gusty...

Waiting for Wilma: Tuesday is Canceled Too

Fresh into my in-box:

University of Miami Closed Monday and Tuesday

The University of Miami is closed Monday and Tuesday, October 24 and 25. All classes, clinical activities, and events are canceled for Monday. All classes and events are canceled for Tuesday; however, a decision on Tuesday's clinical activities at the UM medical campus will be announced on Monday at 2 p.m.

The people making these decisions for the University consult with the weather experts at RSMAS. (RSMAS is widely acknowledged to be one of the few, perhaps the only, world-class faculties on campus; I've heard people elsewhere say the oceanography parts of it are #1 or #2 in the world.) That the University is willing to make this decision so far in advance is not cheerful.

From a selfish point of view, and assuming we make it through Wilma in the same number of pieces we are now, it means a lot of make-up classes in a decreasingly short period, which cannot be good for my students' understanding of the material.

And The New Track is a Bit Closer Too

So much for our hope that wind shear would weaken Wilma:

IT APPEARS THAT WIND SHEAR WILL REMAIN WEAK ENOUGH TO ALLOW FOR SOME GRADUAL ADDITIONAL INTENSIFICATION UP UNTIL LANDFALL

...

RAPID INTENSIFICATION SEEMS LESS UNLIKELY GIVEN THE RATHER LARGE SIZE OF THE EYE AND A LACK OF TIME FOR IT TO CONTRACT BEFORE LANDFALL IN FLORIDA. THE SHIPS GUIDANCE CONTINUES TO FORECAST A STEADY WEAKENING UNTIL LANDFALL DUE TO INCREASING SHEAR. HOWEVER... SATELLITE IMAGERY DOES NOT REVEAL ANY OBVIOUS SIGNS THAT THE SHEAR IS YET STRONG ENOUGH TO REVERSE THE CURRENT STRENGTHENING TREND...AND IT MIGHT NOT INCREASE IN TIME TO INDUCE A WEAKENING TREND BEFORE LANDFALL. THE BEST ESTIMATE OF LANDFALL INTENSITY IS CATEGORY TWO...BUT IT IS POSSIBLE THAT WILMA COULD BE NEAR CATEGORY THREE INTENSITY AS IT APPROACHES THE COAST.

So the worst we can reaonbly expect is worse than our version of Rita Katrina (a nasty storm, but just a one on the Saffir-Simpson scale), although perhaps not massively worse, as category one goes up to 95 MPH.

I expect the power may be out a while. Meanwhile, here is a picture of my hurricane security blanket.

Monday is Canceled

The University and the Law School will be closed Monday, October 24, 2005 due to Hurricane Wilma. Which is only sensible, as the latest forecast is for a substantial hurricane to hit just north of us Monday morning. (How substantial? How far North? No one knows. And even the timing forecast is a bit dodgy.)

University of Miami to Close at 3 p.m. on Sunday and Remain Closed on Monday

All campuses of the University of Miami will close at 3 p.m. Sunday, October 23, and will remain closed through Monday, October 24. All classes, clinical activities, and events are canceled for that time period; however, essential personnel should report to work according to their unit's emergency plan.

All academic buildings, the libraries (including the School of Law library), the UM Bookstore, and the Wellness Center, will close promptly at 3 p.m. Sunday, and will be locked and secured at that time. There will be no access to these buildings after 3 p.m.

Through the duration of the storm, the most up-to-date information on specific closings and schedules will be available on the University's Emergency Preparedness Web site, www.miami.edu/prepare, and by calling the Rumor Control Hotline at 305-284-5151. The Hotline will be staffed with live operators beginning at 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Disaster planning usually includes taking down the law school computer system. Thus, the best way to reach me is described in how to email me. Of course, if I lose power at home I won't be reading the email, but at least you will know that I will get it some day. (This blog should remain up, as it's based in California. However, I may not be able to prune the spam.)

I went shopping again this morning to top up our food supplies. The Publix was well-stocked, except for water, of which there was only a little. What was amazing was how empty the shop was of people. I often shop Saturday mornings, and while I was not alone, this was the emptiest I've ever seen it then. I guess lots of people binge shopped earlier in the week, and so stayed home today.

Similarly, when I went to fill up the car this afternoon, the gas station was quiet. But the employees at the local liquor store were told this afternoon to expect to report for work Monday morning, which strikes me as either foolish optimism on the boss's part, a sign of a slave driving mentality, or a weird idea of what constitutes essential hurricane supplies.

Wilma Remains a Mystery

Bottom line of the latest Hurricane WILMA Discussion: We know there is a big storm and it will hit the tip of Mexico. We all agree it will head for Florida next and hit some time after 7am Monday, maybe much later, and hit somewhere in the state, at some intensity. It might be horrible. It might not be. We don't expect to know much more until Saturday at the earliest, and probably not until Sunday. (By which point it will be too late to do much.)

IN THE 3 TO 5 DAY TIME FRAME...THE NEW OFFICIAL FORECAST IS BASICALLY UNCHANGED. FORTUNATELY FOR THE SAKE OF BETTER AGREEMENT AMONG THE MODELS... THE NOGAPS NO LONGER KEEPS WILMA IN THE CARIBBEAN FOR FIVE DAYS AND IS NOW MORE IN LINE WITH THE REMAINING MODELS. THIS RESULTS IN THE DYNAMICAL CONSENSUS BEING IN FAIRLY GOOD AGREEMENT WITH THE PREVIOUS ADVISORY AT DAYS 3-5. HOWEVER... THE SPREAD IN THE MODELS REMAINS QUITE LARGE... AND BOTH THE LOCATION AND TIMING OF THE IMPACTS ON FLORIDA REMAIN VERY UNCERTAIN. THE NEW INTENSITY FORECAST IS VERY SIMILAR TO THE PREVIOUS ADVISORY IN STEADILY WEAKENING WILMA OVER THE GULF OF MEXICO DUE PRIMARILY TO INCREASING SHEAR. HOWEVER... IF WILMA DOES NOT SPEND MUCH TIME OVER YUCATAN... IT COULD BE STRONGER THAN FORECAST WHEN IT CROSSES FLORIDA.

Wilma's Florida Trip Will Be Delayed

Still heading straight for us, indeed aiming a little closer to Miami than before, but a bit slower and weaker. As Franklin put it,

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGE TO THE MODEL GUIDANCE IS A GENERALLY SLOWER RECURVATURE AND ACCELERATION. AS FAR AS THE FLORIDA THREAT IS CONCERNED...THE MAIN FOCUS OF THE THREAT REMAINS FROM CENTRAL FLORIDA SOUTHWARD THROUGH THE KEYS...AND IT IS STILL TOO EARLY TO NARROW THAT DOWN ANY FURTHER.

... WILMA IS NOW EXPECTED TO SPEND ENOUGH TIME IN OR NEAR THE YUCATAN TO RESULT IN A SIGNIFICANTLY WEAKER STORM IN THE GULF WHEN IT APPROACHES FLORIDA.

Weaker means we can relax a little. Slower also means it gets here Sunday, if it stays on track. So,

The University will be open for business as usual tomorrow, Friday.

The University continues to closely monitor the progress of Hurricane Wilma. The Crisis Decision Team (CDT) will meet again tomorrow to determine the status of University schedules for Saturday and Sunday.

They are already putting up metal shutters on the buildings, and sandbags by every door. I suppose that makes more sense than paying overtime during the weekend. It's not actually even raining now too, which make the work easier.

Wilma and Franklin Are Funny In Different Ways

Forecaster Franklin of the National Hurricane Center, says, in the latest Hurricane WILMA Discussion,

AGREEMENT AMONG THE TRACK GUIDANCE MODELS...WHICH HAD BEEN VERY GOOD OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF DAYS...HAS COMPLETELY COLLAPSED TODAY. THE 06Z RUNS OF THE GFS...GFDL...AND NOGAPS MODELS ACCELERATED WILMA RAPIDLY TOWARD NEW ENGLAND UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF A LARGE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION. ALL THREE OF THESE MODELS HAVE BACKED OFF OF THIS SOLUTION...WITH THE GFDL SHOWING AN EXTREME CHANGE...WITH ITS 5-DAY POSITION SHIFTING A MERE 1650 NMI FROM ITS PREVIOUS POSITION IN MAINE TO THE WESTERN TIP OF CUBA. THERE IS ALMOST AS MUCH SPREAD IN THE 5-DAY POSITIONS OF THE 12Z GFS ENSEMBLE MEMBERS...WHICH RANGE FROM THE YUCATAN TO WELL EAST OF THE DELMARVA PENINSULA. WHAT THIS ILLUSTRATES IS THE EXTREME SENSITIVITY OF WILMA'S FUTURE TRACK TO ITS INTERACTION WITH THE GREAT LAKES LOW. OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF DAYS...WILMA HAS BEEN MOVING SLIGHTLY TO THE LEFT OR SOUTH OF THE MODEL GUIDANCE...AND THE LEFT-MOST OF THE GUIDANCE SOLUTIONS ARE NOW SHOWING WILMA DELAYING OR MISSING THE CONNECTION WITH THE LOW. I HAVE SLOWED THE OFFICIAL FORECAST JUST A LITTLE BIT AT THIS TIME...BUT IF WILMA CONTINUES TO MOVE MORE TO THE LEFT THAN EXPECTED...SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES TO THE OFFICIAL FORECAST MAY HAVE TO BE MADE DOWN THE LINE. NEEDLESS TO SAY...CONFIDENCE IN THE FORECAST TRACK...ESPECIALLY THE TIMING...HAS DECREASED CONSIDERABLY.

I do so hate the ALL CAPS, but three things are clear:

1. They don't really have much confidence what this storm is actually going to do. A 1650 nautical mile gap in the five-day forecast is indeed rather heroic. [A nautical mile is 6080 feet or about 1853m.]

2. Forecaster Franklin really does have a wry sense of humor. He's much more fun to read than the other forecasters.

3. Things have come to a pretty pass when one has a favorite National Hurricane Center forecaster.

Bamm! Bamm!

So here comes Wilma.

I trust the house to withstand a major hurricane; rebuilt to the latest codes it is in theory supposed to be able to withstand over 160 MPH winds, even a weak five, although I have no desire to put it to the test, and you have to wonder what would be left of the surroundings at that point.

It would be nice if the weather service could cough up some numerical idea of what "formidable" means...although short of buying plane tickets, there's no way I or most of the people here can do much about it. We can't go south, there basically is no south, and the hurricane itself will be north of us. There are not many highways, and a mass exodus from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach would make the chaos on the Texas roads look like the Indy 500.

As is traditional, I went and stocked up on dry goods this morning. I think the real panic shopping started yesterday; some of the shelves were looking quite Soviet. The Publix supermarket employees were grumbling about the extra work ("I'm not coming in on my day off whatever the hurricane does," one humphed to another.) In addition to fighting for parking, one had to keep a sharp eye out for a shopping cart.

