Miami Blog

The last thing in the world Riptide wants to do is step on the feet of Rick at South Florida Daily Blog, but we have a corporate mandate to do some sort of weekly roundup of local blogs. Not that we don't love acknowledging Miami's many fine bloggers, but we're going to try to do something different. Which is to choose a few blog posts on one or two hot topics from around the net and start some sort of dialogue. A diablog, if you will.

Since today is kind of a one-headline day, we decided why not kick off this exciting new venture right this very moment. So without further ado, here is your Barack Obama Inauguration blog roundup (after the jump): 

Remember the 95 Express lanes, also known as the Lexus lanes? Well, here is hoping they figure out how to put the "express" back in the name because according to Some Cranky Guy, they aren't exactly working out as planned:

Before the 95expressNot lanes, I could easily do 30 or 40, along with everyone else. But now, 10 miles per hour. But even at that, I was literally zooming passed everyone on the other side of the cones. The poor people in the express lanes were stopped dead. Occasionally they would speed up to 3 MPH, but that wasn’t even close to my blazing 10 MPH.

This again demostrates the sheer stupidity, incompetence and greed that our government possess. Basically, they got cash from Washington to do something, and they decided to do what would personally benefit them. Not the city. Not the county. Not the drivers. Not the taxpayers. Them. Just like any government.

-- Jose D. Duran

What makes a world-class city? According to Eye On Miami, a city can have all the stadiums and museums it wants, but if it can't provide its citizens with basic needs and services, achieving world-class status is out of reach:

You can build a hundred stadiums but as long as you don’t fund our schools and take politics out of them, Miami will remain a little-shit town. You are dressing up the pig, Mayor Alvarez. Look deeper. Ridding Miami of poverty, having good transit and schools is what makes a city world class. A stadium doesn’t cut it. Just say you want baseball, don't include the "World Class City" bull, no one is buying it.

- Jose D. Duran

The Miami Herald isn't the only daily in the United States hurting these days because of lack of subscriptions and advertisers. But the question is, is the Herald doing everything in its power to hold on to its readership?

Random Pixels has a few ideas on how the Herald can win readers back -- how about a new design?

Check out blogger Bill's cover designs here and here.

- Jose D. Duran

The Miami Herald posted the results of a survey this week that polled Miami-Dade residents on the Miami mega-plan that includes the Marlins stadium, port tunnel, Midtown streetcar and Museum Park. The survey revealed that the majority of voters would like to see the money go toward funding the county's public schools.

Robert, over at 26th Parallel, can't help to interpret the results as proof that Miami-Dade voters are misinformed and have short-term memory when it comes to remembering that how poorly the county manages tax dollars:

All this just tells me that Miami-Dade voters, if accurately represented by this Bendixen poll, are extremely misinformed and don't really think when they go to the polls. They just react based on half-truths and sometimes downright lies, instead of taking the time to become truly informed. I'm sure this is the same across the country, but this poll really spells it out locally, in my view. I understand the strong sentiment that schools should have a very high priority in a community, since I share that view. However, it appears that people are willing to overlook true mismanagement of our tax dollars because it makes them feel good that they're investing in our schools, even if that money ends up going nowhere.

- Jose D. Duran

Well this is not so much as the Blog of the Week as it is a comment that caused much debate around the blogosphere. With McClatchy, the Miami Herald's parent company, cutting jobs, Herald columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. wrote this week some suggestions on how the local newspaper could remain relevant. Unfortunately, Pitts didn't bring any new ideas to the table that haven't been suggested before:

We still tend to regard our websites as ancillary to our primary mission of producing newspapers. But I submit that our primary mission is to report and comment upon the news and that it is the newspaper itself that has become ancillary.

