MiamiNights - Miami Night Clubs, Nightlife

Friend of the site and has been tennis master Danny Daze and his counterparts Gigamesh and Joe Maz from the duo trio Discotech bring us a gem of a track mixed in with the now infamous and always wingnutty Farce News host Bill O'Reilly. The track seems short so I know this isn't full length. When you get a chance Daze, forward it over to us! Enjoy:

Sometimes I feel like taking a rolled-up newspaper and smacking Miami-Dade government over the head and scream "Bad Miami-Dade! No! No!" I mean reading the Herald's article today on how Miami-Dade royally fucked up in maintaining and replacing the old Metro-Rail cars is astonishing but not really that surprising -- I mean this is Miami-Dade we are talking about here.

The county insists the Metro-Rail is safe, but I don't know how many of you have ridden it. I rode it all of last year and basically a crackhouse is nicer than those cars. It's embarrassing that this county doesn't have a clean, safe and reliable rapid mass transit system. It's bad enough it doesn't go anywhere, so the county might as well take people nowhere in style.

Really I don't no what else to say. I want to put Miami-Dade on a time out. 

Oh you tricky tricky Intelligent Designers. Masking your creationist views under the guise of another name, ID, was very crafty. But now you are attempting to hide behind the "academic freedom" legislation up in the Florida Senate. As if Floridian education wasn't already in the shitter we are actually considering giving teachers "academic freedom" to mention this crap in the scientific forum? Howard Simon, a Florida director for the ACLU, expresses my opinion on the matter succinctly:

The strategy is this: Let's call Intelligent Design scientific information, and let's make sure that teachers can teach that scientific information,'' Simon said, adding that his organization would sue if the bill became law and teachers began proselytizing in class.

Forget the fact ID can't even be scientifically tested. I'm all for freedom of speech but science is defined as "systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation". Keyword is experimentation. Shall I begin my ID experiments by praying for rain to the "greater being"? Or perhaps we should all convert to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Get with it legislators, ID was shot down by a federal court already, stop trying to slip it in through the back door. There are more pressing matters to consider, like fixing our shitty educational system. There's a start for ya.

Sorry I've been M.I.A. today, I've got the flu which has me feeling like a semi-truck just hit my body. Last thing I feel like is writing anything. But alas the blog calls me.

The SunPost reports that Miami city commissioners are toying with the idea of installing cameras in the area of Overtown to deter all the criminal activity found the area. The city has had success with surveillance cameras, particularly the entrance to the Port of Miami. The city commissioner Angel Gonzalez say says the camera's will only help police because "What would take 10 officers to do, we’re doing with one."

Oh I think it's time for a reality check courtesy of Duran. Hey city commissioners, maybe police would do a better job if you actually paid them well enough. It's no secret that city police are among the worse paid in the county. With all the money you've lined your pockets with after the real estate boom, did you ever consider raising somebody else's salary other than your own? Higher salaries means you'd be hiring better and more effective officers, not these frat boys I see flirting with two-cent whores that come out of Nocturnal at 3 a.m.

Also, Overtown wouldn't be in the mess it is if police actually patrolled the area. The place is lawless for a reason. Police presence is non-existent! And it's a damn shame because you have some hard working people are trying to provide a home and safe place for their families but can't because their child can't walk to school without stepping over a crack pipe.

Instead of resorting to Orwellian tactics Miami, how about you do your fucking job for a change and provide the services to everyone who lives within your city limits deserves.

Oh yea, and if you're thinking, "I don't care, I don't live in Overtown," most of the Park West entertainment district, along with places like Pawn Shop, PS14, White Room and Karu & Y would fall in the area of surveillance. Think about that!

Didn't the city of Miami already come up with rules about mural advertising? Apparently not according to the SunPost. It seems though mural advertising is here to stay, however the city is going to put in some reasonable rules:

The proposal would mandate strict licensing requirements, background checks for mural advertisers, experience in the outdoor advertising field, public liability insurance among other stipulations. Applicants, who would be chosen through a lottery process, would also have to pay $2,500 to prequalify, secure a $1 million bond and pay $10,000 per year in application fees and between $6,000 and $10,000 per month for each mural. Half of the money generated would go to the Miami Arts and Entertainment Trust Fund, the other half to park site acquisition.

[...] It allows advertisements to cover windows, exempts government buildings, reduces fees to $8,000 per month and allows the ads to cover up to 20,000 square feet of wall space, as opposed to Sarnoff’s 2,000. The new version also increases the size of the permitted zone for murals.

I personally see nothing wrong with mural advertising as long as its regulated properly. I mean look at Times Square in New York, the flashy lights and advertisements are the reason you see millions of tourists snapping pictures. The SunPost points out the mural along Park West on NE 11th Street, which in my opinion actually make the building look somewhat decent and colorful -- don't you think?

[via TalkNightlife] 

The city of Miami has quite a conundrum on their hands. When the announce end of last year the development plan for the city's urban core got some people pissed. Overtown residents are saying that money and tax incentives that are earmarked to be used to develop poorer neighborhoods like their own would be used to fun "frivolous" projects like the Performing Arts Center, the new Marlins stadium, the Miami streetcar and the tunnel to Port of Miami. Mind you, I sympathize with Overtown residents who fear city leaders are going to basically fuck them over once again or eventually be pushed out of the city by gentrification.

