Word: miami
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...spare us a dime?) Morales, the first indigenous President of Bolivia, says he considers himself "less a President than a union leader." The Illinois-educated Correa says smilingly that the U.S. can again have a military base in Ecuador "if Ecuador can have a military base in Miami." Raúl Castro, survivor of a half-century of American disapproval, toasts his younger compadres: "Now we're ready for another 50 years...
...without too much prodding, that the events of the past 12 months amount to "a financial coup d'etat." The rhetorical pitch keeps rising until, toward the end, Moore suggests a solution: not from the government down but from the grass roots up, through community groups (like LIFFT in Miami), united workers (like those at Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago) and the common decency of elected officials (like the Wayne County, Mich., sheriff who decided to stop foreclosures on his neighbors' homes...
...Granted, most local governments often have to raise taxes when they're staring at fiscal craters like the $427 million shortfall in Miami-Dade's proposed $7.83 billion budget. But the less than sunny mood in Miami-Dade is made darker by the feeling among most residents that their fiscal jam is not just a result of falling revenue, but also years of profligate mismanagement. The final determination on their property taxes will be made soon by the Miami-Dade County Commission - a feckless, corruption-tainted body, many of whose members ran up hundreds of thousands of dollars in police...
...Residents were further outraged last week when the Miami Herald reported that Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, one of the few Miami politicians with a reputation for probity, had raised the salaries of his chief of staff and other top lieutenants this year as high as 15% while calling for a 5% pay cut for county workers. Alvarez spokesperson Victoria Mallette says the raises resulted from a 2007 referendum that gave Miami-Dade's mayor, until then a relatively weak post, broad new powers that in turn thrust heavier duties on his staff. She also notes that Alvarez actually...
...hoped their officials might change the way they do things - or at least not attend a Kentucky Derby party hosted by the same FPL honchos lobbying them for a rate hike, as a Florida Public Service Commission director has admitted to doing a few months ago. But if Miami and Florida officials can't get their acts together, they can probably expect even lower head counts in the years to come...