Is This a Radical View by the Commissioner?–The Commission Should Decide

June 20, 2011 Leave a comment

One option should be to not spend all of the money and not borrow all of the $22 amount proposed.  It is terrible financial management to borrow the money and then decide how to spend it, like a giant slush fund.  This is terrible city management.

Going forward, it will be up to the City Commission — not the manager — to establish priorities for the NRP money. I remain optimistic that the city commission will be pragmatic rather than fanciful in its use of the NRP funds.

via Letter: Gables spending plan bloated with needless projects – Coral Gables – MiamiHerald.com.

Filed under Coral Gables, Finance

Nuclear Accident Waiting to Happen–U.S. Nuclear Regulators “Repeatedly” Weaken Safety Rules or are “Simply Failing to Enforce Them” | ThinkProgress

June 20, 2011 Leave a comment

Time after time, officials at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have decided that original regulations were too strict, arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril, according to records and interviews.

The result? Rising fears that these accommodations by the NRC are significantly undermining safety — and inching the reactors closer to an accident that could harm the public and jeopardize the future of nuclear power in the United States.

The AP has a blockbuster study of the NRC’s nuclear regulatory ‘oversight.’

via AP Bombshell: U.S. Nuclear Regulators “Repeatedly” Weaken Safety Rules or are “Simply Failing to Enforce Them” | ThinkProgress.

Filed under Coral Gables

“Obama rewards big bundlers with jobs,” a model for local politics

June 20, 2011 Leave a comment

This system of repayment and pervasive political corruption to pay off campaign contributions functions at the national level, all the way down to our city.

This explains the consistent indifference of local political leaders and the culture of secrecy applied to the views of the common citizen in matters of the budget, borrowing and spending.

More than two years after President Obama took office vowing to banish “special interests” from his administration, nearly 200 of his biggest donors have landed plum government jobs and advisory posts, won federal contracts worth millions of dollars for their business interests or attended numerous elite White House meetings and social events, an investigation by iWatch News has found.

These “bundlers” raised at least $50,000 and sometimes more than $500,000 in campaign donations for Obama’s campaign. Many of those in the “Class of 2008” are now being asked to bundle contributions for Obama’s re-election, an effort that could cost $1 billion.

via Obama rewards big bundlers with jobs, commissions, stimulus money, government contracts, and more | iWatch News.

Filed under Coral Gables, Finance, Politics, Transparency

City Commissioner–Where’s the Community Participation

June 19, 2011 Leave a comment

The city manager worked on his NRP for one year before he presented it to the City Commission. During that year he chose not to tell city staff, the City Commission, city boards and committees, or anyone else about his “vision” for the city. By working in complete secrecy, he broke an important, longstanding Coral Gables tradition of seeking and embracing input from residents in the formulation of major projects that have citywide implications. Then, in the NRP proposal, he launched a pre-emptive, personal attack on anyone who might dare to criticize or oppose his NRP by characterizing them as “naysayers,” “short-term thinkers,” and “vision killers.” His message was clear: Do not get in my way! The use of such tactics was inappropriate, alienating, and offensive.

via Letter: Gables spending plan bloated with needless projects – Coral Gables – MiamiHerald.com.

Filed under Coral Gables, Finance

← Older posts

Newer posts →