Category Archives:

Discovering Coconut Grove ► Throwback Thursday

My latest picture of the E.W.F. Stirrup House with its new historic marker,
but it’s no longer the historic E.W.F. Stirrup House. It’s a recreation.

Read: Who Is To Blame For The Destruction Of The E.W.F. Stirrup House?

When I first moved back to ‘Merka in 2005 I used the nom de troll of Aunty Em Ericann.

It was under that name that I first started writing Fox “News” criticism for NewsHounds. And, it was also under this name that I discovered Charles Avenue, which has let to dozens of stories about this community that still suffers from systemic racism.

This is one of the first stories about Coconut Grove I wrote:

Friday, March 13, 2009

The Shame of Coconut Grove

Number Two in a series

I said a picture is worth a thousand words, but either I should have included more pictures, or at least a couple of words, because most people misunderstood what the picture represented.

It was viewed as a current picture of…as what exactly? A political statement? An uncaring neighbour? A lack of respect for those founding Blacks who, having settled the area, helped the Whites survive and conquer the conditions found in this humid, mosquito-infested swampland that was southern Florida in the late 1800s?

Well, yes it’s all that, but it’s more and my picture didn’t tell the full story.

I have since visited Charles Avenue on four subsequent occasions. Only once was there no trash piled at the bottom of the historical marker. But, as you can see, it wouldn’t have mattered. The base is broken and the sign leans at an uncomfortable angle against a wire fence surrounding an empty lot of gravel and weeds.

I have also now done a moderate amount of research on the area. The story of Coconut Grove, writ large, is the story of what happened in every Black neighbourhood in America, save NYC which has always been unique.

This historical marker demonstrates years of neglect of Black heritage, while the heritage (and racial make-up) of the area grew to be overwhelmingly one associated with White folk.

There is one thing that differentiates Black Coconut Grove from all other Black communities. When one speaks of “the other side of the tracks” it is a literal description of these areas. Black Coconut Grove has no railroad tracks to separate it from the more affluent homes. Main Highway is the main dividing line in The Grove.

Coconut Grove, on the west side of Biscayne Bay, was a sleepy holiday destination in the early 1900s, unknown by most United Statesers and frequented by The Very Rich™. However, in December of 1925 “The Cocoanuts,” starring The Four Marx Brothers, opened at the Lyric Theatre in NYC. The madcap antics take place in Cocoanut Grove [sic; the original spelling], Florida, where Groucho runs a bankrupt hotel. The George S. Kaufman play ran for nearly 300 performances and became the first Marx Brothers’ movie in 1929. In the movie Groucho famously said, “You can have any kind of a home you want. You can even get stucco. Oh, how you can get stucco.”

And so, for the longest time, The Grove was associated with carpetbagging land speculators selling swampland to rich northerners.

Yet, something was happening in The Grove. First annexed to Miami in 1925, the same year the Marx Brothers trod the boards in the play, the sleepy town of The Grove already bragged of a library, school, yacht club and chapel, joining the Peacock Inn as structures in town.

Later, after WWII, Coconut Grove became an artists’ destination after servicemen, who had experienced Florida weather for the first time, packed up their families and moved south. The great influx of people occurred in the 50 years since. These days Coconut Grove is one of the richest and most desirable neighbourhoods in these United States.

As more people moved into The Grove the division that Main Highway represented became the colour line.

According to The WikiWackyWoo:

Demographically, Coconut Grove is split up into North-East Grove and South-West Grove, and as of 2000, the total population of both of the neighborhood’s sections made up 18,953.

As of 2000, North-East Grove had a population of 9,812 residents, with 5,113 households, and 2,221 families residing in the neighborhood. The median household income was $63,617.82. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 35.24% Hispanic or Latino of any race, 2.25% Black or African American, 60.96% White (non-Hispanic), and 1.55% Other races (non-Hispanic).

