nce upon a time I minded my own business.
Stop laughing! I’m dead serious!
It’s not as if I woke up one morning and said to myself, “Gee, when I grow up I want to be the yenta of North Miami Beach.” Far from it. I didn’t want to be the anything of North Miami Beach. Or North Miami, for that matter. Or even South Florida. All I wanted to be when I grew up was a brain surgeon.
As you can see, that didn’t quite pan out. Naturally my next choice, Plan B, was to become an actor. Since I couldn’t be a doctor, I figured I’d play one on TV. Or at the very least, on Broadway. Or the silver screen.
Clearly, that didn’t work out too well, either.
As a result, Plan C (one of those “I-make-plans-God-laughs” moments) went into effect. I became a secretary, had a family, gave up writing my Oscar acceptance speech and spent my spare time wishing I could write like Dave Barry.
That’s the Cliff Notes version of how I ended up here in North Miami Beach. Thanks to our EX-Mayor Myron Rosner and former-former-former-FIRED City Manager Kelvin Baker, I became an accidental blogger. The rest is history.
For some reason, the dude known as Random Pixels (who prefers that I don’t use his real name) has taken an avuncular interest in me. He has become a mentor of a sort (and occasional editor-slash-spell checker).
And Facebook stalker.
Okay, kidding. No stalking is involved. Unless you consider Publix…
Okay, kidding again.
Sorta.
In all seriousness, though, the other day I received an email from David Smith, the Hallandale Beach Blogger, with a link to a column written by Elaine de Valle, the Political Cortadito blogger, a/k/a Ladra, which I posted on Facebook. The article, Miami-Dade takes from workers; gives millions in ‘incentives,’ slams the County Commission for voting to give three million tax dollars to Norwegian Cruise Lines for “marketing incentives,” “from the same budget in which there was no money for libraries or paramedics or a no-kill shelter.”
Ladra also went on to say, “And we can expect more of the same next summer as the 2014-2015 budget looms. Especially since NCL’s incentive program calls for another $3.3 million to be awarded each year through 2017.”
I was outraged. I posted it on Facebook and Twitter.
Boy, was I asking for trouble. Random Pixels immediately wrote to tell me that Ladra’s column was “skewed” because “she didn’t report all the facts.” He backed up his comment with a copy of an email he received from Channel 10’s Glenna Milberg:
Random Pixels also gave me a link to Glenna’s December 22, 2013 edition of her This Week in South Florida television show, where she devoted the entire final two minutes of her broadcast claiming that the County will get back $20 million in exchange for the $3 million “marketing incentive.”
I wrote back to RP, “Okay, let me ask you this. Is this “guaranteed payment” of $23 mil in writing somewhere? The cynic in me is wondering if someone is lying. Hopefully I’m just being my old conspiratorial self.”
He slammed me back, “Yer killing me!! Do you think Glenna Milberg would report it if it wasn’t true??”
Um, I guess not. If Glenna says it, it must be true. Right?
He also sent me a link to the County’s seventy two page Agenda, which included the County’s agreement with Norwegian Cruise Lines, and which he apparently expected me to read because I have no life.
Then my old conspiratorial self dashed off an email to Ladra, who obviously DID read the Agenda, and who confirmed my suspicion that “there is no guaranteed repayment.”
She also brought up something she had already written in her column that “dozens of airlines have received at least $4.3 million in incentives, including landing fee waivers, since 2006, according to records obtained by Political Cortadito this week.”
As all of this drama was unfolding, I was copying the Hallandale Beach Blogger with updates, since he’s the one who got me into this mess in the first place (Thanks, David!). He then wrote to Glenna Milberg about the issue and received her response:
Which naturally led me to believe that I must be the only person (or at least, the only blogger) in South Florida who doesn’t get emails from Glenna Milberg.
So, I am now stalking her on Twitter. That’ll show her!
The bottom line, though, is that I have a hard enough time trusting our local politicians as it is. I have an even harder time trusting the politicians who sit on the dais at County Hall. Don’t even get me started at state and national levels.
As far as the mainstream media goes, I have plenty of reason to question everything I read, hear and see in the news, even someone that Random Pixels described as “one of the most diligent and experienced TV reporters in this town.”
