Apparently, tidings of booze and gourmet appetizers were not enough to sway young Miamians to support the Miami Art Museum, the local arts institution that desperately needs to raise private funds for its new home.Taxpayers approved the use of $175 million in county funds to build the $275 million project…
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. You can always expect a little urban drama near and around 29th Street between NE Second Avenue and Biscayne Boulevard to liven up your work day. Earlier this afternoon a black male suspect in a stolen four-door Hyundai with Arkansas plates led…
A two-year investigation by the Miami-Dade Inspector General found that the former principal of John A. Ferguson Senior High School in West Kendall deliberately diverted over $200,000 in taxpayer money to pay for hotel lodging, booze and grub for school employees, as well as their friends and relatives, who attended…
West Miami Mayor Cesar Carasa calls his Dominican babes
For a story in this week’s Miami New Times, I dialed up a few of the ladies suspended West Miami Mayor Cesar Carasa befriended during his sojourns to the Dominican Republic. This past November 30, Carasa was arrested on two misdemeanor counts of exploiting his public position. The unemployed real…
The folks who set up the Haiti earthquake relief donation site at First Street and Alton Road in Miami Beach need to raise $50,000 to send air-conditioning units and generators for the Project Medishare hospital being set up in Port-au-Prince to treat victims. You can make your donation here.What this…
All over Facebook, Twitter, television newscasts, and radio broadcasts, reporters and ordinary folks have been encouraging relatives, friends and anyone who cares to donate $5 to the Yele Haiti Earthquake fund, the humanitarian relief effort spearheaded by the non-profit organization founded by Haitian-American entertainer and part-time Miami resident Wyclef Jean.According…
Every night, before he goes to sleep, Hank Adorno must get on his knees, fold his hands, and thank Papa Dios he hasn’t lost his license to practice law.Last year, the Florida Bar found that the civil attorney and prominent Miami citizen violated nine bar rules when he orchestrated a $7…
Even before she was arrested and suspended from office this past November 13, Michelle Spence-Jones let everyone know she would not go out without a fight. No one has forgotten how she proclaimed during her swearing-in ceremony that “they don’t know this nappy-headed child of God has her armor on.” Where…
In case you haven’t heard, tonight marks the first (((SHAKE))) of 2010 at the Vagabond. And it’s gonna be one helluva a party as pioneering Miami DJ Tom Laroc celebrates his 40th birthday with the Shake nation. A renaissance man whose skills on wax are only surpassed by his prowess in…
Miami City Commission candidate Mike Suarez claims two city workers stumped on the clock for his opponent
An election in Allapattah means accusations of monkey business abound.Mike Suarez, one of nine candidates in a winner-take-all special election January 12 to replace former City of Miami Commissioner Angel Gonzalez, claims two city workers broke election laws while campaigning for frontrunner Wilfredo “Willy” Gort over the Christmas holiday.”It’s an…
During the ’90s and early part of the decade, Stafford played a prominent role in South Beach clubland, manning the velvet ropes to the only parties that mattered.When it came to being a club doorman, Stafford set the standard. In a 2004 New York Times article, he summed up his…
Firearms and a parrot stolen from a South Beach apartment
Golden Beach Mayor Glenn Singer says he has no intention of dumping town manager Alexander Diaz, who was recently arrested in Miami Beach for driving under the influence of alcohol. At least not until Singer gets back from vacation next week. “I don’t have all the facts yet,” Singer told Banana Republican…
Golden Beach Town Manager Alexander Diaz was a very naughty boy this past December 25. Miami Beach police officers arrested the 31-year-old small city bureaucrat for driving under the influence of alcohol. According to the arrest report, Diaz attempted to drive off in his gray BMW SUV after informing one…
Last night, Banana Republican settled into bed with a nice cup of eggnog and holiday gingerbread cookies while indulging in one of my favorite past times — cracking up at the expense of the rubes who end up on the Epic Fail blog. I came across this early Christmas present for…
Miami’s Planning Advisory Board member Paul Mann is calling out the city commission. This past December 17, commissioners Frank Carrollo, Marc Sarnoff and Francis Suarez signed off on a plan to convert vacant city-owned park land at NW 14th Ave and 61st Street into residential units.The property is next door…
Blemished Miami-Dade schools bureaucrat Ronda Vangates runs for school board
Miami-Dade firefighters’ union threatens to kick Chief Herminio Lorenzo out of a building it doesn’t own
Ronda Vangates was once caught up in one of the worst scandals of Rudy Crew’s tenure as Miami-Dade County Public Schools superintendent. Today, the 38-year-old school district bureaucrat is the anointed successor to board member Solomon Stinson, who has decided not to run for re-election. That’s politics in the nation’s…
The incoming president of the county firefighters union, Dominick Barbera, is demonstrating a terrible lack of ethics in his personal feud with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Herminio Lorenzo. This past December 9, sent Lorenzo an audaciously snarky letter mocking the chief’s proposal to require all county firefighters to report traffic…
