And the Random Pixels award for the most asinine statement of the week....

....goes to Alyce Robertson, Executive Director of the Downtown Development Authority, (DDA).

“As new restaurants open up, there’s really not a need for street vendors.” -Robertson of the DDA as quoted by the Miami Herald speaking in support of a proposed ban on street food vendors in the downtown neighborhood surrounding the AmericanAirlines Arena.

Seems that Robertson, along with her buddy, DDA Chairman Marc Sarnoff, won't be happy until they've swept everyone who makes less than $100,000 a year, off the streets of downtown Miami.

It was Sarnoff, you may remember, who won some dubious national recognition a while back when he pushed for a city ordinance that "would prohibit, with a fine of $300, unauthorized people and groups from giving food to the homeless."

What Robertson - and Sarnoff - don't realize or refuse to accept is that not everyone can afford the overpriced food sold in the AmericanAirlines Arena or at DDA approved downtown restaurants.

Many downtown food vendors eke out a living selling food, not only to Arena-goers, but also to cab drivers, deliverymen, students and tourists.

But the DDA is doing its best to make the already difficult lives of food vendors, even more difficult.

(The irony here is that while the DDA wages war on the homeless and street vendors, the Miami Heat and the Triple-A are two of the biggest freeloading entities in downtown Miami. Last May, CBS4's Jim DeFede reported that "in the last eleven years, Miami Dade County has not received a single penny from the Miami Heat under the revenue sharing provision of their arena contract.")


video by Marc Caputo, Miami Herald
So, congratulations Alyce Robertson of the Downtown Development Authority....your elitist and cynical attitude has earned you the Random Pixels Asshole of the Week award!