Economic Development

Electronic Streetcar Coming to Broward County

Streetcars conjure up visions of San Francisco, New Orleans, Uncle Ben's Rice, and that Marlon Brando movie where he pleads for his wife to return to him after he beats her. But now, it will also conjure up downtown Fort Lauderdale and, also, the future, because the Broward County Commission has ... More >>

Marco Rubio Voted No on Fiscal Cliff Bill

On the first ay of the brand new year, the House voted 257-167 to approve the Senate bill that would avoid major tax hikes and spending cuts and keep us all from falling over the so-called "fiscal cliff," which would've been a terrible way to start 2013. The GOPers wanted to amend the Senate's bill ... More >>

Farm-Your-Backyard: Vegetable Growing

Allen West Aimlessly Blubbering, Lying About How Obama Is Incompetent and Hates Free Enterprise

In a move I wish was slightly more surprising, Congressman Allen West has posted another petulant Facebook message that includes an entire Wall Street Journal column he didn't write."It seems the inept community organizer has failed. A second term? One must be stuck on stupid!" he wrote. "It is ... More >>

Streetcar a Terrible Idea, Expert Says

Fort Lauderdale Streetcar a Terrible Idea, Cato Institute Says

Last month, the Department of Transportation announced that it will fork over an $18 million TIGER grant for the first phase of Fort Lauderdale's proposed Wave Streetcar. The plan, which city officials have been molding since 2004, features a 10-station, 2.7-mile trolley-like system intended to shut ... More >>

Cuthill's Backyard in Boynton Beach: A New Taste of Old Florida

After four u-turns and failed iPhone directions, I finally spot the wooden sign with an arrow pointing to Cuthill's Backyard in Boynton Beach. As I round the corner, I can see it, a newly erected outdoor bar behind a new wooden fence. It seems a bit out of place, a beachy-looking bar tucked amo ... More >>

Florida Unemployment Rate Finally Decreases Back to May Level

stuffunemployedpeoplelike.com​Florida's unemployment rate decreased .1 percent to 10.6 percent in the month of September after three months of no change, putting the state back to the same rate it was at in May.According to the numbers released this morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the n ... More >>

Palm Beach County Worker Accused of Cookin' the Books to Obtain Mortgage Through County

Palm Beach County Sheriff's OfficeSylvia Sharps​For writing "$0.00" instead of "$16,482.75" under the "second job" column of her mortgage application, Palm Beach County employee Sylvia Loretta Sharps could face up to 35 years in prison, according to the State Attorney's Office.Sharps -- who most r ... More >>

Deerfield Beach Special Election Is Today. Try to Avoid Voting for an Alleged Criminal This Time

​If you live in District 2 of Deerfield Beach, today is Election Day.Thanks to the fact that the last commissioner, Sylvia Poitier, has been suspended for allegedly falsifying public records a few times, today's special election will find someone to replace her for the rest of her term -- which en ... More >>

Deerfield Beach Commission Candidate Accused of Having Shady Past Using Public Funds

churchofbrotherlylove.orgAnthony Davis (left) and his wife Margaret Davis​The city of Deerfield Beach is holding a special election on July 19 to replace former District 2 Commissioner Sylvia Poitier -- who's facing five misdemeanor counts of falsifying public documents -- and out of the four qual ... More >>

Broward County Passes Model Ordinance to Regulate "Pill Mills" That Don't Actually Exist

neglectedwar.comA pain management clinic, which doesn't exist in unincorporated Broward County​The Broward County Commission unanimously passed a new zoning and regulatory ordinance yesterday for pain management clinics in unincorporated areas of the county.This new ordinance requires all of the s ... More >>

Allen West and John Boehner Fall Out Over Pakistan

​Allen West, writing to the chairwoman of the subcommittee on state, foreign operations, and related programs, CC'ing Boehner, Cantor, McCarthy, Hesarling, Rogers, Ros-Lehtinen, and McKeon:Dear Chairwoman:...It is not unreasonable for the American people to question. If Osama bin Laden was living ... More >>

Embattled Stacy Ritter Back on the Fundraiser Trail

Cal Deal Wild Art: Sheriff Al Lamberti at a pill mill protest Friday at the Galleria in Fort Lauderdale. Also pictured: Broward Commissioners Chip LaMarca (left of Lamberti) and Kristin Jacobs (far right). Thanks to Cal Deal for the photo. ​Broward County Commissioner Stacy Ritter may be in t ... More >>

Mexican Macro-Economics

Do undocumented migrants steal jobs from American workers?