So maybe we should regard the Internet not as an extra thing we do, but as the core thing we do. Maybe we should maximize the fact that we know our cities as no one else does. Maybe we should make our websites not simply online recreations of our papers, but entities in their own right, destination portals for those who want news and views from and about a given city, but also for those who want to find a good doctor in that city, or apply for a job in that city or reach the leaders of that city or research the history of that city. Maybe the goal should be to make ourselves the one indispensable guide to that city.

Few probably know that Studio A, Miami's only mid-size venue, will be closing for good at the end of the month. The blogger over at the (covert) overt reminisces about how much the venue actually meant to the city:

one day when i'm older and telling my kids (if i have kids) about how cool i used to be at their age, about how i'd go see "rock" shows at this little place called studio a. i'll tell them about how there was no other place like it in miami. and i'll tell them about how much my friends and i all loved it. at this point in the conversation my eyes will probably glaze over a bit with memories of great music, blinding lights, asymmetrical hair, expensive drinks, skinny jeans and thick smoke.

Here's hoping someone buys the venue and keeps its focus on bringing great live music to the city.

- Jose D. Duran

It's a story we've heard a million times, but it still doesn't get any less infuriating. If fact, it happened to me. As a renter, you pay on time only to find out your landlord hasn't been keeping up with his/her payments. Here's how it went down for Mustang Bobby over at Bark Bark Woof Woof:

Then, last October, I got a knock on the door. It was a process server. D'Angelo had not paid a penny on the mortgage since the previous June, he was in default, and I, as the "unknown tenant," was listed on the foreclosure papers. I immediately contacted my lawyer, who wisely counseled me to stop paying the rent and put it in escrow pending the outcome, and he would work with the bank's attorneys to see if I could work out a deal to buy the house on a short sale.

[...]

Meanwhile, D'Angelo has vanished. All attempts by me, my lawyer, the bank's attorneys, and apparently several private investigators to locate him have come up empty. The last I heard -- in November -- was that he was either in Las Vegas or Spain. Frankly, I hope he's in Turkish prison and married to the guy with the most cigarettes.

You certainly weren't the first to have this happen to, and, unfortunately, I'm pretty sure you won't be the last.

- Jose D. Duran

Dan, a New York transplant, over at [redacted] theorizes Miami's sole purpose is to get people drunk:

The same way that my first few sips of Canadian Club gave me my purpose, so too did Miami find its purpose in supplying liquor to the masses. Indeed, I imagine the whole idea of MIAMI was hatched over the sixth round of Mai Tais somewhere around Fort Lauderdale when someone said, “What’s below us?” and his friend replied, “I’m not sure, but you can b-low me!” and everyone laughed and someone fell off their bar stool.

Sure, there are your expensive cocktail joints. You’ll easily pay $12 per drink at most hotel bars. But sit down at any old bar during happy hour (like I did the other day while “working”) and when you order a beer, they’re likely to bring you two for one. That’s two beers, at the same time, for $3.50 ($4 if you’re unpatriotic and drink international). You can even ask for your drink in a plastic cup so you can take it to go. (Try doing that with a hooker.)

What’s more, when you need some vodka, you don’t have to Google map the nearest liquor store. You know why? Because, in an idea so profoundly good and pure, THEY SELL IT A WALGREENS. When you think about it, it just makes sense. Buying condoms? Don’t forget the tequila! Too much tequila and now you need a pregnancy test? Buy some scotch! Couldn’t convince her to have it taken care of, so now you need diapers, baby powder, and wipes – which is OK because they’re kind of nice to use on yourself? IT’S BOURBON TIME.

And here I thought Miami was a city built of snow.

- Jose D. Duran

This year's winner for Best Blog, Eye On Miami, contemplates boycotting Lowe's for building outside the Urban Development Boundary:

I need a washer and dryer but I am not going to get them at Lowe’s. Since Lowe's insists on building outside the Urban Development Boundary, even though they have about 12 acres within the line, they aren’t getting my money anymore.

Readers chimes in that Home Depot isn't any better after it "bullied" its way into Coconut Grove. People just can't let things go.