As of 2000, South-West Grove had a population of 9,141 residents, with 3,477 households, and 2,082 families residing in the neighborhood. The median household income was $63,617.82. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 14.80% Hispanic or Latino of any race, 48.27% Black or African American, 35.27% White (non-Hispanic), and 1.66% Other races (non-Hispanic).

Which side of that line do you think this historical marker is on? If you cross Main Highway due east from Charles Avenue and the historical sign you will find the gates of “Camp Biscayne,” a lush gated complex less than a football field away. Most of the communities on the east side of this line are gated, as near as I can tell. This is a far cry from those that run along Charles Avenue, small bungalows and shotgun shacks that are set up cheek to jowel.

More to come…
With all my love, Aunty Em

Another Open Email To Miami’s Public Records Department

, , , , , , , , , ,
THIS IS A PUBLIC REPLY

TO: Jones, Isiaa <IJones@miami.gov>
SUBJECT: Frustration Over PRR 16-452: FOIA Request
DATE: September 28, 2016

CC: Melendez, Eleazar <ElMelendez@miamigov.com>;
Russell, Ken (Commissioner) <krussell@miamigov.com>; Mendez,
Victoria  <VMendez@miamigov.com>; Hannon, Todd
<thannon@miamigov.com>; The Loyal Readers of the Not Now Silly
Newsroom; Various Facebook Groups and Pages of my choosing

Monday
morning I sent an email which stated I’d be at Miami City Hall on
Tuesday to inspect the files you said would be waiting for me. In that
email I asked 2 questions, basically: Whether the fee for the emails I
requested was still on the table and how much it costs to photocopy per
page.

I never got a response to that email, so I didn’t
know when I arrived on Tuesday morning whether my 24 hours notice was
sufficient. Luckily, when I arrived, I was expected.

There were 2
boxes of material for me to look through, but only a small portion of
the total answered any of my search criteria. The rest was just all the
city files that arrived in those boxes from the former-Commissioner’s
office.

While some of it was quite interesting — and
I wish I had the budget to photocopy that entire 2 inch thick Reid
Welch file — and while some of it matched my search criteria, none of
it is what I asked for.

I asked for all of the email, not the files.

I
mentioned this to City Clerk Todd Hannon during a brief conversation
yesterday. He had me second guessing myself because he said I had asked
for everything, and the boxes of files was just one stream for my
request. The other stream was the electronic request for all of the
emails.

I am not sure what instructions Mr.
Hannon received, but this is exactly what I asked for, from my original
email to Commissioner Russell:

I would like to receive any email [from the former District 2 Commissioners office] that references the following keywords:

And, I’m still waiting.

To be perfectly honest, I was requesting the email FIRST in case it gave
me new information to add to a RECORDS search. You see, my RECORDS
search would have come later, based upon what the emails revealed.

I
drove down to Miami from Sunrise yesterday hoping to do all of this on
one trip. No one in the Clerk’s office knew a thing about the email I was supposed to examine.
Aside from the gas wasted, I spent more than 3.5 hours on the road 
[Yeah, it shocked me too. The roads were bad yesterday.]

Thinking
about my time and gas makes me wonder how many keystrokes it took your
IT guy to come up with a cost of $100.31. How many minutes from an IT
guy am I paying for? What is the basic rate?

One
good piece of news: I now know that you charge 15 cents per photocopy,
because I got a few made out of those boxes. That’s Kinko pricing.  

Meanwhile,
I’d like to draw your attention to the penultimate paragraph of a
letter Commissioner Ken Russell sent to the Miami Herald, published
yesterday:

Our decision on Thursday morning is not an easy one, but it is very
simple. Our attorney withheld public records, and I have lost my trust
in her. This cannot be denied, and it’s enough to call for her removal.
What’s at stake, however, is much greater. The commission has this
opportunity to tell the public that we prioritize transparency and
accountability — that we don’t agree that friends in high places should
be able to circumvent our public process.

I’m still waiting for transparency. None of this should be as hard as it has been.