It's only Wednesday, and it won't hit until late Friday at the earliest, if at all, and people are already worried and distracted, with some reason. The chance of actual disaster doesn't (yet) seem that large, far too many variables, although right now due to its sheer force this one looks like the most ominous one so far this year. And some part of Florida is going to get it. And, they now say, maybe even New England too, later on.

This is all very distracting.

[Obligatory Flintstones reference: this story about Bamm-Bamm isn't true, is it?]

Who Will Run Against Ros-Lehtinen? (All Politics Is Local)

There's a Late Byzantine feel to America these days: corrupt leaders stealing what they can, infrastructure crumbling, people dying in the (flooded) street, distant losing wars far away, governmental torture, waste, fraud, internecine disputes among the leadership.

When the levee broke, and any illusion one might have of even minimal competence in this administration washed away with it. I lead a privileged life, not least because I have tenure in a law school, which gives me both the time and the obligation to think about how we can organize our society so we live better. But it doesn't take that luxury to understand just how badly the United States has been abused by the people currently in power. How, I keep wondering, can I most effectively stand up for decency, for a government that makes lives better, that protects the weak, children, the elderly, that stands for something better than torture and cutting taxes on multi-millionaires today so that we can incur more debts that inevitably will become taxes borne by my children tomorrow?

I live far from the centers of power. How then to respond to this mess in Washington from out here in the hinterland? I think it's primarily a function of temperament. Some people will dream or plot revolution; some will join cults. Many will say it's hopeless and cultivate their gardens. Others will turn to drink. And some others will do something a little more productive. Me, I'm a pretty moderate and bourgeois guy at heart. The system hasn't been bad to me, and while I see warts in it, I also see virtue. I especially like American ideals of freedom and justice, of a government of laws, of protection of liberty (and yes, thus of property), of a mutual commitment to live and let live so that each can engage in his or her own pursuit of happiness. It's our leadership's colossal failure to live up to those ideals, to be even half of what we could be, to instead be such a lead weight on the nation, that gets me so steamed. I'm not your cultist or revolutionary. I don't have a green thumb. And I can't really hold my liquor all that well. That leaves electronic pamphleteering and organizing.

I'm aware that one of the biggest reasons we're in such a pickle is that we have serious problems with our electoral system. It's not just that money talks much louder than it should; nor is it simply that most of the major electronic media outlets are owned by radical right-wingers. Several are transparently managed in a politically biased manner which relies on a combination of lies, distraction. and suppression of inconvenient people and facts. Combine all that with the terrible voting system and, perhaps worst of all, serious systematic gerrymandering and you get the Congress we have: a body in which the large majority of members are elected for life, or nearly so, at least so long as they truckle properly to the sources of re-election cash.

But if you persist in caring, and you won't drown your sorrows in a bottle, nor host clandestine meetings, politics is the only game in town.

The great Saul Alinsky instructed us that if you want to change something you start where you are. Where I am is Florida's 18th Congressional District--the district once represented by the late great Claude Pepper. And indeed, the situation is especially dire here in Florida. (And I don't just mean the voting machine problem.) Although we are the classic 50/50 state when it comes to the voting public, we are anything but a 50/50 state in either our congressional delegation or in the state house. No, the district lines are artfully done, and ensure a substantial Republican majority in the statehouse and in Congress (only the US Senate delegation is 50/50 -- can't gerrymander that!). Plus, the Democratic Party in Florida is not as aggressive as it could be: it frequently doesn't even field a candidate against entrenched incumbents in safe seats.

Under Florida law, if no one files to run against incumbents, they are declared the winner when the filing period closes. That of course means they are free to raise money and campaign for other candidates, and also can save a fortune in election expenses. Not fielding even a sacrificial lamb weakens the rest of the Democratic ticket. Our local incumbent ran unopposed in 1998, and in fact hasn't had a really serious opponent since 1992.

So I began researching what it takes to run for Congress, just because it would be nice to know, in case I ever ran into a likely candidate.

The short answer as to what is needed -- besides, perhaps, taking leave of your senses -- is that it takes either about $9,000 to pay the filing fees, or about 5,000 signatures on petitions from voters in this district (1% of 250,000 registered voters = 2,500 times the double you need to make sure enough of the signatures are valid).¹ What that gets you here in Florida's 18th congressional district, is the chance to run in a district that starts in Key West, a long drive south, and runs in a little strip right through my neighborhood in Coral Gables, continuing on to points north of me. Republicans outnumber Democrats among registered voters by about 2:1. Cuban-Americans, traditionally a seriously Republican constituency, predominate politically. Even though we have more than 100,000 social security recipients, even though our Congressperson couldn't bring herself to criticize Bush's plans to gut Social Security, this district is not likely to make anyone's top-ten list of likely Democratic pickups. Indeed, if it's not on the top-ten list of safe Republican seats, it must surely be close to it.

To ice the cake, incumbent Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, has about $1.3 million in campaign cash on hand according to the most recent report that I could find online. She is also reputed to be the Representative most favored by the Church of Scientology, an endorsement that presumably ensures a national fund-raising base and a cadre of very highly motivated campaign operatives.

In the last election, one Samuel Martin Sheldon (this one?) ran as the Democratic candidate. He raised $11,883, spent $11,882. (I wonder what happened to that last dollar?) He got 35% of the vote. Ileana raised $876,886 and spent $859,083, leaving her $1.5 million on hand at the time (wonder what she's done with that $200,000 since then?).

I read that the Democratic establishment wants to make it a race in every congressional district. I think that's a good idea, a great idea, a necessary idea. I volunteer to help the right candidate. I wonder, though, who if anyone is planning to run? Are the local and national Democratic political establishments working to find a credible candidate to take on the job of sacrificial lamb? What sort of resources the DCCC. and the DNC are offering to bring to the table if we had a good candidate? Howard Dean, are you listening?

Not that we're going to win -- but maybe we could make her spend it all this time.

1. There is an alternate, less expensive, procedure by which you file to be a write-in candidate. Florida has a really bizarre rule that votes for write-in candidates will be ignored unless the candidate has filed by the same deadline as a regular candidate. Write-in candidates who file don't get on the ballot, but they get votes for them recorded. The major consequence of having a write-in candidate file to run is that it prevents an otherwise unopposed candidate from being declared the winner without the formality of an election. But since the otherwise unopposed candidate is still the only name on the ballot, the election remains little more than a formality.

Rita Update

Ok, so from time to time there's a serious squall. There was a lot of wind, but not much blew down that I can see from inside the house; presumably Katrina got the most vulnerable vegetation. It's gloomy out. On the radio it sounds as if it's considerably worse in the Keys; parts of US 1 between here and Key West were at least temporarily under water.

It might have been hazardous for people to commute to work this morning, but otherwise it's a gloomy, seriously stormy, day.

In other words, anticlimax. As it always is when I actually get supplies in. Post hoc ergo propter hoc, eh?

Batten Down the Hatches, Rita's Coming

We're in full hurricane panic mode now, even though there's as yet no hurricane (just a tropical storm):

In light of Tropical Storm Rita, the University, including the law school, will be CLOSED as of noon today, Monday, September 19th. We will remain closed tomorrow, Tuesday. The library will close at 2:00 p.m. today and will remain closed tomorrow. All events scheduled for this afternoon and tomorrow are cancelled.

Information regarding the Law School's status, including regarding the resumption of classes on Wednesday, will be available from the following sources which are regularly updated:

The Law School's Website and the University's Website

305-284-4551 (Dean of Student's - recorded message - for messages after the school closes)

305-284-5151 (UM Hotline recorded message)

We have no reason to believe that classes will not resume on Wednesday, but you should check these sources of information for updated information.

One slightly worrying thing, though: there's still a lot of debris around from Hurricane Katrina. Even a mere tropical storm could pick that stuff up and fly it about which might cause damage.

I taught my class this morning then, ironically, I met with some students who are visiting here from New Orleans in order to fill them in on the key points from the classes we had held before they joined us. After that it was off to the grocery store as we'd been too busy this weekend to do our usual weekly shop. While I was pulling into lot -- and waiting for a space since it was entirely full -- I heard them upgrade Miami-Dade county from a hurricane watch to a hurricane warning. The TV fluffheads on the radio segued right into their WERE ALL GOING TO DIE mode, leavened by JUST DO EVERYTHING WE SAY AND YOU'LL BE OK.

Two hours later I had food, about the same amount as I usually buy, but not water, that was basically gone except the expensive stuff. No way I'm buying a case of San Pelligrino to sit out a storm. But no worry, we have a nice big blue plastic jerry can we can fill.

Then it was off to the gas station to queue and refill the gas containers that will power my generator and keep the food fresh if the power goes.

Last time, before Katrina, for the first time in a decade I didn't prepare -- and we got beat up. At the risk of jinxing the Fates, I have to say that this wobbly track still seems to be mostly south of us; more important, though, is when the strengthening is expected:

ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS ARE CONTINUING TO BECOME MORE CONDUCIVE FOR STRENGTHENING...AND ALL FORECAST GUIDANCE SUGGESTS RITA SHOULD INTENSIFY SOME MORE...BEFORE AND AFTER IT REACHES THE GULF OF MEXICO. THE NEW OFFICIAL INTENSITY FORECAST IS ADJUSTED UPWARD AND IS A BLEND BETWEEN THE SHIPS AND GFDL GUIDANCE THROUGH DAY 3...AND SHOWS RITA REACHING CATEGORY TWO STATUS BEFORE REACHING THE GULF OF MEXICO. THERE IS A SLIGHT POSSIBILITY IT COULD STRENGTHEN FASTER THAN FORECAST. ALL INDICATIONS ARE THAT RITA WILL BECOME A MAJOR HURRICANE OVER THE GULF OF MEXICO.

DeFede Won't Be Prosecuted

Via Southern District of Florida: No charges for DeFede, I learn that "it is now official -- the State won't charge Jim DeFede for taping Art Teele's last phone conversation." Assistant State Attorney Joseph Centorino, chief of the public corruption unit, went out of his way, however, to say this was an exercise of prosecutorial discretion on the grounds that no one had been hurt, and DeFede both had good intentions and was cooperative afterwards:

However, it would be incorrect for anyone to assume from this result that Mr. DeFede's actions, in tape recording a conversation without consent, were appropriate or justified. They were not. . . . It is the uniqueness of the tragic circumstances surrounding the death of Arthur Teele, and his last conversation with a trusted friend, which has led to the conclusion not to prosecute, rather any special journalistic privilege or legal exception accorded to Mr. DeFede.

But the Herald remains adamant that DeFede is not getting his job back, more fools they.

