The Full Scoop on the Drug Run & FBI Bust The bad guys thought it was just a drug run – albeit, a meticulously-planned one – from a South Beach nightclub to an Aventura parking lot. What they didn’t know was, the FBI was watching the entire time. Who was carrying and protecting the coke? [...]
At least two other Miami Beach city employees – unnamed and yet to be charged – are involved to some extent in the bribery scandal in which 7 city code compliance and fire inspectors were busted by the FBI earlier this month. The criminal complaint filed against the seven in federal court by the U.S. [...]
In an attempt to combat corruption within his workforce and to restore public confidence in it, Miami Beach City Manager Jorge Gonzalez issued a five-pronged response on Wednesday to the recent arrests of 7 city employees for extortion and bribery. In a memo to Mayor Bower and city commissioners, Gonzalez enumerated a series of actions [...]
Pleas of “not guilty” were entered Wednesday in U.S. District Court by several of the 8 men charged in the South Beach nightclub extortion and cocaine trafficking scandal. This followed a federal grand jury’s formal indictment of the suspended Miami Beach city employees – plus one Miami-Dade cop – for their roles in the alleged [...]
The SRO crowd at the TMBC meeting at Davids Cafe Commissioner Jonah Wolfson addressed the Miami Beach Tuesday Morning Breakfast Club at David’s Cafe II on Lincoln Rd. this week, offering some of his first public comments since the April 11 public corruption arrests of seven city employees. Here are some of his remarks: “There’s [...]
Beach Commissioner Ed Tobin and City Manager Jorge Gonzalez exchanged back-and-forth emails this week over the city employee corruption scandal rocking City Hall. Here is the email that kicked it off on Monday morning. April 23, 2012 TO: City Manager Jorge Gonzalez Subject: The Public and the elected officials have a right to know For [...]
Local developer Russell Galbut withdrew plans to hold today’s public meeting in the City Commission chambers, choosing instead to relocate it to the Shelbourne Hotel due to the “amount of people that have confirmed attendance.” The meeting, which would have shattered precedent by becoming the first ever by a private entity to be held inside [...]
Also, Proposals for Lincoln Lane Parking Lots are Now Available for Review Eight development teams submitted their development and design qualifications to the City of Miami Beach. Each of them are seeking to partner with the City for the multi-phased process to develop the 52-acre Convention Center District. In February, the City of Miami Beach [...]
April 26 Dance Florida Dance Theater Lakeland based Florida Dance Theater under the Artistic Direction of Carol Krajacic-Erkes has been a popular feature at the Miami Dance Festival since 2007. The company returns with a contemporary dance program that showcases its virtuoso dancers. Highlights of the performance include two new works by the company directors. [...]
People In The Community You Should Know: Damarys Zarling of Le Petit Papillon Montessori School Who are you? I’m a mother of two beautiful children and educator of wonderful students. That’s what comes to mind when I first read this question. While I was born in Cuba, my family came to the States when I [...]
By Alejandro Arce I hate to compare things in general because comparisons have been used in order to find an excuse for bad behavior. Nevertheless, in a few cases, it could assist in the solution of intrinsic problems while at the same time offering to the dutiful voters and taxpayers an avenue for solving the [...]
By Tony Guzman Florida Grand Opera is concluding its 2011-2012 season with a brilliant and inspired staging of Charles-François Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. This is one of those rare instances where the production design and execution merits discussion up top rather than at the tail end of the review. Just as Roméo et Juliette’s masterful [...]
