Conexion Miami / Hypocrisy on display
Major League Baseball announced last Friday that Marlins Park has been named the host for the 2017 All-Star baseball game. Present that day to bask in the glory were Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, team president David Samson, Florida Gov. Rick Scott, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez (second from right), City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado (third from left) and City of Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine. A bit hypocritical, don’t you agree? Regalado made a big stink about the stadium taxpayers built for Loria not too long ago, and Gimenez won the county mayor’s seat because of his stand against funding the stadium. We suppose they’ve forgotten.
Gimenez holds slim lead with 20 months to go
We will be voting for our next county mayor in August 2016. As we reported, Mayor Carlos Gimenez has already amassed more than a half million dollars for fear of the competition. According to the latest poll, Gimenez leads with 30%, but right behind is Raquel Regalado with 24%, and former Miami mayor Xavier Suarez with 15%. It shows Regalado with 34 percent of the Hispanic vote, compared to 26 percent for Gimenez and 18 percent for Suarez. But Gimenez dominates in the other ethnic categories, taking 30 percent of the black vote (Regalado gets 10 percent and Suarez 12 percent) and 43 percent of the “white anglo” vote (compared to 8 percent for Regalado and 10 percent for Suarez.) Interesting fact: 48% of black voter are still undecided.
Miami Beach turning 100
Miami Beach will celebrate its 100th birthday in March and is planning five days of car shows, fashion shows, mass weddings, food truck roundups, and a free “Mega Centennial Concert Celebration” and beach party. These “100 hours of exciting events” will go down on the streets and sands of South Beach. They’ll get started on Sunday, March 22, with a Jackie Gleason Marathon in the Great One’s former home, Fillmore Miami Beach.
Cuban cigars
This from the Miami New Times: Nicaragua’s cigar boom is due … [to] the U.S. blockade [against] the world’s largest cigar market from the island most famous for making them. … In the process it has jump-started cigar industries across the Caribbean, from Honduras to the Dominican Republic to Nicaragua… When the embargo falls, Cuban stogies will finally flood into the United States. Cigar makers around the Caribbean will feel the burn from the new competition, and Miami’s Cuban exiles will surely suffer as gringos snap up the exotic socialist stogies.
Student aid left behind
Less than half of Florida high school grads fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, leaving $100 million in federal aid on the table, financial aid experts report. The U.S. Department of Education reported that last year, nearly 60 percent of Florida 12th graders filing the FAFSA were eligible for a Pell grant, the need-based student aid. That put the state sixth in the nation for the percentage of students who qualify for help. But only 49.6 percent of graduating seniors completed the form, landing Florida 40th in the nation in participation.
Money, Bush and politics
Money is the life-blood of American politics. And a recent dinner party hosted in honor of former Florida governor Jeb Bush just goes to show you. We’re referring to a Manhattan fundraiser for Bush at the Park Avenue home of private-equity titan Henry Kravis last week, where about 25 attendees paid a minimum of $100,000 each swoon over the Bush III. The money will help fund his presidential aspirations next year. The Washington Post reported that “Bush’s press for dollars has been so intense – averaging one fundraiser a day – that his Republican competitors do not even claim they can compete at his level and acknowledge that he is the unrivaled financial leader.”
Pay gap between men/women grew
And this disturbing news from the Sun-Sentinel: The improving economy is increasing the pay gap between men and women in Florida, economists say. Women who worked full time in 2013 took home 83.2 percent of what men in the state earn, according to the most recent data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Women did better the year before, when they earned 84.9 percent of men’s median pay, a high point since the federal agency began tracking in 1997, said BLS Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin. In comparison, women nationally narrowed the wage gap. They made about 81 percent of men’s median earnings in 2012 and 82.1 percent in 2013.
Asking for $12.50 an hour
U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings wants a referendum on the ballot next year to increase Florida’s minimum wage to $12.50 an hour. Hastings, a Democrat who represents parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, said the 55 percent increase from the current $8.05 an hour, is a “starting point.” He said he’d prefer $15 an hour, but wouldn’t ask for that much because opponents would “go bonkers.”
Miami real estate prices on the rise
The median sales price for single-family homes in Miami-Dade County increased to $246,140 in the fourth quarter of 2014, a 4.7 percent jump compared to the same period the previous year. The median sale price for condominiums increased 8.6 percent to $190,000 in the fourth quarter compared to a year earlier. Miami-Dade County has now seen 12 consecutive quarters of growth for both single-family homes and condominiums, reported the Miami Association of Realtors. All we can add: don’t forget the bubble of 2008…
Schools headed in wrong direction
Progress Florida last week hosted “Speaking Up For Students”, a tele-town hall event featuring teachers, parents and other education advocates on the front lines in the fight for our public schools. More than 6,000 concerned Floridians participated in this discussion on education policy. During the event, the participants responded to four poll questions. One of the questions was, How do you think things are going in our schools? Their response: Right track (13.01%); Wrong track (69.18%); Just not sure (17.81%). For all the answers click here for the Progress Florida website.
Tax credits through Obamacare
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a report outlining the impact of advanced premium tax credits on premiums in the Health Insurance Marketplaces. In Florida 1,339,791 individuals were signed up for coverage through the Marketplace as of Jan. 30, and 93 percent of those are estimated to qualify for an average of $297 per person/month in advanced premium tax credits. On average, premium tax credits reduced consumers’ monthly premiums by 77 percent in Florida. Among all consumers who are signed up for 2015 coverage to date in the 37 HealthCare.gov states, 8 in 10 could choose a plan with a premium of $100 or less after tax credits. Obamacare sign-ups for this year ended on Sunday, Feb. 15.
Chilean artist at Frost Art Museum
The Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum FIU, 10975 S.W. 17 Street (link to map/directions), presents the first-ever showing of a new series by Chilean artist Mónica Bengoa, Exercises de Style / Exercises in Style which runs through April 26. The exhibition is organized by guest curator Julia Herzberg and includes 19 artworks based on French writer Raymond Queneau’s book Exercises de Style, interpreted by the artist in three mediums – paper, felt and embroidery. Mónica Bengoa lives and works in Santiago, Chile.
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