Nice Neighborhood

THE PROXIMITY OF THIS CYCLONE TO THE COAST AND THE WEAK STEERING CURRENTS DICTATES THAT INTERESTS FROM FLORIDA THROUGH THE CAROLINAS WILL NEED TO MONITOR OPHELIA FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS.

Priorities

Sue Ann says that while we may not have any gas or food available in south Florida, we do have beer.

Powerless

Like most of Miami-Dade, we got sucker punched by Hurricane Katrina. Several factors combined to make us overconfident: First, the track showed it going far enough north of us so that we'd only get tropical storm force winds ... and we know we can handle that. Second, we had four false alarms last year, each characterized by hysterical warnings to prepare, all of which resulted in us hunkering for naught. Third, and no doubt following from the second, the media played this one very low key. Fourth, having gone through Andrew 14 years ago, a strong category four hurricane, or maybe even a five, the sound of Katrina, a 'mere' category one, just didn't get the panic juices flowing.

It should have.

Katrina went south of the predicted track. The power went out about 8pm on Thursday night. The morning after revealed a scene of devastated vegetation only slightly less than after Andrew. Roads were blocked in every direction. Between here and the law school, for example, about a block and a half, the road is blocked by two gigantic fallen trees. We escaped quite cheaply, losing our favorite frangipani tree. Unfortunately, it landed on the neighbor's car. Fortunately, the fall was broken by an intervening hedge, and the car has at most a scratch.

Caroline and I had a hard time after Andrew, or at least as hard a time as you could have when you hadn't lost your roof. We had arrived in Miami only a few days earlier, had no hurricane supplies, not even a candle, and no idea where to go to get food or ice. The entire neighborhood was without power for two weeks; four lucky homes, of which ours was one, were without for five weeks. At night we would lie exhausted, overheated, by the open window that rarely vouchsafed a breeze but certainly carried the enviable and very loud noises of next door's generator.

It's not as bad this time: we have hurricane glass instead of those beastly metal shutters, plus after we had kids we bought a generator, and consequently we are able to keep our food from spoiling. There's ice. There's a light in the evening. We cook with gas. We can even run (one) fan. And if I manage to post this, we were even able to get the modem and router to wake temporarily.

Florida Power and Light says that 90% of the homes in Miami-Dade lost power. Of them 10% got it back by last night. They predict that 90% of those who lost power will have it back by Tuesday night - still more than 72 hours away - but that the remaining 10% may have to wait as long as Friday. Meanwhile it's unclear when the schools will reopen (the paper suggests it may be as soon as Monday). And if I can get online, I'll find out more about whether I need to get my lecture ready for 8am Monday.

I imagine there won't be much blogging until the power comes back.

Rain!

So far, it's just an awful lot of rain and gusty wind. This is the first serious storm we've had since we redid the exterior to our house. It's very nice not to have to put up those metal shutters any more, and quite impressive to see the ferocity of the wind, even when it's just bands from the way outside of the edge of the storm.

The schools are closed again tomorrow. The university closed at six p.m. If the forecasts are to be believed, I think the major danger tomorrow will be the roads,¹ which is why everything is closing. The hurricane itself looks most likely to make landfall enough north of us that we will miss the worst — and at Category one, the very large majority of structures are designed to weather this intensity of storm.

The updated outlook calls for an extremely active season, with an expected seasonal total of 18-21 tropical storms (mean is 10), with 9-11 becoming hurricanes (mean is 6), and 5-7 of these becoming major hurricanes (mean is 2-3). The likely range of the ACE index for the season as a whole is 180%-270% of the median.

¹ And restless children.

It's Like a Snow Day In Florida

When I was a kid growing up in Washington DC, they used to close the schools if a snowflake was sighted anywhere in the metro area. It's true that back then DC had rather primitive snow plowing capabilities, so that a serious snow fall would in deed paralyze the city, first by panicking the drivers and then by blocking the streets, but we must have closed four out every two major snowfalls.

We don't get much snow down here in in Miami, so the kids don't get snow days. But it seems they do get hurricane days. The latest weather forecasts don't show Tropical Storm Katrina hitting in any serious way until fairly late tomorrow -- well after school closes -- although not all the models agree on whether it will remain a tropical storm or graduate to a full hurricane around when it makes landfall. But the kids are going to get a day off from school anyway, as the Miami-Dade school system has just pulled the plug on Thursday. We used to like playing in the snow when school was closed, but there's not much fun to be had playing in a tropical storm (much less a hurricane) and it would in any case be unsafe due to the danger of falling and flying objects. The calm before the storm is real, but before the storm hits it can be awfully still and muggy.

The law school, meanwhile, is playing a more sensible game of wait-and-see. As a result, unless something changes overnight, I'm teaching two classes tomorrow morning. But I imagine turnout will be much reduced since those who drive from far away will probably choose to stay home, and those who suddenly find they have to care for their children won't have a choice. But until further notice, the show will go on.

DeFede's Tale

Via Romanesko at Poynter, Jim DeFede writes about his final conversation with Art Teele, and his sudden firing by the Herald.

The article ran in the Miami Times, a local and rather ideosyncratic newspaper aimed at the black community.

(Unflattering June, 2005, Miami New Times article on the Miami Times.)

DeFede: Just a Misdemeanor?

David Markus has been kind enough to agree to debate the DeFede case. He puts his case at the Southern District of Florida Blog and concludes that DeFede didn't commit a felony, and in fact isn't guilty of much.

Having thought about it some more, I still have little doubt that, as I said yesterday, DeFede committed an understandable, but nonetheless actual, violation of Florida law when he taped Art Teele's telephone call. Having read David Markus's contrary view, I'm willing to admit, though, that there is an argument that the offense may be just a misdemeanor, not a felony. (In which case the Herald's firing makes even less sense.) Unfortunately, it's not as wonderful an argument as one might wish.

Mr. Markus, thinking like a good lawyer, argues that the state wouldn't be able to prove three essential elements of a felony charge:

1. DeFede recorded Teele's calls, without Teele's consent.
2. DeFede did so for an illegal purpose or for commercial gain.
3. Teele had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the call.

On the first point, I think DeFede's own admissions make the case against him: it's legal to tape with two-party consent; it's also not against the policy of any newspaper I ever heard of. If in a hypothetical (and unlikely) prosecution, DeFede were to take the Fifth, as he'd have every right to do, I bet that any prosecutor could invoke a hearsay exception (ordinary course of business? admission against interest?) to get DeFede's confession to his bosses into evidence.

The second point goes to whether it's a felony or a misdemeanor -- I'll return to that below.

The third point is, I think, completely unpersuasive: in Florida we all have a legitimate expectation that our calls won't be taped unless we consent. That's the law. Even when talking to reporters. I grant you that not having Teele to put on the stand might make it harder for a prosecutor -- which is one of may reasons why I'd doubt this ever goes trial. But I wasn't arguing whether DeFede would get a record: I was discussing whether he broke the law.

That leads me to David Markus's best argument: that DeFede only committed a misdemeanor at worst. Here he may have a point since the statue is more obscure than it should be.

Section 934.03(4)(a) states that, "Except as provided in paragraph (b), whoever violates subsection (1) is guilty of a felony of the third degree." [And the relevant part of subsection (1) makes one who "Intentionally intercepts, endeavors to intercept, ... any wire, oral, or electronic communication" a felon.] So it at all turns on the first exception in 934.03(4)(b):

If the offense is a first offense under paragraph (a) and is not for any tortious or illegal purpose or for purposes of direct or indirect commercial advantage or private commercial gain, and the wire or electronic communication with respect to which the offense under paragraph (a) was committed is a radio communication that is not scrambled, encrypted, or transmitted using modulation techniques the essential parameters of which have been withheld from the public with the intention of preserving the privacy of such communication, then:

1. If the communication is not the radio portion of a cellular telephone communication, a cordless telephone communication that is transmitted between the cordless telephone handset and the base unit, a public land mobile radio service communication, or a paging service communication, and the conduct is not that described in subparagraph (2)(h)7., the person committing the offense is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree,

This is hard to parse, but a logic diagram may help:

IF

(1) [First offense] AND [Not for tortious or illegal purpose] AND [Not for purposes of direct or indirect commercial advantage or private commercial gain]
AND
(2) the wire or electronic communication ... is a radio communication that is not scrambled or encrypted etc

(3a) the radio portion of a cellular telephone communication,
OR
(3b) a cordless telephone communication that is transmitted between the cordless telephone handset and the base unit,
OR
(3c) a public land mobile radio service communication, or a paging service communication,

I agree that DeFede's act meets the test in (1). And it also clearly doesn't meet any of the conditions in (3a), (3b) or (3c), so (3) is satisfied. The problem is, I think, that it's pretty clear that we don't even entertain the questions in (3) unless we first satisfy the condition in (2). And here there's a problem. As I read it, (2) is satisfied if and only if the wire communication is an unscrambled "radio communication".

Unscrambled it surely was, but is a telephone call a "radio communication" under section 934? Mr. Markus apparently believes that it is. Alas, on balance, I don't think so. "Radio communication" is not defined in the statutory definitions, but "wire communication" is defined in 934.02(1) as

any aural transfer made in whole or in part through the use of facilities for the transmission of communications by the aid of wire, cable, or other like connection between the point of origin and the point of reception including the use of such connection in a switching station furnished or operated by any person engaged in providing or operating such facilities for the transmission of intrastate, interstate, or foreign communications or communications affecting intrastate, interstate, or foreign commerce.

Thus, at the end of the day, I have to say that I still think the taping was technically a felony; if I'm wrong about that it's undoubtedly a misdemeanor, so in either case it was an illegal act.

NOTE: This isn't legal advice. I am not a member of the Florida bar. Use duct tape for all your taping needs. See the general disclaimers.

The DeFede Case (Updated)

On Wednesday night, Art Teele, an important local political figure, shot himself in the lobby of the Miami Herald building, moments after asking a security guard to tell Miami Herald columnist Jim DeFede to relay a message to Teele's wife: ''I love you."

The shooting followed weeks (indeed months, or years) of mounting legal troubles for Teele, capped by the publication in the New Times, a local alternative weekly, of the most damning and the most salacious bits of police surveillance reports and interviews concerning Teele. (The documents were public records, not leaks, but somehow the Miami Herald hadn't gotten around to doing much with them.) The reports detail a very convincing pattern of corruption and payoffs--all too believable given that Teele was involved with a local community redevelopment agency known for taking public money and producing little of value (except inflated land valuations for useless properties it purchased).

The New Times story also quoted from the police's interview with an incarcerated male prostitute who made utterly uncorroborated and somewhat implausible allegations that Teele had been a repeat customer. The allegations struck me as implausible because the source seemed unable to provide a single corroborating detail, not even his own telephone number, and could list no identifying marks of his supposed bed partner, nor indeed relate anything about Teele that you wouldn't have seen on TV. Nevertheless, coming on top of a sea of increasingly credible allegations of graft, they may have been the last straw.

