As of last Friday, the Broward County School District had 587 new Haitian students -- an increase of 85 since the Sun-Sentinel published its last article a few days earlier. That's far more students than Miami-Dade or Palm Beach County, but then the Broward schools have plenty of room, thanks to the corrupt over-building of classrooms that Bob Norman has described on Daily Pulp.
But it's not enough to put the Haitian refugees in classrooms. It's another to pay for their education and a host of other necessary services. Especially when they arrive at the same time as Broward County is learning that its home values, which are the basis for the taxes integral to school funding, plummeted in 2009.
It's nice to see a Broward-born politician like Sen. George LeMIeux keeping a vigilant eye for conflicts of interest, even though we're not technically sure he's right -- nor that he's remotely qualified to be an arbiter of such things. A few months ago, LeMIeux boldly challenged the chairman of a Senate regulatory committee to account for his past ties to the man who leads an agency regulated by that committee.
LeMieux wonders whether Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia can be objective in appraising the performance by David L. Strickland, current head of the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration. Prior to taking that position, Strickland had worked as an attorney and senior staffer for a committee on which Rockefeller was the chair. Now Rockefeller's committee must take Strickland to task for how thoroughly Strickland's agency evaluated Toyota cars, now in the midst of a massive recall.
Here's an excerpt from an article from ABC News in which LeMIeux questions Strickland:
Patrick Maloney resigned Friday as the chief executive officer of Coral Springs Medical Center, inviting speculation that he found himself the wrong side of a political faultline at the public hospital district.
There were signs of Maloney's departure as recently as last week's board meeting. That's when Dr. Carrie Greenspan, chief of staff at the Coral Springs hospital, gave the four newly appointed commissioners a long list of Maloney's virtues as an executive. She described his "open-door" policies and the climate of high-morale fostered by his leadership. Her remarks were much more expansive than those given by other chiefs of staff, and now it seems she either hoped to save Maloney's job or at least place her support of him on the permanent record. There was also a "farewell" tone to Maloney's remarks later in the meeting.
Having had our own favorite teams eliminated from the NFL Playoffs, my friends and I were dispassionate observers of yesterday's Super Bowl. We had a slight preference for a Saints victory, if only because it's easy to empathize with New Orleans' hurricane misfortunes and for the franchise's four decades of football futility. But we hoped to summon a more passionate stake in the game by watching it at the newly opened New Orleans themed restaurant in Pompano Beach, the French Quarter.
image by Octavio Diaz http://octaviodiaz.blogspot.com/
A couple of days ago we asked Vice Mayor George Brummer about the City of Pompano Beach's official opposition to the controversial Amendment 4. The "Hometown Democracy" movement is sweeping across Florida, revving up its engines for a vote this November 2010 that would put growth back in the hands of ordinary citizens rather than, say, politicians who might be likely to fall headfirst into the pockets of developers. If Amendment 4 passes, it shall be written into the consitution that major land use changes will be subject to popular vote.
The Pompano Beach City Commission, we learned last week, is hardly the first city in Broward County to want to make a grand symbolic gesture about Amendment 4. We asked Rhonda Calhoun over at the Broward League of Cities about this, and she forwarded us a list of cities who have already passed official resolutions decrying the Amendment.
According to Deerfield Beach City Attorney Andy Maurodis, the Westside Deerfield Businessmen Association has provided the city with records that purport to show how the association spent the federal dollars distributed to it through a home rehabilitation program.
Earlier today, we reported that WDBA funds are the subject of an internal investigation. The association is run by relatives of Vice Mayor Sylvia Poitier. Late yesterday, the city mailed a letter to WDBA asking for records relating to the rehab projects of six Deerfield Beach homes.
"I believe they have produced records today, but I haven't seen them myself," says Maurodis. For that reason, he couldn't say whether they represent a complete or partial accounting of the funds that were entrusted to WDBA.
There's sure to be more news on this subject as the city inspects the WDBA records next week. "We're trying to get a full picture of how the moneys were disbursed," says Maurodis, who declined to elaborate on the concerns that sparked the investigation.
