Last May North Bay Village held a budget workshop designed to get input from the commissioners and the public. The real budget hearings will start later this month. While the numbers are not complete at the moment, NBV Finance Director Bert Wrains prepared a preliminary outline for discretionary expenses.
Editor’s note:Numbers reflect May’s numbers.
Pic via NBV
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the Miami SunPost. By Frank Maradiaga
May had a curious buzz to it in North Bay Village. Aside from the new City Hall digs, the results to the resident survey was due. There had been an onslaught of solicitation to participate in the survey: it was mixed in with bills, village notices, and links sent through mailing lists. The village held a special commission meeting just to hear it. It seemingly did not disappoint: through a third party residents had their collective concerns amplified and commissioners were handed a map.
The 62-page marketing plan, which many on the commission carry a full-color copy of in their binders, is a treasure trove of issues and opinions most politicians would spend considerable shoe-leather and campaign funds to acquire.
Promptly it was praised by the commission, the sentiment being that it was unbiased and professional.
Yet, as the SunPost previously reported, buried in the report is a murderously-hostile take down of the elected officials in NBV. It said the Village lacked: transparent government, sincere leaders, democratic principles, civility, actual law enforcement, good decisions, residents willing to rate the administration, communication, and any solution for problems.
Recently the SunPost brought the survey’s assessment to the attention of the Mayor and Vice-Mayor of North Bay Village, Connie Leon-Kreps and Eddie Lim respectively. They seemed to not have been aware of these harsh words,and asked for the page numbers where the criticism appear.
“Corruption within and self interests in public offices is at its peak,” Lim read word for word from the report. He snorted “What the hell are they talking about?”
At first a jovial Lim brushed off the harsh words by suggesting that the report was talking about government in general.
Yet a closer inspection of the writing found that most assumptions made in report ended in the phrase “in NBV.” If the report didn’t use “NBV” it used the moniker “Village,” making whom the report was referring to insufferably clear.
(more…)
By Frank Maradiaga
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Lonely Saturday? Write us! Once we move, learn to live life without looking over our shoulder all the time, we might even post the best-of.
By Frank Maradiaga
Miami Beach scored a perfect 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index. The city’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Business Enhancement Committee will announce the score at an afternoon reception at the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens Thursday.
The index rated the nation’s 50 state capitals, the 150 largest cities, and other regions based on how inclusive city laws and policies were towards the LGBT community. The MEI was not meant to rank how welcoming a particular city felt to LGBT people, but an examination of city services.
In the 2013 HRC report, the average MEI score was 57, decidedly putting Miami Beach above the average.
Of the 15 Florida cities ranked last year, Miami Beach was not originally not included in the 2013 HRC report.
According to the Herald’s Steve Rothaus, the HRC had kept MB off the list because it didn’t meet certain judging criteria.
GLBT Business Enhancement Committee then started the process of submitting a score card themselves on behalf of the city. The results will be officially announced just before the kick off of Pride Week.
Miami Beach City Manager Jimmy Morales boasted about the score in a letter to the commission: “This score establishes that our City is a model of progressive politics and can be held up
as the standard for other cities around the state and country”
Local cities also rated included Miami (67), Hialeah (58), Miami Shores (56), Fort Lauderdale (77), and Wilton Manors (82).
“The City’s score also lets gay, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people from all over the world know that Miami Beach is still the best place for them to live, work, and play,” said Morales.
So the first MIA Music Summit took place this week in Miami Beach. It brought together the tech and music industry – which are no longer exclusive – and aimed to inspire the hundred of attendees into creating the next great start up.
The following is a quick hit through tweets. A full report to follow.
(Guess which account we go heavy on.)
#MiamiBeach Mayor Levine speaking at the music summit:reads a list of recording artists that live in the area. #MMS pic.twitter.com/Ck9fmoMW9l
— Frank Maradiaga (@writerfrank) March 24, 2014
Crowdfunding panel- stats show: one needs a built in audience ; 30% of funding is raised within first week. #MMS #Miami
— Frank Maradiaga (@writerfrank) March 24, 2014
By Frank Maradiaga for the Miami SunPost
On the Monday after the cause of death for Israel “Reefa” Hernandez was released, Jorge Estomba lead a group of about a dozen activists, lined up in pairs, inside the building of the Miami State Attorney’s Office.
Some held up peace signs for the benefit of the television cameras recording around them, others a defiant fist, but all were quiet as they unloaded their possessions on a conveyer belt and passed through a metal detector.
Estomba is a little older than the average Justice for Reefa Committee member, he has stark white hair and a countenance that can easily change from heartbroken to outraged. He is a friend and a spokesman for the Hernandez family; he is the fire and brimstone for a family in grief.
He is also getting used to marching inside the SAO building for answers. As well as calling Medical Examiner Mark Shuman MD, for answers.
“We are almost friends at this point,” Estomba jokes bitterly.
Bitter at the fruitlessness.
The recent Justice For Reefa marches into the SAO building have ended similarly: with quick lip service, and no new information.
BREAKING: Cause of Death for teen Israel Hernandez #Reefa tasered by police last August "Sudden Cardiac Arrest" pic.twitter.com/j7xQMJ65lM
— Christina Vazquez (@VazquezReports) March 6, 2014
Exactly one month after the Family of Israel Hernandez urged for the medical records surrounding his death be released, they were. Here are some tweets while the story broke.
#CBS4 confirms that the Medical Examiner ruled cause of death for #IsraelHernandez was "severe cardiac arrest" brought on by police Taser.
— CBS4 Miami (@CBSMiami) March 6, 2014
En downtown Miami esta noche #28F #ResistenciaVzla pic.twitter.com/EBiqOn3Gqm
— ☆☆☆☆Vєηєzσℓαησ☆☆☆☆ (@SoyVnezolano) March 1, 2014
In solidarity with the Venezuelan opposition, or just a call for peace, the Miami Tower blared the colors of the Venezuelan flag on Friday.
The situation is dire.
Some protestors have died in violent clashes with the armed forces of their government. Much blood has been lost, and in order to demoralize the movement the government has arrested the voice of opposition.
One anonymous commentator in country has told NewsHole[DOT]Info that they feel they are at war, but also wondered what could be accomplished.
Protests around the Miami area continue to pop up in various incarnations.
The Miami Tower is a city icon known for donning the colors of the seasons: 4th of July, Winter Holidays, and now unrest.
It’s just painful sometimes, this MacArthur Causeway. Today it tested your sanity.
An early morning crash between a car and an 18-wheeler trailer truck completely closed down the west bound lanes. Miami Beach Police warned commuters that the shut down would take time as investigators measured and collected evidence.
MBPD identified the man driving the car as Jojo Nicolas, a former football player for the University of Miami.
Public Information Officers told the Herald that Nicolas was transferred to Jackson Memorial Hospital with severe injuries. Social media accounts for the police department wished him and his family well.
On lookers from the eastbound lanes were also blamed for some of the congestion, but things would have been complicated anyway with Alton Road torn to shreds in the name of upgrades. That major traffic artery is being detoured until the end of the year and has become an added nuisance. Over the weekend , the new administration announced that the Alton Road upgrades would be done by the end of the year, nearly seven months ahead of plans.
But that’s eight months away, and today traffic looked unbearable at times. Pictures from the Traffic Management twitter account looked surreal for a Tuesday.
Heavy congestion on NB #Alton; WB #MacArthur Cswy closed. Seek alternate routes #trafficalertsfl @MiamiBeachNews pic.twitter.com/Djwjq4VvC1
— Traffic Management (@TrafficAlertSFL) February 25, 2014
