“Trust” in Trust Funds: Test Literacy of the Police

January 14, 2011 Leave a comment

Another reason to fire the mayor and another saga in incompetent local government.

And some Miami-Dade police should be given a literacy test.

…the police department is flatly rebuffing two IG recommendations: that it stop using green-fund money to pay expenses such as monthly cellphone and aircard bills, and that it repay the misused public dollars.

“We continue to stand by our original recommendations that the Trust Funds be reimbursed,” Mazzella said in a Dec. 21 memo to Alvarez.

via Miami-Dade police refuse to pay back misspent environmental funds – Miami-Dade – MiamiHerald.com.

Filed under Miami-Dade County

I Wonder Where Miami Stands on Traffic Stress

January 13, 2011 Leave a comment

Imagine, New York and Los Angeles are towards the middle of the ranking.  I would think that Miami is in the “Los Angles” range of stress and getting better with the real estate bust and the net outflow of people from Florida.

The daily commute in some of the world’s most economically important international cities is longer and more grueling than before imagined, reflecting the failure of transportation infrastructure to keep pace with economic activity, according to IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) first global Commuter Pain study released today.

IBM surveyed 8,192 motorists in 20 cities on six continents, the majority of whom say that traffic has gotten worse in the past three years. The congestion in many of today’s developing cities is a relatively recent phenomenon, having paralleled the rapid economic growth of those cities during the past decade or two. By contrast, the traffic in places like New York, Los Angeles or London has developed gradually over many decades, giving officials more time and resources to address the problem.

via IBM Press room – 2010-06-30 IBM Global Commuter Pain Study Reveals Traffic Crisis in Key International Cities – United States.

Filed under Miami-Dade County, Transportation

Did the County Administrator Say “No Pasa Nada”? More on Miami-Dade Transit Incompetence and Mismanagement

January 11, 2011 Leave a comment

More proof that government in Miami-Dade is fundamentally incompetent, corrupt and indifferent to the taxpayers.

The citizens seem to expect no better than what they are getting–and they are getting no better than the scale of an underdeveloped country.

A federal audit made public late Monday sharply criticizes Miami-Dade Transit for shoddy financial management and weak internal controls — including improper accounting for bus fare boxes and a failure to document how federal grant money has been spent.

The audit comes two months after the Federal Transit Administration took the extraordinary step of suspending grant payments totaling about $182 million to the county-run transit agency.

In a letter to county transit director Harpal Kapoor, Yvette Taylor, regional administrator for the FTA in Atlanta, called the cutoff of funding a “rare action” and said it was “taken to protect the taxpayers’ dollars.”

She said auditors found “very serious financial management oversight and internal control issues.”

via Federal audit blasts Miami-Dade Transit for shoddy oversight – Miami-Dade – MiamiHerald.com.

Filed under Coral Gables, Miami-Dade County

UM Student Dies

December 6, 2010 Leave a comment

There are two factors at play.

First, drivers in Coral Gables and Miami do not respect pedestrians.  In many other cities, a pedestrian in a walkway means STOP.  When you are driving it is your responsibility to watch out for the pedestrian.  For example, there is a flashing activated by pedestrians on Ponce de Leon in front of a series of doctors’ offices that drivers simple do not respect by slowing down or stopping.

Let’s face it, Miami is more like Santo Domingo than it is like Washington, DC.

Second, UM and other students walk around with their heads buried in their iphones and blackberries with total disregard for the traffic around them.  In fact, on the UM campus students just cross in front of you assuming that traffic will stop.  Many times a student has wondered in front of my car while talking or texting without lifting their eyes.

You will not change the drivers in Miami; UM  better reeducate their students, staff and faculty.  (And this is not a judgement on what may or may not have happened in the two recent sad and unfortunate deaths of UM students.)

University of Miami sophomore was killed early Sunday after being hit by a car near the Coral Gables campus, marking the second student within weeks to die from a crash.

via Crash claims life of another UM student – Miami-Dade – MiamiHerald.com.

Filed under Community, Coral Gables, Miami-Dade County

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