Archive for: ‘April 2013’

A suspected pipe-bomb closes roads in Miami Beach.

April 23, 2013 Posted by Frank M

From the MBPD twitter feed.

The Miami-Dade Bomb Squad detonated a suspicious package Tuesday morning on 41st Collins Avenue after Miami Beach Police found what looked like a pipe bomb.

No explosive material was found in the detonated package.

According to the MBPD’s official twitter account, the bomb squad was called in when “officers came across what appeared to be a pipe bomb.”

Miami Beach PIO Detective Vivian Hernandez told NBC6 that officers are more on the lookout for these type of situations.

“Due to recent events and typical protocol for us is to call the Miami-Dade bomb squad,” said Hernandez to NBC6.

The threat caused roads to close between 39 and 42 Collins Avenue as police constructed a perimeter.

For all those effected by the closing, MBPD tweeted out a tardy note to all the bosses of late-arriving employees.

More information if it becomes available.

Share
Read full article |2 Comments
Tags: , , , ,
Categories: MIAMI BEACH, MIAMI-DADE

With limited information, the Miami Beach administration calculates last year’s average tow fee.

April 22, 2013 Posted by Frank M

Towing in SOBE

The numbers are in. Sorta.

The Miami Beach Administration calculated that in fiscal year 11/12 the average public tow cost $234.17. From that the estimated total annual gross for both Beach Towing and Tremont Towing was $2,550,111.30.

Those numbers however come with an asterisk. They are based solely on the limited information the two towing companies were willing to give the city. The numbers for private towing are off the table according to lawyers from both companies. Even within that set of information staff had to assign numbers to plug up some holes.

Last November the Commission approved a fee hike for the city’s two towing companies. Both companies cited a need for the hike in order to turn a profit, yet both Beach and Tremont refused to open their books to the city.
(more…)

Share
Read full article |Leave a comment
Tags: , , , , ,
Categories: MIAMI BEACH

Son of Declaration of Principles! Part X: the re-re-re-recalibration.

April 22, 2013 Posted by Frank M

OccupyMiami looks on

To the accidental reader:

Newshole [DOT] Info is back! Again. Do…do you remember us?

Probably not. We’ve relaunched and tossed away those relaunches more than a few times. Any readership we may have gotten in the past are all but surely gone. It’s probable you’ll find such abandoned efforts(hosted older versions of this site) floating around the net if you look, but why would you?

Newshole [DOT] Info is a hard NEWS site based out of South Florida, and it’s afflicted with the fatal disease a lot of start-up media outlets have. Namely that we are individuals and not an institution.

That distinction makes all the difference.

Media outlets that are individualistic by nature die when their staff dies. And really it doesn’t have to be THAT dramatic to end in the death of a start-up. People have kids, get longer hours at their day jobs, suffer a medical issue, or any other reason that prevents a site from being updated.

By contrast an institution can have a revolving door of corpses and their replacements. It lives even if individuals do not.

Our delusion of grandeur is to go from individual to institution. We aren’t doped up enough to believe this site will be your primary source of news, but it will be informative and look under the rocks you’re too busy to look under yourself.

A pairing suggestion: we go great with scotch and that line your stuck in.

The site is lead by actual working journalists (some of their work will be linked to on this site) but as was the custom with the last incarnations , will include guest work from people of different fields.

For now, we foresee most work from one poster: Frank M, the WE in OUR institution.

Some old stories, collecting dust in our hard drives, might pop up in past dates.

From the desk of the 3rd person,

Newshole[dot]INFO

To our new readers:

Welcome.

Share
Read full article |Leave a comment
Tags: No tags
Categories: Uncategorized

SunPost: Jimmy Morales Officially Takes Reign in Miami Beach

April 18, 2013 Posted by Frank M

By: Frank Maradiaga

A hanky was on standby, but went unused by the new City Manager.

Miami Beach Commissioners officially instated Jimmy Morales as the city’s top administrator Wednesday.

The approved contract is for two years with an annual salary of $255,000.00; it includes health insurance, a pension plan, and certain reimbursements.

“So many good things are on the horizon, some issues we need to tackle,” said a jubilant Morales.

“While I’ll make some mistakes along the way,” he said, “they’ll all be motivated by one thing: trying to do my best to push this city forward.”

Read more at Miami SunPost

Share
Read full article |Leave a comment
Tags: , , , ,
Categories: MIAMI BEACH

Tweet from Frank Maradiaga (@writerfrank)

April 16, 2013 Posted by Frank M

Frank Maradiaga (@writerfrank) tweeted at 1:56 PM on Tue, Apr 16, 2013: Caught Dave Crystal on the stump at the #MBTMBC, he’s a storyteller stylistically. #MiamiBeach , group 1 (https://twitter.com/writerfrank/status/324219677968576512)

Share
Read full article |Leave a comment
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Categories: MIAMI BEACH

SunPost:Jack Portman Weighs in on Beach Convention Center Plans

April 11, 2013 Posted by Frank M

By Frank Maradiaga

Just a preview of full Q and A for the SunPost.

In the February meeting you mentioned the cost would be around 300-500 million depending how far the city wants to go: Is there a scenario where the remodeling of the convention center can just equal a superficial facelift? What’s involved in the extra 200 million?

I don’t think that’s the problem. The Convention Center needs to be upgraded to be competitive in it’s Market niche. The cost is like a house you want to remodel. You have a certain amount of income. You might want to do ten things but you can only do eight thoroughly. You have to match the cost with how much money you spend. That is the evaluation that is taking place. I don’t have an answer for that. It’s our objective to match revenue with cost.

…


Have you experienced any resistance because of the Jackie Gleason Theater?

Of course, it’s not the first time we’ve been to this movie. This is the way we analyze it: is it functional ? What does it contribute to the area? Is the facility historic? Is the legacy of Jackie Gleason historically significant?

Having a theater in the development is important. We should and have a theater in the development.

Is it historically significant? The answer to that is an emphatic no. The building is not in the least bit worthy of any architectural preservation. Modified a 100 times, and in the beginning it was an auditorium.

Is the Jackie Gleason legacy worthy? Yes, and we are going to preserve it in a variety of ways.

Note: since the interview the public backlash has changed the way Portman CMC will view this. Portman says they are reevaluating what to do with the theater.

“It’s a very passionate subject for a lot of people. From our perspective, we didn’t think it was worthy of the passion that has been shown. Given that it is being shown, we need to reevaluate how we look at it. From an urban planning point of view , from a convention center destination point of view. What we are proposing is the right solution. But if politically proposing what we are proposing doesn’t allow us to further participate, then we have to take a hard look at it.

…

Read the Full Q and A on Miami SunPost

Share
Read full article |Leave a comment
Tags: , , , ,
Categories: MIAMI BEACH