"Play Ball"

The clock is now ticking.  Chuck Ross laid out money for a new sculpture for the Village.  The sculpture is called "The Ballplayer," and the sculptor is Steven Zaluski.  The Commission has agreed to receive this sculpture, if it is offered to the Village.

Dan Keys and eight others of our neighbors chose a spot for this sculpture, and the spot is in Griffing Park, across the street from the log cabin.  As of today, "The Ballplayer" is there.

Chuck says he'll give us one year to raise the money to buy it for the Village.  It would be a bit embarrassing if it took us more than about one month, but let's see what we can do.  Chuck was able to buy this sculpture for $6000.  If enough of us chip in to reimburse him for most of that price, the sculpture will belong to the Village.  This happens if every resident of the Park chips in less than $2.  Or if every homeowner chips in about $4.  If 600 of us chip in $10 each, it will be more than Chuck wants.  (He wants to make his own substantial contribution, or, as he puts it, he wants to leave a nice piece of the $6000 "on the table.")  We run into the same excess if 200 of us chip in $30 each.  100 of us contributing $60 each gets us to the same not-strictly-necessary place.  We'll use the excess to install nice low landscaping around the bottom of this sculpture, as there is around the other piece in Griffing Park.

Drive by Griffing Park.  Take a look at "The Ballplayer."  It's right on 6th Avenue, just south of the northeast corner of the park.  Do you like what you see?  Would you like the Village to keep this always?

If you do, and you would, make a donation.  Write a check to the Village, and memo it "Ballplayer fund."  Give it to someone at Village Hall.  Get your friends to do the same thing.  I'll try to keep track of how much is donated, and I'll provide updates.

The Temptation is to Think It's Just My Imagination

One of my exercise routines involves walking the circumference of the Village early in the morning.  It's usually about 7:00 to 8:00 for the one hour walk.  Part of my course is the length of Griffing, from 9th Avenue (near the track at the southeast corner of the Village) to 121st St.  I walk in the street, until cars come, at which point I take to the medians.  I'm a little bit conspicuous, not only because I'm walking in the street, but because I wear a weight vest, which looks like a bullet-proof vest.  Some people ask me if that's what it is.

There isn't much going on at that time of day, and not much to look at, other than the houses and the cars.  I have gotten to thinking about those cars, the ones that are moving, the ones I have to avoid, and I wonder what the drivers are about.  I suspect they are mostly visitors, passing through the Village on their ways to work, although some are definitely Village residents leaving the Village for their work days.  Some are delivering children to schools.

I wonder what we look like to them, and if they notice us at all.  It's common to see people looking straight ahead, as perhaps they should be, and not infrequently on their phones.  I'm not sure I think they should be doing that, especially since it appears none of them use hands-free headsets.  I think we're invisible to these people, apart from offering them roadways.

So I have devised a habit.  Whenever a car passes me (I walk against traffic, so oncoming drivers will clearly see me, and vice versa), I wave to the driver, and I smile at them.   My fantasy is that I am making unexpected contact with them.  I'm making us less anonymous and inanimate.  I'm giving them a reason to think about us.  I tell myself I'm creating a kind of relationship with these people, and that because of that relationship, the Village will become more real and alive to them, and that they might even care about us.   This could lead them to do certain things like driving more carefully.

There are a few reactions I elicit from my new friends.  One is a wave and smile in return.  Funny enough, some of them wave at me more animatedly than I wave at them.  I suppose it's not entirely a good thing, but sometimes, it's even the people who are using one hand to hold a cell phone to their ears who then use the other hand to wave.

This brings me to a digression.  I very much object to people being on the phone while they're driving, especially when they're holding the phone.  Not only are they paying attention to the call instead of the driving, but they're using a whole hand that should be operating the vehicle, and they're keeping their necks rigid, so it's not doing other things, like turning their heads so they can see what's going on around them.  I tried to propose a Village Ordinance against using a cell phone without a hands-free device while driving, but the State won't let us restrict like that.  So my next thought is that we have our police stop such drivers, have a friendly chat with them about the importance of paying full attention while driving, and offer to sell them a hands-free device on the spot.  We could have a selection of such devices in each cruiser.  An attention-getter for drivers, a safety improvement, and revenue for the Village.  No?

Anyway, back to my friendly outreach campaign.  I have actually convinced myself that I'm accomplishing something with this maneuver.  Not only do I make contact, and elicit the return gestures, but I think the desired end result is happening.  I can hear the cars slow down.  That was my first thought.  My second thought was that this was just an auditory illusion, created by the change in the direction of sound waves as the car moves from approaching me to distancing itself, as it passes.  But on those occasions when I bother to turn my head, I see enough brake lights that I really do believe these drivers are slowing down.  I have achieved my goal.  I may look like an inane idiot, wearing a bullet-proof vest and waving at strangers, but I think I, and we, are different to these otherwise passers-through.  And that was what I wanted.

Dark Clouds. Silver Lining.

What a week that was.  It seems as if everything crashed.  I was having car trouble, and my car was seemingly irretrievably in the shop.  My dehumidifier crashed.  It started turning itself off, declaring the water tank full, when there was little or no water in the tank.  My computer crashed.  In retrospect, I think it was already giving up the ghost, but it finally quit.  The TV went belly up.  It, too, like the dehumidifier, kept turning itself off.  I would turn it back on, and it would immediately turn itself back off.  One day, Thursday, I couldn't go anywhere (no car), I couldn't work (no computer), and I couldn't even watch a movie (no TV).

