incestual methodology of discipline in the city of miami

Crespogram has an open letter up to City of Miami acting manager Danny Alfonso calling him out for setting up an investigation in to Luis Cabrera's unethical behavior as a city administrator. Part of the Tomas Regalado "friends and family" plan, this focus on Luis Cabrera is a sliver of the bigger picture of corruption and nepotism in the current administration.
After the letter I include another notice posted on the site today warning City of Miami employees about the investigation to begin tomorrow, and what protections they should expect and demand as part of cooperating with the investigation.

Barriers of Entry

In economics (or any field) barriers of entry describe institutional and systemic conditions preventing new firms entering a market.

There are two interesting barriers to entry of journalism: access to information and availability of dissemination.

Someone chewed me out elsewhere regarding analogies, therefore I intend to flesh this one out more.
The concept in economics concerns the ability to for new firms to enter a market. Infrastructure costs cultivate institutional malaise. This lack of momentum cannot maintain pace as consumers' tastes refine and discernment alter.
The ideal type of a free market economy affords competitors, or would bes, the marginal opportunity to squeeze in to a competitors market, and in some cases develop new ones.

While one can imagine a case in which and older and newer company coexist in a similar or the same market, modernity is no stranger to another important economic concept coined creative destruction, in which a firm or a process or an idea succumbs to a better one. Or at least one that can survive it.

This line of reasoning may be strange to follow. Economics is not a hobby for many.

North Miami's Loss

Local blogger Stephanie Kienzle of votersopinion.com recently ended her journalistic relationship with the city of North Miami. This is a pretty big deal because as I know it she was the only journalist covering North Miami.
Discerning news reader know better than to rely on the information coming out of the Miami Herald, which is more legitimizes the powers that be than producing any actual journalism.
Like another local blogging hero, Al Crespo, Stephanie is a citizen journalist whose work calls in to question the journalistic quality of government-condoned media institutions, like our local TV stations, or aforementioned Herald. Part of what I mean, and I've written about previously, is the habit of mainstream media to plagiarize the journalism of bloggers, and do it poorly so as to lose the relevance of the original efforts.
Although perhaps remembered most for doing the leg work in the Myron Rosner arrest, votersopinion.com has many example of journalism. Rather than parroting press releases and giving politicians favorable quote space, journalists, unlike mainstream media, report on the facts and follow where they lead. The news is the facts, the conclusions we reach about current events need factual underpinnings or we can allow lies to be accepted as truths.

Consider this article by the Miami Herald regarding candidates for a recent election who may not have lived in their cities of candidacy for the time required to run for such offices. If you review the article notice they specifically reference votersopinion.com, and that Stephanie, its author, filed a complaint. They do not, however, reference any of the evidence in the complaint. That means their neither refute nor corroborate the evidence. What's worse though, it means Herald readers know there is an issue, but could not possibly discern why.
Of the three candidates covered in the article, regarding one there is a hear-say quote of the candidate admitting his non-residency. The Herald fails to specify whether this quote was given directly to them, or if they got it from another source. The Herald also fails to investigate the claim. If the candidate did admit on a radio program to being a non-resident of North Miami, that would have been very strong evidence of criminal behavior. Hear-say, however, is not evidence, and would not walk two inches in a court of law against any decent defense attorney. But the Herald is not a part of the justice system, so apparently their standards of journalism are about as mature as George W. Bush's diction.
It's well and good the Herald is a bulletin board for the vaguest representations of current events, but who the HELL do they think is going to investigate the stories they're reporting on if they won't do it?

And so, since our local, government condoned, mainstream news publication, the Miami Herald, is chronically incapable of doing journalism, (a bulletin board is not journalism) what remains is the citizen journalist.
Subject to a level of transparency unrivaled by any, citizen journalists must be on point with their information or the public will eat them alive. Posts on votersopinion often promote discussions involving both members of the community, and those charged with maintaining it.


And so I come full circle. The City of North Miami lost the efforts of Stephanie Kienzle to shed light where there is otherwise a great darkness. As that city is further taken over by organized crime, losing such a light may be catastrophic.
Therefore I call you to arms. Stephanie alone could not possible fill the void of journalism in North Miami. The local bloggers are not enough to fulfill the desperate need for journalism everywhere. I've said something to this effect before and I won't stop now, a grand renaissance of citizen journalism is soon upon us. How can we make it happen sooner? How can we make it now?

Word, Miami. Is there a future?