In his last hours, Teele had several telephone conversations with Miami Herald columnist Jim DeFede, who incidentally is one of the very few regular Herald columnists always worth reading. DeFede and Teele went way back, ironically to when DeFede worked for the New Times. In one of those last talks, concerned that Teele was sounding unusually weird, DeFede turned on a tape recorder and recorded the call.

That recording was a serious no-no: Florida is a two-party consent state and (at least as general rule, see below) telephone calls may not be taped without the consent of both parties. After the shooting, DeFede, aware he'd broken the Miami Herald's rules, confessed the taping to his bosses. The Miami Herald then fired DeFede immediately.

Enter the Southern District of Florida blog, with news and views:

Southern District of Florida: Journalists for DeFede: Peter Wallsten and Charlie Savage have started a blog called Journalists for DeFede. It's an open letter now signed by a number of Herald employees and others journalists asking for the Herald to reinstate DeFede. The letter argues that the taping may not have even been a violation of law, citing to this post. Any thoughts? I've written a little about DeFede's firing here.

Yes, I have a few thoughts.

Keeping in mind that I'm not a member of the Florida Bar, this it how it looks to me: Florida title XLVII, Criminal Procedure and Corrections, Chapter 934. Security of Communications makes the "interception" and recording of a telephone conversation a felony:

(3) "Intercept" means the aural or other acquisition of the contents of any wire, electronic, or oral communication through the use of any electronic, mechanical, or other device.

(4) "Electronic, mechanical, or other device" means any device or apparatus which can be used to intercept a wire, electronic, or oral communication other than:
(a) Any telephone or telegraph instrument, equipment, or facility, or any component thereof:
1. Furnished to the subscriber or user by a provider of wire or electronic communication service in the ordinary course of its business and being used by the subscriber or user in the ordinary course of its business or furnished by such subscriber or user for connection to the facilities of such service and used in the ordinary course of its business; or
2. Being used by a provider of wire or electronic communications service in the ordinary course of its business or by an investigative or law enforcement officer in the ordinary course of her or his duties.

...

934.03. Interception and disclosure of wire, oral, or electronic communications prohibited

(1) Except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter, any person who:

(a) Intentionally intercepts, endeavors to intercept, or procures any other person to intercept or endeavor to intercept any wire, oral, or electronic communication;

(b) Intentionally uses, endeavors to use, or procures any other person to use or endeavor to use any electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept any oral communication when:

1. Such device is affixed to, or otherwise transmits a signal through, a wire, cable, or other like connection used in wire communication; ...

(c) Intentionally discloses, or endeavors to disclose, to any other person the contents of any wire, oral, or electronic communication, knowing or having reason to know that the information was obtained through the interception of a wire, oral, or electronic communication in violation of this subsection;

(d) Intentionally uses, or endeavors to use, the contents of any wire, oral, or electronic communication, knowing or having reason to know that the information was obtained through the interception of a wire, oral, or electronic communication in violation of this subsection; ...

shall be punished as provided in subsection (4).

...

(4)(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), whoever violates subsection (1) is guilty of a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, s. 775.084, or s. 934.41.

(b) If the offense is a first offense under paragraph (a) and is not for any tortious or illegal purpose or for purposes of direct or indirect commercial advantage or private commercial gain, and the wire or electronic communication with respect to which the offense under paragraph (a) was committed is a radio communication that is not scrambled, encrypted, or transmitted using modulation techniques the essential parameters of which have been withheld from the public with the intention of preserving the privacy of such communication, then:

1. If the communication is not the radio portion of a cellular telephone communication, a cordless telephone communication that is transmitted between the cordless telephone handset and the base unit, a public land mobile radio service communication, or a paging service communication, and the conduct is not that described in subparagraph (2)(h)7., the person committing the offense is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

I think this decision is quite likely wrong, as it almost writes the anti-wiretap rule out of the statute, at least for businesses, and does enormous violence to Florida's strong and often-expressed public policy in favor of personal privacy. But no matter; suppose that this unusually odd decision is in fact correct. The civil and criminal parts of the statutes share the same definitions, so logically what applies in the civil context should apply in the criminal also. Does this get DeFede off the hook?

I think it does no such thing. In order for DeFede to take advantage of this very strained reading of the communications privacy law, he'd have to be able to argue that his taping Teele's call was somehow "in the ordinary course of business." And that, we know, is not the case: it is so far outside the bounds of his employer's ordinary course of business that he felt a need to confess to them, and they then summarily fired him for it.

So much for the legal questions. Let me close by saying that I think the Herald acted in far too hasty a manner. DeFede 'fessed up right away; had he kept silent no one would be the wiser. He made a mistake in a very stressful and unusual circumstance; the Herald's precipitous action smacks to me not of a Caesar's Wife standard, but rather of a paper that was happy to rid itself of one of perhaps two or maybe three of its writers (Fred Grimm and the increasingly infrequent Carl Hiaasen) who get under the establishment's skin. DeFede recently angered the local Cuban establishment with a reportorial trip to Cuba; it's widely believed that the increasingly anodyne Herald, complete with incredible shrinking news hole, lives in fear of the local Cuban power structure - - the unseemly speed of this firing will do nothing to dampen that belief.

PS. The headline at SDFL Blog Is DeFede a Criminal? makes me want to add that no prosecutor with a grain of sense should bring charges on this one. David Markus (who turns out to be a former UM Law student, one who transferred to Harvard after his first year) agreed earlier today to debate the issue; look out for his reply soon.

Miami: Home of the Monkey Thieves

How did I miss this when it happened?

Baby Monkey Stolen From Primate Expert's Florida Home: MIAMI — Three masked men in capes stole a baby owl monkey Thursday from the home of a primate expert, police said.

Men. In. Capes. Stole a rare monkey. In the Redlands (one of the last little-developed areas here, about 30 minutes to the south).

Then again, other news reports say the masked intruders wore “black robes” which suggests they are judges rather than caped crusaders. I suppose that's marginally more plausible. Although if you are a judge, you can monkey around on the bench, so why steal one? (Sorry your Honor, I couldn't resist.)

(original story spotted via Majikthise who has an entire blog category for Monkeys, Apes, and Prosimians … don't miss the slow loris)

Who Should Be Our New US Attorney?

My colleague Tony Alfieri had a nice column in the Miami Herald about what sort of person should replace the departing US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Marcos Jiménez, the incumbent, is due to resign tomorrow. Time for a woman in this job?:

… history teaches that since 1828 the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District has been led by a woman only once, in 1962, when Edith House served for eight months as acting U.S. attorney by court appointment.

A career prosecutor, House served as an assistant U.S. attorney for 34 years both in Jacksonville and Miami. …

By rough count then, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District has been led by men for 176 of the last 177 years, give or take eight months.

Meanwhile, however, the White House has let it be known that it plans to name Alexander Acosta, a Miamian who now heads the Civil Rights Division in main Justice, as the interim US Attorney. It's an odd appointment for two reasons: Jiménez, the incumbent, was lobbying for his deputy (with about 20 years of experience) to get it, and while Mr. Acosta has a sterling record any Federalist would be proud of, he's only 36 and has very little relevant experience.

The Herald reports that Acosta will likely be a candidate for the permanent appointment; I see this move as being a stepping stone to a local judgeship.

Miami-Dade Allows International Poll Watchers

Foreign poll watchers can observe … the last few hours of voting, long after the machines were set up… Previsously the official position had been that the foreign poll watchers were not welcome.

The Herald reports on its blog,

International observers won a victory in Miami-Dade on election day. After meeting with Supervisor of Elections Constance Kaplan at 1 p.m. Tuesday, she officially gave then the go ahead to observe inside pollings places, but with a department escort.

The observers had been barred after Miami-Dade commissioners voted against giving them access.

“We think it's a real victory and shows an openess by the county to display some openness in the process,” said John De Leon, former local president of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Among those who will visit up to 20 precincts before the end of the day are representatives from Pax Christi USA, a national Catholic peace and justice movement group and California-based Global Exchange, an international human rights organization dedicated to promoting environmental, political and social justice. The groups are affiliated with Miami Workers Center, which will make the groups findings public after the polls close.

Representatives from countries including Great Britain, South Africa, Nicaragua, Mexico and Haiti will be visiting the polls.

Kerry's Ground Game in Miami

It wasn't as easy as it should have been to find a place to get a Kerry-Edwards yard sign. The local office I got via Google gave me a second number for the “field office”…but either they said it wrong or I wrote it wrong. My next call was to an office with nearby address, but it just had an answering machine saying it was the “finance office”.

There wasn't an obvious way to find the local Miami offices from the front page of the main Kerry-Edwards web page, at least not without filling in a form. They have a link to a page that would sell me a Kerry-Edwards yard sign …but they'd have to mail it, and it didn't come with wires to hold it up.

Going deeper down the Google list, however, I found Miami for Kerry, which boasts an impressive number of local offices. I called the closest — answered on the third ring which was not encouraging, but may be excusable on Debate Day given the office is very near the campus. The person answering the phone was not nearly as good as Rebecca, but she told me what I needed to know.

Last night the K-E people did a great job of getting students with signs to dominate the campus, and dominated the backdrop for the live outdoor MS-NBC broadcast, although I don't know what the cameras chose to show.

I'm trying to decide if I even want to venture onto campus today.

Is There Any Point In Talking to Nader?

Tuesday, September 28, 4 p.m., Bill Cosford Cinema

A Personal Conversation with Ralph Nader. Council for Democracy and the School of Communication are proud to be hosting a campus visit by independent U.S. presidential candidate Ralph Nader. Nader will first discuss the major points of his campaign platform and then answer audience questions. Refreshments will be served. For more information, visit www.CouncilforDemocracy.org. Open to the UM community only.

Should I go? Is there any point in asking him why he wants to destroy the country?

Jeanne: Strike Probabilities

LOCATION           A  B  C  D
MIAMI FL           5 17  X  X 

COLUMN DEFINITION   PROBABILITIES IN PERCENT
A IS PROBABILITY FROM NOW TO  2PM SAT
FOLLOWING ARE ADDITIONAL PROBABILITIES
B FROM  2PM SAT TO  2AM SUN
C FROM  2AM SUN TO  2PM SUN
D FROM  2PM SUN TO  2PM MON

Looks Like Monday Will Be Spent at Home in the Dark

Hurricane IVAN

CHANCES OF CENTER OF THE HURRICANE PASSING WITHIN 65 NAUTICAL MILES OF LISTED LOCATIONS THROUGH 2PM EDT MON SEP 13 2004
LOCATION A B C D E
MIAMI FL X X 3 12 15

COLUMN DEFINITION
PROBABILITIES IN PERCENT
A IS PROBABILITY FROM NOW TO 2PM SAT FOLLOWING ARE ADDITIONAL PROBABILITIES
B FROM 2PM SAT TO 2AM SUN
C FROM 2AM SUN TO 2PM SUN
D FROM 2PM SUN TO 2PM MON
E IS TOTAL PROBABILITY FROM NOW TO 2PM MON
X MEANS LESS THAN ONE PERCENT

FORECASTER AVILA

Here Comes 'Ivan the Terrible'

Update (5pm): The law school has provided this new information:

The University of Miami continues to closely monitor the progress of Hurricane Ivan. Although no decisions have been made at this point regarding the University’s status for Monday, September 13 (including class cancellations), it is highly possible that the University will be closed that day.

