Breaking:
The Florida Highway Patrol responded to an aircraft crash in the Florida Keys on Saturday afternoon.
Just before 1 p.m., FHP responded to the crash located on the north bound lane of US-1 at Mile Marker 25 in the Summerland Key area.
No further details were immediately known.
Refer to Incident #: MRCC13CAD045611
By: Frank Maradiaga
A day after opening their model showcase room on Lincoln Lane, the principals of Portman CMC stalked around another model reservoir two floors beneath the commission’s chamber. The first floor conference room took the appearance of a bunker- stockpiled with toy-like renditions of the Miami Beach Convention Center District, and oversized posters depicting the new life both teams hope to bring to the 52 acres. In between monitoring the commission meeting above, the principles were eager to speak about their plan’s public amenities and happy to share a 50-page glossy booklet they produced that listed the top reasons to choose their plan.
While the genesis and ultimate reason for the development project is the MBCC and its’ improved economical bearings, the teams engage in a complicated juggling act where they must please many interests, and ultimately the general public.
“Ours is a better plan, not just in a financial point of view, but it will work better,” said
Jack Portman, the name sake figurehead of Portman CMC. “And more importantly it will create a more dynamic urban experience for the residents of Miami Beach.”
Portman CMC recently spoke with the SunPost about their attempts to “educate” the public on what they offer culturally. South Beach ACE was invited to a similar talk, but scheduling problems have prevented it so far.
The Portman group is banking on a town square and is eager to show off the differences between the two finalist’s master plans.
“The town square becomes the community’s living room,” says Portman.
In early June they rented a store front on Lincoln Lane to house various models, and welcome an interested public. Members of the PR team have boasted to the SunPost over the foot traffic the storefront sometimes get. The opening did attract a capacity crowd.
Simultaneously they also published a chunky glossy booklet entitled “Top reasons to choose Portman CMC.” It features flattering charts and bar graphs that illustrate the differences in both plans, always with the advantage going to the home team. As an example in one bar graph the cost of the public is depicted; the scale starts at $580 million and increases in $20 million increments all the way to $700 million, the cost of South Beach ACE’s MBCC plan to the public. Graphically Portman CMC’s price-tag bar is tiny compared to ACE’s which takes up the entire chart, $624 million has never looked so small.
Read more at the Miami SunPost
By Frank Maradiaga
A waterfront deck collapse at a North Bay Village restaurant sent 24 to the hospital, with two in critical condition.
Shortly before halftime in the Miami Heat game Thursday, the waterfront deck at Shuckers Bar & Grill collapsed sending up to 100 people into dark waters.
That number is an estimation by the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, who also believes everyone was accounted for.
Shortly after midnight the scene was turned over to North Bay Village Police. The incident is under investigation.
MORE TO COME…
Frank Maradiaga (@writerfrank) tweeted at 5:30 PM on Fri, Jun 07, 2013:
Mayor Matti Bower files paperwork to run in #MiamiBeach ‘s group 3.
http://t.co/rARdEcnBDi (https://twitter.com/writerfrank/status/343117665528864769)
By his own account, Trent Reznor hasn’t been totally ”honest.”
Recently he confessed to secretly working on a new Nine Inch Nails album. (Queue your 30-something glee!)
According to his statement, Reznor has been working on the new album non-stop for a year with classic-NIN producer Alan Moulder, and his movie-scoring-partner and 12-Rounds principle Atticus Ross.
By his own estimation it’s ”fucking great.” (Hold it, not just yet.)
Apparently his work on non-NIN endeavors really get the industrial fluids going.
By Frank Maradiaga
Assuming no one drops out, the North Bay Village Commission will publicly interview two finalists for the City Manager Position. The position was left vacant since Dennis Kelly was fired in April.
As of the city listing, the two Finalists were Frank Bocanegra and Colin Donnelly.
Frank Bocanegra is a career lawyer police officer turned lawyer who managed the Town of Miami Lakes for a year and a half. (December 10 2008 to May 31, 2010) Since then he has been appointed an Assistant Public Defender for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida. In addition to that gig, he heads his own law firm.
Bocanegra says the reason for leaving the Miami Lakes position was to retire and take advantage of the city’s D.R.O.P. Pension Program.
Colin Donnelly is currently the Assistant City Manager in Dania Beach. He has served there since late 2006. Before that he served as the top administrator for the Town of Newton in New Jersey for roughly three years. He was terminated from that job after three years for what Donnelly attributes to a “change of political leadership.”
In his application package he touts his experience working with small municipalities, and the day to day that comes with it.
“By necessity, working for small municipal governments requires emplyees to wear many hats, which provides for a wide variety of responsibilities and experiences,” says Donnelly’s cover letter.
The meeting will be held at the Treasure Island Elementary cafeteria, 7540 East Treasure Drive, at 7:30 in the evening.
