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.)
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.
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?
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.
Posted inMiami|Comments Off on MTV Picks UM Student as Florida Rep for National Vlogger Program
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.
Posted inMiami|Comments Off on Commissioners and Desperate Developers Do Dirty Deal
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?