Specific information and instructions regarding classes and weekend events for students will be issued on Friday, September 10.

The University of Miami is closely monitoring the progress of Hurricane Ivan. All University operations are currently operating on normal schedules.

a. When will we be notified of any decision to close the Law School?

The University's Crisis Decision Team will continue to meet as necessary during the next few days. The University has maintained a state of readiness following Hurricane Frances, and most buildings already have hurricane shutters in place. We will send you another e-mail update tomorrow.

b. How can I find out if the University decides to close the Law School? You should take two steps right now:

• Print out this e-mail so you have the hotline number handy, and check it regularly as a hurricane nears.

The University has a hotline (305-284-5151), which gives information for the entire University, including the Law School. It is the University's prime means of communicating information about the status of the University in the event of a hurricane. You can also call the Dean of Students Office number (305-284-4551) for information specific to the Law School.

• Check your Law School e-mail and the Web page regularly before closing.

If the University announces a closing, we plan to send an e-mail to faculty, staff, and students and post the information on the web. If useful, we'll also post signs around the campus.

If you have a personal account that you prefer to use (e.g., yahoo or hotmail), that's fine, but you need to set your Law School e-mail account to forward to that account. It's easy to do. Go to the Current Students Web page and click on Student E-mail Forwarding, or click here.

c. How can I find out when the Law School is reopening?

The University has a hotline (305-284-5151), which gives information for the entire University, including the Law School. It is the University's prime means of communicating information about the status of the University in the event of a hurricane. You can also call the Dean of Students Office number (305-284-4551) for information specific to the Law School. You can also check your e-mail and the Law School web page. (They are taken down during a hurricane, but brought back up before re-opening.)

d. What do I need to do now? Double-check your own personal preparedness plan for a hurricane. Make sure you have water, flashlights, batteries, candles, non-perishable food, a full gas tank, cash, etc. Find out if you live in an evacuation zone, and decide where you'll go if you need to evacuate. The University does not provide hurricane shelter for students who do not reside on campus. Only those students who live on the University campus can be accommodated on campus during a hurricane.

Useful sources of information include:

• The National Hurricane Center website, http://www.nhc.noaa.gov * The Miami-Dade Emergency Management Office — http://www.co.miami-dade.fl.us/oem/hurricane/home.asp * The University's Hurricane Preparedness Website — http://www.miami.edu/prepare/. This page has many helpful links (check http://www.miami.edu/UMH/CDA/UMH_Main/1,1770,19025-1;20070-3,00.html), including the Broward County emergency management office. e. Will Law School e-mail and the Law School web page continue to function during a hurricane?

No. After the Law School closes, but before a hurricane strikes, we take down all the Law School's network servers. In the case of Frances, the Law School was closed as of 7:00 a.m. Thursday, September 2, and the network was taken down at about 11:00 a.m. Network service was restored around 1:30 p.m. Monday, Labor, Day, and students had remote access to their e-mail and the web page at that time, though a glitch in restoring service prevented access to the student computers in the Library and Room F200 until about 3:00 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7.

f. What will happen to e-mail sent to my Law School e-mail account during the time the Law School network is shut down for a hurricane?

In the event of a future hurricane, the Law School will use a service that will cause your e-mail to queue up on a server outside Florida, and then be delivered to you after the Law School network is up and running again. Anyone who sends you an e-mail during a hurricane will receive a message back indicating that you haven't been able to access it yet. In the case of Frances, we did not yet have the service operational for students, so anyone e-mailing you during the hurricane probably received a bounce message.

g. Why doesn't the Law School keep its web site and e-mail running during a hurricane?

In a hurricane there's a good chance that the Law School will lose power, and it could seriously damage the network to have it crash. We have backup power which lasts up to 36 hours, but a power outage could easily be longer than that. That means we have two choices: (a) shut the network down before the hurricane in order to protect it, or (b) keep a staff member on-site during a hurricane so that the staff member could shut the network down if power were lost and the generator was running out of fuel. We choose (a) over (b) because requiring staff to stay here through a hurricane would be a major imposition, which we'd want to consider only if doing so was safe, practical — and essential. E-mail and web pages are important but not likely to be the center of anyone's attention during a hurricane. The University does take a different approach, requiring a network staff member to remain on campus throughout a hurricane. This reflects a general concern that the University has to maintain services for students living on campus — that's why Richter Library remained open longer than the Law Library, for example. The Law School computer resources department is investigating the possibility of keeping at least some limited web page and e-mail functions running throughout a hurricane through an alternate location outside South Florida, but we do not have that currently in place.

h. When will the network be taken down if the Law School closes?

This will happen after the closing. An e-mail will be sent with as much advance notice as we can give. If you have documents on the network that you wish to work on while at home, it would be a good idea to copy them onto a disk or e-mail them to a personal account (e.g., yahoo or hotmail) by the end of the day Friday.

i. Will any classes that were missed have to be made up?

You need to check with your instructors to find out how each class in which you are enrolled will be handled.

Today's Bumpersticker

Seen on a car picking up at eldest son's school:

Like Father, Like Son: One Term

Spotted on a Bumpersticker

Spotted on a bumpersticker:

“The last time people listened to a bush, they wandered for 40 years in the desert.”

Good News, Bad News

Good News (for us): We've been downgraded to a mere Tropical Storm Watch. Frances the Slow is now on land, terrorizing other people — don't know about casualties, but there seems to be significant property damage and a lot of people are without power.

Bad News (for us): Ivan is now a Hurricane and he's headed straight for us.

National Hurricane Center IVAN IS STRENGTHENING RATHER RAPIDLY AT THIS TIME. THE EYE IS BECOMING BETTER DEFINED ON THE VISIBLE IMAGERY AND DVORAK INTENSITY ESTIMATES SUPPORT AT LEAST 75 KT FOR THE CURRENT INTENSITY. THIS MAKES IVAN THE STRONGEST TROPICAL CYCLONE FOR SUCH A LOW LATITUDE IN THE ATLANTIC BASIN RECORDS. CIRRUS OUTFLOW IS WELL ESTABLISHED OVER ALL QUADRANTS OF THE HURRICANE. ALL PARAMETERS SEEM TO BE IN PLACE FOR IVAN TO CONTINUE STRENGTHENING…AND THERE IS A HIGH LIKELIHOOD THAT THIS WILL BECOME THE SEASON'S FOURTH MAJOR HURRICANE. THE OFFICIAL WIND SPEED FORECAST IS SIMILAR TO THE SHIPS GUIDANCE…AND IT MAY BE CONSERVATIVE.

Windy

Frances is north east of here and heading somewhat northwesterly, so unless it does an Andrew and skitters south as it hits land, we're going to be subject to tropical storm winds at the worst, plus some gusts, and maybe not even that. But it's so slow now that it may take another 16-24 hours, or even more, before we know it's safe to take down the shutters.

So far, it's pretty windy, and there's been some rain, but nothing you would get excited about if they didn't have those big swirly cloud pictures at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

The Miami Herald delivered a special early edition last night since they figured they might not be able to get through the water this morning; that was before Frances slowed down ever farther (more waiting in the dark behind our shutters!). The NYT didn't deliver at all. The electricty has the occasional flicker, but so far so good.

Our next problem is that Tropical Storm Ivan. Frances needs to get out of the way so that they can open the shops — I don't think we have enough food for two storms in a row.

The Calm Before the Storm or Non-Storm

The weather is here, and it’s nice right now. A friend has two kids over who have been evacuated from Miami Beach, and they are about the age of our kids, so we took our kids swimming in their pool to keep the them company. We were driven inside by a squall after about 30 minutes, a feeder band passing over we later learned, but that passed quickly and the weather turned nice, if sometimes blustery after that.

This morning I went out first thing to buy more extension cords, since in the course of the construction on our house some of the old ones went walkabout. Streets were nearly empty, but the hardware store, while heavily picked over, was not empty. They still had some batteries, for example; I left them there, since we have many and a generator, but not without a pang, remembering Andrew and those five weeks without electricity — two weeks plus without a candle or a flashlight or a clue (we had literally just moved here from London).

As for Frances, the possibility of anti-climax grows with each hour. I can only hope.

OK. This Is Serious

UM-FSU football game rescheduled for 8 p.m. Sept. 10.

Frances: Forecasters Cannot Agree

The National Weather Service and the news give us the consensus track, and a large bubble of uncertainty around it. That forecast, though, is built out of many different models. Often those models mostly agree. Not this time:

11pm Frances Report

We have a hurricane watch along with much of the bottom half of the Florida coast.

Offical odds for a hit on Miami remain almost unchanged, with the bulls-eye still just enough north of here to make the misery go elsewhere. Our cumulative chance of a strike has risen to 20%, but that's only because the new tables project further out into Saturday. The peak period remans 11% between 8PM Thursday and 8AM Friday. Meanwhile, however, the National Weather Service's discussion of the track, which has been dominated for two days by puzzlement as to why the various different models diverge so much, has taken on a new note.

I don't know why the National Hurricane Center forecasters still have to WRITE THEIR ANALYSIS IN ALL CAPS just like they probably did in the days of the telegraph, but here is the 11pm discussion of the meteorology? I have taken the liberty of adding bold to the parts that caught my eye:

RECON THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING INDCIATED THE CENTRAL PRESSURE HAD DECREASED TO 939 MB. A DROPSONDE AT 01/1904Z INDICATED WINDS OF 154 KT…OR 177 MPH…AT THE 850 MB LEVEL. THE HIGHEST 700 MB RECON FLIGHT-LEVEL WIND AT 2210Z WAS 134 KT…EQUAL TO ABOUT A 121-KT SURFACE WIND. BASED ON THIS INFORMATION…FRANCES IS BEING HELD AT 120 KT…WHICH MAY BE A LITTLE CONSERVATIVE.

