Why we need the internet

As I've believed for a while, everyone knows, and the Miami Herald reports, Newspapers are failing, and with them comes large amounts of accountability to politicians.

They can get away with much more today than they could before the advent of the internet. What's up with that?
I'll tell you what's up: citizen journalism has yet to truly flourish--yet it is the only viable alternative to Big Media because unlike BM, citizen journalism doesn't depend on sponsorship and special interests. What it does depend on, and the biggest barrier to its proper advent, is effort. We have to make the news ourselves.

I haven't got to that point yet on this blog because it's still so young, and my posting is rather inconsistent, but hopefully this year I can make it a point to push my own limits, and demonstrate in some manner what an individual can do to bring relevant, honest news to others, which in and of itself would be a glimpse of what's possible with a whole citizen journalist network. This is certainly something I should look in to because there are already many example of citizen journalism at work on the internet, but I don't know if anything has been developed to allow communities to better watch themselves.

Roundup

Fallen behind on my duties, so I'll link spam today with commentary.

This isn't the first time FPL has been in the news of late. Their in wait for an approval of a rate increases amounting to over one billion dollars. Or else they'll have layoffs and cancel programs. Not that I support FPL, but why don't they try to set it up so that rates would increase incrementally over time, rather than in noticeable jumps every once in a while?

--

A woman in Boynton Beach (from the AP) hit two girls, kills one. I wonder if she was charged more or less harsh than a girl who recently received sentencing on a similar hit and run.

--

Spanish language production company Univision is opening a studio in Miami. I generally don't like spanish language television content, so I won't hold my breath on how this venture turns out, but it would be nice if they produced some documentary material about the lives of latin americans in Miami.

--

Another AP story, this one about a bill in the State Congress attempting to fund Tri-Rail to vie for Federal stimulus money. Is there a trend with the AP having the best local news?

--

Massive Medicaire fraud.

--

Superficial AP piece about cuts in school funding in the State. Interesting fact claiming families are leaving florida at a faster rate than they're coming. No link or cite. And estimates that private school kids will flock to public schools, who now have less money.

--

First local piece of the night, Rothstein's relationship with Broward police.

--

Profile of a struggling single mother. I didn't read the whole thing.

--

Very weak and hollow piece about a petition to recall County Mayor Alvarez. No real explanation as to why Mr. Gonzalez is intent on recalling the Mayor. What are his Grievances? They even bother to have the Mayor's spokeswoman defend him, despite a lack of charges.

Miami Dade County Transit route adjustments

I wrote an article for the local website TransitMiami, but I'm reposting it her

This link below is the document[s] I read to prepare this article.

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.