The $248 Million Dollar Pie and The Ft. Lauderdale/South Beach-Miami Speedway

Where are the Homestead Events?

That $248,000,000 that the NASCAR race allegedly brings to Homestead every year is becoming more fictional every year. This year as in past years NASCAR race events are taking place in Fort Lauderdale and South Beach but what is happening in Homestead? The host city seems to be on the sidelines as local businesses struggle to capture the $248 million promise.

 http://nascarchampionshipdrive.com/home/

#1.) NASCAR’s three premier series will crown their champions November 16th-18th during the Ford Championship Weekend at the 1.5 mile, 18-20-degree variably-banked oval of Homestead-Miami Speedway.  The fan festivities begin with the Ford FanFest on Las Olas Boulevard in Ft. Lauderdale, a street party with driver appearances, food, and music. 

#2.)

The day may be ending, but the party is just beginning as NASCAR Championship Drive™ keeps the fun going long into the night with a free concert on the beach, featuring musical guests DAUGHTRY and featured guest Frankie J. There's no better way to prepare yourself for the electric atmosphere at Homestead-Miami Speedway and the final three races of the season!

• 
  THURSDAY
  NOVEMBER 15TH 2012
  Concert Begins - 6:00pm
• 
  LUMMUS PARK
  MIAMI BEACH
  Ocean Drive at 8th Street

• 7th & Collins (Garage)
  10th & Collins (Garage)
• 11th & Collins (Flat Lot)
  13th & Collins (Garage)

Read More

MIAMI-DADE Ballot Fraud: Is Al Lorenzo's Quantum Results and Homestead's 2009 Election A Possible House of Cards?

 

Quantum Results Worked For The Frank May Led PAC and The Reincarnated "Fab Five" Candidates It Supported, Mayor Steven Bateman and Councilman Jimmie Williams in 2009. Now, There Are Serious Concerns Involving The Firm. Will There Be Any Local Fallout?

  http://www.quantumresults.net/political-work.html

Two Political Enemies of The PBA Carlos Gimenez and Katherine Fernandez-Rundle Have Had to Distance Themselves From Quantum Results. Should One Assume The PBA Hierarchy, Who Heavily Supported Mayor Bateman, Steve Shelley and Judy Waldman, Possibly Knowing How Quantum Results May Have Operated In Homestead Ultimately Allowed Nature to Take It's Course, So to Speak, for the PBA Endorsed Candidates?

The above appeared on the PBA website until recently, PBA actually took credit for the wins by saying the "PBA is changing the face of government." That statement does have a gaping hole in it. Wasn't Bateman defeated by Amanda Garner as an incumbent? Some change. Remember the famous words of a South African gentleman, you can't teach a cat to bark.

 

By Patricia Mazzei, Charles Rabin and Marc Caputo

pmazzei@MiamiHerald.com

Fired from one campaign and chastised by another, veteran Miami political consultant Al Lorenzo finds himself in a position where no political operative wants to be: in the news.
Lorenzo, 60, lost his lucrative post in Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s reelection campaign Monday for failing to disclose that one of his subcontractors has a lengthy criminal record. Lorenzo remains on Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle’s reelection payroll, but she asked him to keep the subcontractor and career felon, Gerardo Judas “Jerry” Ramos, away from her race.
http://politicsmiami.com/forgers-criminal-past-haunts-miami-dade-campaigns/

The moves capped a tumultuous week in local politics, following an investigation into ballot fraud in Hialeah. The probe rippled across the county, with chatter that Lorenzo was somehow linked to Deisy Cabrera, charged with absentee-ballot fraud, and that he had created a potential conflict of interest for Fernández Rundle. She recused herself from the case after Cabrera was arrested last week, citing unconfirmed reports that linked her campaign to Cabrera.
Lorenzo has flatly denied any connection to Cabrera, and Fernández Rundle has not clarified which person working on her campaign was allegedly seen with Cabrera.
“There’s an old saying that any press is good press,” said Screven Watson, a consultant for former Democratic candidates Rod Smith and Dave Aronberg. “That’s true — unless it’s about a staff person or campaign consultant … Most consultants understand that and take themselves out.”
Lorenzo is not just any consultant.

A mainstay of Miami-Dade politics, he has earned about $5 million in fees from 148 campaigns since 2000. A registered Democrat and lobbyist, he has also worked for top Republicans like former Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio and congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, while also pulling in $50,000 from the state Democratic Party in 2008 to help President Barack Obama get out the vote. His firm, Quantum Results, earned nearly $1 million from back-to-back efforts to persuade county voters to approve Las Vegas-style slot machines.

For Lorenzo, the latest spate of bad press comes as he juggles at least eight — formerly nine, counting Gimenez — candidates on the Aug. 14 ballot, excluding municipal candidates. Known as a judicial-campaign specialist, he has been paid by about 20 additional judicial candidates who did not draw opponents.
Not all of his clients appear happy with his services. Former Miami-Dade Commissioner Jimmy Morales hired Lorenzo for his 2004 mayoral campaign runoff against Carlos Alvarez. Asked if Lorenzo helped his race, Morales said, “Well, I didn’t win.”

