Today, the last day of 2008, Banana Republican highlights his ten favorite news stories of the year, the tales that truly capture life in a sun-drenched, third-world dimension. 10. Marc Sarnoff’s Memo to Himself. The Coconut Grove loving city commissioner has a super secret meeting with Joe Arriola at which…
With holiday parties in full swing, Riptide is pondering gifts to send to some of our favorite Miamians. We begin with Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez. We hear the strapping ex-police director enjoys starting his day at the gym. Well, hard to argue with that, since our top local leader should…
On the surface, Norman Edelcup’s desire to relocate a Sunny Isles strip club seems like something any sensible small-town mayor would want. But the owners of Thee Dollhouse at 755 Sunny Isles Blvd. say Edelcup is trying to squeeze them out of business to benefit a developer friend, who just…
At yesterday’s Miami City Commission meeting, a small group of neighborhood preservationists came prepared to do in Eric Silverman, owner of the Vagabond Motel on Biscayne Boulevard in the Upper Eastside. Members of the MiMo Biscayne Association and residents railed against Silverman’s use of his property for an open-air farmer’s…
Come January, expect to see a new dynamic take shape on the Miami-Dade County Commission when Dennis Moss becomes chairman. For one, Natacha Seijas will no longer have influence over the selection of committee chairs and assignments. Each of the last three commission chairs, from Barbara Carey-Shuler to Joe Martinez to…
It’s a sunny, arid afternoon in Perrine, a suburb in southwest Miami-Dade. At the corner of 179th Street and 104th Avenue, a crowd of about 50 people has gathered in the dusty front yard of a lime-green house. The sweet, pungent smell of marijuana wafts through the air as DJ…
Soon-to-be-displaced County Commission Chairman Bruno Barreiro is no friend of the environment. The former state representative led the charge to allow developers to build beyond the county’s imaginary line that stops construction from encroaching on the Everglades and environmentally sensitive lands. He is pushing for a rewrite of Miami-Dade’s manatee…
Down south, between Pinecrest and Homestead, lies a place where boys don’t run, don’t cower, and certainly don’t cry when it comes time to stand their ground. They call this poverty-stricken, bleak community Perrine. Here, banging fists in the street is as common as the ice cream truck coming down…
The end of 2008 feels like a kick in the balls for Riptide. Our car is about to get repossessed, our credit cards are maxed out, and we’ve taken up residence in an abandoned home with a bunch of squatters. Such is life in sunny South Florida. But it’s nevertheless…
South Florida congressional leaders Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Kendrick Meek sure know how to live the good life when they are on the campaign trail. According to campaign financial disclosure forms filed with the Federal Elections Commission, the federal legislators spent big bucks entertaining staff and supporters at some of the…
Yesterday Banana Republican filled you in on the folks who made a buck ensuring Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart, as well as Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, held onto their congressional seats. Today we look at the people who made a chunk of change on the failed campaigns of Democratic losers Joe Garcia, Raul…
From the desk of Joe Arriola ——- Barack Obama The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. President-Elect: I know you’re busy preparing to take over the wor … um, White House. But I just wanna offer a little advice. And hey, my Cuban Republican family forked…
With the election season wrapped up, Banana Republican sifted through federal campaign financial reports, including those of Barack Obama and John McCain, to see who got paid. We begin with the companies that made money working for Mario Diaz-Balart, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the three Cuban American Republicans who…
The brain-trust behind Cocaine Cowboys and its sequel are now exposing the nasty underbelly of the nightlife business. This week Rakontur premiered the web-based documentary series Clubland Miami, which chronicles the pissing match between Mynt Lounge and Rok Bar owner Roberto Caan versus his former partners Nicola Siervo, Rony Seikaly,…
The mainstream media is starting to go through Dubya-induced withdrawal. How else can anyone explain why Sarah Palin, the VP candidate on the losing team, is still making headline news? Let’s face it the hokey ex-Guv from Texas provided us with endless fodder these past eight years that we’re scrambling…
On Election Day, under a somber gray sky in Pembroke Pines, a line of voters snaked from the entrance of the Pembroke Shores Park gymnasium to the parking lot. A six-foot-four, paunchy, hazel-eyed Cuban-American walked the line, shaking hands as a cameraman from América TeVé recorded the scene. Dressed in…
One of the daunting challenges facing President-elect Barack Obama is fixing the public school system where George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act has failed miserably, especially in Miami-Dade where some historically Black schools are in danger of being shut down. Our new Commander-In-Chief would be wise to heed…
Hey, politics doesn’t have to be soooooo serious. In fact politics is a spectacle, according to local performance artist Natasha Tsakos. And I wholeheartedly agree. Tsakos has put together The Palin Show — an avant-garde cabaret-style production she is presenting tonight at Dream nightclub at 1035 Washington Ave., Miami Beach…
As the most important election in the 21st Century draws to a close, Banana Republican took a gander at the top campaign contributors in the congressional races pitting Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart against Raul Martinez and Joe Garcia, respectively. So far the Republican siblings have out-raised their Democratic challengers by…
In a year certain to be dominated by Democrats, the party’s Florida vice chairman is in trouble. Luis Garcia is battling influential county lobbyist Jorge Luis Lopez to represent Key Biscayne, South Beach, downtown Miami, and Little Havana. Garcia is a 62-year-old retired firefighter who, as a state legislator, succeeded…
Bracing for an Election Day scandal in South Florida is like preparing for a hurricane. You know one is coming, but you can’t predict the damage. The 2000 recount was a Category 4. When hundreds of votes were mistakenly not counted five years later during a special election, it was…
Over the weekend, the New York Times published a fantastic piece analyzing how John McCain is letting Florida slip away while Barack Obama has blanketed the Sunshine State. The Gray Lady isn’t the only one stressing Florida’s importance November 4. Yesterday, under charcoal gray rain clouds, Hollywood actors Matt Damon,…
