Subject: Manny Diaz

• C-O-Ps Crash the P-A-C Party

  October 6, 2006

• Diaz Spanks Sarnoff

  May 10, 2007

• Downtown Dilemma

  June 20, 2007

• It's not Easy Being a Tree in Miami

  July 18, 2007

• A New Day For Bikes In Miami?

  March 13, 2008

• Bike Blog - Mayor Meets the Mass

  July 15, 2008

• Diaz at the DNC: American Dreaming

  August 28, 2008

• Basshead

  August 26, 2004

• The D Word

  May 26, 2005

• What's Next for Mayor Diaz?

  November 10, 2008

• Manny Diaz as Homeland Security Chief?

  November 11, 2008

• WaPo: Wheel Of Corruption Was Totally Great, and Not Annoying At All

  November 11, 2008

• US News Names Manny Diaz One of America's Best Leaders

  From the amount of buzz Manny Diaz has generated in the past year, you'd think he was the greatest mayor ever. Sure, he's amazing in comparison to some of the other wackos who have held his job, but damn, this city still has a lot of problems. US News & World Report's annual "America's Best Leaders" hits newsstands Monday, but it's already online, and Diaz has made a list of 21 luminaries, including Lance Armstrong, Herbie Hancock, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Children's Defense Fund fo

  November 20, 2008

• News Roundup

  Hairgelz Carvalho will actually be suing the state for $35 million, thank you very much. [CBS4]Rep. David Rivera won the chairmanship of Miami-Dade's Republican party by just one vote. Outgoing chair Mary Ellen Miller moved the vote, leaving state legislators who favored Rivera's opponent, Carlos Curbelo, little time to travel back down from Tallahassee. This ensured a win for her preferred candidate. Oh, these wacky Republicans. [Naked Politics]Charlie Crist unveiled a new plan that will allow

  December 11, 2008

• Obama Picks Some White Guy for HUD. What's a Manny to Do?

  Barack Obama continued his pattern of naming just about everyone from the Clinton administration to his cabinet, while simultaneously leaving Latinos out in the cold by picking Shaun Donovan as his secretary of housing and urban development. But hey, that was our Mayor Manny Diaz's fantasy position! Obama, you tease, we totally thought you were going to take him away from us, and we were all excited ... for him! Well, there's still a little hope. Diaz could be named to head this so-called White

  December 15, 2008

• CNN Says Manny Diaz Is Full of Pork, Ignorant of Water Slides

  Last week Manny Diaz and his U.S. Conference of Mayors decided to officially get in on the sweet, sweet federal government handout action and submitted a request for $73.2 billion for infrastructure programs in various states. CNN decided to take a closer look and found the plan has more pork in it than a British dessert. And Diaz doesn't come off too well defending the proposals. CNN is particularly pissed off at components such as $4.2 million for a polar bear exhibit in Rhode Island, $6.1

  December 18, 2008

• Could a Manny Diaz Senate Run Exist Outside of Our Imagination?

  We're not sure whether the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza is pulling this out of his ass or if he's heard things we haven't (quite possible), but toward the end of a blog post about Jeb Bush's forthcoming Senate decision, he includes Manny Diaz as a possible Democratic contender for the Senate seat. As far as we can tell, this is the first mention, albeit brief and possibly wrong, that Diaz has any actual interest in the seat. We briefly threw out the idea in November, wondering what the f

  January 6, 2009

• WaPo Video Serves Up Some Softballs for Diaz

  The Washington Post is the only media outlet claiming Manny Diaz is "in the mix," as some tend to say, to run for Senate, and earlier this week, the paper sat down with Diaz for a video. That subject wasn't addressed; the interview was mainly about "leadership."  It doesn't show anything all that new or interesting, for anyone already familiar with the mayor. Just some nice softball questions from a D.C.-based outlet, and the video could practically double as an infomercial to remind everyone

  January 9, 2009

• Miami Also Needs Dirt-Bike Trails

  Not a day goes by when I drive through Miami that I don't think to myself: You know what this place really needs? Some friggin' dirt-bike trails! Hell yeah! Apparently, Manny Diaz thinks so too. He was up in D.C. yesterday along with a host of other mayors asking for handouts from Obama. Out of all the mayors, Diaz is asking for the most: $3.2 billion. We've already mentioned how he wants some of that money to go to building a water slide. Apparently, we also really need BMX and dirt-bike trai