THE INITIAL MOTION IS 295/12. HOWEVER…THERE HAS BEEN CONSIDERBALE WOBBLE IN THE TRACK THE PAST 12 HOURS DUE TO THE EYEWALL REPLACEMENT CYCLES THAT HAVE BEEN OCCURRING. FRANCES HAS BEEN MOVING WEST-NORTHWESTWARD FOR THE PAST 24 HOURS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE TO THE NORTH…WHICH IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN INTACT THROUGH AT LEAST 48 HOURS. THE GULFSTREAM-IV JET AND AN AFRES C-130 HAVE BEEN RELEASING DROPSONDES AROUND THE PERIPHERY OF FRANCES. THE SONDE DATA HAS PRODUCED SOME INTERESTING AND DISTURBING RESULTS. THE HEIGHT DATA FOR THE VARIOUS PRESSURE LEVELS…COMPARED TO 18Z SURROUNDING UPPER-AIR DATA…APPEAR TO BE AT LEAST 20 METERS TOO LOW. HOWEVER…THE WIND DATA CLEARLY INDICATE A MID-TROPOSPHERIC HIGH PRESSURE CENTER NEAR 30N 75W…OR ABOUT 500 NMI NORTHWEST OF FRANCES WITH A RIDGE AXIS EXTENDING WEST-SOUTHWESTWARD ACROSS NORTH FLORIDA AND INTO THE NORTHEAST GULF OF MEXICO. IN THE SHORT TERM… THIS WOULD SUGGEST THAT FRANCES SHOULD CONTINUE MOVING AT 295 OR EVEN 290 DEGREES MOTION FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS OR SO. ALSO…00Z UPPER-AIR DATA INDICATE THAT THE 18Z NOGAPS AND 12Z UKMET MODELS HAVE VERIFIED THE 00Z 500 MB RIDGE AND HEIGHTS THE BEST…WHILE THE 18Z GFS AND GFDL MODELS WERE MUCH TOO WEAK…AT LEAST 20 METERS TOO LOW…WITH THE STRENGTH OF THE RIDGE. SINCE THE 00Z MODEL RUNS WILL HAVE THE NEW GPS DROPSONDE DATA INCLUDED IN THOSE RUNS FOR THE 06Z ADVISORY…NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IS BEING MADE TO THE PREVIOUS FORECAST TRACK. HOWEVER…WITH HIGH PRESSURE LOCATED TO THE NORTHWEST OF FRANCES…I WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED TO THE 00Z MODEL TRACKS SHIFT A LITTLE MORE WESTWARD.

That would be…this way.

Battening Down the Hatches

It's official:

The University of Miami's Coral Gables and Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science campuses will be closed for classes on both Thursday and Friday, September 2 and 3.

Only essential employees are required to report to work at the Coral Gables and Rosenstiel School campuses.

And I am not an “essential employee”. So I don't have to come in. But I'm on leave, so I don't have to come in anyway. Wait, there's more…

All academic buildings must be vacated by noon on Thursday. All non-essential buildings will be closed and secured at noon on Thursday.

Translation: If I come in they may kick me out of my office?

A decision on the UM-FSU football game, currently scheduled for Monday, September 6, is expected to be made on Thursday.

If they cancel a football game, then you know it's really serious. Update: They postponed it.

The following Coral Gables campus facilities will be open on Thursday until 5 p.m.:

* Food Court (and all Residential College Dining Rooms)
* Richter Library
* University Bookstore
* Student Health Center
* Wellness Center
* University Center
* Starbucks

I guess the people at Starbucks are essential employees.

Hurricane Frances Latest

At this moment, the latest predictions show about at 15% chance we'll be hit, with the biggest chance, 11%, for Thursday night to Friday morning. These are not such awful odds. But we all know that hurricane landfall is a very inexact science. The current track gets near enough to the track of Charlie that the poor folks on the west coast may be getting hit twice in a fortnight.

Hurricane Frances is already category four, which is pretty nasty, and they have tended to get stronger as they run toward land. Unless the prediciton changes radically, I guess I'll be putting up shutters tomorrow morining.

Meanwhile, on campus, the Associate Dean says:

To: Students
From: Stephen J. Schnably, Associate Dean

The University is currently monitoring the progress of Hurricane Frances. All classes remain on regular schedule.

a. When will we be notified of any decision to close the University?

We expect that the University central administration will make a decision tomorrow whether (and when) to close the University, including the Law School. The University is currently putting up some shutters, but that is only a precautionary measure necessitated by the large number of shutters the University has. No decision to close the University has been made at this time.

b. How will faculty, staff, and students know if a decision is made to close the University?

The Dean of Students Office number will serve as the Law School's hotline (305-284-4551). In addition, if the University announces a closing, we will —

* send an e-mail to students
* post it on the information monitors in Subway, the library, and the student lounge.
* post it on the law school web page
* post it on signs around the Law School campus.
The University has a hotline at 305-284-5151. You can also check this number, but information specific to the Law School will be at the Dean of Students number, 305-284-4551.

c. What do I need to do now?

The University does not provide shelter for non-resident students in a hurricane. Double-check your own personal preparedness plan for a hurricane. Useful sources of information include:

• The National Hurricane Center website, http://www.nhc.noaa.gov
• The Miami-Dade Emergency Management Office — http://www.co.miami-dade.fl.us/oem/hurricane/home.asp
• The University's Hurricane Preparedness Website — http://www.miami.edu/prepare/. This page has many helpful links (check http://www.miami.edu/UMH/CDA/UMH_Main/1,1770,19025-1;20070-3,00.html), including the Broward County emergency management office.

cc: Faculty, Administration, and Staff

On the home front, my older child's school announced at a special assembly that it will be closing for Thursday and Friday. The students duly cheered. Update: All the K-12 schools in town are going to be closed Thursday and Friday. Sort of like Florida's answer to snow days, I guess.

But my committee meeting for tomorrow remains stubbornly uncanceled. If it goes, I may cheer too.

Like Watching a Monster Movie From the Inside

Watching a hurricane advance in your general direction is a bit like having a bit part in a real-life monster movie. There was panic buying at the local grocery store yesterday. Water, paper plates, plasticware, canned staples were gone or flying off the shelves.

The latest bulletin from UM says,

The University continues to carefully monitor the progress of Hurricane Frances. UM's Crisis Decision Team met at 10:30 a.m. today and determined that the University expects to be open for the remainder of the week. We will conduct business as usual, and all classes, events, and clinical activities remain on a regular schedule. The Crisis Decision Team expects to meet daily this week, and you will be advised immediately if there are any changes to schedules.

Some precautionary measures are being undertaken today and tomorrow, including installing hurricane shutters on certain buildings on the Coral Gables campus. This is standard procedure and is no cause for alarm.

Well, actually, there might be cause for mild alarm, as this looks like a nasty one. On the other hand, it's still far away, has plenty of time to turn north, and indeed, the lastest forecast track is no longer aiming dead at us, although landfall remains a very very inexact science and we here in Miami are still within the cone of probability.

If it hits, though, it's unlikely to do so before early Saturday. Now if we could just find some plastic forks….

Heading Straight For Us

Hurricane Frances.

And they say it could be category four real soon.

New Student Blogger

UM has another student blogger, Jason Wolf, who writes the ominously-named random acts of meanness.

And, indeed, I have a bone to pick with this new UM 1L already. In one of his first posts he disses Scotty's Landing, calling it the “worst restaurant on earth”. I'm sorry, it's not even close. Indeed, the food is perfectly OK, certainly no worse than lots of other places, and the view of the ocean and the Miami skyline is spectactular. Try it again some time when the weather is nicer.

Update: Consider, for example, Denny's, “Always open, always awful.”

We Are So Cosmopolitan

The BBC reports that the UN says Miami has the largest foreign-born population of any city in the world.

Some 59% of people in the city were not born in the US, the UN Development Programme report said.

…Toronto had the second-highest proportion of foreign-born citizens (44%), while Los Angeles was a close third with 41%.

Another two North American cities - Canada's Vancouver (37%) and New York (36%) - made it into the top five, the report said.

Outside North America, the town-state of Singapore scored highest (33%), followed by Australia's Sydney (31%), Abidjan (30%) in Ivory Coast, London (28%) and Paris (23%).

Plus we've got Shaq. But he was born in Newark.

Miami Slighted

How come the cool book tours almost never come to Miami?

You Get Used to the Monsoons

A UM first year encounters a local meterological phenomenon:

I like the weather in Miami — it's usually sunny and warm — which is a distinct difference from anywhere else I've lived for nine months of the year. The problem? There's this particular tendency for it to monsoon, sometimes out of the clear blue, that lasts for thirty minutes and then totally clears up. It's perfectly tropical.

I think I prefer snow to this.

You do get used to it. And it usually ends before the end of the work day, which is convenient.

One Type of Battleground Miami is Not

It seems that where I live is just a cash cow, not an electoral battleground.

As for Miami, Mr. Jordan said, the group [Moveon] was not ruling out advertising there in the future but said that the market is already rich in Democratic voters who will likely vote for Mr. Kerry. Miami is also almost prohibitively expensive, he said.

Crocodile Medallions French Style

I am not ordinarily given to recounting my personal life here, much less to restaurant reviews, but I can't resist mentioning the place I went to dinner last night, “Las Culebrinas.” We wanted to go somewhere new, so we were trawling the Miami Herald restaurant review archive in the minutes before the babysitter arrived, looking for places that were not too far away, not too pricey, and interesting sounding. Then we found this.

I began to think that this might make for an interesting night out when I got to this part in the review, especially because I was pretty hungry:

Our waiter, a fellow with a merry twinkle in his eye and a deft hand with a blowtorch (more on that later), advised us not to order anything beyond the giant tapas. “TOO MUCH FOOD,'' he declared. We pressed on. Great rewards awaited.

But the next two paragraphs really sealed the deal:

There is a regular entree menu underneath the glass tabletop, but you need not look at it. Each night, a sheet bearing some 25 specials is circulated, and it is there that the truly interesting stuff can be found.

It is there that we spotted what no Spanish restaurant ought to be doing without, an entree called “Crocodile Medallions French Style'' ($12.95). This is a must-order, filet after filet of thinly sliced, pearly white, slightly chewy but delicious and virtually fat-free meat. Compare it to a good veal. The “French style'' involves a light egg wash and a bit of white wine and butter in the saute. Julia Child, meet Wally Gator. Served with a nice little row of tasty potatoes and a side salad made of mixed field greens, not the typical pallid iceberg.

Julia Child meets Wally Gator! How could I resist?

And then there was this to seal the deal:

Back to that blowtorch. If you are familiar with the traditional Spanish dessert crema catalana, you will know that on top is a layer of caramelized sugar. You can do this caramelizing with the broiler if you like, but at Las Culebrinas, that is not enough fanfare. They spoon the sugar on top of your little dish of crema at the table, and then they pull out the torch and fire it up. Before your eyes, crema catalana.

