Memo to Local 10 Parking Investigator Ross Palombo

To: Ross Palombo, Local 10 Parking Investigator

From: The Random Pixels Hypocrisy Watchdog Desk

Dear Ross,

Just wanted to drop you a note - seeing how we're both "Investigators," and all that. (We "Investigators" got to stick together, right, bro?)

Anyhoo, I wanted to commend you on the fine exposé you did back in July on the shady dealings at the Miami Beach parking Enforcement Department.  If there's anything we investigators hate, it's people in government and authority expecting preferential treatment. Right, Ross?

I also liked the kick-ass piece you did on the abuse of the South Dade busway by cops and other county employees. That was such a great piece that I watched it 4 or 5 times.

So, here's why I'm writing...today someone sent me these pictures (see below) of one of your live trucks parked in front of a fire hydrant at Miami Beach City Hall.

Click here to enlarge.

Click here to enlarge.

Since you're all about equal treatment under the law, and standing up for the little guy, perhaps you can "investigate" this and do a three-part or four-part series on TV station live truck operators who think they can park anywhere they please.

I know you've only been in South Florida for a relatively short time, but as someone who's been a journalist in this town for over 30 years, I can emphatically state that live truck operators have been making up their own parking rules for as long as I can remember.

Get back to me if you can.

By the way, I just love it when you show up at those dirty restaurants unannounced. Wait, I think I got you mixed up with the short guy at your station.

Take care, Ross.

Your early afternoon waster

Have you ever wished you knew more about opera?

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Rabbit of Seville from TravisD on Vimeo.

Meshuggeneh Miami Beach mayoral candidate Raphael Herman arrested

Raphael Herman.
(Miami-Dade Corrections photo)

Miami Beach police have arrested wacky Miami Beach mayoral candidate Raphael Herman and charged him with aggravated battery, assault and criminal mischief following an incident that took place on a bus Sunday afternoon.

According to the arrest report, Herman, 67, boarded a Miami-Dade transit bus at 41st Street at Alton Road.

Police say Herman immediately became aggressive toward black passengers who refused to move so that he could sit down because he was elderly.

Herman then turned his attention to the female bus driver, who is also black, "verbally abusing" her, police say.

The driver stopped the bus at 41st Street and Indian Creek Drive where Herman, the bus driver, and another male passenger got into an argument over Herman’s behavior.

After Herman and a male passenger got off the bus, cops say that at some point Herman "armed himself with a wooden flag pole and began to wildly swing it."

Herman, still swinging the flag pole, narrowly missed striking the male passenger on several occasions. The passenger blocked some of the blows and finally was able to punch Herman in the face.

Another passenger intervened and stopped the fight.

After the cops arrived and started interviewing the driver and passengers, according to the arrest report, Herman said, "all blacks always stick together" and that if cops didn't arrest them he "would have them killed in 24 hours." Herman also told the cops that he was a member of the Israeli Special Forces and a candidate for mayor.

After his arrest, Herman told cops he wasn't feeling well so they took him to Mt. Sinai Hospital.

Herman was booked into jail at 9:15 last night.

It's not Herman's first arrest while running for mayor.

Thirty years ago, Herman - a perennial candidate for Beach mayor - was "arrested and charged with fleeing arrest after parking his campaign truck in a no-parking zone," according to a 1983 Herald story.

That year Herman was running on a platform of ridding Miami Beach of terrorists, telling the Herald that the city "was overrun not by tourists but by terrorists."

An Oct. 30, 1983 Herald story quoted Herman: "I am used to terrorists, and I know how to deal with them. Elect me as mayor."

Random Pixels Guest Columnist: Michael Putney

Michael Putney.

Local 10's Michael Putney closed out his show Sunday morning with some thoughts on the Miami Herald's decision earlier this week to publish - verbatim - a statement from the campaign manager for Miami Beach mayoral candidate Philip Levine.

________

Before we leave you this morning, a personal perspective about the especially nasty race for mayor of Miami Beach and the role of the [Miami] Herald.

You may recall that the three candidates appeared on this program a few weeks ago... and it was pretty much a food fight. Michael Gongora and Philip Levine, the two leading candidates spent most of their time trashing each other, and Steve Berke, a onetime standup comedian, often seemed like the grown-up in the group.

But things have devolved even further since then, aided and abetted by the Herald.

The Herald did the unthinkable by printing, word for word, a statement by the Levine campaign in response to legitimate questions from a Herald reporter. The Levine campaign demanded that the Herald not edit or change a word of their statement....and unbelievably the Herald complied. John S. Knight must be rolling over in his grave.

The Herald says it printed the Levine response, exactly as demanded to show how awful and high-handed the Levine campaign is. That may have been the Herald's intent, but it wasn't the result.

The result is a terrible precedent. Now, any two-bit political candidate who's asked a question by the Herald can say: give me the questions in writing, I'll give you a statement and you've got to run it just the way it is. just like you did for Philip Levine.

When politicians dictate the terms of communicating with the media, it's not healthy.

Like it or not, we in the media are your surrogates, we speak on your behalf.

When politicians disrespect us, as Philip Levine did, they disrespect you.

________

Random Pixels, Oct. 30, 2013: The Miami Herald just told every politician in So. Fla.: 'Feel free to use us like your little bitch'

What happens when rocket scientists hold a pumpkin carving contest?

The engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory recently held their annual pumpkin carving contest.

The resulting works of art are just what you might expect from a bunch of rocket scientists.

About that flooding in Miami Beach...it's old news. Really old.

Some recent news items.....

High tides expected to flood portions of South Florida.

Blame the moon for South Florida’s tidal flooding.

Rain or no rain, beachfront streets flood due to ‘spring tide.’

And now, a story from 40 years ago that ran in the Miami News on Oct. 26, 1973.

Click here to enlarge.