We were hopeful that Hollywood's new development czar was a political outsider, but we weren't sure until now. Tanja Gerhartz has no friends or family in South Florida. She had never been to Hollywood until she came down from New Smyrna Beach for an interview. And she has never heard of Alan Koslow or Bernie Friedman or any of the other slick characters who have gotten rich helping developers score huge incentives at the expense of city taxpayers.
In a phone interview this afternoon, the newly hired director of the Community Redevelopment Agency admitted to being a bit "naive" about the Hollywood political scene -- a confession that should be music to the ears of Hollywood activists. "I don't think the challenges facing Hollywood are any different than in any downtown or any CRA," says Gerhartz. "The issues of trust and accountability, that's an issue everywhere too."
But a particularly pressing question in her new city.
In what was thought to be a recruiting coup, the Michigan Wolverines landed a highly sought-after local football star: Boyd Anderson High defensive back Demar Dorsey who on Wednesday signed a letter of intent to play football at the Big Ten university. That's his hip-hop scored highlight reel above.
But the euphoria lasted only until the following day, when the local paper searched Dorsey's background. Turns out Dorsey has been arrested twice in Broward County.
Dorsey was acquitted of felony armed burglary charges in an incident that occurred when he was 16. Another case of burglarizing an unoccupied building was dismissed.
In a move that could spell trouble for longtime Broward politician Sylvia Poitier, Deerfield Beach is conducting an internal investigation to determine how a nonprofit run by the vice mayor's relatives spent federal housing dollars.
As the city's registered Community Housing Development Organization, the Westside Deerfield Business Association is entrusted with the role of rehabilitating low-income housing. The WDBA's president is Felicia Poitier -- daughter of Vice Mayor Poitier.
In a letter dated February 4, the city attorney's office demanded to inspect WDBA's records relating to the rehab of six homes.
Although Sylvia Poitier has disclosed a potential conflict based on her daughter's position at WDBA, she has been less open about whether she has a financial stake in the association. In past years, she has voted to authorize funding to WDBA.
Did Allen Stanford's local employees try to cover up his crime?
The first criminal trial in the Stanford Financial Group fraud is under way, and it ain't pretty for the local branch. In opening remarks of a trial that began Monday in Miami, prosecutors told the jury that Thomas Raffanello and Bruce Perraud ordered a massive shredding of Stanford documents one week after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed suit against the Houston-based firm.
The February 16 suit contained an order forbidding the destruction of any documents.
By Feb. 23, Raffanello and Perraud allegedly had made arrangements for a commercial shredding company to destroy documents at the Fort Lauderdale office. A 95-gallon bin full of paper was hauled out to the shredding company's truck two days later, prosecutors said in a revamped four-count indictment filed Dec. 21.
That comes from this Bloomberg article about the case. Defense attorneys for Raffanello and Perraud maintain that the shredding was routine and that the order prohibiting document disposal was flawed.
Irving Goldstein is in jail today, accused of being impaired when he struck Keith and Penny Grumer on Tuesday night at the corner of Weston Hills Boulevard and Weston Hills Drive. The Broward Sheriff's Office is reporting that Goldstein abandoned his car after the accident. Deputies later found him wandering the neighborhood.
The Grumers were walking their dog on the sidewalk when they were struck by Goldstein's 2008 Infiniti. Keith Grumer is a partner in a law firm in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Here's the BSO release.
A prominent hotel industry blog has declared the Indianapolis Colts the Super Bowl champions in their pre-game hotel match-up against the New Orleans Saints. Credit goes to Fort Lauderdale's Harbor Beach Marriott Resort, which in a side-by-side comparison was found to have rooms and amenities superior to the Intercontinental Miami.
But the blog didn't even mention the biggest hotel-based advantage that the Colts have over the Saints: The Marriott's distance from the pro athlete candyland of mayhem, South Beach.
For the Saints, the temptation of sex, drugs and women lies just a short drive across the Intracoastal Waterway. That's the place where defensive back Eugene Robinson was arrested before the 1999 Super Bowl, and that's just one among a slew of unfortunate athlete encounters on the strip.
Another crucial advantage for the Colts: The Marriott is the same hotel they stayed in three years ago when they trounced the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl. Defensive Back Kelvin Hayden says he even has the same room as he did the last go-around.