  January 9, 2009

• Manny and His Marry Band of Mayors Get Snubbed by Obama

  Mayor Manny Diaz is in D.C. exercising his duties as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and hoped to get some face time with another president. You know, that President Obama one. Flanked by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and others, Diaz is running around our nation's capital in support of the proposed stimulus package, and the mayors went to the White House yesterday. They met with top aides such as Valerie Jarrett and Cecelia Muñoz, but according to Politico were hoping to m

  February 5, 2009

• Obama to Manny Diaz: Don't Ef This Up

  As his young administration stomps frantically on the flaming bag of crap formerly known as the global economy left smoldering on the White House doorstep by a snickering Dubya on his way out, President Obama is about to throw around a cool $787 billion in stimulus funds to try to douse the flames.Courtesy Wikimedia CommonsLookin' at you, Manny.Understandably, he's feeling some pressure to make sure all of that sweet, sweet taxpayer sugar turns into the 3.5 million jobs he's promised. Today, he

  February 20, 2009

• South Florida According to Brooklyn: Environmental Posers

  Photo by Justin Namon, thepopnessparty.comTo read past installments of South Florida According to Brooklyn, click here. What I'd like to talk about today is an event I went to last week at the Bank of America tower downtown in honor of Earth Hour 2009. A friend of mine was working the event, and called me for help at the last second. It was supposed to spread environmental awareness and celebrate Earth Hour, in which you were supposed to switch the lights and everything off during a set time. Ma

  April 3, 2009

• Diaz and Mayors Call for Stronger Gun Control in Wake of Shootings

  The number of horrible mass shootings nationally in the past few weeks has been astoundingly sad. Incidents in Miami alone have taken the lives of a dozen people in the past few weeks. I don't know if you can explain something like this. Blaming it on the economy, as it appears some might want to do, just seems vapid. We blame everything on the economy nowadays. There is one way to link all of these events, though: They involve guns. In his role as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Mia

  April 6, 2009

• Trick Daddy

  May 22, 2008

• The Price of Victory

  September 21, 2006

• Bad vs. Worse

  November 3, 2005

• The Dullness of Being Manny Diaz

  July 14, 2005

• Galvanizing City Hall

  December 23, 2004

• BEST LOCAL POLITICIAN

  May 13, 2004

• Metropolis, Heal Thyself

  October 16, 2003

• BEST NEW COMMUNITY INITIATIVE

  May 15, 2003

• Rats in Paradise

  November 28, 2002

• A Man in Full Fight

  May 9, 2002

• Letters from the Issue of November 8, 2001

  November 8, 2001

• By the Numbers

  November 1, 2001

• New Face, Old Connections

  October 25, 2001

• Riptide

  May 18, 2000

• Best of Miami 2009 Readers' Poll: Yes, We're Listening

  For the most part, we've made our choices for this year's Best of Miami. Who won? Ha! You'll have to wait until June 11 to find out, but in the meantime, our Readers' Poll is open and awaiting your picks.Can't say we remember the last time readers and the editorial staff agreed on a choice. For instance, last year our pick for Best Local Politician was Joe Garcia, for being "simply good at what he does." Our readers, on the other hand, disagreed and chose City of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz. Natural

  May 12, 2009

• Manny Diaz Endorses Kendrick Meek for Senate

  Rep. Kendrick Meek added another impressive entry to his list of endorsement of US Senate today as City of Miami Mayor, and president of the US Conference of Mayor, Manny Diaz announced his endorsement. The press release came with equal amounts of back patting on the part of both men. "Congressman Kendrick Meek is a leader in Congress who knows that placing unfair financial burdens and unfunded mandates on our cities is a practice that must end. Cities are being asked to do

  June 11, 2009

• Obama, Biden Snub Manny Diaz's U.S. Conference of Mayors Going-Away Party

  Miami Mayor Manny Diaz's time as head of the U.S. Conference of Mayors has come to an end, and usually the sitting American president sends administration officials to the conference -- this year held in Providence, Rhode Island -- but the Obama administration pulled out. The reason: Providence Mayor David Cicilline is in a labor dispute with the firefighters' union, and the group was picketing the event. Vice President Joe Biden was scheduled to attend, but the White House said it would not br

  June 15, 2009

• Manny Diaz Urges Senators to Vote No on Bill That Could Water Down Concealed Weapons Laws

  via Drab Makyo's flickrCity of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz has come out against the "Respecting States Rights and Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2009." The bill, introduced by Sen. Jon Thune (R-ND), would allow citizens who have a license to carry a concealed firearm in their state to carry one in another state if that state issues concealed firearm licenses. It could water down the existing concealed weapons laws of many states. Only states who don't issue concealed weapons legislation