Another Open Email To Miami’s Public Records Department

THIS IS A PUBLIC REPLY

TO: Jones, Isiaa <IJones@miami.gov>
SUBJECT: Frustration Over PRR 16-452: FOIA Request
DATE: September 28, 2016

CC: Melendez, Eleazar <ElMelendez@miamigov.com>; Russell, Ken (Commissioner) <krussell@miamigov.com>; Mendez, Victoria  <VMendez@miamigov.com>; Hannon, Todd <thannon@miamigov.com>; The Loyal Readers of the Not Now Silly Newsroom; Various Facebook Groups and Pages of my choosing

Monday morning I sent an email which stated I’d be at Miami City Hall on Tuesday to inspect the files you said would be waiting for me. In that email I asked 2 questions, basically: Whether the fee for the emails I requested was still on the table and how much it costs to photocopy per page.

I never got a response to that email, so I didn’t know when I arrived on Tuesday morning whether my 24 hours notice was sufficient. Luckily, when I arrived, I was expected.

There were 2 boxes of material for me to look through, but only a small portion of the total answered any of my search criteria. The rest was just all the city files that arrived in those boxes from the former-Commissioner’s office.

While some of it was quite interesting — and I wish I had the budget to photocopy that entire 2 inch thick Reid Welch file — and while some of it matched my search criteria, none of it is what I asked for.

I asked for all of the email, not the files.

I mentioned this to City Clerk Todd Hannon during a brief conversation yesterday. He had me second guessing myself because he said I had asked for everything, and the boxes of files was just one stream for my request. The other stream was the electronic request for all of the emails.

I am not sure what instructions Mr. Hannon received, but this is exactly what I asked for, from my original email to Commissioner Russell:

I would like to receive any email [from the former District 2 Commissioners office] that references the following keywords:

And, I’m still waiting.

To be perfectly honest, I was requesting the email FIRST in case it gave me new information to add to a RECORDS search. You see, my RECORDS search would have come later, based upon what the emails revealed.

I drove down to Miami from Sunrise yesterday hoping to do all of this on one trip. No one in the Clerk’s office knew a thing about the email I was supposed to examine. Aside from the gas wasted, I spent more than 3.5 hours on the road  [Yeah, it shocked me too. The roads were bad yesterday.]

Thinking about my time and gas makes me wonder how many keystrokes it took your IT guy to come up with a cost of $100.31. How many minutes from an IT guy am I paying for? What is the basic rate?

One good piece of news: I now know that you charge 15 cents per photocopy, because I got a few made out of those boxes. That’s Kinko pricing.  

Meanwhile, I’d like to draw your attention to the penultimate paragraph of a letter Commissioner Ken Russell sent to the Miami Herald, published yesterday:

Our decision on Thursday morning is not an easy one, but it is very simple. Our attorney withheld public records, and I have lost my trust in her. This cannot be denied, and it’s enough to call for her removal. What’s at stake, however, is much greater. The commission has this opportunity to tell the public that we prioritize transparency and accountability — that we don’t agree that friends in high places should be able to circumvent our public process.

I’m still waiting for transparency. None of this should be as hard as it has been.

Fact Checking The Presidential Debate ► Another Aunty Em Editorial

, , , , ,

I’ve been reading a lot lately about the combined topics of Donald Trump’s lies and whether the debate moderators will fact check this crazy MoFo.

It might surprise people to learn that I am totally against a Debate Moderator holding a candidate to the facts. That’s the job of the other candidate.

The moderator’s job is to introduce the candidates, spell out the agreed upon debate rules, see to it that the participants keep to the those rules, and then get the fuck out of the way. [Although, just to be evil, I’d give the moderator a microphone kill switch if anyone goes over their allotted time.]

There will be plenty of time to fact check both of these candidates.

Of course, knowing the media like I do, Hillary Clinton will probaly be fact checked harder than Donald Trump, even though an article published yesterday claimed Donald Trump Lied 87 Times Last Week — Or Once Every 3 Minutes, 15 Seconds.

As we have seen during this election cycle, it doesn’t really matter how many lies Donald Trump tells. He is running neck and neck in the polls with Hillary Clinton despite being a bigger liar than Richard Nixon and Roger Ailes put together.

