Welcome to Miami, Where Homophobia Is a Matter of PolicyThey doth protest too much, sayeth Jorge: After reading Lissette Corsa’s articles about the code-enforcement board’s harassment of Lambda Passages bookstore, I am convinced that the era of witch-hunts is not over in our backward city (“Instantly Illegal,” September 14 and…
Every Sunday for the past ten years, Art Buonamia and his wife, Marisa, drove from their home in Kendall to attend Mass at the Shrine of Saint Philomena Church in Little Havana. “They still do the Mass in Latin,” explains Buonamia, an Italian from New York who moved to Miami…
“Finally, after so many years, I’m making the kind of money and receiving the kind of accolades I deserve,” reports Detroit’s seminal techno DJ Derrick May. That should please him, right? So why isn’t he smiling? From this present vantage point — reclining with a glass of wine in a…
Not the Times and not Vanity Fair, Perhaps But not bad for a throwaway rag: Wow! All I can say is thank you to Celeste Fraser Delgado for her incredible article about Manolín (“The Salsa Doctor Is Out,” September 14). It was fantastically researched and written, very much of the…
Living Proof That No One Is PrefectFlawed free weekly fesses up: As a dedicated reader of New Times since the late Eighties, I enjoy your paper each week, especially given the deplorable condition of “professional” dailies in Miami. So what the heck happened with the September 7 cover? The subhead…
The Buena Vista Social Club’s wrinkled musical veterans may still be basking in critical hosannas and standing ovations as they continue their tours of the United States, Europe, and Japan, but back in Havana the cultural czars are turning downright bitchy. Two weeks ago Granma, the official newspaper of the…
At Long Last Busted The effort to bring felony charges against Manuel Diaz was fraught with innuendo, suspicion, and an alleged conflict of interest By Tristram Korten Your Honor, the Defense RestsCrime and politics and Mr. Diaz: Along with attorney Thomas Tew, I represent Manuel Diaz in the pending criminal…
“Is it too late on a Friday night to talk about Hegel?” That was the question put by celebrity author Tom Wolfe to the well-heeled crowd of several hundred gathered before him inside Overtown’s Ice Palace studios two weeks ago. In certain circles such a quip might have produced a…
The Not Ready for Prime Time Mayor Who can forget the night Alex Penelas made an ass of himself By Jim DeFede Free Weekly Dupes Gullible ReadersElian saga unmasks insidious conspiracy: I was completely disgusted by Jim DeFede’s article “The Not Ready for Prime Time Mayor” (August 24). Despite being…
Despite what most people probably believe, the defining moment of Alex Penelas’s tenure as Miami-Dade County mayor was not that infamous press conference in front of the federal courthouse on March 29. Certainly his conduct that day was revelatory of his character, or lack of it. Standing outside the courthouse,…
Revenge of the Penny Tax FIU and MDCC foundations draw new scrutiny from state investigators By Jim DeFede Our Hallowed Institutions of Higher ChurningMoney Laundering 101 makes the grade: In response to Jim DeFede’s column “Revenge of the Penny Tax” (August 17), and on behalf of the Colombian-American Democratic Council,…
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle has asked the governor to appoint a special prosecutor to review allegations that the presidents of Florida International University and Miami-Dade Community College violated the state’s campaign finance laws during last year’s failed effort to raise the sales tax by a penny in order…
The Wimp Gary Dellapa’s retirement from MIA comes not a moment too soon By Jim DeFede Merrett Speaks Up for MeritIf Dellapa were such a loser, I’d have booted him long ago: I can’t think of anything good that was accomplished by Jim DeFede’s mean-spirited article on Miami-Dade County aviation…
Forget about smoke-filled backroom deals, angry convention-floor fights, or black-bandanna-clad anarchists running through the streets. Right now, on a sweltering August afternoon in mid-Miami Beach, the campaign trail is pretty uneventful. Alvaro Fernandez and his girlfriend, Patricia Bravo Segall, are working their way door to door up Alton Road, and…
The Perfect Cop He never ever makes a mistake and he’s definitely not Rolando Bolaños: As a retired federal investigator, my attention was drawn to two articles in the July 27 edition of New Times, both dealing with law enforcement. The first, “Prosecuting the Police” by Jim DeFede, noted the…
During the past three decades, Miami International Airport has had three directors: Dick Judy, Rick Elder, and Gary Dellapa. Judy oversaw MIA during the glory days, from 1971 to 1989, and was responsible for building the airport into one of the nation’s largest. Judy ruled the place as if it…
“There’s more girls coming down here than ever before,” sighs the booker from a prominent South Beach modeling agency. “They all think they’re going to be models, but they just don’t have it. So now there’s all these bottom-feeder “agencies’ that get $300 to send these girls to a convention…
The Chief’s Retreat Rolando Bolaños lied and got away with it, but stay tuned By Tristram KortenSnacking on RaulPump more lead into progress city: Think Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez is going to do or say anything to punish his partner in crime, Police Chief Rolando Bolaños (“The Chief’s Retreat,” July…
Hardly a week goes by in South Florida without a new dot-com opening an office, tossing up a splashy billboard, and then issuing a hyperbolic press release on the riches that lie ahead in Latin America. April’s NASDAQ crash appears to have done little to dim the fervor of local…
All About the Benjamins Cuba’s musicians are anxious to cash in on the overseas market. But in the process they could sell out their sound. By Celeste Fraser Delgado Wanted Dead or Alive for Musical MurderBrainless American mass culture and the Cubans who worship it: Of course Cuban music is…
I don’t know if Miami Police Ofcr. Jesse Aguero and Miami-Dade Police Det. Laura Russell have ever met, or even if they know each other. But I do know they have one thing in common: They are both killers. Aguero is one of the most notorious cops in the City…
Pablo Herrera’s home in the Havana neighborhood of Santos Suarez isn’t that dissimilar from those of his rap-producer counterparts in the States. A mixing board, synthesizer, speakers, and a scattering of CDs fill a table in one corner of his living room. Underneath lie crates of vinyl, every producer’s basic…
