Coral Gables Watch

Take Note Medicare Fraudsters: Government Thought You Were Nice Guys (Welcome to Miami)

Read about some government officials’ views on the enormous amount of fraud in Medicare and Medicaid and lax government response to the real costs of the frauds and outright theft.

In tonight’s 60 Minutes episode, …[about] the huge amount of Medicare fraud that takes place. Scam artists get lists of patients, lists of expensive items they can bill to Medicare, and a bank account. Then they go to town and steal tens of millions of dollars.

I would say–welcome to reality and welcome to Miami!

Negative View of the Economy’s Course

Interview with Professor Nouriel Roubini of the Stern School at New York University on the US and global economy.  He says there is a 40% chance of double dip recession or, at least, stagnation or very slow growth that “feels like a recession”.  This quasi-recession would be reflected in continuing unemployment, difficult credit markets, limits on government action because of high public debt, difficult housing markets, falling growth in emerging markets, among others.  See the interview.

Compare City of Coral Gables’ Website: It Could be Better (I Think So, Don’t You?)

I have prepared a list of (more or less) randomly selected websites of similar-sized and capable cities in Florida to see how their website stacks up against that of the City Beautiful.  The website of the City of Coral Gables is so outdated and hard to traverse that it is embarrassing for a city with such a large IT unit and budget.

The Coral Gables website is a image of an outdated organization and an indifference in the government to actively and effectively communicate with the citizens.  There are events in the city that are not announced on the website (e.g., Impasse Meeting with the Teamsters), it is  hard to find and access agendas of the Commission and boards and if have you send an email to a department you may not expect a good response (although responses seem to have improved under City Manager Salerno).

Open the websites and compare them to Coral Gables.

• http://www.boynton-beach.org/
• http://www.deerfield-beach.com
• http://www.cityftmyers.com/Default.aspx
• http://www.lauderhill-fl.gov/
• http://www.davie-fl.gov/Pages/index
• http://www.cityofgainesville.org/
• http://web.miamibeachfl.gov/
• http://www.sunrisefl.gov/
• http://www.cityofsouthmiami.net/
• http://www.ci.boca-raton.fl.us/
• http://www.westonfl.org/
• http://winterspringsfl.org/
• http://www.talgov.com/
• http://www.coralgables.com/
• http://www.cityofaventura.com/
• http://www.cityofwpb.com/
• http://palmbeach.govoffice.com/