CBS4’s Jim Defede reports that attorneys representing the Miami-Dade School Board and Superintendent Rudy Crew have struck a deal that ends the nationally lauded, but locally villified, educator’s tenure in our fabled Banana Republic. The School Board is to vote on the buy-out at today’s meeting. — Francisco Alvarado…
Today the Miami-Dade County School Board voted to negotiate a buy-out of Rudy Crew’s contract, but the embattled superintendent had already been planning his exit from our sunny shores for quite some time. It was only last year that Crew had put his name in for other top schools jobs,…
Gripping a 12-gauge shotgun by the stock, Steven Robbins stormed out of a single-story home on Martinque Drive in Cutler Bay late in the evening of March 4. The tall, burly ex-Miami Beach cop, whose long, silvery mane and scruffy salt-and-pepper beard augment his imposing demeanor, marched toward the circular…
Last October, Miami-Dade School Board chairman Agustin Barrera hired Howard Diston to work on his house. The job: add a storage room and renovate the terrace, a closet, and the master bathroom of the chairman’s $415,000 three-bedroom residence in South Miami. There might have been more to this than meets…
On a recent balmy July afternoon, Valria “Val” Screen stands in the living room of George Williams’s Allapattah house, chatting up the 83-year-old homeowner and voter about her desire to replace Audrey Edmonson as his county commissioner. The 43-year-old attorney, sporting pearl earrings and a matching necklace, wears white sneakers,…
Back on April 2, I wrote about Gregory “Silk” Thomas, a colorful character living on Miami Beach who’s had more than his fair share of run-ins with the city’s PO-lice. Thomas, a tall man with graying dreadlocks and gold teeth, reached out to me after he was fired from his…
As our great Banana Republic of Miami-Dade County prepares for this fall’s elections, Riptide scoured campaign financial reports. After all, nothing is more patriotic than greasing the wheels of politics. Take, for instance, Magnum Construction Management Corp., a construction firm owned by a family of builders that has given thousands…
When election time rolls into gear, the union representing Miami-Dade County fire fighters doesn’t waste time getting into action. According to campaign financial disclosure reports, Dade County Firefighters Local 1403 contributed $500 each to the reelection campaigns of Bruno Barreiro, Audrey Edmonson, Carlos Gimenez, Barbara Jordan, Joe Martinez, and Natacha…
News Orange Crush A Chinese pathogen has the citrus industry talking apocalypse. By Alexander Zaitchik On July 11, the U.S. Department of Agriculture delivered some much-needed good news to Florida’s recently battered citrus growers. In its final estimate for statewide citrus output in 2008, the agency expected the industry to…
The Banana Republic of Miami-Dade County is a place where scandal doesn’t keep a man down for long. Consider the good fortune of North Miami Beach-based über lobbyist Ron Book. Twelve years ago, former New Times staff writer Jim Defede wrote perhaps the most definitive, and darkly insightful, profile on…
And why not? Miami-Dade government is about as stable as a Sagdiyev family reunion. I have to thank an anonymous commenter over at eyeonmiami for the headline. It was in response to a post about Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez endorsing Natacha Seijas for reelection, nearly two years after Carlito and…
Around 2 p.m. December 12, 2002, Mercedes Hernandez dialed her son George Collazo’s cell phone. It went straight to voicemail. That was odd. He always answered. Then the 60-year-old, blond, brown-eyed mortgage broker tried to reach her nephew, Michel Aleman, who was with George. Again, no answer. So she drove…
The Witch’s Way Natacha Seijas is at it again. By Francisco Alvarado The Wicked Witch of West Miami-Dade appears to be casting evil spells again. Lourdes Aguirre, a Miami Lakes businesswoman who is challenging county Commissioner Natacha Seijas in the August 26 election, claims Seijas — through an emissary —…
Sports Against the Tide A veteran Olympic swimmer aims to beat the skeptics. By Brantley Hargrove Dara Torres is an imposing sight, with the striated deltoids common to champion swimmers and a back whose muscles stretch like bas relief on a sculpture. It’s the kind of physique a woman needs…
As our great Banana Republic of Miami-Dade County gets ready to celebrate Independence Day, I decided to scour the campaign financial reports of Mayor Carlos Alvarez and the seven county commissioners running for reelection. After all, nothing is more patriotic than greasing the wheels of politics. I matched up names…
Miami’s blogosphere has sprouted a new ass-kicking government watchdog. Investigation Miami started off slow with only four postings this past April, but the blog’s unknown author has consistently been on point recently, digging deep into the self-serving escapades of Miami city commissioners, particularly mayoral candidate Tomas Regalado and wannabe populist…
News Shack Attack Grovites decry kiosks as empty vessels. By Tamara Lush Sometimes city leaders mean well. They spend money on a project thinking it will help residents, improve quality of life, and make the Magic City a little friendlier. Take the Coconut Grove kiosks. The city spent $201,000 to…
It’s a blazing late May afternoon at Nathaniel “Traz” Powell Stadium near Opa-locka. The 29 members of the Miami Fury gather at the 50-yard line, dressed in their shiny aqua uniforms. On the running track that surrounds the field, near the locker rooms, the Pure Funk DJs from 97.7 FM…
When it comes to concocting bad government policy, Miami-Dade government officials are head and shoulders above everybody else. Last week, county commissioners Bruno Barreiro and Barbara Jordan floated the idea of asking voters to approve an additional half-cent sales tax to bail out the county’s mass transit boondoggle, otherwise known…
Culture Sweet Truth A filmmaker’s exposé peeves the sugar powers. By Edmund Newton If they gave an Oscar for the muckraking documentary that most riles the world’s fat cats, turning them into red-faced, sputtering stuffed shirts, Amy Serrano’s film about Big Sugar would surely win hands down. The exposé film…
In this week’s New Times, I report on an internal investigation of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Lt. Lisa Hart, who wasn’t showing up for work yet still getting paid. The investigation is based on an anonymous complaint filed with the Miami-Dade Police public corruption unit. Here you will find a copy…
Lisa Hart has a lot of leisure time. In the past two years, the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue lieutenant has burned through 865 hours of taxpayer-funded vacation and sick leave. That’s almost five months. Oh, and she also blew off another 2.5 months of unpaid time, records show. But that’s not…