So we went. We had to queue to get in, but when we did we found a room full of happy people, and a pretty diverse crowd including lots of families with kids. I also discovered that Frenchified alligator now costs about 40% more than it did when reviewed in 1998. But I had to do it. And it was pretty good. Yes, it tastes a bit more like chicken then veal does, and is definitely a bit chewier than either, but it's not bad.

And the formal-waiter-with-the-blowtorch-thing (do you have to put the other arm behind your back as if you were pouring a fine wine?) would be really funny if they weren't so serious about it…

I expect we'll go back sooner or later, but we'll probably try the tappas next time.

A Floridian Votes

I voted today. The polling place was empty. They seemed very glad to see me. Indeed the man whose job it was to explain how the touch screen voting worked wouldn't stop explaining complex concepts like, “you touch the screen to make your choice”. The machines are lined up in a row with the open side facing the room and thus feel very exposed compared to the old punch card system that had curtains you pulled while you make your choices. I assume the idea is that the screen angle makes it hard to see what you are doing from a distance, but I had the perhaps unjustified feeling that the hovering and underemployed poll worker, or anyone else who happened to be around, could be looking over my shoulder easily if he wanted to.

Our precinct votes in a common room graciously lent for this purpose by an ideally located Catholic church. To get to the common room you have to walk through a little courtyard, which is entered via an archway. Every time I've voted there has been a person, whom I always took to be a volunteer election official, sitting in a chair in the archway. Usually it's a local senior citizen, and they are very cordial, and point out the way to the entrance to the common room, which being on the far side of the courtyard isn't necessarily obvious if you've never been there before. This time, however, the senior citizen in the chair was wearing a bright orange vest that said something like DEPUTIZED POLICE. He stopped me and demanded to see my ID. He then scrutinized it carefully. Perhaps if it had said bin Laden I would have had to run for it.

Voting isn't anonymous — it's obviously necessary for the polling authorities inside to check my identity against the voter roll to make sure I'm registered, voting in the right place, and only voting once. This additional check was not, therefore, a particularly egregious assault on my privacy. But it was obviously pointless, and I didn't like it.

I Am Against Classroom Autodefenestration

I'm working desultorily on a longer post about strange things that can happen in the classroom, which may be why this story in the Miami Herald leapt out at me over breakfast:

Teacher loses bet over leap out window: A 17-year-old boy jumped out of a second-floor window at Miami Beach High last week after betting his teacher he was strong enough to do it and not get hurt.

He won the bet, landing unharmed. No immediate word on whether he got any money out of it.

The teacher has been reassigned to a non-teaching job at a regional ACCESS Center while police and school officials investigate the incident.

The science class was in the middle of a lecture on evolution on Wednesday when the student — whose name was not released — began talking about jumping out the window to prove his point, according to the police report.

The teacher, Yrvan Tassy Jr., bet him $20 that he would hurt himself if he jumped, police said.

That's when the boy jumped out the window. He landed on his feet — in a patch of dirt and grass — and returned to the classroom, the police report stated. He asked Tassy for the $20, and Tassy said he'd bring it the next day, students told police.

Unlike some other incidents I have in mind, where I can feel sorry for the teacher, this one defies sympathy. I will take a firm stand on this complex question: Autodefenestration has no place in the classroom. Indeed, I'll even go on record against all forms of classroom defenestration, especially from above ground level.

Miami Wildlife

South Florida is teeming with dangerous and weird wildlife, much of it non-native and out of control.

And, no, I don't mean the local lawyers or South Beach nightlife.

Forget the Gators: Exotic Pets Run Wild in Florida: The southern end of Florida, the most tropical state outside Hawaii, is teeming with exotic beasts. As if alligators, panthers and other native creatures were not enough, the steamy swamps, murky waterways and lush tree canopies here are a paradise for furry, scaly, clawed, fanged and otherwise off-putting things that have no business roaming this side of the equator.

“This stuff doesn't happen in New Jersey, it doesn't happen in Ohio, but in South Florida it happens constantly,” said Todd Hardwick, whose trapping business, Pesky Critters, gets 60 calls a day from people with peacocks on their roofs, caimans in their driveways and iguanas in their tool sheds. “Miami-Dade County is probably ground zero for exotic animals that are on the loose and doing very well.”

Then again, that last remark does fit some people I know….

FIU Law on the Road to Provisional Accreditation

Congratulations to our new (2 year old) neighbors, the FIU Law school, who have just passed a critical milestone on the road towards provisional accreditation. The Miami Herald reports that FIU's site visit went well, and that the provisional accreditation could happen as early as August, which would then allow FIU's first class to take the bar exam.

FIU has done everything by the book. They hired a Dean, Leonard Strickman, who is very experienced at navigating the ABA process, and I'm certain they will jump through all the necessary hoops in the shortest possible time.

One interesting thing, though. FIU is marketing itself as a more practice-oriented law schol, and a very international one, the implication being it's not trying to be like U.M. (although in fact we are very very international). Yet if rumors are to be believed, the folks they are hiring this year are exactly the kind of people we hire here at Miami. Indeed, some of them are people we interviewed.

So far we haven't had anyone we offered a job to go there, even though their salaries (a matter of public record as it's a state school) are significantly higher than ours—partly because ours slipped well below market when we downsized the student body a few years ago and took a volunatary pay (near) freeze.

It's a sign of FIU's smarts that they are paying a bit over (local) market—going to a startup school can be exciting, but usually it's more work, in tougher conditions. And before the school has its final accreditation, new hires are entitled to command a risk premium—although in fact as noted above FIU is not really a risk in that department.

A Balmy Walk Through the Beaux Arts Festival

We spent a good chunk of the day at the Beaux Arts Festival of Art, which is sort of lke a very high class arts and crafts show with a small sprinkling of fine art, and is held annually on the campus, a good five minutes walk from our house.

The children were delighted that the marble-selling man was there again, and also the pirate captain with the demonstration of ancient nautical gear and games.

Caroline (and therefore I) took a keen interest in the many very elegant displays of jewelry.

It was a beautiful day, although we were mostly a little overdressed as the radio falsely claimed it would be cool instead of balmy.

Hard to believe it's January and it's cold in much of the country.

More on Miami FTAA Protests

It looks to me as if this judge has clearly shown that he must recuse himself. That said, his commentary in open court is pretty reliable evidence that the Miami cops were — as has been suggested here before — waaaay over the line in trying to corral the FTAA protestors:

A judge presiding over the cases of free trade protesters said in court that he saw ''no less than 20 felonies committed by police officers'' during the November demonstrations, adding to a chorus of complaints about police conduct.

Judge Richard Margolius, 60, made the remarks in open court last week, saying he was taken aback by what he witnessed while attending the protests.

''Pretty disgraceful what I saw with my own eyes. And I have always supported the police during my entire career,'' he said, according to a court transcript. “This was a real eye-opener. A disgrace for the community.''

In the transcript, he also said he may have to remove himself from any additional cases involving arrests made during the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit.

''I probably would have been arrested myself if it had not been for a police officer who recognized me,'' said the judge, who wears his hair in a graying ponytail.

Note that Judge Margolius is a state court judge, not a federal judge.

More Good News

It's surely just a random fluctuation [Memo to self: do not become hopeful. Do NOT become hopeful. It just leads to pain.], but here's some more news suggesting that official abuses against people's rights — the sort that the mainstream establishment types in and out of the media claim don't happen and are only harped on by cranks — might actually not get forgotten.

Item: According to Miami Herald columnist Jim DeFede, 'Miami Model' of FTAA security is lightning rod, AFL-CIO Sec-Tres Richard Trumka

has made it his personal mission to settle the score with Miami city leaders and its police force for what happened during the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit last month.

''The American labor movement is committed, and I am personally committed, to see that the brutality we saw never happens again anywhere in this country,'' he said Tuesday during an AFL-CIO meeting to gather testimony from people who say they were abused by the police.

The often emotional meeting lasted four hours. ''The stories were worse than I imagined,'' Trumka said afterward.

He said the AFL-CIO would call on its friends in Congress and throughout the country to 'help us stop `the Miami Model' in its tracks so it can never raise its ugly head again.''

The 'Miami Model' has already become code for oppressive police work and suppression of dissidence. It's a bit unfair, as the model was actually perfected long ago, and has been used abroad at other summits, but Miami was perhaps the first town in several years to apply the model in the US.

Item: Washington Post reports that Tapes Show Abuse of 9/11 Detainees, so the abuse that previously didn't exist at all has now been upgraded to “as many as 20 guards were involved in the abuse, which included slamming prisoners against walls and painfully twisting their arms and hands” and “a pattern of physical and verbal abuse” although the Justice Dept. position (pre-judging the merits?) is that it is “unfortunate that the alleged misconduct of a few employees detracts from the fine work done by the correctional personnel at MDC and around the nation, who conducted themselves professionally and appropriately.”

It's Warm Here! It's Cool Here!

The weather today was almost perfect. A tiny bit more humid than I'd like, but clear and not too warm. It felt like a perfect late spring day in New England. Only it's December and they are having snow storms up there.

It's exam season, but the students on campus seemed really relaxed. I walked around the lake (yes, we have a little lake) and saw undergraduates lolling about, a group singing along with a guitarist, others strolling hand-in-hand or skating, it was idyllic. Even in the law school courtyard, the people taking study breaks…sometimes quite long study breaks…looked fairly happy (ok, it's early in exam season). It could be that yesterday's free massage service, (complete with special chair, massage therapist and assistant) for stressed students (3-7pm, long wait times due to popularity) organized by the law school student government had some positive effects.

Given the perfect weather, it was no surprise to read that South Beach—a twenty minute drive away, albeit one I hardly ever make unless I have out of town visitors—is “in” again: Journeys: South Beach: From Hot to Cold, Back to Hot Again.

FOR the past few years, the word has gone out among the fashionable set: South Beach is so over. The litany of complaints piled up as this high-profile strip of Miami Beach seemingly fell victim to its own success. The place was too crowded. The traffic impossible. The hotel service inept. Ocean Drive now a fraternity-house nightmare of sports bars, fuzzy navels and hot body contests—a “South Street Seaport for tourists,” in the words of Brett Sokol, a columnist for New Times, a Miami weekly.

And thus the hip crowd moved on in search of the new South Beach. But what were the alternatives? Rio? It's where the beautiful people are flocking, to be sure, but not for a weekend getaway. St. Bart's? No direct flights and prohibitively expensive once you get there. Jamaica? You're chained to your resort because of local crime and the lack of good restaurants. Puerto Rico? Fine for one visit to the Water Club, but that's it. The much-touted Fort Lauderdale? You've got to be kidding.

So, like swallows to Capistrano, the hipsters are returning to South Beach. And greeting them are signs that South Beach's glory days are indeed far from over, that the “new South Beach” may, in fact, be South Beach itself.

