Category Archives: 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.

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.

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.

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.

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?