Journalism is a useful tool for a self-aware society. Just as individuals need to be aware of their own internal relations, journalism give us the tools to find society's cancers and deal with them reasonably.
Without a functioning journalism the diseases which ravage our society go unnoticed by the consensus necessary to effect change.
The bastions of old media are often not journalists, but rather whores to the dictates of other cultural phenomena like bills and greed. We need more than this, and as such I have lost neither my interest not commitment to watching and participating in the new media.
To that end I'm going to focus a bit on how to organize information in the creation of journalism or the means by which one is journalistic. Some important though mundane aspects of this prospective include:

• creating, organizing, editing and using physical media to convey "facts"
• determining effective best practices for sharing information
• journalism is not a popularity contest. other than the dictates of individual needs and will it should be about conveying the facts to as many relevant or interested beings as possible
• what is a speculation or a fact; to what extent are arbitrary cultural paradigms useful in contextualizing social circumstances, and when does such reliance degrade the clarity of facts

These are all focused on the idea of methodology for creating news as such.

To remove dominance of the medium, and the current methodologies, in ease of creating journalism the various steps should be modulated to allow, for instance, automation when necessary, or others to easily contribute their module to the production of the "piece" or whatever it is that's being made.

The news is the goal, and this in itself requires delicate handing once it is produced. In the new media a story can be edited over time as errors are discovered or new information uncovered. These changes can be sufficiently documented for propriety.

A new story can later update the goings on of a particular news narrative and again the new media allows us to adequately document the relationship between this new story and media that had been produced previously.

This curative aspect of journalism is also important for the proper life of news because otherwise the community is left without chronological context important in mature consideration of social phenomena.

More to be said, this is not a revolution, or a reset. This continues.

Biscayne Landing Fund Town Hall Meeting, hosted by Scott Galvin, 2012/10/18

City council will spend the money at the final meeting in October, 23. Galvin says its worth going, and that community uproar has helped prevent some catastrophes in the recent past.

Galvin wants to withhold the money for a rainy day, or to see what will come of the local economy. Does not know if the council feels the same way, and if they're dead set on spending it he wants some good options for how to spend the money.
Those present have paper ballots where they can give input for an unofficial unscientific ballot. Galvin particularly warns about a looking pension deficit crisis facing the city.

Someone asks about PAL youth center and suggests buying old Miami Way theater.
Someone asks about 143 st road in to FIU. FIU wants a second entrance to the campus, according to Galvin, and cannot afford to build it. FIU suggests 135th street.
Someone asks about moca, and mentions how great it is. Reminds about money that was promised to moca but not given due to something relating to BL. Mentions nonprofit feeding elderly losing over 100k.
Shirley of pony ranch at enchanted forest wants sand for the coral.

Galvin's personal opinion on manager's suggestions is that it's all centered at city hall, not the city.

Someone else asks about 143, Galvin doesn't know more but expects they will be back soon. And another question.
A question about a new car dealership on 119 and Biscayne.
Comments about upgrade to Cagne park.

Councilwoman talks about investing the money and using interest only, particularly for grant writing.

Again it's brought up whether it's worth it or not to show up. Is it a done deal?

Linda, Realtor, brings up city funding for housing. Beckons the audience to show up.
Marc feels like a powerless individual and group against corruption. Mentions the privatization of sanitation as example of how public opinion doesn't matter.
"If he wasn't in tune to the east side before..." regarding mayoral candidate who voted for privatization.

Vinnie appeals to everyone that although some battles are lost some have been won specifically by community effort, and the war is fought and won in the long term.
It is brought up that this is a voting base.

Elizabeth Acosta, volunteer at library. Sees the need for a good library. Gets me watery eyed in less than two minutes.
Terry points out something regarding more fishiness around the trucks, and the city manager could technically give the trucks away without council approval.

Someone "echoes the sentiment" that if everyone here tonight shows up Tuesday it could make a significant difference.
It is brought up how long meetings are and taxing on citizens.

Galvin brings up that the 99k for the sidewalk pressure cleaning has been tabled. Explains the story to the audience briefly.
Jeff asks about a wall around San Souci.

Someone brought up Linda's comment, mentions a federal grant for purchasing homes, fix them, and sell them. Not to give the money away for free. What happened to the money? Also, how many leads have been foreclosed for code violations? Something to do with losing money , or not making the most economic decisions.

Susy, of San Souci, mentions city manager comments about stability of city budget and a surplus. Is something in place to refund furloughs?

Housing brought up again, particularly Steryle's mother getting a house on our money.