  July 16, 2009

• Mayor Manny's Legacy Crumbles Before His Eyes

  ​Manny Diaz wasn't arrested for throwing a box of tea at his wife. He never showed up mad as hell, in his pajamas, at a constituent's house at 5 a.m. He never lead the city's budget into complete shambles. So, really, by those standards, he should leave office this fall as the best mayor the City of Miami has had in the recent past. Just last month, his name was being circulated as a potential Democratic candidate for state CFO. Before that, it wasn't unusual to

  August 7, 2009

• News Roundup

  Some county commissioners want to cut Mayor Alvarez's budget next year after revelations that some staff members make more than President Obama's people. [Herald]In other embattled mayor news, Manny Diaz has scheduled a second vote on Miami 21 for September 4. [SFBJ]A 13-year-old boy in North Dade was driving a go-kart when he crashed into a Dodge Durango and died. [CBS4]Miami-Dade budget cuts might lead to the end of DARE, the student drug abuse prevention program that also makes high

  August 25, 2009

• News Roundup

  Fight at Miami City Hall. During a budget meeting, Mayor Manny Diaz said Commissioner Tomas Regalado had taken a cheap shot at him. Regalado said the mayor has been living like "the mayor of Beverly Hills." Diaz then reminded the commissioner that his office once spent $25,000 for coffee. Anyway, the city decided to keep the tax rate flat for now. [Herald]Two 15-year-old boys were shot outside a Burger King in North Miami. One died, the other is still at Jackson Memorial. [Herald]A public works

  September 11, 2009

• News Roundup

  17 Year old Andy Rodriguez is being charged with one count of second degree murder after yesterday's fatal school stabbing at Coral Gables High after admitting to the crime. Students will return to school today, many wearing black. [WSVN]The Herald's Myriam Marquez wrote a column that was basically, "Yo Alvarez, I'm really happy for you and I'm going to let you finish, but Manny Diaz had one of the best Mayoral runs of all time!" Former Herald columnist Jim DeFede thinks it's just about the wors

  September 16, 2009

• News Roundup

  A local wedding dress shop owner gave away 100 wedding dresses to brides who just lost their job. [Herald]Manny Diaz's plan to remake Virginia Key has been pushed back, meaning it won't come to fruition while he's in office. [Herald]Carnival is coming to Downtown Miami this weekend. [SFLTimes]Channing Crowder says Jets QB Mark Sanchez is going to get "cussed out" at the Jets/Dolphins game on Monday. [NJ] Heat reserve center Jamaal Magloire has been suspended for two games after a bit of tussle b

  October 9, 2009

• BANG for Charity

  October 22, 2009

• Mayor Manny Diaz at Roots In The City Urban Farm in Overtown

  Mayor Manny Diaz is like the Bill Clinton of Miami, people just like the guy. Well, maybe not everybody, but here he is at the Roots in the City urban farm in Overtown (NW Third Avenue and Ninth Street, Miami) talking collard greens with South Florida historian Marvin Dunn, who is in charge of the project.We took the opportunity to ask Mayor Diaz what his favorite vegetable is, when the last time he had collards was, and if he would eat the ones grown in the garden. He said yes and Marvin pro

  November 3, 2009

• On the Way Out: Mayor Manny Diaz Pretends to Eat Collard Greens.

  How can you tell a politician's lying? If his lips are moving? What about if they are eating? Monday, we saw Mayor Manny Diaz at a press conference at the Roots In The City garden and urban farm in the middle of Historic Overtown (NW Third Avenue and Ninth Street).We asked Mayor Diaz what his favorite vegetable is, "I love tomatoes;" he said. And when was the last time he had collard greens? "Ya know, I don't know, it's been a while." Would he try the collards grown in Overtown? "Sure I would

  November 4, 2009

• News Roundup: Mayor Diaz's Last Day; Heat Off to Hot Start

  As of noon today Manny Diaz will no longer be Mayor of Miami. The Herald paints him as a "a sober, patient reformist up to his elbows in the minutiae of turning around a troubled city" who enacted "an agenda of a scope unmatched by any other Miami mayor in decades." One likely, for better or worse, not to be matched by incomng mayor Tomas Regalado. [Herald]Eye on Miami says that the Diaz administration was an opportunity wasted, because the river front was surrounded by high rise condos. [E

  November 11, 2009