Political Junkie Thought He’d Seen It All The zany, the surreal, the true Tallahassee, but then along came this: My first experience with the Florida legislature was in 1973, when I worked as an aide to Sen. Sherman Winn from Miami. For the next twenty years I watched the process…
You probably think parking valets, the spry soldiers of the asphalt who park and fetch your vehicles amid heat, humidity, and Hummer-size hubris, get to keep the five- and ten-dollar bills you slip into their palms. How nice it is, you think, to be a fat-cat lawyer or big-time hoodlum…
I Remember Papa Doc And I can tell you something about Aristide: Tristram Korten’s story about Haiti was well written — and also accurate (“Guns and Haiti,” April 15). I am a U.S. citizen who spent 35 years, off and on, living in Haiti. My family moved there in 1958…
Robert Moehling, the “Robert” of Robert Is Here, the landmark produce stand southwest of Homestead, considers himself an animal lover. In back of his store is a large pen, shelter to numerous lizards, goats, chickens, and tortoises. But he has no love for the pack of dogs that has been…
Persecution and Profits Why let a little torture stand in the way of cold cash? Great article by Kirk Nielsen on selling cattle to Cuba (“Cows to Cuba,” April 8). It appears that Mr. John Parke Wright IV, like many other capitalists, does not mind profiteering from the Western Hemisphere’s…
“When a girl quits here, what does she say? Sexual harassment!” groans Gil Dezer with a dismissive shake of his head. “When a guy quits here, what can he say? Ultimately he’s looking for money too. So he’s going to throw as much at the wall to see what sticks…
When the Beastie Boys asked, “Professor, what’s another word for pirate’s treasure?” artist Daniel Fila knew the answer: booty. Early this past December, when thousands of collectors, curators, and critics descended on Miami for Art Basel, more than just the creations housed within the walls of galleries and the Miami…
There’s no school today. Still 70 or so teachers from various public schools in Miami-Dade County show up at the Miami Children’s Museum auditorium on a Friday morning for a free music education workshop. “We’re going to be traveling around the world today through music,” promises Emi Gittleman, director of…
Miami: Third World Role Model Thanks to upstanding leaders like Ralph Arza: I read the great article by Rebecca Wakefield about state Rep. Ralph Arza over and over and over, and I could not believe how deep is the corruption within our system (“Meet Mr. Arza,” March 25). I thought…
“You know what I like about my life?” muses Gil Dezer with an ear-to-ear grin. “How many 29-year-olds do you know who can pick up the phone and get Trump on the other end?” Dezer leans back from the wrap-around desk in his 31st-floor office at Sunny Isles Beach’s $600…
Maybe pink really is the new black. In Little Havana’s Latin Quarter it seems pastels are now de rigueur, at least for building façades. Black is not only out in the LQ but, supposedly, illegal. The exterior in question belongs to Borders Picture Framing and Gallery, which is located in…
It’s not often that the U.S. military and the music industry go looking for salvation in the same central Texas city — particularly one whose unofficial motto, plastered on bumper stickers and T-shirts, is “Keep Austin Weird.” But there was Maj. Gen. Pete Chiarelli, commander of the U.S. Army First…
Behind the Scenes at Miami-Dade Public Schools Weird dealings, Ralph Arza, and other scary things: In response to Rebecca Wakefield’s article about state Rep. Ralph Arza (“Meet Mr. Arza,” March 25), I say thank God for New Times and especially for Ms. Wakefield’s ability to investigate and write. Her stories…
Miami-Dade mayoral hopeful José Cancela says that as far as he’s concerned, developer Lowell Dunn, Sr., is unforgiven after a February meeting ended with Dunn handing Cancela a fistful of dollars. Cancela says Dunn, best known for never-ending legal battles over his plan to develop the environmentally sensitive Madden’s Hammock,…
Coming Soon: My Bundle of Joy When I announced I wanted natural childbirth, they freaked: I am eight months pregnant. Like the women in Celeste Fraser Delgado’s article “Cuts You Up” (March 18), I have been greatly troubled by how many of my friends and co-workers in this area have…
Every few years the cultural margins throw up an album that suddenly clears the air, announcing not just a new Zeitgeist but a fresh generation of music consumers coming of age. Critics scramble to evaluate the new sonic terrain while record company executives begin frantically waving contracts in the presumed…
An Angel’s Blessing Free weekly praised for publishing potty-mouth cartoons: I want to thank Francisco Alvarado for his journalistic aggressiveness in reporting the latest chapter in the sick saga of North Bay Village’s political chaos (“The Avenging Angel of North Bay Village,” March 11). The two disgusting cartoons that were…
Standing inside Bal Harbour’s Neiman Marcus, Michael Musto was far from his usual downtown Manhattan stomping grounds, and even farther from the usual fodder for his long-running Village Voice nightlife column. There were no Hollywood celebs behaving badly, no catfighting drag queens, not a single club owner with an underage…
No Time for the Whine Professional protesters like Bork need to get a job — and a life: As long as Kirk Nielsen is the acting head of the Jamie “Bork” Loughner Fan Club, perhaps he can enlighten everyone as to what this professional complainer does for a living (“No…
Kendall: Nightlife Hotspot No velvet ropes, no overpriced cocktails, and lots of free parking: After reading Rebecca Wakefield’s article “Rope Tricks” (February 26), I now know why these South Beach nightspots come and go so rapidly: They refuse entry to almost everyone! Do you think Burdines should tell fat people…
Here on South Beach, folks tend to view current affairs through a slightly warped prism. Did presidential hopeful John Kerry smooth away his visible worries via a Botox treatment? Does Kerry, as one Bush administration aide famously quipped, “look French”? Those are questions this city’s body politic is well prepared…
Don’t You Recognize Blind Ambition When You See It? Free weekly snuggles up to ax-grinders: Could New Times go back to attacking real mismanagement and incompetence, or do you support anybody with a personal ambition and an ax to grind (“Sustained Objections,” February 19)? Is there a public defender’s office…