Imperfect notes, obviously. Galvin ends meetings.

reductivism of news

One might argue it's good to read the news, but what is news and which of it should we read?
On that latter question I mean that there are many different types of news, their differences essentially as a matter of either scope, content or quality.

I expose myself to rather narrow content and don't much want to discuss the utility of different types of content. Rather, I think mostly about the scope and quality of news, however now I want to work out a bit why the scope of the news concerns me. Scope concerns statistics.
Many will be expected to read on the minutiae of celebrities' lives, though any feasible utility in assimilating that information apply only to social situations. Certainly societies acclimating to this content will produce superficial and hollow social interactions, therein relationships.
Likewise, in much news focusing on so few, the circumstances of the many lie hidden from public consciousness. Newspapers commonly present the machinations of insignificant polls as being representative of reality, and religiously cite government statistics assuming they make use of reasonable methodologies. Bureaucracies and the esoteric tax system developed for them allow methods of accounting, spiting public ignorance, inaccurately presenting the organization's health and dealings. These kinds of information, while sometimes dolled out in general news, find most use in professionals relying on accurate reporting of the legally binding prices and actions of organizations. These professionals, unlike fans of gossip, use the data to profit from the often limited possible outcomes in financial dealings. General audiences are subject to less precise news, but as before won't benefit from it.

The intended demographic for news provides interesting notions of scope. Corporate bureaucracies provide news content for all manner of consumer. US general news content is mostly national or regional. The news is often compiled by graduates of accredited journalism programs. Writers have editors who guide and focus their work; they both have limited knowledge of and access to what's going on and so rely on the channels that have been legislated to homogenize the acquisition of information.
But while accredited and sanctioned journalists are privy to certain privileges (press pass), can that be enough to sufficiently provide news to the public? This enters territory which begs for content to be considered, but rather I remain on scope.
The regional newspaper may provide a leaflet with the local corporate market's prices, but does that same paper also educate on what affects those prices, where those products come from, and what impact that company has on that community and others?

Journalism is not entertainment, but when it embodies noble service, like a good teacher, will captivate.
Captivating, relevant journalism will foster a powerful community. Citizen media offers the potential for the community itself to produce that journalism. The success of social networking demonstrates a strong supply of information, but the paradigms for this content do not suffice to establish reasonable citizen journalism. Therefore the market for citizen journalism platforms is open.
Means of acquiring, organizing, and accurately organizing information are vital. Separate is how processed information is retrieved by citizens. Google News provides a strong example of these efforts, but there are many reasonable criticisms of that service. Blogs, forums and more recently journalism allows a correspondence between those taking responsibility of providing information with those relying on and consuming it.
Citizen journalism can fulfill this role, and using social networking make journalism interactive and transforming.

the death of a local (Miami) cyclist,

The recent death of 37 year old Andy Cohen, a recent example of an ongoing trend in Miami of terrible unfortunate hit and runs involving cyclists dying. Local bicycle blog Miami Bike Scene drummed interest in the death with an impressive moving memorial.
With a large focus after the unfortunate death of Christophe Le Canne, and the subsequent detention in punishment for it, demonstrate in the interim that retribution is not a sufficient method for deterring accidents involving vehicles hitting cyclists.
The rights of people to use roads at their pleasure have been protected--even if only superficially by laws and regulation. But these laws alone and without a concerted effort focused at deterring the circumstance, rather than condemning its occurrence, surely persist it.
Having personally witnessed promises made about the very road of this more recent bicycle death on the Rickenbacker Causeway, I recognize the frustration of those in the community who would publicly demand the living rights of all people. Bicyclists, though a perceived nuisance to drivers, represent a legitimate and growing demographic of transported people. Public transportation and a personal car are not always sufficient and necessary means of meeting our transportation needs.

If the community gathers to demand justice in response to this recent of various bicycle deaths, it would do best though to focus not on response, rather sharply at the inability of the ongoing approach to adequately or noticeable promote the safety of that community.
The answer is not simple, but do we even ask the right questions of those who act in our names? It is unreasonable for government to approach problem solving by the paradigm of costly studies and lofty schemes promoted by public funds seeking firms.
While drivers mostly advance the conventional wisdom that bicycles belong on the sidewalk, any bicyclist worth their damn uses the streets to get places otherwise far away.  They would tell you the impracticality of relying on the sidewalk.

There are probably many ways to get the idea in the minds of Miami drivers that bicyclists should be respect. (everyone should be respected) Some cheesy in part of me like sharrows; others like bike lanes. More ubiquitous exposure will certainly have its place and unfortunately so too will the accidents.