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Persona Non Grata
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Super cool host Tyson Beckford |
Did you ever have that nightmare where you go to the office holiday
party and you’re the only one sporting the
Hawaiian shirt, shorts and flip-flops that your
colleagues all agreed they also would wear? No?
Well, welcome to the hell that is being Murmurs.
Now, Murmurs is a pretty good sport and took the sartorial dilemma
in good fun right up to the point of going on to
the opening party of Nikki Beach’s “new” Club
Nikki and finding out that the costume
couldn’t get past the fashion police at the
velvet rope. They were hardly impressed with the
excuse that Murmurs’ tux had been at the
cleaners since an unfortunate incident involving
a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and possibly a
little person. (Murmurs will neither confirm nor
deny the presence of the Jack Daniel’s.)
Apparently, the Gestapo-esque doorman was concerned that Murmurs
would spoil the reputation of the joint’s
ability to attract such Z-listers as Bravo’s
Project Runway season three losing
fashion designer Uli Herzner. Ironically,
Herzner, who trudged through that hit fashion
design competition by creating outfit after
outfit of decidedly “beachy” couture, appeared
as bored as anyone as she sipped free champagne
— the only thing flowing in a relatively
deserted club.
So Murmurs hit up Charlie Guadano of party organizer Susan
Blond Inc., who begrudgingly relented, under the
condition that he would chaperone. Guadano
proceeded to walk Murmurs around the club like
an effete bodyguard, pointing out the décor that
looked exactly the same as in its previous
incarnation,
Pearl — think the Roman Senate all painted in white.
“We were there. There were many steps and
columns. It was most tranquil,” said Bill S.
Preston, Esq. of Bill and Ted’s Excellent
Adventure.
But, then again, who could focus on the décor with so many hot
bartenders wearing red peephole dresses with the
holes cut so that they showed either too much or
not enough cleavage?
Anyway, the excitement was only just beginning because model,
actor, whatever Tyson Beckford was going
to host the party and Murmurs would now have to
interview him. A $100 round of drinks had
Murmurs pretty much ’fessing up to Tyson that
the celeb beat was even less interesting than
the sports beat. Go Local Sports Team. And, to
be honest, we would love to tell you that
Beckford was stuck up, a dick or even dumb as a
bag of hammers, but can’t, as we found him very
charming and not in the least judgmental of our
choice of club wear. So, here goes.
Yes, Tyson is his real name and he has no connection to Iron
Mike. Apparently he used to visit
Miami quite a bit as a child and has family in
Little Haiti. And when asked what he will look
for in a model when he co-hosts the reality show
Make Me a Supermodel, starting
this January on Bravo, he became very serious,
telling Murmurs that the most important thing
was to “do your homework, always know the
photographer’s work, know the publication and
the client’s product and always be
professional.”
And with that, the interview on the beach was over and it was time
to leave, which was fine as Club Nikki had
already become just another boring SoBe
experience with overpriced drinks and a
startling lack of color.
Unless white is your thing, of course.
Taking advantage
If it isn’t illegal, then it’s OK to take advantage of
Miami-Dade County to earn some extra bucks.
So sayeth the Miami-Dade County Commission on Dec. 20, when
it decided to keep a company that has managed
the garages of Miami International Airport
for the last 10 years and overbilled county
taxpayers at least $500,000.
According to an Oct. 16 report from the Miami-Dade Office of the
Inspector General, Airport Parking
Associates (a joint venture between Central
Parking Systems of Florida and WRP and
Associates) overbilled the county $95,818 in
401K pension plan contributions, $109,990 in
workers’ compensation and $300,000 for garage
liability payment reimbursements between 2004
and 2006.
“It should be re-emphasized the OIG report only focuses on fiscal
years 2004, 2005 and 2006,” according to the OIG
report. “Hence, [the Miami-Dade Aviation
Department] may want to audit the entire period
of the contract to assess the full extent of
overpayments.”
The report, as well as a message from Inspector General
Christopher Mazzella saying the Aviation
Department “got taken advantage of,” prompted
Miami International Airport Director Jose
Abreu to draft a resolution to operate the
garages using temporary employees under county
management. Using what Abreu called a “hybrid
system,” the county could save between
$383,400 and $500,000 a year. As a bonus,
the county would even hire many of the 104
employees Airport Parking Associates planned to
lay off in anticipation of losing the contract,
according to a recent South Florida Business
Review article.
The notion of saving money and firing a company that billed the
county too much confused some county
commissioners. “We were told it was cheaper to
outsource,” Commissioner Audrey Edmonson
said.
Abreu replied that his recommendation had less to do with numbers
and more to with the OIG report.
“The OIG report says nothing illegal was done,” Edmonson said.
Then, turning to Assistant Inspector General
Petra Liu, she asked, “Was there anything
illegal done?”
“We found no evidence of illegalities,” Liu responded. “What we
found were overpayments.”
“Were they unethical?” Edmonson asked.
Liu paused before deferring any talk about ethics to Robert
Meyers, the executive director of the
Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics. She then
explained that county staff never challenged the
expense reports. Liu called it a “bad business
practice,” with both county staff and Airport
Parking Associates at fault.
“But only one side gets punished and penalized. That is the way I
am looking at it,” Edmonson said. “We come out
smelling like a rose and put the blame on the
other side.”
It’s probably all a matter of interpretation. After all, it wasn’t
like Airport Parking Associates was stealing
jet fuel and selling it on the street corner or
filling out false invoices. An OIG
investigation found such activities in July
2004, which led to the arrest of 19 people,
including County Hall insiders Richard Caride,
Antonio Junior and Evens Thermilus
and airport administrator Patricia Nichols.
Caride managed the “fuel farm,” Junior (a friend
of then-Commissioner Barbara Carey-Shuler)
provided contracted security for said farm,
Thermilus owned a contracting company that built
buildings at the fuel farm and Nichols signed
off on the invoices in exchange for kickbacks
and lunches with Carey-Shuler, according to
investigators. In all, thieves swiped at least
$5 million from the airport.
So what is a measly $500,000 in reimbursements for items the
company is not entitled to?
In fairness, lobbyist Miguel de Grandy insisted that Airport
Parking Associates was innocent and demanded an
arbitration hearing to clear the company’s name.
“Let me tell you something: In this country, we
can’t deny people due process before being tried
and convicted,” he said. “What this
administration is doing is not jurisprudence in
America.”
In the end, de Grandy swayed the commission to renew the contract
on a month-to-month basis during arbitration. If
no agreement is reached, the contract will go to
another parking company.
Comments? E-mail
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