There are high school students who are older than the Florida Panthers franchise, but it seems team owners couldn't wait any longer to start working on a hall of fame. That's a virtual tour above. It's hard to tell exactly what's in the trophy cases -- was that a Pavel Bure jersey? This idea might be just a tad premature. Frankly, I worry that it will jinx the team's bid to break its playoff futility streak. Currently, the Panthers are in the No. 9 position, and need to move up to 8 to play in the post-season.
The city of Hollywood has named a former Orlando official to lead its Community Redevelopment Agency. Tanja Gerhartz previously worked as the economic development director in Orlando. More recently, she had her own private consulting firm. If that means she's new to the South Florida political scene -- and to the lobbyist vultures who have a perch atop Hollywood City Hall -- then that will be a welcome change.
If she's judicious about doling out doling out the CRA's tax-based millions, that would be better yet. Her predecessors, Neil Fritz and Gil Martinez, were both big, reckless spenders. Fritz, who directed the city's downtown CRA district, resigned January 2. Martinez, who was in charge of spending the CRA loot in the beach district, was fired in November following revelations of nearly a half-million dollars in cost overruns for a Brazilian festival. Gerhatz will oversee both districts.
More on Gerhartz from the city's news release, after the jump.
Brummer, explicating a new threat to the peace of Pompano
The City of Pompano Beach thundered last week, and thousands of miles away, Joyce Tarnow picked up the faint murmurings of her old adversaries.
On Tuesday, January 26 the Pompano City Commission unanimously voted for a resolution to oppose Amendment 4. Vice Mayor George Brummer led the charge against the citizens initiative, alternately known as the "Hometown Democracy" movement, that has knotted the knickers of so many cities across the state.
What's so important the Pompano commission felt compelled to make a public protest?
The Amendment is one of those pesky "citizens initiatives" that lets voters take "direct democracy" into their own hands. Rather than wait around for their local governments to do the right thing, mad as hell citizens can just say no. In this case, citizens would be saying no to the rampant out-of-control growth that supporters of the amendment claim has made Florida just about unlivable.
Eric Emmanuel, a 35-year-old man from Pembroke Pines, is being charged in what's said to be the biggest marijuana bust in Pennsylvania history. He and Stanley Baptiste, of Winter Garden, were arrested this weekend on a stretch of freeway east of the state capital, Harrisburg. Police found 6,500 pounds of marijuana in the truck, with a street value of $10 - $25 million.
According to this article in today's Morning Call, the two were reaching the end of a cross-country pot pilgrimage that had started in California.
It's not clear how long Emmanuel has lived in South Florida. There's no listing of a telephone number. Nor does he have a record in Broward or Miami-Dade.
This is embarrassing. On a day when U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates came to Capitol Hill to dramatically announce his department's plan to ditch the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, Florida Sen. George LeMieux used his time at the mic to push an unrelated and absurd political agenda. Let's roll it:
The expression on Gates' face is priceless. It seems to say, "Who let this guy in here?" (Hey, don't look at us Florida voters! This one's on Charlie Crist.)
As Gates points out, he has no say in how terrorism suspects are treated in the U.S. and it would be irresponsible for him to publicly express an opinion that contradicts the policy of the official who does have a say on that policy: the U.S. Attorney General.
Being a political neophyte, LeMieux's blunder is almost forgivable. But his McCarthyism is absolutely not.
The Dunkin' Donuts off State Road 84 in Davie has a lot of perks for a 24-hour fast-food joint -- two flat-screen computers, a couch, a leather recliner, conference rooms available for rent at $8 or $12 an hour.
Its brightly-lit dining room full of patrons tapping away on laptops feels more like a Starbucks than a highway rest stop.
But the most unexpected luxury appears in the woman's restroom, where attached to the ordinary toilet seat is a...bidet.
Spirit Air wants you to use your internet connection to check out some MUFF -- that is, its "Many Unbelievably Fantastic Fares." What other muffs are there?
In fact, judging by the advertisement above, the Miramar-based airline encourages you to physically lunge for its low fares. To be a MUFF diver, if you will.
Hey wait! Isn't that a T-shirt? Of course it is. And of course Spirit relishes an opportunity to engage in double entendre, having found that it leads to controversy (read: free advertising). Surely, you remember the Arbor Day "Treesome" promotion. How about the one where Spirit bragged about losing its virginity? And who can forget the classic MILF ad that caused a ruckus last year?