Lorenzo did not respond to a call or email for comment Tuesday. He did not answer the door at his fenced, ranch-style home off Sunset Drive.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/07/2938639/consultant-ends-up-in-tough-spot.html#storylink=cpy

Other Stories:  
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2012-08-09/news/absentee-ballot-fraud-is-wrecking-democracy-in-miami/

  http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/08/carlos_gimenez_dumps_al_lorenz.php

  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/07/1117718/-Miami-Dade-Democrats-DID-consider-Rubio-crony?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=feed

  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/06/1117389/-The-case-of-the-Miami-Dade-Democrats-absentee-ballot-mystery

 http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/07/2938705/boria-doral-should-cut-ties-to.html

http://www.thecrespogramreport.com/Site_10/FERNANDEZ-RUNDLE_RECUSAL.html

 

 

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/07/2938639/consultant-ends-up-in-tough-spot.html

 

Read More

Hey Trump Studio City Kool-Aid Drinkers, Ever Hear of Trump Television City?....

......Probably Not, So Read On!


From the Manhattan Institute
The West Side Rethinks Donald Trump’s Riverside South

Julia Vitullo-Martin, January 2004

So What Happened To Donald Trump’s Television City In Manhattan?

SEVEN FAILED PROPOSALS
Trump was far from the first suitor for the site. The first development proposal was made by Penn Central itself in 1962, during the development- and union-friendly Wagner administration. Penn Central wanted to partner with the Amalgamated Lithographers Union to build a mixed-use development, Litho City, on platforms over the trains. In 1969, the New York City Educational Construction Fund proposed a 12,000-unit residential development that went nowhere during the indifferent Lindsay administration. In 1975, the year of New York City’s brush with bankruptcy, Donald Trump optioned the site and proposed the same thing--12,000 apartments. None of the three proposals was truly serious.
Then in 1980, the Macri Group, who came to be known locally as the Argentines, optioned the site, and quickly proposed Lincoln West--a 7.3-million-square-foot project with 4,300 residential units. They were serious. They got the necessary rezoning in 1982 from the Koch administration. But they then failed to get financing, and lost the site.

In January 1985, Donald Trump bought the site for $100 million in partnership with Al Hirschfield--who had also been a partner with the Argentines--and proposed a 16.5-million-square-foot project, Television City, designed by architect Helmut Jahn. It included the world’s tallest building at 152 stories.

Trump hoped to entice NBC to move in as prime tenant. Outraged West Siders and civic groups, which had been active but relatively polite regarding Lincoln West, organized immediately in opposition.
In late 1986 Trump proposed a new 14.5-million-square-foot project, with 7,600 apartments in 60- and 70-story towers, and a regional shopping mall. This time his architect was Alex Cooper, who had been the lead architect for Battery Park City’s master plan and who was well-regarded by nearly everybody, including the good government groups. But Cooper’s reputation didn’t diminish West Side outrage, and opposition to the project’s size swelled.

Mayor Koch aligned himself with the community opposition, and said he would oppose any project larger than 7.4 million square feet, the old Lincoln West size. He also rejected out of hand Trump’s request for zoning waivers and a $1 billion tax abatement to attract NBC. An uneasy NBC announced in 1987 that it would not be moving to Television City.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s finances worsened into near bankruptcy. In 1990 the banks restructured his $2 billion in loans, and deferred payments on his $200-million loan for the Penn Yards project, which he began calling Trump City. But the banks urged him to produce a workable, buildable plan.
Everybody knew that wasn’t going to happen without community cooperation.

CUTTING THROUGH DEVELOPMENT GRIDLOCK
Meanwhile, a coalition of civic groups led by the Municipal Art Society, that had been suing to stop the project, riveted Trump’s attention. They were willing to see a much smaller project go forward. From his banks’ point of view, a smaller project was better than none at all. As the late Linda Davidoff, then Parks Council executive director, said, “The Riverside South project is going to test whether civic initiative can cut through the gridlock in the development process that has come about.”

In March 1991 Trump and the coalition of civics, which also included the Parks Council, Regional Plan Association, Riverside Park Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Westpride, agreed to reduce the project’s size by 40% to 8.3 million square feet. The buildings would range from 30 to 40 stories, and the waterfront park would cover 23 acres. Design standards would impose variations among the towers, and the street plan would respect the existing West Side grid. In exchange, the civic groups promised to usher the Trump proposal through the land use review process.

And indeed they did. Despite the disapproval of Community Board 7, the project was almost immediately approved by the City Planning Commission and by Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger. The project passed the City Council in December 1992. Still, construction didn’t begin until the spring of 1997. The first building was finished in 1998, and six buildings are completed today.

Read More