TXT DUI FYI

Will we see commercials like this one during the super bowl?





In memory of Christophe Le Canne.



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sign of the times

Getting your car towed illegally... 150 dollars.



No customers in your parking lot... zero dollars.



FDOT ineptitudes... priceless.

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Fines Doubled

Perpetual Progress Principal: the end is near, but never here.

If you like the way our highways are in a constant state of construction, making the motoring public today pay today for a future dream auto-utopia that will never come, then congrats, the Port "Trucks Only" Tunnel Project Dwntwn appears to be moving forward and downward. But if FDOT takes forever to finish what they seem to want to do, how long will it take them to do a project that they don't want to do?

in the Harold today, my emphasis is boldface:

Miami's port tunnel project back on track The Associated Press MIAMI, Fla. -- Plans for a tunnel that will provide cargo trucks easier access from the Port of Miami to Interstate 95 and other highways have been revived. On Thursday the Florida Department of Transportation agreed with demands made by Miami-Dade County officials and vowed to move ahead with the original construction deal. The decision is a reversal from earlier this month, when top DOT officials told county leaders that the best way to handle the deal would be to reopen the project to construction companies worldwide - which supporters said would delay completion.

That's code for "we don't want to build your tunnel.



We need a tunnel like we need a hole in the sand... for our heads.

Unrelated, but in the same google news today:

Blue Gold in the Wetlands: How the county treats banks that treat their neighbors like dirt.



Water is back on for Miami condo The Associated Press

MIAMI, Fla. -- Water is flowing again at the 310-unit Miarassou Condos in Miami-Dade County.

County officials shut off water to the residents earlier in the week because the condo's association bounced a check and failed to pay a $109,000 past due bill.

Condo residents say the problem stems from a large number of foreclosures - roughly a third of the units are bank-owned or in foreclosure.

After the county turned off the water, residents allegedly tampered with the meter to keep it running illegally. On Thursday evening, the county and the association agreed on a payment plan, and the water was turned on again.



Who is driving this county that is ignant?

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The Fundamentals of the Economy are Wrong

The Highway traffic was all backed up so I decided to take a familiar local route to document the architecture along 27th Avenue in NW Miami.



Catch 27 - comply with the Sign Ordinance?
The facade of this building improved emotionally with a simple mural.



On the way to the other side. A short ride from the Design District. A stark reminder of the bleak economic forecast.



Habitat for Humility.
Entire housing projects lay bare, like an elephant graveyard of broken homes.



Romance with Erosion. Best Bus Stop design Ever. Graded A for style F for shelter.
Empty everything dots the cityscape but i will not show you the many pictures of abandoned buildings, closed business or automotive shops.



Tucker's Revenge 130 st. across from MDCC
There is hope that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. There is ample example of the patience and perseverance on the part of locals to make lemonade from lemons.




Have faith in the power of design to convert. This church stood out not only because it's so disney-esque but because it is surrounded by decrepit trailer-parks and factories.



Old fashioned gas station gone purple. Business is slow.



A man's maison is his temple. Basically a box with an IN door, an OUT door and a nice shiny doo-hickey.



Super-structure Rising and Rumbling.
This is the underside of the Metro that takes passengers somewhere but goes nowhere.
It is a heavy thing that dominates the street level environment. Makes for some good shade from the sweltering sun.




What tour along North West 27th Avenue would be complete without a stop at the legendary Douglas Gardens Thrift Shop, a picker's paradise.



More purple buildings. Uniforms and beauty products, whatever sells well.



Best Bike Shop in Miami. Victors on 27th Ave. and 34 St.
Tell them Swampthing sent you.


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Feces Occurs

Ouch


Waiting for the next bus may be hazardous to your health.



Shattered glass completes the picture of this bus shelter on N.E. Second Avenue, a major street with no curb as of 2008. I guess we are still just another developing nation.

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quarters make dollars

If you go to park your car in the only public metered lot on the beach at 21 street and Collins, a shady private guard planted on a folding chair will want 2 bucks from beach residents and 10 buck if you are a non-resident. Friday night 11:45 PM at the Design District trendy restaurants, meter maids are out with a vengeance for luxury diners. Moral Gable street scene, just more of same kind of neurotic parasitical nuisance. DwnTwn is a ghost-town till the clubs crank-up another round of nocturnal citation issuing sprees. Wynwood's gallery-walks ... parking not so bad thus far, but it's just a matter of more meters, signs n stripes. Once the pond is stocked, it's fishing time for the meter-maid brigades.

What a bunch of turds. Nothing is more disturbing than petty greed on a big scale.
WTF with the parking situation in the swamp, it's nothing short of a calculated assault on our public commons and shrinking wallets. To whom do the streets belong to now-a-days? We have about five minutes remaining in the "quality of life meter".

Reading this article in a recent SunPost on the idea floating around miami beach city hall for privatizing meter-maids is like swimming through a cloud of stinging jelly-fish to find the truth.

“I have to tell you, I have a big problem with the way they treat people, the way they’re out there doing things,” Bower said Aug. 21. “They are our ambassadors out there. They should be polite to everybody.” mayor Bower


Basically the mayor and friends want to fire a bunch of unionized dumb-ass city employees then continue the harassment of the public using private armies of dumb-ass meter-maids. Then to top of the cluster-fck they want to have the cops take over the whole gravy-train of parking enforcement to avoid "corruption".

What a pile of contradictions and between-the-lines distorted Orwellian new-speak. We all know reporting is supposed to give us the facts with a little analysis for good measure, but let's face it, the parking situation blows and it will probably get worse.

The topic of privatizing parking enforcement will likely be discussed at the Oct. 7 commission meeting at Miami Beach City Hall.

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something about mary's likeness

The pope is in the USA with much fanfare... so no one has noticed the likeness of mary that appeared on a concrete post on the intersection of Biscayne Blvd. and 79 Street adjacent to an INS building. The road work has turned this sidewalk into a no-mans-land for about two months and counting. This is a busy place where normally many humble new-comers form a line outside daily to get immigration matters resolved inside. some welcome!

Motoring public gets FDOTed again

The Gipper Reagen once said "America Is The Land of Tomorrow" which sounded great to some but the true sub-meaning for others was that his version of america was not for us here TODAY but for those in some indeterminate FUTURE, a future that never arrives.

The never-ending road-work the silent motoring public endures is like a hell in small doses. Day after day after months and years pass as the FDOT and local planners basically do whatever the want no matter what the inconvenience to us the taxpayers.

This article in the harold talks of the latest 'brilliant' plans for more of the same.
Get this quote from Mr. Lexus Lanes himself:

Gus Pego, chief of operations for the Florida Department of Transportation, told Miami Beach commissioners Wednesday that the agency has been ''running at 200 miles an hour on this project,'' but that FDOT would hold meetings in Miami Beach to explain it to residents and business operators.

We don't need expanations, we need to be respected. Somebody please take the car keys away from this guy.


MIAMI & MIAMI BEACH
Beach leaders wary of FDOT plan to close I-95 ramps
People want to know more about a controversial state plan to limit access between Interstate 95 and the Julia Tuttle Causeway.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/northeast/story/456588.html

Where is the outrage? We live in a car-azy world where most people are over a barrel with their heads in the sand.