Amendment 4? What's That? Citizen Campaign Struggles to Get the Facts Out

Can they flip the debate?​Amendment 4 to the Florida Comprehensive Land Use Plans (Still reading? Congratulations!) is fairly simple: It would require that any changes to local land-use plans, such as those requested by developers, be put before voters before approval. Unfortunately, that informat ... More >>

A Miracle Peanut Butter Could End Malnutrition in Haiti

Update on the Haitian Boy Receiving Treatment for the Massive Tumor on His Neck

Michael J. MooneyEsthelhomme Peterson​ Last week we brought the story of Esthelhomme Peterson ("Peter"), the 12-year-old Haitian boy brought to the U.S. to get treatment for the massive growth on his neck. His transportation and treatment were arranged by a coalition that included Sen. George LeMi ... More >>

Mentor to Deerfield Youth May Be in Trouble Over Dealings With City

The Rev. Anthony Davis appears to be a pillar of society. His charity, Brotherly Love Social Services, mentors at-risk youth in Deerfield Beach. Davis was quoted today in the Sun-Sentinel, decrying how the image of the city's schools has been distorted by two violent incidents, the burning of Michae ... More >>

"That's Commissioner Chaz"

God help us, Chaz Stevens has been appointed to the board of the Deerfield Beach Housing Authority. Not even a very loud "No!" from Commissioner Marty Popelsky (at 1:20 in the video above) could stop Stevens' rise to power.Of course, the activist blogger (he prefers "genius") played a crucial role i ... More >>

Report: Deerfield Beach Moves to Secure Computers Used by Officials Named in Investigation

A day after a forensic auditor told the Deerfield Beach Commission he'd found evidence of favoritism and fraud by officials in the city's Community Development Division, the city has asked the Broward Sheriff's Office to take custody of computers that belonged to two officials named in the audit rep ... More >>

Tamarac Resident LeRoy Browne: You CAN Fight City Hall

The potential view from Paradise?​Tamarac homeowner LeRoy Browne moved from Washington D.C. to Paradise Estates in the 1980s because he was looking for, well, Paradise. But now his heavenly retreat is threatened: Browne's house sits directly on a golf course that the city wants to rezone. The plan ... More >>

Deerfield City Worker Tries to Swat Gadfly

Flickr: arkworld​There's still no official word on what evils the forensic auditor found in its recent analysis of Deerfield Beach finances; but Chaz Stevens isn't the type to wait. Back on March 1, as that auditing firm was arriving in town, Stevens composed these lyrics, which he sent to city st ... More >>

Hollywood's New CRA Director a Political Outsider

The city of Hollywood has named a former Orlando official to lead its Community Redevelopment Agency. Tanja Gerhartz previously worked as the economic development director in Orlando. More recently, she had her own private consulting firm. If that means she's new to the South Florida political scene ... More >>

Naked Negotiation in Riviera Beach

How a Riviera Beach official allegedly does business in a very warm climate

Towering Rage

Luxury condo developers up the ante with critics

River of Greed

The plan includes playing footsie with a controversial land baron and paving over a piece of the Everglades

Who Killed Kenny's Project?

Activist Jailed In Riviera Beach

There Goes the Neighborhood

L.A. gentrifiers pay tribute to a community under siege.

Letters for August 17-23, 2006

Mayor Mara Answers Her Critics

Bulldozers Gone Wild

Bad, CRA! Bad, Bad CRA!

Access Hollywood

To be a development star in Hollywood, it’s all in who you know, baby

Urban Removal

It's the same old story, critics say: displacing blacks to make way for whites

Letters for March 3-9, 2005

A Run on the Bank

Attack of the Activists

Shakin' tha Foundation

A pair of South Florida rappers takes on Cheney, Ashcroft, and Taco Bell

So Long, Skid Row

The last days of a flophouse tell a tale of urban renewal's losers

Best Anarchy in Action

Unarmed Underground Art Center and Flamingo Art Studios

A House Surrounded

As the city spars with deep-pocketed developers, will a vertical horizon obscure the historic Stranahan House?

Almost Perfect

The rise and fall of Perfection, South Florida's biggest and boldest New Urbanist community

Annexation Vexation

The plan to bring Broward County's poor areas into the fold is full of holes

Best Neighborhood Activist

Carl Flick

Undercurrents

To Hyde Park Market They Merrily Go

Best Mile Of Broward/Palm Beach

SW 136th Avenue, south of I-595

Home For the Holidays

The Ninth Annual Victoria Park Holiday Home Tour

Burning Down the House

After the closing of an apartment building for AIDS victims in Fort Lauderdale, the city's ability to oversee a multimillion-dollar, federally funded program is called into question

The People's Republic of Area A

A group of neighborhood leaders prepares to declare independence and start Broward's first black-majority city

Going Postal

The county's decision to spend big bucks on a shiny new federal post office has advocates of the poor hopping mad