Tuesday February 14, 2006
Oh another Tuesday
- You can’t really tell, but that’s a picture of manatees huddling around a power substation because it’s fucking cold. nbc6
- Katie Danza smokes pot? Big deal. No link, but if you must, check out the picture of the four girls with those awesome sunglasses. Dang.
- The Herald just heard about the Miami Performing Arts Center parking situation, which Michael Lewis was talking about back in September. Meanwhile, the contracts are coming in, especially the big ones, with Concert Association of Florida, Florida Grand Opera, Miami City Ballet, and New World Symphony. Expect trouble and spin if any one of the four backs out.
- Huh? We’ve been calling 311 with this kind of stuff for months…
- New Times reads Critical.
- Miamista goes off on the validity of this article, then on the whole educational system (especially read the heartbreaking #4 in his post, about the Heiken Children’s Vision Fund, an organization so broke, their web site is on angelfire), then (of course) on the whole city.
- Uh . . . something of a Valentine’s Day link.
- New toilets at 14th street on the Beach. Stay tuned for a Critical Miami inside investigation…
- Here and here is some information on the courthouse pictured here.
Thanks for the mention… It’s called apathy. That is how you can have the highest rates of illiteracy, poverty, drop out, AIDS/HIV, school funding, violent crimes etc., etc. and not give a shit. Local government has distinguished itself as the most corrupt in the nation. Hell, we have neighborhoods filled with SHANTIES! (This ought to be a tourist offering.) I am convinced that Miami’s problems exists because of apathy born of insularity, isolation and lack of expectations. Honestly I would expect at this point that people would have occupied government buildings and stage a coup.(Not limited to but especially Black folk in this town.) The local press behaves like they are writing about San Jose, San Francisco or Seattle. Even SOME residents are as happy as a priest in Boys Town. (F- everyone else I guess.) Most are trying to eat. On the flip, great weather, palm trees, mixed drinks and the beaches are GREAT!
John: You underestimate Miami
and overestimate everybody else.
Sure we have all this and more right here.
But you’ve seen (e.g.) Bridgeport, CT.
Akron, Youngstown, and Cleveland, OH.
Chester, PA. East St. Louis, MO.
Shanties? Try Biloxi, MS. Baton Rouge, LA.
Not apathy, design.
The opposite is “wrong” is “poor.”
It’s the class system, and it works.
I’m know you were being facetious and I am in agreement that America has quite a class system. But let me respong seriously. First you sure are right about most of those areas as limited as they are. Cleveland is fighting it out with Miami for poorest city… (Ironically Miami is not even the poorest city in Dade but is in a dead heat for the poorest “large city” in America.) But our “competitors” news outlets and civic agenda reflect it. The people are angry, dissatisfied and rightly so. This summer I think Cleveland had to declare a state of emergency twice. Chester lost over half of its population when OMG, the Campbells Soup factory closed and now is being razed. I am sure there are maybe a few other places with our shanties in the poorest of poor tiny towns in the deep South, and the Rust Belt. They make documentaries about them… This is why they are so tiny, people have all but fled and everyone is aware that these places are hell-holes. If you mean to say that Miami should feel better about being desperately poor b/c we share a poverty rate that is the equivalent of Biloxi Mississippi or East St. Louis (which the state government actually is trying to take over) then hope does spring eternal. I’m going to have a mojito and forget this pitiable reality…
Actually, Campbell’s is in Camden, NJ, another ghastly hole in the wall of forgotten humanity. The state tried to pave it over—no joke. Five years ago a nuclear bomb accidently went off and did $49 worth of damage.
You’re right, Chester is the next area over. When my father’s family first came to the country they lived in Chester and worked at the nearby Campbell’s factory. The area has lost almost it’s entire population. That is important b/c in America we basically roll up the town. (I know some would say that Miamians did in the late 80’s.) Chester and Camden are Philly’s tiny industrial suburbs and Philly is nowhere near the poorest large city in the US despite the old Naval Yard, formerely the largest in the US closing.(BTW it has had a Black majority which dominates city government). I HOPE none of you are trying to obscure that in our great and varied country that includes the rust belt, Mexican illegal immigrants, Appalachia, Missippi, hell THE SOUTH, that Miami holds the distinction of poorest large city in America, the city with the highest rate of illiteracy, HIV, violent crime, residents that did not grad from high school or college… That entire neighborhoods look like Third World shanty towns… None of this is new for Miami, we have been the poster child for poverty corruption and dysfuntion for almost two decades. If Hialeah grows a little in population it will be the poorest city in America as it actually is poorer than Miami, and if Florida City (the poorest city in Dade) grew IT would be the poorest… I expect some Miamians to say “Yeah but Calcutta, have you seen Calcutta?” That is the whole damn problem. Un-freakin-believable.
across from gables high, there is a spot where manatess gather.very romantic spot,,,,
Yeah, well keep it wrinkled, Cohen. Poor dumb mammels have enough troubles staying out from under boat propellers let alone fish fuckers like yourself.
manatees aren't fish , you pervert, they are mammals
Yes, I believe I mentioned that, although I referred to them as “mammels,” not “mamels.” Whatever. And you’re the twisted sister who linked them to romance, not me. Can’t you stick to chickens (no pun intended)? Or sheep?