Broward Health CEO Frank Nask's job is safe, as is that of a friend who he hired and to whom he gave a generous raise. Commissioner Mike Fernandez has received legal assurances that his job with an ultrasound manufacturer is not a conflict of interest. And seven appointed board members were present at this morning's meeting, for the first time in about eight months. None of those seven argued with one another.
If you had to judge purely by this happy and harmonious affair, you'd never know that this public hospital district had been struck with scandal. Rather, this was an occasion for introducing the four new board members appointed last Thursday by Gov. Charlie Crist and for "looking forward" -- a phrase that seemed to be on every commissioner's lips, new and old.
If only it were that easy.
The new board will have to wrestle with a great many ethical questions that were left unanswered by the previous board -- most of which involve commissioners Mike Fernandez and Joseph Cobo, who remain in their positions. After today's meeting, I spoke briefly with them.
Alexi Giannoulias is the favorite to win the Democratic nomination for Senate in Illinois, but first he'll have to beat back some pesky questions about his time as a chief loan officer at Broadway Bank. Among them: a $12.9 million green light he gave to a South Florida businessman, Michael Giorango, AKA "Jaws."
It was 2004, and Jaws had been recently convicted for involvement in a prostitution ring. That on top of his felony bookkeeping conviction and ties to organized crime made him a rather curious choice for a bank loan. Giorango was part of a group that had bought the Martha's Restaurant space in downtown Hollywood and was looking to develop it. The plan went belly up, and the bank is currently in a suit against Giorango in hopes of recovering that money.
David Hoffman is hoping to use Giannoulias' checkered history as a way of flipping the campaign. For his part, Giannoulias has maintained that he was merely negligent in checking out the background of his lenders, not acting in cahoots with them.
Was Crist wary of insider trader allegations made by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Zachariah? Or did Crist's move reflect the growing divide between his campaign and the powerful Republican fundraisers aligned with Jeb Bush, for whom Zachariah was a major fundraiser in past campaigns.
If the SEC doesn't settle its suit against Zachariah, the two sides are scheduled to go to trial in August, the same month that Marco Rubio and Crist will settle their battle for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. Expect Rubio to enjoy a windfall of Zachariah campaign dollars.
Tomorrow morning, Broward Health Chair Rhonda Calhoun will convene a board that has four new members, all appointed last week by Gov. Charlie Crist, who removed two colleagues whom Calhoun admired -- commissioners Robert Bernstein and Dan Gordon.
She was given no explanation by the governor's office as to its reasons for passing over Bernstein and Gordon, whose terms were not renewed. "I would never speculate on something like that," Calhoun said today.
Of course, there's no need for an explanation when the reason for those moves is perfectly obvious: Crist's office had grown increasingly uncomfortable with the demands by Bernstein for stricter enforcement of ethics guidelines.
Former Heisman trophy winner, 47-year-old Herschel Walker, pounded 26-year-old Greg Nagy for 12 minutes before the TKO.
The Pro Bowl is inarguably the worst event in professional sports. The game of football, replete with epic playbooks, chemistry that takes years to build, and bone-crushing hits, simply doesn't lend itself to an all-star game. The sport does produce great athletes, though, and perhaps nobody in the history of the game is more athletic than former running back Herschel Walker.
Walker, 47, made his mixed martial arts debut Saturday at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise against 26-year-old Hungarian Greg Nagy. If you'll recall, the last big-time mixed martial arts fight at the BankAtlantic lasted for about 14 seconds. It left one overhyped MMA icon cowering helplessly, dethroned by a pink-haired smoothie salesman, and an entire promotional organization bankrupt.
In December 2007, when John Edwards was bracing himself for a National Enquirer expose about his affair with Rielle Hunter, hoping it wouldn't cost him a victory at the Iowa caucuses, he sent the woman and an aide to -- of all places -- the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood Beach.
Joining her on that secretive trip was Andrew Young, a former aide who describes in his tell-all book that he pretended to be the child's father as a way of protecting Edwards against scandal. That didn't work, but it sure made for a sweet book deal.
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