Which is why Donald Trump has to be crushed. Not just beaten, but beaten badly. Beaten so badly that this kind of racist, xenophobic, misogynistic psychopath with a total lack of empathy and compassion for any basic, human emotions will never get this close to the White House ever again.

And then Trump must be ridiculed as a loser and hounded to the ends of the earth, as his business empire inevitably falls apart under the weight of lawsuits, terrible business decisions, and the total collapse of the Trump brand. Here are my early contributions:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rebuilding A Life From The Ground Up ► Unpacking The Writer

Good news, Not Now Silly fans. The Newsroom is making a second attempt at creating a brand new web site under its very own domain.

I’ve now seen the latest test of the format, which I like a lot. It’s very clean and uncluttered. Furthermore, the design will make it far easier for my readers to find all of the stories under the various rubrics I have created. Having signed off on the basic design, I have now asked my web designer (who I have taken on as a full partner) to populate the template with real words (my words) as opposed to all that fake text used as placeholders in the WordPress template.

One of the mistakes I made the last time I tried this was promising too much, too quickly. And, that was before my then-web designer totally fucked me over. Then he refused to return my deposit, which I consider theft. [Read: Webbitez Bitez ► A Consumer Report].

This time I won’t over-promise anything. COMING SOON is the most I will say.

I’m still trying to find the rhythm of my new life, now that Pops has gone to live in Michigan. I took care of him for 11 years, the longest I lived anywhere since I lived on King Street in Toronto. Without Pops in the condo, it feels so lonely and empty. Pops took up a lot of space, even though he wasn’t very big. There are times I actually think, for a brief moment, that I hear him calling me from the living room.

The Top Ten search terms that
got people to Not Now Silly.

I’ve still not gotten used to having the entire condo to myself. When home I find myself spending most of my time in my room watching tee vee — just like I always have — even tho’ there are bigger and better tee vees in the other rooms. Heck, there are bigger rooms and more comfy beds elsewhere in the condo, for that matter. Yet, I am still stuck behind this same keyboard in the very same place in my bedroom, in the same condo, in the same Florida city, in the same country.

Additionally, and no less important, my Cosmic Love Affair dissolved at practically the same time. [Read: Before and After Synchronicity, another in my Pastoral Letter series.] Suddenly, the two things that were the gravitational pull in my life were gone. To mix metaphors, I feel like a tether-ball spinning helplessly out of control after my rope broke. 

None of this is helping my depression.

All of my rhythms are off, especially my writing schedule, which I keep trying to get back to. I’ve neglected Monday Musical Appreciation and Throwback Thursday since I embarked on my last road trip. Maybe promising right here, right now, that I’ll re-fire the boiler under the Steam-Powered Word-0-Matic will help me resolve to pick those up again. As careful readers will see I’ve already started.

What else have I written lately? Just a few important articles, that’s all. I discovered that parts of Armbrister Field were closed because of toxic soil, even though I attended the ribbon cutting a few years back that was supposed to demonstrate that the park was safe. Why wasn’t the toxic soil cleaned up back then? Why was there such a rush to get this park reopened if there was actually toxic soil in it? To that end I launched a Freedom of Information Act request for material on a number of topics surrounding these items.

When it turned Kafkaesque — almost immediately — I posted An Open Reply To Miami’s Public Records Department. While there has already been a response from the city, it doesn’t really
answer my most important question and prompts a new one. I’m not prepared to make the reply public — yet.
However, we’ll see where this goes.

If you can’t help, share. Or do both.

BTW: I have also started a Go Fund Me page to help offset some of the costs incurred researching and writing these stories. Aside from having to pay the City of Miami for each document search, there’s also the per page photocopying fee on top of that. And, the Freedom Of Information requests are just one of the many expenses for Not Now Silly. There’s gas, of course. Coconut Grove is 35 miles from where I live. And, virtually every time I go there I have to pay for parking. It all adds up.