Course what they don't know is that we too are in for a cold spell—they say it could get down to the mid-fourties tomorrow night! Which is actually good because if I don't run the heater at least once a year it gets real smelly.

Miami's FTAA Aftermath: Happy Officials, Allegations of "Police State" Tactics

I wasn't there myself, so I can't testify from personal observation, but there are a lot of accounts floating around of vastly excessive police behavior during the recent FTAA meetings. The city's power structure — never known for its enlightenment — is just tickled pink that no one was killed and nothing tangible was damaged. The intangible cost to our freedom is not something most of them seem very concerned about.

You can get a good flavor of what's going on — and what (in the sense of an independent investigation) is unlikely to happen — by reading these columns from the Miami Herald. Thank goodness for the columnists: other than this AP news story, AFL-CIO asks for probe of police conduct, the news coverage has been largely supine . Hurry, these may only be online for a few days:

• Jim DeFede, The power of the police needs watching
• Michael Putney, Citizens' panel should review complaints
• Jim DeFede, FTAA security review shouldn't be done by cops
• Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, ACLU: 'In the name of maintaining order, Chief Timoney suspended the constitutional rights of law-abiding people.'

Several people, including police officials, kept referring to the protesters as ''out of towners.'' They said the police correctly decided to ''prioritize'' the rights of local business owners over the rights of out-of-town protesters.

I was surprised to hear it articulated so plainly from police officers. I said I didn't realize they could choose who was deserving of rights and who wasn't. Shouldn't the Constitution apply to everyone? Isn't there some middle ground between the lawlessness that overran Seattle in 1999 and the police state that engulfed Miami last month?

…

Last month the police decided ''out of towners'' could have their rights violated.

Who's next? Poor folks in Wynwood? Overtown? Liberty City?

Exactly.

Notes From FTAA Fontlines

FTAA IMC. It looks from this page as if the police in Miami are on a hair trigger — which fits with everything we've been reading in the local press for the last couple of weeks. It would be tempting to dismiss this web page as agitprop — and it may be — but certainly the cops came armed for bear.

The mainstream media reports, Thousands march peacefully after early clashes. It starts off with how great things are, but the further you go into the article, the less great they sound — although so far at least there have been no major incidents, just many minor ones.

Even the boosterish Herald reports,

Among those arrested today: Marc Steier, an attorney with Miami Activist Defense, which defends the rights of protesters. He said he was seized by police early this morning and charged with obstruction of justice as he attempted to assist protesters.

''I didn't last 25 minutes on the street,'' he said.

And this doesn't sound fair:

Organizers said the route and the protester turnout was limited because of police actions. At the last minute, they said, police deleted a few blocks from the southernmost section of the route — the blocks that would have brought marchers relatively close to the Inter-Continental.

Platoons of officers appeared seemingly everywhere in the heart of downtown Miami. Many officers were dressed in riot gear and carried batons and plastic shields. Many police and media helicopters hovered overhead.

People I spoke to yesterday, late-middle aged academics trying to get to a hotel, near the FTAA meeting described a downtown under virtual lockdown with tanks on the street and an oppressive police presence.

Judging from the Herald, however, it may 'just' have been an armored Humvee…

But many participants complained about what they called police intimidation and heavy-handed tactics.

''I think I'm in a third world country …,'' said Sam Lender, 82, of Delray Beach. “When we got off the bus at Flagler we saw a tank and guys with gas masks and riot gear. Where's the protection against terrorism? Are we the terrorists?''

The ''tank'' was an armored Humvee vehicle on loan from Broward County.

Amazing Leftist AM Radio

Just after dropping off the kids this morning, I hit the wrong button on the car radio this morning — wait! there's a point to this story! it's not just pointless self-indulgent diaristic blogging! — and the radio flips from NPR, where it usually lives, to AM, where I never go. And I find something strange.

Local AM radio around here usually is below awful. But instead of shock jocks, or wall-to-wall ads, or mindless sports talk, or crime-and-wrecks, what I hear is a calm, measured voice, speaking in long sentences, expressing complex ideas. And the voice….the voice is saying things I thought you didn't get to say on the radio. Especially not in Florida.

The Voice is in the process of saying that US Cuba policy is irrational — we used to say we were trying to keep the Soviets out of our hemisphere, but when they left we didn't declare victory and drop the embargo, we tightened it in the name of democracy. (The Voice also makes the curious suggestion that intellectuals as a class immediately engaged in a mass forggetting about the earler policy and swung into line behind the new 'pro-democracy' ideology…what is this guy, a Trotskyist?).

Later the Voice starts talking about workers. It says that although workers have more rights than they did in the 1920s, their condition remains precarious. Then there's a question from what appears to be the audience along the lines of, “Isn't the answer to our problems to have a revolution?” Now I'm thinking — wait a minute; this is way to the left of NPR! And this is AM radio! What's going on? A meeting of the local Party cell somewhere? The Voice, however, disappoints the questioner. He doesn't think a revolution is possible, or even that good an idea as a strategy. Better to continue to fight for incremental improvements for labor.

When I get home, I put the radio on again to 790 AM. The program lasts for 45 minutes, plus whatever I missed before I stumbled on it. At the half hour, there's a station break of a few seconds to ID the station, but they don't tell me who's speaking.

The Voice has a definite affinity for semi-conspiratorial theories that doesn't really appeal to me. He's very concerned about the means by which, as he sees it, (things get a bit unclear) our society either brainwashes itself, or engages in some sort of voluntary groupthink and self-censorship, particularly among the intellectual class, and basic facts become impossible to mention. This seems a little simplistic to me, although I suppose that readers of the Daily Howler would say it describes the behavior of the media during the 2000 campaign pretty well. He describes advertising as a tax we pay others to brainwash us, which is cute but not that illuminating.

The Voice also has a naively romantic view of labor. He thinks workers should (“at least as an ideal” he says, suggesting he may know in his heart that this is simplistic) own the means of production with which they labor. A host of complexities about investments, national strategies, the long-term problems of even the more successful Yugoslavian workers' cooperatives, all dance through my head as he waxes about the workers of Lowell, Mass, who some unspecified time in the past ditched their bosses and took over an unspecified factory (referring to something discussed before I tuned in perhaps?).

Towards the end of the program, I gather it's an old tape — the Voice is criticizing Clinton, clearly the sitting President, as basically a Republican (ha! thinks I — just wait).

But the point of this tale isn't that I heard someone come up with brilliant, prescient, or even convincing radical ideas. Because I didn't. The point of this tale is that radical ideas got an extended airing on AM radio in South Florida. That violates just about everything I thought I knew about how the world works.

At 9AM they do another station ID, announce it's WAXY 790. And they finally mention the name of the speaker.

It's Noam Chomsky.

Which really surprises me, because he sounded substantially less crazed in this 45 minute segment than in the essays of his I've waded through, or started and then stopped wading through. (I'm basically with Brad DeLong on the Chomsky question.)

Then the announcer says that the next program is a paid broadcast on health, and segues straight to what sounds — for the first twenty seconds before I click off — as an extended (one hour?) infomercial. So of course I fire up my browser to figure out what on earth is going on at 790 AM. Here's what I found:

WAXY 790 is now a full time brokered station with the widest variety of programming imaginable. WAXY programs include topical talk, health, lifestyle, religion, music, and information on a variety of subjects. With over forty different shows, there is a program on WAXY for nearly every interest.

WAXY's powerful transmitter (25,000 Watts) in the East Everglades, using Kahn Power-Side technology, gives this programming solid coverage from the Palm Beaches to the Florida Keys, as well as the Bahamas and Florida's Southwest Coast.

And they do have a bewildering variety of stuff — the organizing theme being, I suppose, whoever will pay them. Is this the Republican future of radio? Let the market decide what programs should be? Broker all the airwaves? And, is that better or worse than the AM radio we usually get?

Incidentally, a little digging shows that the program I heard was Babel's Guide, which got this content from Radio Progress, which itself got the content from Alternative Radio. But which one of their extensive list of Chomsky programs I heard, I don't know.

WAXYing on about the irony that the way Noam Chomsky gets an AM airing is via paid media is left as an exercise for the reader…

A Very Loud Noise All Around

All of a sudden there's this very loud noise all around. People in neighboring homes, shouting, cheering?, jeering?, it's 11pm at night, this is not usual behavior in my usually quiet neighborhood.

Then I flip to ESPN.com and I understand: the Marlins have won the Series.

(I guess that means the owners will be coming back to the taxpayers again, to demand we pay for their stadium.)

The Weather Is Here

All of a sudden it isn't as horribly hot and humid outside any more. We haven't quite gotten to the blissful time of year when it's just great out, as it's still too hot in the middle of the day and too humid all day long, but the summer heat has definitely broken. It's nice in the shade; a week ago it was awful.

In honor of this joyful annual event, I've added a weather report to the margin of the blog. Eat your heart out in January. Or come visit.

Bonus points if you get the local color musical reference in the title.

Cruel and Probably Usual

Perhaps after the recent wave of heat-related deaths in Paris it will be clear just how evil this alleged conduct at the Krome immigrant detention center is: Worker claims 'day after day' he was ordered to turn off AC. We're not talking just making people sweat here:

'I don't know how someone didn't die in there because of the heat,'' Novoa said Wednesday in a telephone interview. 'Imagine 110 people in a room. There are no windows, only a door, locked with no air conditioning. Those poor Haitians… . When they saw me, they said `Please don't do that to us. You are killing us.' You have no idea how it made me feel.''

When he entered one of the buildings, Novoa said it had a stench of human feces and body odor.

Krome—perched on the very southern edge of settled greater Miami, nestled right up near the last of the open land and the Everglades—is a notorious facility in this community, one we like to pretend isn't there. It is the site of repeated human rights violations (e.g. sexual abuse, attempts to deny detainees access to counsel, and general evil). It is amazing that in this community, more than most of America a cauldron of immigrants, we tolerate this. But of course, we're mostly powerless, as Krome is not run by the locals but by the feds, and not just any feds but one of the two or three most loathsome bureaucracies in the US federal government, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).

Stories like this—and even if this one turns out to be exaggerated or false, it's only one of many—strain my general belief that evil institutions can turn good people bad. Perhaps a refinement is in order: could it be that one of the reasons that certain evil institutions are so evil is because they drive out the good people and attract those who either cannot find work elsewhere or who positively enjoy the evil?

Nor is this a story of a heroic whistle-blower: the matter is public only because a worker objected to being disciplined for failing to go along with it.

Gotta Love South Florida

The Miami Herald reports that in Miami-Dade it is illegal to own a “dyed or artificially colored rabbit or other animal, baby chicken, duckling or other fowl.” It also tells us that the South Florida building code includes a “structural specifications for rubber contraceptives” that someone “slipped in as a joke” just after the “Methods for deep, quasi-static, cone and friction-cone penetration test of soil.'' The mind boggles.