Sorry, RP, I don’t care how pretty Glenna Milberg is, I’m just not that trusting a person. If you ask me to choose between Channel 10 and Political Cortadito, I’m going with Ladra.
As I already told y’all, I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. But if I were to consider doing so, I’d resolve to stick to blogging about my local cities and stay the hell out of County politics.
In other words, I’m going to mind my own business.
Stop laughing. This time I really mean it.
🙂
Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”
You write much better than Dave Barry.
Thanks! Now, if only someone would hire me. Glenna?
I hope not…and, I’m not laughing.
No worries, Kennedy. A deal’s a deal! 😉
I liked the first 10 grafs. 😉
So, Glenna writes about the headline “inciting” but apparently didn’t READ the post, in which I mention this alleged “return on investment”. My point is that the cruise companies and the airlines want to increase profits anyway. Why on Earth are we PAYING them to do so in such “hard times” while we ask our public servants to “sacrifice.” Maybe the deal should be that NCL or American Airlines pay our workers bonuses? I’m glad that the post has got people talking about a convoluted budget that acts like a shell game where money is divided into “dedicated” pots and taxpayers have no clue as to how OUR assets are maintained and what we get from them. This conversation needed to start a long time ago. But there is one thing that cannot be denied: The county gave NCL $3 mil, and has another $3.3 mil budgeted for the cruise line through 2017. Did it have to? My guess is no, it did not. We would still get our ship here. We would still get more passengers brought here. Where are they going to go? Don’t believe the doom and gloom scenarios that politicians use so they can keep playing their shell game.
Steph: just as long as you include North Miami in your blog we here in North Miami will know what is going on. Please continue.
Will do!
I’m with Random Pixels on this one. First, de Valle AKA Ladra incorrectly reported that the aviation money could be used on employee salaries that are not related aviation or tourism if the County Commissioners had not otherwise “compartmentalized” the money. In fact, the Commissioners did not compartmentalize the money. The federal government (FAA) is the entity that requires aviation fees to be used on aviation/tourism issues.
Second, de Valle AKA Ladra believes Miami-Dade county government employees should be pitied and alleges they are making a “sacrifice.” Incredibly, she thinks we should take those airport passenger and landing fees and give them to our county government employees, who are the highest paid employees in our community and among the highest paid government employees in the United States.
According to the Mayor’s Open Government page, there were 4,126 Miami-Dade County employees who were paid more than $100,000 in salary in 2013. Taxpayers foot most of the bill for county employee pension contributions and all county employees who work 30 hours/week receive FREE individual health insurance (AvMed High Option). Sure, many of them received a 5% health insurance fund deduction to correct and adjust their bloated salaries, but that was done in lieu of a pay cut so that they could still report an inflated income to the state for their pension calculation. Not one Miami-Dade County employee has EVER received a true salary cut. They are overpaid and nearly every one was hired because of who they knew, not what they knew. Why on earth should those political hacks get even more money?
If there is any extra money found at county hall, it should go back to the taxpayers. If passenger fees and landing fees are being wasted, it needs to be returned to the passengers and the airlines. At the very least, they could lower the parking fees for airport visitors. The last thing we should do is throw more money at the pigs feeding at the government trough.
You claim to be a fiscal conservative who supports the taxpayers and fights for limited government. That’s why I am not sure why you are buying into de Valle’s inaccurate reporting and her advocacy of wasteful spending on excessive government salaries.
I will assume that all your facts are accurate because I have not verified them, and frankly, I’m not in the mood to. You kinda lost me at “Mayor’s Open Government Page,” but I’ve been more than a little shell-shocked by the last five years of “the most transparent administration” in US history. So, excuse me for my inherent cynicism.
As for your comment, “They are overpaid and nearly every one was hired because of who they knew, not what they knew. Why on earth should those political hacks get even more money?,” in her article Ladra specifically referred to the MD Library and Fire Rescue departments. She also referenced sanitation workers, nurses and police officers. In my opinion, these are the most valuable employees who provide necessary services for the taxpayers of Miami-Dade County. I’m sure there are plenty of employees (i.e., “Adminstrators”) at the top of the food chain who were hired “because of who they know,” but I can assure you that nurses, firefighters and police officers were hired solely for their ability and training. Nepotism had nothing to do with their employment.