I have one investigative story in the pipeline that I’ve been working on since early June. I’ve never been 100% happy with how it’s shaped, so I keep kicking at it here and there. Recently there’s been some stories in the news that’ll force an update to this article anyway. Now I need to decide whether I will continue to get this draft in the appropriate shape this one, or just start from scratch.

Closing in a half a million page views since launching the Not Now Silly Newsroom

Since my last Unpacking the Writer (almost a monthly series) I have also written a new chapter in my never-ending search for Don Knotts‘ roots, and added another Pastoral Letter, my continued search for where my spirituality comes from if I am a stone cold atheist. I’m not so sure anyone else cares, but I am finding out a whole lot about myself because I’m asking questions.

Just this moment, as I was finishing the final edit to this post before sending it off into the electronic ether to turn it into a page, I came to a new realization about spirituality that will become my next Pastoral Letter. It may also contain my latest Mea Culpa.

Stay tuned . . .

Fact Checking The Presidential Debate ► Another Aunty Em Editorial

I’ve been reading a lot lately about the combined topics of Donald Trump’s lies and whether the debate moderators will fact check this crazy MoFo. 

It might surprise people to learn that I am totally against a Debate Moderator holding a candidate to the facts. That’s the job of the other candidate.

The moderator’s job is to introduce the candidates, spell out the agreed upon debate rules, see to it that the participants keep to the those rules, and then get the fuck out of the way. [Although, just to be evil, I’d give the moderator a microphone kill switch if anyone goes over their allotted time.]

There will be plenty of time to fact check both of these candidates.

Of course, knowing the media like I do, Hillary Clinton will probaly be fact checked harder than Donald Trump, even though an article published yesterday claimed Donald Trump Lied 87 Times Last Week — Or Once Every 3 Minutes, 15 Seconds.

As we have seen during this election cycle, it doesn’t really matter how many lies Donald Trump tells. He is running neck and neck in the polls with Hillary Clinton despite being a bigger liar than Richard Nixon and Roger Ailes put together.

Which is why Donald Trump has to be crushed. Not just beaten, but beaten badly. Beaten so badly that this kind of racist, xenophobic, misogynistic psychopath with a total lack of empathy and compassion for any basic, human emotions will never get this close to the White House ever again.

And then Trump must be ridiculed as a loser and hounded to the ends of the earth, as his business empire inevitably falls apart under the weight of lawsuits, terrible business decisions, and the total collapse of the Trump brand. Here are my early contributions:

George Gershwin ► Monday Musical Appreciation

, , , , , , ,

Born on this date in 1898, by the time George Gershwin died at the all-too-early age of 38, he was known across the globe as one of the greatest composers who ever lived.

Born in Brooklyn to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, originally the family name was Gershowitz, which George’s father Americanized to Gershwine. George was actually born Jacob Gershwine, but was called George. He later dropped the “e” from the end of his name, and eventually so did the rest of the family.

Born 2 years earlier, brother Ira (born Israel Gershwine) was George’s lifelong lyricist. Together they wrote songs now considered the foundation of the American Songbook. Songs like (edited list from Ira’s WikiWackyWoo):

As well, George Gershwin wrote many songs without lyrics. F’rinstance, most everyone recognizes passages from Rhapsody In Blue, whether they know the composer or not. The score was commissioned by The King of Jazz, Paul Whiteman, to debut at what he was billing as An Experiment In Modern Music on February 12, 1924. It was an instant classic when it was first performed.

We are used to hearing Rhapsody In Blue with a big orchestration. A revelation of the digital age is this recording of a piano roll that George Gershwin cut during his piano playing prime. Not only do we get to listen to the Master at work, but after he ‘cut’ the piano roll they rolled it right back to the beginning and Gershwin ‘cut’ a second piano part; in effect making this one of the earliest candidates for overdubbing. Close your eyes and listen to Gershwin’s 4 hands.

George Gershwin wrote standards, Broadway shows, classical pieces, and commercial fluff.

