Eleanor: Fighting
Blazes From the Skies
Hi Angie!
Just thought you might want to know that Eleanor will be
in Colorado fighting forest fires. We loved your article
[“Chasing Eleanor,” published May 3]!
Thank you and best of luck!
Lou Lesinski, director
Miami-Dade GSA Materials Management Division
All That Glitters Is Yellow: A Favorite Shirt Color
Among Certain City Hall Operatives?
Rebecca,
Thanks again for an article that is transparent about
the so-called democracy in Miami [Wakefield, “All That
Glitters Is Green,” published May 3]. I would like to
comment about my experience with the yellow T-shirts.
Power U Center has been in a two-year battle against
luxury developer Crosswinds. At City Hall on Oct. 26,
2006 here was a sea of yellow T-shirts in the seats. The
shirts read “Sawyers Walk,” and we recognized these
folks from our homeless population in Overtown and
residents in a couple of the public housing units. Since
we all know each other, we approached them and asked why
they were supporting a luxury condo in Overtown. They
were angry because some were told to come support
development for Overtown, some were promised $50, some
were told they just needed to come to City Hall for a
vote and they were loaded on to a bus and brought to
City Hall. Many were women who make it their civic duty
to work the polls every election, who believe in the
vote — and they were duped using the “vote.” Many of the
yellow shirts left the chambers and spent the rest of
the meeting outside discussing the situation with us,
some spoke to reporters, some came to our office to join
Power U the next day.
Also note, Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones and the
city have invested in committees and programs like Wake
Up Miami and Liberty City Housing Taskforce where the
theme is “pull yourselves up by your bootstraps” and get
a house; ultimately the city’s housing conditions make
ownership and rental unobtainable for most residents in
search of housing. These folks wear yellow T-shirts. Now
I have read about the yellow shirts on the Vizcaya
project. Is this all a coincidence?
Does the city have a run on YELLOW T-SHIRTS? Lying to a
community is not building a community. This is not
creating space for honest debate on differences, this is
not facilitating leadership in our community, this is
not a level playing field. This is racist. This is
stealing public dollars, public land, and giving it to
big developers and expecting us to believe we had a
voice in the process.
Denise Perry, organizing director
Power U Center for Social Change
Overtown
50 Ways To Drift Into Misconceived Topics … Oh and
Thanks
Hi Robin,
Thank you for considering and including Justin [Macdonnell]
in the SunPost’s “Power Issue” [SunPost 50,
published April 26]. The Center has enjoyed many
artistic successes in its inaugural season due, in large
part, to his leadership in the selection and
presentation of great works and great artists — and we
are happy to see it recognized in the SunPost.
I was hoping that the honorable mention would focus on
Justin and his work and, to be honest, was a bit
disappointed that you chose instead to recount past
misconceptions regarding the financials of the Center
and perpetuating the perception that parking is
inaccessible and that the building is paid for by local
taxpayers. I have attached an op-ed piece Michael
[Hardy] recently wrote [April 8, Miami Herald,
“We should be proud of the Carnival Center”] which will
help clarify the truth about the parking situation and
how exactly the Center is funded. I encourage you to
read it when you have a few moments.
While I felt it necessary to express our feelings about
portions of this piece, I thank you again for including
him and appreciate the support the SunPost has
given Carnival Center’s performances over the past year.
Thank you for everything.
Best,
Suzette Espinosa, media and public relations manager
Carnival Center for the Performing Arts
Fair and Balanced
Reporting … Not!
Nice promo story for Mercy Hospital [Wakefield, “Give Us
Condos or Your Poor Sick Grandmother Gets It,” published
April 26].
I’m sure you thought you were doing an objective news
story, but you left out the facts. So much for the news.
So much for honest journalism. So much for the truth.
Here’s the exact point where you quit being a reporter
and became an advertising copywriter: “The city’s
advisory Planning and Zoning boards recommended against
the zoning change.”
So, why did they recommend against the zoning change?
Could it be that there is actually an objective reason
that condos shouldn’t be built there? Traffic flow
studies, or impacts on infrastructure, for example.
