Citizen blog concerned with quality of journalism, current events, transparency/access to public information, and community building. Interests include public records, policy analysis, accountability, ethics in politics.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
And I noticed that these pieces rarely explain when the quotes were taken.
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Short puff piece on Consumer Services Department of Miami-Dade County resolving $102,000 in financial disputes this month, and over one million dollars so far this year.
I can imagine some times I'd like to report businesses for the crap they do to me and others.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Much of the mainland isn't so lucky of course.
In regards to parking issues in Surfside, I'd recommend building a parking garage that could manage all those pesky cars. However this town is very picky about the height of structures, and going down is certainly not an option.
Oh well, sucks for them. Can't have your cake and eat it too. If you want a thriving commercial district you either need lots of space, or must be willing make height concessions.
Neighboring village of Bal Harbor gave up on height restrictions a long long time ago.
Why'd she quit?
Opa-Lacka's attorney resigned before a recent commission meeting because later at that meeting the commission was expected to fire her. That's all well and good, but if I want to understand anything about the situation in my sister city of Opa-Lacka, wouldn't it be nice to know why they were going to fire her?
As usual, the "similar stories" are Opa-Lacka related, but don't cover this issue which they even mention was brought up at a commission meeting previously. I'd go in to it myself, but I'm done with that and have dozens or articles more to read.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Miam Dade College Financial Aid Office, 121109, Vassalage anew
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Roundup
Monday, December 7, 2009
But how many was it?
In this particular article the author discusses laptop theft on metrorail. He claims readers e-mailed him about this very issue.
Unfortunate then that he doesn't tell us how many laptops have been reported as stolen on the metrorail.
I'd be interested in knowing.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
There are two links in the article, one to an article from another source, and the second to a live Craigslist ad for unlicensed hair treatment.
Perhaps two isn't sufficient, but it's better than what I'm accustomed to.
What do you think?
Thursday, November 26, 2009
details, what are they good for?
Oh! Great Herald, which commissioners were those? Were they arrested? When did that all happen?
Aside from that, a lot of these questions would be answered if there were simply links in the online article to previous, related stories featured in the Herald, or other reputable sources.
The only article available on the internet (when searching for either Faustin Denis or Dante Starks [the two men arrested in relation to this case]) is from local CBS 4. But as you can see it's not really any better, and doesn't seem to have any writer credit.
After doing a tiny bit more digging I did find this article from a local blog post a few years back. It mentions Commissioner Terrence Pinder as one person receiving the bribdes from Dante Starks. No mention of Denis. This post does not have any corroborative links, though, so I don't think if they're the same Dante Starks, etc.
However, a little more digging in Google News and I found this article from 2007 mentioning the two again, and an archived Miami Herald article whose headline alludes to Pinder in fact being the/a Commissioner involved in the scandal.
I'm too tired to try digging deeper, but I want to point out how much I found with such little effort as an example of why traditional newspaper journalism can and should die.
Anyway, as the CBS article mentions, there is currently no information from "officials" as to whether Commissioners will be investigated or not. Neither the CBS nor Miami Herald article mention Pinder, although Dante Starks and Pinder are linked together in the 2007 blog post.
Me thinks Pinder was not the only person receiving kickbacks, mostly because in a bureaucracy it's not common for just one person to make decisions, and if these bribes were to avoid a legitimate bidding process, someone else must have been involved lest they would have noticed how strangely things were working in these many construction projects.
the wrong message?
It's really disappointing. As sure as I may be that she didn't do it on purpose, what message does this send?
This comes close to a month after the fatal hit-and-run of a local student, Rodolfo Rojos, who was killed while riding his biycyle on Biscayne Bouldevard on October 30th.
That story was never reported by a news source as a simply search through google news will corroborate. Quite sad. The Transit Miami post about this tragedy has letters written by Rodolfo's family lamenting the loss, and demonstrating their deep love for him.
What's wrong with us, and what's wrong the Miami Herald? Miami New Times?
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
That's funny because I remember smelling shit when I was in that store about two months ago or so.
Friday, November 20, 2009
The Miami Herald: not picking sides in a battle between truth and lies
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Too little, the day of
Cuba, do we come?
Do our schools need more money?
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Miami Dade County Transit route adjustments
http://www.miamidade.gov/govaction/legistarfiles/Matters/Y2009/092748.pdf
On or some time after December 13, 2009 Miami Dade Transit will be adjusting 36 routes, and adding two new ones.
These changes are what MDT calls SERI, Service Efficiency and Restructuring Initiative. The idea, as laid out in a Nov. 3 memorandum to the County Commission, is to: reduce cost, duplication, and underutilized service.
On paper the recommendations sound interesting. The memorandum (and other documents included) estimates 17,500 additional daily bus-to-bus transfers. To reduce the fiscal burden this would put upon the ridership, MDT will eliminate any cost associated with transfers within 3 hours of the initial leg of a trip.
While there is much more of interest in these changes (and promises made as part of these changes, such as “an aggressive SERI implementation plan” which includes but is not limited to the outrageous first bullet: disseminating information through marketing campaign, do they know Dec 13th is a month away? Quite aggressiveindeed !) I would like to focus on how the services changes will affect riders, specifically the Collins Ave/Miami Beach transit corridor, which has at least five rout adjustments.
Various busses currently enter the Beach and then run either up or down the remainder of its span. The G, H, and J bus will now no longer do this. They will enter Miami Beach, and shortly thereafter reverse back to whence they came. The K bus will be eliminated.
The bus drivers I’ve spoken with so far are a bit nervous about these changes because they put the burden of transferring on ANYONE who enters the Beach on these busses and isn’t going to their respective end-points. However, the S route will still run all the way down the Beach, but more importantly the Beach Max, which stops where the G, H, and J will end, will double its frequency!
This is precisely the sort of compensating service necessary to ensure that the aforementioned route changes don’t impose a large burden on riders. It isn’t a perfect compromise, as the Beach Max will still have limited stops on the Beach, but those riding there for work will most likely be well served by these changes.
I invite others to look at the proposed changes and share with us ways they see things falling out. I hope MDT takes advantage of the constant data-set the new Easy card system provides to often reassess their decisions and strive to offer better service in a very poorly served county.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
11/17 12:13pm
Banana Republican't
- City of Miami Mayor Tom Regalado and Commissioner Marc Sarnoff supposedly pressuring now resigned and indicted ex-Commissioner Angel Gonzalez "to come into City Hall for an emergency city commission meeting to appoint Spence-Jones's replacement"
- Then the duo trying to get the City Attorney to write an official opinion allowing Florida Governor Christ to choose the replacement for Spence-Jones
- Then they try to get the City Clerk to "expedite the certification results of today's runoff."
- And back to the Attorney.
Poll: Miami Herald doesn't care about the integrity of polls
Monday, November 16, 2009
Notions and Motions
Virgin Trains Brightline Bait & Switch
Something that concerned me greatly when Miami-Dade County decided to fund the purchase and construction of a train station for the private ...
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This Miami Herald article , while covering a something quite interesting, is devoid of important details. The owner of a construction compan...
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For months rumors floated about a possible renovation of the Aventura Mall food court. My interest concerns the bus stop outside the food co...
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Something that concerned me greatly when Miami-Dade County decided to fund the purchase and construction of a train station for the private ...