Of course one could go on endlessly about George Gershwin — as dozens of books and documentaries have — but as I always say: It’s what’s in the music that counts:






Crank it up and D A N C E ! ! !

Rebuilding A Life From The Ground Up ► Unpacking The Writer

Good news, Not Now Silly fans. The Newsroom is making a second attempt at creating a brand new web site under its very own domain.

I’ve now seen the latest test of the format, which I like a lot. It’s very clean and uncluttered. Furthermore, the design will make it far easier for my readers to find all of the stories under the various rubrics I have created. Having signed off on the basic design, I have now asked my web designer (who I have taken on as a full partner) to populate the template with real words (my words) as opposed to all that fake text used as placeholders in the WordPress template.

One of the mistakes I made the last time I tried this was promising too much, too quickly. And, that was before my then-web designer totally fucked me over. Then he refused to return my deposit, which I consider theft. [Read: Webbitez Bitez ► A Consumer Report].

This time I won’t over-promise anything. COMING SOON is the most I will say.

I’m still trying to find the rhythm of my new life, now that Pops has gone to live in Michigan. I took care of him for 11 years, the longest I lived anywhere since I lived on King Street in Toronto. Without Pops in the condo, it feels so lonely and empty. Pops took up a lot of space, even though he wasn’t very big. There are times I actually think, for a brief moment, that I hear him calling me from the living room.

The Top Ten search terms that
got people to Not Now Silly.

I’ve still not gotten used to having the entire condo to myself. When home I find myself spending most of my time in my room watching tee vee — just like I always have — even tho’ there are bigger and better tee vees in the other rooms. Heck, there are bigger rooms and more comfy beds elsewhere in the condo, for that matter. Yet, I am still stuck behind this same keyboard in the very same place in my bedroom, in the same condo, in the same Florida city, in the same country.

Additionally, and no less important, my Cosmic Love Affair dissolved at practically the same time. [Read: Before and After Synchronicity, another in my Pastoral Letter series.] Suddenly, the two things that were the gravitational pull in my life were gone. To mix metaphors, I feel like a tether-ball spinning helplessly out of control after my rope broke. 

None of this is helping my depression.

All of my rhythms are off, especially my writing schedule, which I keep trying to get back to. I’ve neglected Monday Musical Appreciation and Throwback Thursday since I embarked on my last road trip. Maybe promising right here, right now, that I’ll re-fire the boiler under the Steam-Powered Word-0-Matic will help me resolve to pick those up again. As careful readers will see I’ve already started.

What else have I written lately? Just a few important articles, that’s all. I discovered that parts of Armbrister Field were closed because of toxic soil, even though I attended the ribbon cutting a few years back that was supposed to demonstrate that the park was safe. Why wasn’t the toxic soil cleaned up back then? Why was there such a rush to get this park reopened if there was actually toxic soil in it? To that end I launched a Freedom of Information Act request for material on a number of topics surrounding these items.

When it turned Kafkaesque — almost immediately — I posted An Open Reply To Miami’s Public Records Department. While there has already been a response from the city, it doesn’t really answer my most important question and prompts a new one. I’m not prepared to make the reply public — yet. However, we’ll see where this goes.

If you can’t help, share. Or do both.

BTW: I have also started a Go Fund Me page to help offset some of the costs incurred researching and writing these stories. Aside from having to pay the City of Miami for each document search, there’s also the per page photocopying fee on top of that. And, the Freedom Of Information requests are just one of the many expenses for Not Now Silly. There’s gas, of course. Coconut Grove is 35 miles from where I live. And, virtually every time I go there I have to pay for parking. It all adds up.

I have one investigative story in the pipeline that I’ve been working on since early June. I’ve never been 100% happy with how it’s shaped, so I keep kicking at it here and there. Recently there’s been some stories in the news that’ll force an update to this article anyway. Now I need to decide whether I will continue to get this draft in the appropriate shape this one, or just start from scratch.

