Category Archives: Miami

It Was New to Me

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Michael Froomkin

Rumpole retells “the old joke”:

How many Miami Beach police officers does it take to throw a defendant down a flight of stairs? None. He fell on his own. Repeatedly.

(In reference to this horrible story.)

Posted in Miami | Comments Off on It Was New to Me

The Herald Thinks a Taser Death a Week is the “Rarest” Case

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Michael Froomkin

I sent an email to two reporters yesterday (not a letter to the editor):

I was somewhat surprised to see it asserted (without attribution) in your otherwise fine article today (“Tasered Artist Laid to Rest”) that tasers result in deaths in the US only “rarely”. They are and have been sufficiently frequent for Amnesty International to have issued a report condemning the frequency of them as far back as 2004. A later report put the death rate at 350 over a seven year period. Is 50 utterly unnecessary deaths per year at the hands of police considered “rare”? I hope not. I’d call it shockingly frequent.

(Other private estimates come up with even larger numbers for more recent periods. See for example http://electronicvillage.blogspot.com/2009/05/taser-related-deaths-in-united-states.html)

The issue of the extent to which deaths depend on pre-existing condition is somewhat debated, but in any case it is also a distraction. Your article presents it as something of an excuse for taser deaths, but in fact if some part of the population is statistically likely to be killed by tasers, that is just another reason why they should not be used, not an excuse for taking lives.

I wonder if you would please consider running a correction, at least as regards the frequency of taser deaths in the US, and in particular if your future coverage could please be less dismissive of 50+ annual cases of what, if it happened elsewhere, we would call state-sponsored killings.

As for whoever told you taser deaths are rare: stop trusting them.

Incidentally, the online version of the article has a different text from the printed version, it says “Tasers result in death in only the rarest of cases.”

Personally, I don’t see how an average of a death a week can be called the “rarest of cases” but I’m not a hardened journalist.

Posted in Miami, The Media | 1 Comment

Save the Libraries

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Michael Froomkin

I’ve been meaning to write something about the terrible proposed cuts to the local library system in Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s proposed budget. Basically, a civic jewel is to be sacrificed on the altar of the millage rate.

But procrastination has its rewards. A guest poster at Eye on Miami has written the save the libraries post, so I don’t have to: See The Tragedy of the Miami-Dade County Budget. Guest Blog By Santiago Leon. And if you live in Miami-Dade county, write or email the Mayor and especially your Commissioner.

[Thanks to ‘a reader’ for pointing out the typo, which I’ve corrected.]

Posted in Miami | 1 Comment

Phone Poll on Local Issues

Posted on July 18, 2013 by Michael Froomkin

I just got robo-polled by phone by “AI advisory“. The survey was about the Miami-Dade budget and the Mayor.

These were the questions:

  • Do I approve/disapprove of Mayor Alvarez?
  • What is the most important issue facing M-D county: crime, public corruption, or taxes.
  • Do I support or oppose of each of the following (I’m paraphrasing):
    • requiring county employees to continue paying 5% in health contributions to avoid tax increases
    • increasing animal services funding by 40% without raising taxes in order to implement the recent popular initiative [I hated this question – my view is that it was underfunded – is that support or disapproval???]
    • cutting fire rescue which might cause firing 149 firefighters
    • the county plan to close up to 22 libraries and fire some large number of workers in order not to raise taxes [Boy is that an awful idea.]
    • the planned overhaul of taxicab services, including rules on cleanliness and training [first I had heard of it]
  • What is my preferred source for local info: The Miami Herald, TV, Radio, the Internet, or other?
  • Demographic stuff: Male/female, age group, race, political party.
Posted in Miami | 1 Comment

Presidential Commission on Election Administration Meeting a UMiami Tomorrow (6/28)

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Michael Froomkin

There’s going to be a big meeting on Election rules at U.Miami tomorrow. Here’s the announcement from the Presidential Commission on Election Administration.

PCEA Announces Public Meeting on Friday, June 28, 2013

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2013 — The Presidential Commission on Election Administration will convene a public meeting on June 28, 2013, in the Hurricane Room at the BankUnited Center, University of Miami, 1245 Dauer Drive, Coral Gables, FL 33146, beginning at 9:00 a.m. eastern time, ending no later than 5:00 p.m.

The Meeting notice has been published in the Federal Register and is available to view here: *The Presidential Commission on Election Administration (PCEA); Upcoming Public Advisory Meeting. *Note the location has changed from what is posted in the Federal Register. The meeting will be held in the Hurricane Room at the BankUnited Center on the campus of the University of Miami.

For more information, contact:
Mr. Mark Nejbauer
Designated Federal Officer
Presidential Commission on Election Administration
mark.nejbauer@supportthevoter.gov

I wonder why they moved it?

Unfortunately, I can’t make it, but if anyone reading this is going, would you consider live Tweeting it? (Let us know your Twitter handle or hashtag in the comments.) Or if you prefer, send in periodic reports as comments below.

Posted in Coral Gables, Law: Elections, Miami, U.Miami | Comments Off on Presidential Commission on Election Administration Meeting a UMiami Tomorrow (6/28)

Oh Dear, Miami

Posted on June 20, 2013 by Michael Froomkin

Eye on Miami has the scoop on Goodbye, Miami, Rolling Stone’s big Miami story due out tomorrow. It’s a recounting of Miami’s difficult future if/when sea levels rise, and the ostrich-like head-in-the-sand approach to planning by local, mostly Republican, elected officials. There’s also a major cameo by our local power executives, who not only have aging nuclear reactors in a future flood zone but want to build more.

Even though, as EoM notes, none of this is news if you’ve been paying attention, that doesn’t make it any less of a likely/possible mess. But as most of the most likely scenarios put the really serious stuff more than 20 years out, that puts it outside the time horizon of Miami’s endlessly short-term planners.

May I suggest a soundtrack for reading the Rolling Stone article? Try Róisín Murphy’s ‘Dear Miami’, my favorite Miami-themed song. And very appropriate, as it includes the lyric “Dear Miami, you’re the first to go, disappearing under melting snow”.

Posted in Global Warming, Miami | Comments Off on Oh Dear, Miami