City of Homestead Centennial Festival & Concert Saturday, Feb 2 2:00p to 10:00p Harris Field Homestead, FL Join us for the City of Homestead 100 years celebration. Free outdoor festival and concert. Featuring live rock, R&B and Latin bands, kids zone, food trucks, historial show "The Homestead Story" and much more. Fun for the whole family. Read more here: http://events.miamiherald.com/homestead_fl/events/show/301778025-city-of-homestead-centennial-festival-concert#storylink=cpy
Tuesday, 29 January 2013
Friday, 25 January 2013
New Florida City ordinance will do away with private charity
Posted on 07:04 by Unknown
FLORIDA CITY private charity away regulation January 15, 2013
By: Pierre-Alexandre Crevaux, The Examiner
Miami-Dade County is full of interesting, incapable, and sometimes delirious politicians. But just as we thought we couldn't go any lower than local leaders asking for higher food prices, the name of Otis T. Wallace and his fiefdom of Florida City had to come up and remind us of the sad state of the county's southern region. Florida City is a small town of 11,000 people that millions of people cross every year - not because of its charm, but because it is the last human settlement before the Florida Keys. Such a position could be incredibly advantageous. Dozens of hotels, restaurants, bars, gas stations could provide for a strong local economy. But instead, 40% of the population lives in deep poverty. And the irony could be laughable, if it were a fiction. One of the poorest towns in Florida is now trying to get rid of private charity, as if there was no better business for the local government to attend to.
On Tuesday, Mayor Wallace told the City Council that he was making sure an ordinance concerning donation boxes was being enforced. The ordinance, issued last month in Florida City, is actually made to restrain the past year's increase in donation boxes installed throughout Homestead and Florida City. It forces companies to fill regulatory paperwork, creates a standard size for the boxes, and gets rid of all the donation boxes that remain untagged. In addition, the ordinance restricts such donation boxes to non-profit organizations only. The talk is easy. Mayor Wallace doesn't want any citizen to be lied into giving money to rich, profit-seeking corporations. But in reality, neither the City Council nor the mayor has any idea of the implications of the new rules. A large part of the donation boxes are, indeed, placed by for-profit companies. But none of them claim to sell back the donations made for a gut-wrenching profit.
Reuse Clothes and Shoes, for instance, which was one of the groups targeted by an early investigation for Florida City and Homestead, has a few boxes where people are free to dispose of used textiles and shoes. They are eventually sold back, but for only pennies, in Africa and Asia. Profit-seeking is not wrong. In fact, the greatest charity of all times, wealth creation, comes entirely out of profits. Seeking a little profit out of voluntary donations in order to pay for such things as labor and transportation is not wrong. What is wrong, however, is a local government regulating private charity out of a town. "For most of [the bins] their period for legal resolve is past and, literally, the city has the ability to remove them at this point," said Otis Wallace, "and they should start disappear rapidly." There is no large fraud happening. The only incident found was a single box with no name and no contact info written on it in front of a home. But people are not blind enough to fall into such a ridiculous scheme. Of course, the real fraud happening in Florida City wasn't addressed at this year's first city council meeting.
The Mayor, in power for more than twenty years now, still earns a staggering $150,000 yearly salary and is still planning on receiving the same amount every year once he retires. Such a salary is immoral, especially because it is taken out of the tax money of me of the poorest populations in the United States. Being one of the most corrupted cities in the most corrupted county of the most corrupted state is surely not helping Florida City. And when the local government turns its illegitimate power to punish those that bring change to the world's poor, a serious question needs to be raised: Are they really surprised we hold the Second Amendment so dear to our hearts?
By: Pierre-Alexandre Crevaux, The Examiner
Miami-Dade County is full of interesting, incapable, and sometimes delirious politicians. But just as we thought we couldn't go any lower than local leaders asking for higher food prices, the name of Otis T. Wallace and his fiefdom of Florida City had to come up and remind us of the sad state of the county's southern region. Florida City is a small town of 11,000 people that millions of people cross every year - not because of its charm, but because it is the last human settlement before the Florida Keys. Such a position could be incredibly advantageous. Dozens of hotels, restaurants, bars, gas stations could provide for a strong local economy. But instead, 40% of the population lives in deep poverty. And the irony could be laughable, if it were a fiction. One of the poorest towns in Florida is now trying to get rid of private charity, as if there was no better business for the local government to attend to.
On Tuesday, Mayor Wallace told the City Council that he was making sure an ordinance concerning donation boxes was being enforced. The ordinance, issued last month in Florida City, is actually made to restrain the past year's increase in donation boxes installed throughout Homestead and Florida City. It forces companies to fill regulatory paperwork, creates a standard size for the boxes, and gets rid of all the donation boxes that remain untagged. In addition, the ordinance restricts such donation boxes to non-profit organizations only. The talk is easy. Mayor Wallace doesn't want any citizen to be lied into giving money to rich, profit-seeking corporations. But in reality, neither the City Council nor the mayor has any idea of the implications of the new rules. A large part of the donation boxes are, indeed, placed by for-profit companies. But none of them claim to sell back the donations made for a gut-wrenching profit.