Closing in a half a million page views since launching the Not Now Silly Newsroom

Since my last Unpacking the Writer (almost a monthly series) I have also written a new chapter in my never-ending search for Don Knotts‘ roots, and added another Pastoral Letter, my continued search for where my spirituality comes from if I am a stone cold atheist. I’m not so sure anyone else cares, but I am finding out a whole lot about myself because I’m asking questions.

Just this moment, as I was finishing the final edit to this post before sending it off into the electronic ether to turn it into a page, I came to a new realization about spirituality that will become my next Pastoral Letter. It may also contain my latest Mea Culpa.

Stay tuned . . .

George Gershwin ► Monday Musical Appreciation

Born on this date in 1898, by the time George Gershwin died at the all-too-early age of 38, he was known across the globe as one of the greatest composers who ever lived.

Born in Brooklyn to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, originally the family name was Gershowitz, which George’s father Americanized to Gershwine. George was actually born Jacob Gershwine, but was called George. He later dropped the “e” from the end of his name, and eventually so did the rest of the family.

Born 2 years earlier, brother Ira (born Israel Gershwine) was George’s lifelong lyricist. Together they wrote songs now considered the foundation of the American Songbook. Songs like (edited list from Ira’s WikiWackyWoo):

As well, George Gershwin wrote many songs without lyrics. F’rinstance, most everyone recognizes passages from Rhapsody In Blue, whether they know the composer or not. The score was commissioned by The King of Jazz, Paul Whiteman, to debut at what he was billing as An Experiment In Modern Music on February 12, 1924. It was an instant classic when it was first performed.

We are used to hearing Rhapsody In Blue with a big orchestration. A revelation of the digital age is this recording of a piano roll that George Gershwin cut during his piano playing prime. Not only do we get to listen to the Master at work, but after he ‘cut’ the piano roll they rolled it right back to the beginning and Gershwin ‘cut’ a second piano part; in effect making this one of the earliest candidates for overdubbing. Close your eyes and listen to Gershwin’s 4 hands.

George Gershwin wrote standards, Broadway shows, classical pieces, and commercial fluff.

Of course one could go on endlessly about George Gershwin — as dozens of books and documentaries have — but as I always say: It’s what’s in the music that counts:


Crank it up and D A N C E ! ! !

An Open Reply To Miami’s Public Records Department

, , , , , , , , , , ,

I have chosen to make this a public reply to an email recently received from the City of Miami’s Public Records Department.

TO: Jones, Isiaa <IJones@miami.gov>
SUBJECT: PRR 16-452: FOIA Request
DATE: September 16, 2016

CC: Melendez, Eleazar <ElMelendez@miamigov.com>;
Russell, Ken (Commissioner) <krussell@miamigov.com>; Mendez,
Victoria  <VMendez@miamigov.com>; Hannon, Todd
<thannon@miamigov.com>; The Loyal Readers of the Not Now Silly
Newsroom; Various Facebook Groups and Pages of my choosing

Hello and thank you for your prompt attention to my FOIA request, which I first sent to the office of the District 2 Commissioner Ken Russell. You’ve summed up my keyword search criteria correctly.

However, while some may feel the fee to acquire these emails small, as a citizen blogger with a budget of $0 and zero cents, I simply cannot — will not — pay this cost. If I were, say, the Miami Herald, I could easily afford this. Unfortunately these are topics that never much interested the Miami Herald. So, it’s left to a citizen-journalist-blogger like me to ask these inconvenient questions.

I have been writing about Trolleygate and Soilgate as separate issues from their beginnings. However, recently it began to appear as if there is a connection between these two stories. Hence, my records request.

Tangentially, there was a time in this country when anyone could wander down to the local City Hall and ask to take a look at a file. Now one must pay the costs of retrieval, from an expensive and complicated system the city set up, because that’s the only option. While I understand how that makes sense fiscally, costs like this run counter to the Florida Sunshine laws. The information should be free.

Additionally, in your email you state:

The process to create the storage media will take approximately 4 business days after receiving the approval and payment. The costs includes [sic] searches for Civilian mailboxes. Police mailboxes are not included. If the request is related to a law matter case or may include any other exempted emails then a review of the results may be required before being released and this may add more delivery time and cost.

