UM–City of Coral Gables Development Agreement

September 28, 2010 1 Comment

I  have followed the discussion with great interest as a neighbor of UM.

Due to the size and complexity of the plan it is really hard to know what the process will look like over 20 years.  But, clearly, we are getting the equivalent of an quasi-active commercial district along Ponce de Leon in front of the UM.  Also, UM will be constructing a health facility–a “health facility” about the size of Doctors Hospital.

This plan gives UM a lot of latitude to organize its future without negotiating every detail with the City of Coral Gables.   The agreement allows for the city manager to approve a lot of changes in the future, and it is hoped that we will always have a good city manager and strong boards.  The city will get $1 million per year, which recognizes that the city does have costs by having UM here.

All in all, this is a good agreement.

Filed under Community, Coral Gables, Government

Mr. Salerno?

September 27, 2010 Leave a comment

Could you tell the citizens of Coral Gables what is the plan for 1) streamlining government, 2) cutting the number of staff, salaries and pensions and 3) suspending the constant increases in property taxes.

Why does city government have to act secretly like it were the CIA, the Department of Homeland Security or the FBI?

Are there state secrets that you are keeping from us?

Or do you plan to keep increasing property taxes year after year for the foreseeable future.  Many believe this is the case.

Filed under Coral Gables

A Thought on Pensions

September 27, 2010 Leave a comment

I like the following the quotation from a good study on state and local government salaries and pensions.

Note that the pension problem is not really “underfunding,” but the “overpromising” of benefits that the states cannot afford.

It is true that the problem is not that we didn’t tax our people enough, or that the stock market fell, but that city management and commissioners approved pensions (and other benefits) that were and are way too high.

The problem is to correct the original sin–over promising.

Filed under Coral Gables, Pensions

Falling Support for Labor Unions

September 27, 2010 Leave a comment

Public labor unions beware.  There is a rising concern among the public on the power and usefulness of labor unions.  The reaction to the isolations and indifference of public labor unions is liable to increase local resistance to the unions and their leadership.

Favorable views of labor unions have plummeted since 2007, amid growing public skepticism about unions’ purpose and power. Currently, 41% say they have a favorable opinion of labor unions while about as many (42%) express an unfavorable opinion. In January 2007, a clear majority (58%) had a favorable view of unions while just 31% had an unfavorable impression.

The latest nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Feb. 3-9 among 1,383 adults reached on cell phones and landlines, finds that favorable opinions of unions have fallen across demographic and partisan groups.

via Favorability Ratings of Labor Unions Fall Sharply: Overview – Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Filed under Employees and Unions

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