Then there is Norman Braman. You might know him better as the owner of Braman Honda in Kendall and Braman Motors in Midtown. Yes, this man has touting himself as a champion for the poor by exposing city leaders evil plan to screw over the city's poor by misusing money meant for them and trying to stop the city's plan to extend the borders of the Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency to include the Omni district and Watson Island in order to finance these expensive projects.

Well why would Braman care about what the hell the city does with money that doesn't really affect him? Wait, it does. Projects like the tunnel and the Midtown/Design District streetcar could cut into Braman's profits by -- gasp -- offering true auto-less urban living. In fact, the upper-middle class residents moving into the urban core are exactly the kind of customers Braman wants to sell cars to. They can actually afford their high-priced loft and a brand new luxury car.

Fact is the city needs to fund projects like the tunnel and streetcar because public transportation and roads have not kept up with the city's rapid growth. I mean what's the point of living in the urban core if you can't get anywhere? 

While I agree that the city needs to be careful and make sure the even Overtown residents see improvements in their area as well, the last person I'd trust is Braman. He has way too much at stake here. Obviously he has lawyers working already to put a stop to this silliness by the city. But what I think Braman needs to do is back off. He obviously thinks he has more to lose than Miami's poor.

Michael Capponi, one of the most visible elements of Miami Beach nightlife for 20 years, is strongly supporting Simon Cruz for mayor of Miami Beach. We've all seen how devastating anti-nightlife politicians can be to the industry, ignoring its vital role in the renaissance of Miami Beach and Downtown Miami as well. If you're a resident of Miami Beach, your vote on November 20th matters. For the full text of Michael's endorsement, please continue below the jump..

Click here to read full article..

Oh man, as if I needed any more proof that Hialeah was such a useless, dirty, filled-with-stark-raving-mad-citizens city. After reading Calvin Godfrey's blog on Riptide2.0 about how elections go down Hi-ahh-lea i no onger needed any convincing. I have lived next to Hialeah all my life separated (thank god) by a ever shrinking canal that somehow keeps the nuts at bay. In all my years I never realized this is how elections went down in "La Ciudad que (nunca) Progresa". Here are some choice quotes but do yourself a favor and read the entire post. It's filled with blogging gold:

More than anything, Ferrer believes that democracy appears to be dying. "I'm try for the whole peoples - the young peoples," she said. "We old people will go down. It's very important that the young peoples come out for freedom country."

If that wasn't enough to pique your interest then read this little quip of comedic gold:

This is Cindy Miel. She describes herself as the only commissioner who opposes the mayor of Hialeah. "I vote along with him 90 percent of the time," she said, standing in front of her small campaign tent. The ten percent disagreement has only to do with his abuse of no bid contracts, she says.

No wonder that city is run like the administration Down's Syndrome.

Boom or Bust: Miami has a great post on the several options the City of Miami should be considering for the hotly contested Parcel B. The Cuban American constituency wants to build a monstrosity of a museum to commemorate the the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Obviously I am against using beautiful open spaces in Downtown for parking garages and concrete structures. I was completely for the soccer field that was originally planned 10 years ago but after reading BoB and his thoughts I am now wholly for an air plaza or square. Check out Boom or Bust:Miami for details and comparisons to other famous squares throughout the world that are similar in size to our very own Parcel B.

Overdue? Ha! That would be an understatement. Living in a huge city such as Miami this should have been among the top most priorities once the transit people figured out traffic congestion was going to FAR out pace road improvements. Jeez, how long ago did we figure that out? Anyhow, that is in the past. Even with the latest improvements to the Palmetto everyday I drive by that nightmare all I can see is lines of cars going southbound into the horizon (Let's not even start with the 836). Poor bastards headed back to South Miami. But would this be the case had we a reliable transit system? I'm biased in this regard as I much rather prefer public transit over driving any day.

But finally there is some rumbling about new East/West plans down in that traffic hell we call Kendall. The Hurled has some tidbits from the Miami-Dade Transit Authority and Critical Miamiposted recently on the Kendall Link study which was recently approved by the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). My god is something actually going to be done about our third world transportation system? Probably not within the next 10 years but at least people are finally realizing public transportation is the solution to our woes.

Imagine a metro line running along SW 8th street? I can remember the living hell it was sitting on that street trying to get to FIU everyday. Endless traffic signals at every corner, honking horns, fists a waving and I swear a few guns being brandished. I mean anything that would connect with the Dadeland South Metro Station would be a huge relief on the strain our roads take already. This still has a long way to go but can't I be optimistic? After 4 months of travel in Europe where I the thought of driving a car never occurred to me once because of their marvelous transit systems can't I hope for the same in Miami? Until the lead up to this expansion there are a few things we can be guaranteed: 1) There will be massive cost over runs, 2) Pockets are gonna be greased on both sides of the aisle, political and private, 3) No matter how positive this would be for the city it will take ages to get it approved, 4) Will anyone use it in our "love for cars" society? Stop spending tax money and Federal grants on useless road improvements that will only have a short term effect. Invest it in long term public transportation infrastructure. Please, pretty please?