Bolero

Ravel is said to have described Bolero this way: "eight minutes of orchestration looking for a melody."  It happens I love Bolero, and I'm not complaining, if its composer thinks it was aimless.  Anyway, it only takes eight minutes.  The budget workshop tonight took almost four hours.  I have a serious issue with that.

Budgets are just numbers.  I said that when I was on the Commission, and I said it tonight.  They don't, in themselves, mean anything.  The least anyone can expect is that they are "balanced:" that the money allocated to be spent is the same amount as the revenue collected.  What budgets really do, or at least what they're supposed to do, is deploy money collected to accomplish goals.  That means you have to have goals.  And that's where the upcoming BP budget fell apart.

The workshop tonight was what amounted to systematic lurching.  The budget was well-organized, as BP budgets always are.  There were categories, subcategories and line items, and amounts of money.  Sometimes, they were the same as last year's amounts of money, and sometimes, they were different.  What was systematic was the page layouts, and the titles of the departments.  There was no system at all to guide how limited money was allocated.

Commissioners addressed each of the categories and line items.  Well, when I say Commissioners...  It's the same thing, all the time.  Roxy Ross provided perspective, depth, and a kind of wisdom regarding what spending money had to do with the health and welfare of the Village.  Tracy Truppman was idiosyncratic and autocratic.  Jenny Johnson-Sardella and Will Tudor dedicated their meager and meaningless contributions to "concurring" with Tracy.  Tracy announced where Harvey Bilt was, but she mumbled unintelligibly all night long, and I couldn't make out where she said Harvey was.  Someone else near me said he was sick.

The problem with the juggernaut was that it was powerful, but it had no direction.  Often, the theme was trying to reduce expenses.  Sometimes, it was to increase them.  But that, too, was incoherent.  Here are two conflicting examples.  The majority were bent on reducing the available expenditure for travel and training for Commissioners.  Roxy tried repeatedly to point out how frankly essential it was for Commissioners to attend perspective-broadening and enlightening educational opportunities.  The rest, who neither know anything nor want to know anything, would have none of it.  (I was going to call this post "Ignorance is Bliss" in recognition of the pathetic approach taken by the majority.  But I liked "Bolero" better.)  On the other hand, having resisted a disconnected range of opportunities to spend money to make the Village better, Tracy introduced, on her own (her stooges are only there to agree with her, not to think for themselves, so it doesn't matter if she does all the deciding), the idea that we have trouble retaining Village employees, because we don't pay enough.  So we should increase the salaries of our two highest paid people: the Manager and the Police Chief.  (Who were not reported to have expressed feeling underpaid, or to have asked for an increase.)  None of this made the slightest bit of sense.

Like every Village meeting for over the past year and a half, it was really the Tracy Truppman Show, Starring...Tracy...Truppman.  And Tracy worked hard on this episode of the show.  She was noticed spending inordinate amounts of time at Village Hall with Krishan Manners this past week-- Saturday included.  It was very clear that the budget was not Krishan's, as budgets are supposed to be.  It was Tracy's.  And since Tracy has limited herself by having refused to develop and commit to a vision, the budget didn't reflect anything.  It didn't signify anything.  It was just a bunch of numbers, which Tracy and her assistants then adjusted.  In no real direction at all.

PS: To be entirely fair to the majority, Issa Thornell and Dan Keys were in fact able to convince Tracy to allocate money to resod and maintain the field at the recreation center.  So thanks, Issa and Dan.

(The) One Thing the County Does Great!

I said it was "the" one thing the County does great.  Roxy Ross gave me a look, like the County does other things great.  I asked her to name one.  I imagine she'll get back to me.  She and Chuck did agree that the County's library system is very good.

I go to lots of entertainment.  I go to several venues.  Venues have their physical spaces, and they have their programming.  Some have good physical spaces, some have great programming.  Depending on the venue, parking can be free, or it can be a pain.  The staffs can be friendly and helpful, or they can be aloof.

It's County spaces that turn out to be the best.  My favorite place of all, anywhere, is South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center (SMDCAC).  It's run by the best impresario I have known.  His name is Eric Fliss.  The building is new and exquisitely interesting architecture.  SMDCAC has three rooms.  It has a regular auditorium with hundreds of seats at about three levels.  It has a "black box" cabaret room with small tables and about 120 seats.  And it has another room in an adjacent building.  I've seen one play in that room in the other building, and a ballet and a modern dance show.  Ticket prices at SMDCAC are low.  Parking is free.  The staff are like your BFFs.  The acoustics are very good.  The only problem with SMDCAC, for us, is that it's in Cutler Bay.  It's 27 miles down I-95 and US 1, and it takes over an hour to get there.  It's quicker and more miles, and you have to pay tolls, if you take 836 to 826, then the turnpike.  I subscribe to more than half of what they show each season.  Maybe it's 3/4 of their offerings.  I've been there two days in a row, and even twice in the same day.  I love this place.  You can find their offerings at smdcac.org.

The (Miami-)Dade County Auditorium is at 29th Avenue and W Flagler St.  It's an older place, and the room is a bit weird.  The stage is a little too high for the seating.  But they have terrific shows there-- I have seen the best flamenco shows I've ever seen at MDCA,-- ticket prices are low (senior discount for me!), and parking is free.

I didn't realize until tonight that the Sandrell Rivers Theater is a County venue.  It's a new building at the corner of NW 7th Avenue and 61st St.  I've probably been there half a dozen times.  Very interesting and well-done shows.  I've heard concerts, seen plays, seen dance, and watched a movie there.  Very low prices (tonight's show was free, and they invite you to make a donation).  Parking is free, and it's in an inside multilevel structure.  The people there are very nice.

I think the Arsht Center is a County venue.  I mention it for completeness.  I don't mention it because I like it.  I don't.  Some of the programming is excellent, and some is disappointing.  Ticket prices are high.  The staff are adequately cordial, but they're not particularly interested.  Parking is annoying, expensive, or both.  Considering the ticket prices, seating is not very comfortable.  The acoustics are good enough, more or less.  It depends on which room you're in.  I no longer go to anything at the Arsht, unless I have to, because what I want to attend is only there.  It happens.  But I skip otherwise enticing events, because I don't want to go to the Arsht.  One factor is that it's too expensive.

If you can be bothered with the drive, anything at SMDCAC is well worth the trip.  There's a wide range of offerings there.  If you like flamenco, MDCA should not be missed.  The Sandrell Rivers Theater is funky, and the offerings are interesting.  The County underwrites all of these venues.  They keep ticket prices very low at all of them.  It's a funny thing that the County would preserve this function: advancing arts in Dade County.  But they do, and they do an excellent job of it.