That means there will almost assuredly be additional, hidden, costs because at least one of these matters was the subject of extensive litigation, which the city of Miami eventually lost. This cost the City of Miami and the city attorney’s office a hefty legal bill that has yet to be tallied. [Hey! That might make another good Public Records Request, but one thing at a time.]

IRONY ALERT: As was in all the local newspapers, the current District 2 Commissioner, Ken Russell, requested the firing of the City of Miami attorney because he says his office no longer has any faith in her. And, why is that? Because when his office asked her office to produce emails, some were not forthcoming.

Yet, due to city protocol, here’s how Eleazar Melendez, Chief of Staff at the Commissioner’s office, was forced to reply to my FOIA request:

I am passing your email to the city attorney’s office, as we discussed, in order to fully and legally comply with this public records request. They will perform a full and exhaustive search for the terms requested and, as we discussed, might ask for a payment in order to cover resources being dedicated to performing the search.

The City of Miami attorney the District 2 Commissioner wants fired replied:

Will handle. Thx.
Victoria Méndez, City Attorney

Kafka lives!!!

Consequently, and for the reasons listed above, I am CCing the current District 2 Commissioner to see whether he is interested in discovering what kind of strange deals were made by his predecessor to:

1). Get Armbrister Field AstroTurfed over so quickly, especially considering other parks were being closed due to toxic soil [Read: Marc D. Sarnoff ► Everything Old Is New Again];

2). Get a relative clean bill of health for Armbrister Field while he was closing other parks that had toxic soil, even though parts of Armbrister Field was recently closed due to toxic soil [Read: Armbrister Field Contaminated After All! Was There An AstroTurf Cover Up?];

3). Appear to act as political lobbyist and fixer when he intermediated between Astor Development and a community group to offer $200,000 to remediate Armbrister Field with AstroTurf in order so that they drop their objection to the Trolley maintenance garage being built on Douglas Avenue [Read: Is Marc D. Sarnoff Corrupt Or The Most Corrupt Miami Politician?];

4). Subtly threaten his constituents to withdraw his approval supporting local community initiatives if they refuse to drop their objections to the Trolley maintenance garage [Read: The Trolleygate Dog And Pony Show];

5). Possibly helped the developer find a way around a City of Miami’s Planning and Zoning e-mail that flagged the Trolley maintenance garage as non-conforming [Read: BLOCKBUSTER!!! The Trolleygate Smoking Gun Surfaces];

6). Totally ignore the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in order to force a non-conforming Trolley maintenance garage onto Douglas Avenue [Read: Trolleygate Violates 1964 Civil Rights Act ► Not Now Silly Vindicated];

7). So quickly close 6 parks and begin remediation plans without any consultation with the ratepayers, who also happened to also be his own constituents in some cases;

8). Illegally apply (then remove, then deny he ever had ever done so in the first place) a Brownfield Field Site designation in the neighbourhoods surrounding these parks deemed toxic [Read: When Miami Commissioner Marc D. Sarnoff Lied To My Face].

That is why I am making a formal request to the current District 2 Commissioner Ken Russell to request these documents on behalf of the citizens of West Grove, who have been fighting systemic racism for many decades.

It has always been my contention that many of the decisions that affected West Grove made by the previous office-holder appear to have been a modern day extension of the systemic racism that has plagued the West Grove – and, to make a larger point, the entire country – over the last century. [Read: Modern Day Colonialism and Trolleygate] There is no way a Trolley maintenance garage would have ever been sited near Shipping and Virginia and it’s instructive to note that Blanche Park, across the street from the previous office-holder, was the first park closed due to toxic soil and remediated (and remediated more than once, for that matter).

I just want to find out what was happening behind the scenes while the constituents were being kept in the dark.

Thank you for your prompt attention to these matters.

Headly Westerfield
Chief Word Wrangler
Not Now Silly Newsroom