Yes, I am a fiscal conservative. Which is exactly why I don’t believe in “bailouts,” which is just another word for “crony capitalism,” or “corporate welfare,” as Ladra put it. Public money should be used to benefit the taxpayers, and not for “incentives” to private businesses. This is not to say that companies should not receive tax breaks for certain things in exchange for something that will benefit the taxpaying public (such as job creation). I just think that handing public funds to private companies is wrong. Especially when, as Landra wrote, these same companies provide “perks” (upgraded cabins?) to politicians and lobbyists. Do not tell me this never happens. It most certainly does! (See RP blog on Scott Israel: http://randompixels.blogspot.com/2013/07/q-what-happens-when-you-turn-over-rock.html)
All things considered, I would tend to side with Ladra on this issue because, as a fiscal conservative, I believe there is far too much government waste on every level. Tackling the problem of vastly overpaid public employees who do not earn their keep should be dealt with. Throwing public money at private billion dollar companies (that can more than afford to pay their own way) is just wrong.
Stephanie, if you think nepotism, cronyism, and corrupt hiring practices are limited to the executive ranks at Miami-Dade County, you would be mistaken. It goes on at every level.
And your specific suggestion that there is no favoritism in hiring at MDPD and MDFR and that hiring there is based purely on merit is simply false.
Don’t you remember the intern scandal at Miami-Dade Fire Rescue in which only the sons and daughters of firefighters were hired as interns? Go look in the Herald archives for that one. Don’t you wonder why there are so many fathers and sons employed at the same fire department? The hiring system is skewed for those with inside knowledge about the process and who know how you can go to the front of the line (e.g., special certifications). And wherever there is an interview involved, there is an opportunity to exercise favoritism.
And what about the “friends and family” nepotism scandal at the Miami-Dade Police Department’s training bureau? There was a lot of coverage on that, especially at CBS 4. An internal investigation at the county resulted in a finding that then-director Robert Parker engaged in illegal nepotism when he hired his son. Parker’s wife was also working for MDPD. The report cited a whole slew of family connections that went throughout the department. It also implicated current director JD Patterson because his wife Carol also worked there.
I could go on and on. The amount of nepotism at the county would make you wretch. My comment was not a flip one. Please trust me that I know what I’m talking about.
P.S. There are few if any nurses on the county government payroll. Jackson Hospital currently falls outside the county government system.
the OBVIOUS problem with this entire story is that if the 23 million is guaranteed, why not just cut the payments to the county by the 3 million and avoid giving them the money up front which we could certainly use for actual services and infrastructure.
inquiring minds should look to how much NCL paid the county last year, compared to the millions we gave them in incentives.
What genius came up with this idea anyway?
In regards to the presstitute, she’s just up to business as usual, which is the read whatever the prompter says, no matter how baseless or dehumanizing. This is the lady who told me, when I brought up the importance and newsworthiness of critical mass, “oh, we’ve already covered that”
It happens every month! and it’s not about three times bigger than it was when I warned her.
What could be more newsworthy in Miami than a public event with thousands of participants, migraine inducing automobile traffic, and mostly good vibes all around? And it happens EVERY MONTH!
They should report about it every month, if not to invite the community to participate, at least to give the community fair warning.
good luck to whomever tries to get to the bottom of the shenanigans alluded to in the post. Whether it’s giving Carlisle $20M credits to build shitty $2M affordable housing, or building the Marlins a stadium, there’s always plenty of paperwork and “Yes” votes to go around and make the screwing of the tax-payer legal and profitable.
On an only peripherally related note, today I finally got tired of hearing, “economic growth causes job creation.” Know why it annoys me? Because job creation and increased pay IS economic growth. one doesn’t cause the other, they are the same damn thing.
And you know what? The vast majority of new jobs in this country are created by small businesses; companies which get beaten and destroyed by the corporations that are getting subsidies and credits from government.
We don’t need to help massive private corporations to expand. They provide LITTLE for our economy, and even less for our communities.
Government, if anything, should make these corporations actually work for their income, and instead try protecting an environment which supports the true underpinning of economic growth: SMALL BUSINESSES.