Reuse Clothes and Shoes, for instance, which was one of the groups targeted by an early investigation for Florida City and Homestead, has a few boxes where people are free to dispose of used textiles and shoes. They are eventually sold back, but for only pennies, in Africa and Asia. Profit-seeking is not wrong. In fact, the greatest charity of all times, wealth creation, comes entirely out of profits. Seeking a little profit out of voluntary donations in order to pay for such things as labor and transportation is not wrong. What is wrong, however, is a local government regulating private charity out of a town. "For most of [the bins] their period for legal resolve is past and, literally, the city has the ability to remove them at this point," said Otis Wallace, "and they should start disappear rapidly." There is no large fraud happening. The only incident found was a single box with no name and no contact info written on it in front of a home. But people are not blind enough to fall into such a ridiculous scheme. Of course, the real fraud happening in Florida City wasn't addressed at this year's first city council meeting.
The Mayor, in power for more than twenty years now, still earns a staggering $150,000 yearly salary and is still planning on receiving the same amount every year once he retires. Such a salary is immoral, especially because it is taken out of the tax money of me of the poorest populations in the United States. Being one of the most corrupted cities in the most corrupted county of the most corrupted state is surely not helping Florida City. And when the local government turns its illegitimate power to punish those that bring change to the world's poor, a serious question needs to be raised: Are they really surprised we hold the Second Amendment so dear to our hearts?
Tuesday, 22 January 2013
Friday, 18 January 2013
TRASH IS TRASH -- Anyone ever live or work near Doral dump? Redland residents don’t want bulk-trash drop-off center Residents said the proposed project would bring a bad smell, traffic and groundwater pollution. By Janey Tate jtate@MiamiHerald.com Miami-Dade Waste Management officials say a new Neighborhood Trash and Recycling Center would be a convenience for residents in the Redland area of deep South Dade, a place to drop off yard waste, unwanted appliances, electronics, tires furniture and other bulky items. The proposed center, on 10 acres at Southwest 202nd Avenue and 290th Street, would accept no regular garbage. But Redland residents aren’t convinced. About 50 people crowded into a small meeting room at Fruit and Spice park Thursday night and gave county officials a clear message: We don’t want it. Residents worried that the project would bring truck traffic and a bad smell, and that it would harm the groundwater in a neighborhood where homeowners get their water from private wells. The county said the center would be part of a program to ensure that all county residents have a place to drop off large items within five miles of their homes. But in the Redland, where homes are on multi-acre lots scattered among plant nurseries, this convenience is neither needed nor wanted, residents said. “They are basing it off of engineering that is within 5 miles; they are not basing it off of the community,” said resident Salvatore Devito. “Out here in rural Miami-Dade, the average plot is 5 acres. It’s not as dense as other areas. Let’s keep the Redlands rural.” Patricia Milone, a resident of Redland since 1978, learned of Thursday’s meeting only one night in advance from a flyer someone stuffed in her mailbox. She made 40 copies of the flyer and passed them out in her neighborhood. “What the county commissioners consistently neglect to accept is that this Redland farm area is very small, it‘s fragile and it unique,” Milone said after the meeting. “I’m hoping that they will go back and let them know we don’t want this out here.” County Waste Management spokeswoman Jeanmarie Manze Massa said she was surprised by the opposition to the project. “The purpose of this was to gather information. I didn‘t know, I thought people would be happy,” said Massa. “But it’s important to hear all this information. We are strictly gathering the input from the community.” Residents watched a Power Point slideshow explaining the project, presented by Lee S. Casey Waste Management’s division director for Technical Services and Environmental Affairs. He said the project wasn’t a sure thing. “That’s why we are collecting this feedback, this is a part of the process,” said Casey during the meeting that lasted little over an hour. The officials said they were there to listen, and would take the neighborhood’s concerns back to their agency. During the meeting many residents said that that community needs to unite so that their concerns are addressed. Milone urged residents to contact their county commissioners to voice their concerns. “The commissioners need to hear from us.“ said Milone during the Wednesday meeting. “If they know what’s good for them, then this might be the last meeting if we get it across to them that we don’t want this.” Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/18/3189209/redland-residents-dont-want-bulk.html#storylink=cpy
Thursday, 17 January 2013
Good Events in Good Time of the Year and Weather! Rob's Redland Riot Road Rallye - Sat., 19th, beginning at Cauley Square--- Martin Luther King Jr. - various services and events - check Neighbors in Miami Herald--- Homestead Rodeo following week-end--- Keys Gate - food market on Saturdays at sales office on North Canal
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
THE RODEO IS COMING!
Posted on 17:20 by Unknown
HOMESTEAD RODEO! Keep this event alive in Homestead for this, and years to come. More info will be provided.
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