Conexión Miami / Thou shalt not use the words ‘climate change’
News of the hard to believe from the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting: “We were told not to use the terms ‘climate change,’ ‘global warming’ or ‘sustainability,’” said Christopher Byrd, an attorney with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Florida is the region most susceptible to the effects of global warming in this country, according to scientists. Sea-level rise alone threatens 30 percent of the state’s beaches over the next 85 years. This unwritten policy went into effect after Gov. Rick Scott took office in 2011 and appointed Herschel Vinyard Jr. as the DEP’s director.
Jeb’s charter school bakes in the Miami sun
Florida’s first charter school, private schools that receive public funding, was co-founded by Jeb Bush back in 1996. Bush pursued the school after a very close loss to Lawton Chiles in his first governor’s race in 1994. Hoping to increase his abysmal showing in the Black community, Bush teamed up with Miami Urban League President T. Willard Fair and established the Liberty City Charter School. It served a poor, often overlooked black population in Miami’s Liberty City area. In the 1998 election Bush doubled his share of the Black vote and won the Florida governor’s race. But Bush’s priorities shifted after that and Liberty City Charter School became an afterthought. As the New York Times reports, today the school “is a ruin baking in the Miami sun.” It closed in 2008. During his current run for president, Jeb still refers to the school during his speeches as one of his accomplishments. He leaves out the fact that it no longer exists…
Minus the paper and pencil
“Can’t we go back to paper and pencil?” asked some critics. Florida’s Department of Education last week kicked-off plans for computer-based tests for every state assessment for every grade from third to tenth over the next four years. The results were spotty, at best. Half the students were unable to test because of technical difficulties. Spinning it, Florida Education Commissioner Pam Stewart emphasized the week’s successes: By Thursday, more than half of 658,827 students completed their tests. She said that those who weren’t able to would get another chance. In other words, it’s not the student who is important here, but the test…
Cuts in prepaid college plan spur sales
Sales for Florida prepaid college plans are at the highest point they’ve been in several years thanks to a drastic cut in prices. The plan allows parents to pay for their child’s college education at any Florida public college at today’s prices. The Florida Prepaid College Board says it has sold more than 50,000 plans this year. That’s more than three time the totals sales from last year.
Mall or theme park?
Triple Five Worldwide Ventures wants to build the world’s largest shopping center in North West Miami-Dade County. It will even have a ski slope. They are going to call it the American Dream. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez called the planned theme park the largest economic-development project in the county’s history. The Eye on Miami blog reacted, and not in a positive manner: “We have something so much more — Creepy People from Triple 5 — The Everglades, our white sandy beaches, our boating and swimming 365 days a year in our blue-green water. Why do we need all this other crap and the biggest Mall in the Nation?”
The Underline
And this from Miami New Times: When New York City opened the first phase of its High Line park in 2010, Miamians naturally said, “Oh, we want something like that.” The High Line is 1.45-mile linear park built atop an abandoned elevated railway. Miami’s answer was to propose a 10-mile linear park underneath an active railway, the Metrorail, and dub it “the Underline.” The Underline will follow underneath the Metrorail, from the Miami River to Dadeland South, creating an uninterrupted 10-mile path to be enjoyed by joggers, pedestrians, and bicyclists.
Killing coral… for supersize cargo ships
Miami is known as the ‘Cruise Capital of the World.’ Soon it may also be recognized as the city that killed its coral reefs. Large numbers have been suffocated by sediment that environmentalists say, as reported by The New York Times, “is a $205 million dredging project, scheduled to end in July and intended to expand a shipping channel to make room for a new generation of supersize cargo ships.” In Florida, coral reefs lure residents and tourists, who dive and snorkel to see their vivid colors and the tropical fish that they attract. Just as important, reefs serve as crucial wave buffers during tropical storms, protecting beaches and shoreline homes.
Cutting jobs and hurting the vulnerable
Gov. Rick Scott’s proposal to cut nearly 1,400 positions from the state workforce would hit the Florida Department of Health the hardest — 758 positions would be slashed at the agency. Another agency slated by the governor for triple-digit staff reductions is the Department of Environmental Protection, which would lose 155 positions “These budget cuts are systematically aimed at the most vulnerable and against environmental regulations,” Tallahassee physician and health-care activist, Dr. Ed Holified, told his local newspaper.