After all, the entire point of a Planning and Zoning
Board is to make sure that new construction meets
certain criteria. Their recommendation ought to have
merited a brief outline. You completely dismissed what
SHOULD have been a critical part of a balanced
story. After all, the P&Z board has no personal stake in
the outcome. Their views are as objective as you can
get. And you completely leave them out of the story!
Instead, you paint one party — Matuska — as just this
really nice guy trying to help sick people. And you
paint the people opposed to the project as “a couple of
squeaky-wheel homeowner associations,” “Pesky Grovites,”
and “wealthy, influential Vizcaya supporters.”
You gloss over the fact that they aren’t protesting that
the project will block the view of any homeowners;
nobody lives at Vizcaya. You also fail to point out that
Vizcaya is in fact a public entity, owned by Miami-Dade
County and held in trust for everyone. It’s not some
snobbish country club. WE own it, all of us in
Miami-Dade County. It’s a PUBLIC PARK. The Trustees are
protecting OUR investment, not their own.
Yes, there ARE two sides to every story. But apparently
we won’t hear them from the SunPost.
So much for the truth.
Christopher Jahn
Miami
Nice to Be Reviewed By Someone Who Knows the True
Meaning of the Word ‘Kitsch’
To the editor:
I was thrilled to meet Michelle Weinberg and read her
review of my exhibition “Engendered” on view [through
May 26] at Diaspora Vibe [Art Review, “The Bollywood
Gaze,” published April 19]. It’s a pleasure to speak
with a critic who is an artist and can truly understand
what is behind an artist’s process.
I was particularly impressed with her definition of
kitsch (“emptying out the original meaning attached to
an image and replacing it with a newer one, creating an
ironic distance”) and her keen insight into the various
inspirations behind the work (fashion illustration, MTV
and Frida Kahlo). It’s rare to meet someone outside of a
South Asian diasporic culture who can see that Bollywood
movies lie somewhere in the “continuum between
hyper-sexualized James Bond and thrilla Blaxploitation
cinema.”
It is even more of an homage to read someone’s
observation of the work that is spot on, while pushing
the artist in a meaningful constructive way, as Ms.
Weinberg urged me to “play harder to get.” It is a gift
to be so observant, erudite and critical.
While I am the first Indian to be having a solo
exhibition at Diaspora Vibe, the gallery has had a
commitment to the “Asian perspective,” specifically
through showing the work of Jeannie Chang and Kim
Myung-Sik. Rosie Gordon-Wallace has done an outstanding
job with maintaining a strong Caribbean focus, while
allowing those of us who have similar cultural diasporas
to be part of the conversation. And Ms. Weinberg,
through her attention and insight, cemented my welcome
into the Miami art scene.
Yours truly,
Swati Khurana
New York, NY
From One Politician to a Bunch of Others: Stop
Spending Freely With Our Money!
Dear Editor,
I’ve read with
interest the debate going on with respect to the tax
issue [Editorial, “Property Tax Relief Is Needed,”
published March 22].
As a property owner,
homeowner and mayor of Surfside, I have read much of the
literature including that on the Web site Mr. Marco
Rubio has created.
I remain convinced
that government should live within the same fiscal
restraints as the taxpayers do and that politicians
should not lose sight of this — especially Republicans
whose side of the aisle is supposed to represent fiscal
responsibility and accountability tempered by social
responsibility.
Given that, I am
hopeful that you will consider that the rollback
proposed by the Senate is weak and without any real
substance other than to try to appear to address the
situation. While government receipts from property taxes
have virtually tripled in the last 10 years, I can
assure you my receipts and those of all my friends,
neighbors and associates have not! Have yours?
Please, [state
Legislature], control your expenditures like we do in
our personal lives, take responsibility for those who
work for you, create a workable and affordable budget
and put us all on a sustainable financial footing going
forward.
Remember, we’re
elected to do the right thing, not make decisions like
the money is not ours to account for or to compromise
our principles away.
Good luck in your
deliberations — we’ve all got our fingers crossed that
you keep our taxes low and our government services
efficient — it’s possible, you know.
Charles W. Burkett,
IV
Mayor of Surfside