So I managed to replace the car, which took about three days, given all the mishaps.  I had never driven, much less owned, a diesel car before, and my neighbor, Jose Subias, swears by them.  Other people speak very highly of them, too.  I read up and thought I'd take a chance, while I wait for a more reliable electric car that has enough range and doesn't cost too much.  The VW Golf Diesel was my favorite, but the Jetta was cheaper.  I like the Jetta, and I've found two nearby gas stations that sell relatively low-priced diesel fuel.

I went to Home Depot, where I got the dehumidifier a couple of years ago.  They couldn't help, even to sell me a new one.  For who knows what reason, the day before I went was dehumidifier purchase day, and their inventory was gone.  I called the customer service number for LG, and they said I was welcome to go to their authorized service center in Broward and pay for a repair.  When I got home, frustrated at least, I tried the dehumidifier one last desperate time, and suddenly it worked.  I'm not asking any questions.

Last night, I went to Best Buy to get a new TV.  I got the cheapest one they had.  What's that about getting what you pay for?  I'll return it one day this week.  The correction will remain unaccomplished for now.

I called my go-to computer guy, Chuck Ross, to see if there was anything I could do about a non-functional 4-5 year old computer.  Not in Chuck's hands, there wasn't.  So he put me onto the best news of the week: Richie Strassberg.  Richie lives in the Park, on about 120th St somewhere between 7th and 8th Avenue, I think.  I'm not sure if Chuck said something like "if it can be fixed, Richie can fix it," but he might have.  I know Richie from around, and he actually did a car job for me some years back.  I doubt he remembers.  Richie fixes cars, and computers.

So Richie came promptly to my house, breezed in with a placid and knowing smile (he's like John Elway in that he always looks like he's smiling), and whisked my computer away.  He sort of said it could be this, or it could be that, but whatever it was, he'd fix it.  He told me the good news, and the slightly less good news, which somehow sounded like this repair was not going to cost me too much.  He didn't say that, but I was either reading between the lines, or just being hopeful.

Two days and a couple of confirming phone calls later, Richie delivered my computer.  It now has a new hard drive, and the new one has three times the capacity of the old one.  It works perfectly.  Richie installed everything I needed, in some cases without needing to ask.  I won't say the repair was embarrassingly inexpensive.  It wasn't.  But it was very reasonable, and the service (calls) was more than I could have asked.

Richie tells me he mostly fixes PCs.  He has a neighbor who fixes Macs.  I have no reason not to recommend Richie with complete enthusiasm.  I asked his permission, and he said he didn't mind.  Sometimes, he advertises in the newsletter.  I hope you don't have computer problems, but if you do, you can call Richie at 305-891-1927.  He calls himself Richie's Computer Garage.  Cute, huh?  If you have Mac problems, you can call Richie and ask him how to reach his neighbor.

Rooting for the Laundry

If you're not familiar with this term, it is a sarcastic view of sports fandom.  It applies most specifically to people who are fans of professional sports.  A complaint about sports, especially professional sports, is that there is little dedication between the team and the players.  Players, as well as coaches and others, come and go.  Sometimes they are traded or fired, and sometimes they move themselves from one team to another.  This year's darling is next year's enemy, or vice versa, depending on which team he (or she) represents in the given year.  Clevelanders, for example, loved LeBron James, until he jumped ship and went to Miami, at which point they hated him, until he rejoined the Cavaliers, so now they love him again.  The idea is that fans aren't really rooting for anything.  They root for whoever plays on their team at a given moment in time.  They're rooting for the concept of their team.  They're rooting not for the player, but for the uniform.  They're rooting for the laundry.

Last night, we had two meetings.  The first was a consideration as to how to proceed with the annexation project, and the second was the first budget "workshop."  What we learned from some "fans" is that there is no need to annex anything.  We're not in fiscal trouble.  If anything looks like fiscal trouble, it's funky bookkeeping, or it's one-time events that will not (in the imagination of some) recur.  And besides, annexation is not good for BP.  It will cost more than it earns, or not much less than it earns, or it will take too much time to earn what will help us.  And some BP residents just don't like the idea.  They like BP as it is.

Speaking of BP as it is, let's not forget what a crime it was that a majority of the Commission agreed to outsource sanitation.  Last night's meetings had nothing to do with sanitation, but the harangue continued.  We can improve finances without outsourcing this function, we were told again, and besides, our sanitation employees don't want this function outsourced.  We will have thrown them and their careers and livelihoods "under the bus."  Or so we were invited to fantasize.  And we are reminded that those criminal Commissioners who reasoned that outsourcing would be best for the Village can expect to be recalled.

The proposed budget, too, is faulty, according to some.  Close scrutiny indicated that it contains unnecessary expenses.  As proof, by the way, that we're not really in fiscal trouble, there is a projected $41K surplus in our $2.2M budget.  That this does not remotely allow us to address any of our serious structural problems is treated as irrelevant.

We pored over the budget, and we have found some ways to save money.  Two of these opportunities exist within the way we manage our police function.  First, we can, at the next union negotiation, try to rescind the cruiser take-home benefit we bestowed on our officers, in lieu of a more competitive salary.  If we own fewer cars, and keep them in the Village all the time for use every shift, we can reduce our yearly vehicle expense.  In exchange, we will wear them out quicker.  They will need replacement sooner.  It is not clear whether one plan is better than the other, or whether it will be a wash.

But the second opportunity may represent real savings.  Instead of having two officers, plus the Chief, on duty for each daytime shift, we could have one officer, with the Chief as backup.  The police department is our largest single expense, and if we could possibly reduce manpower, maybe supplementing with reserves (who are vastly cheaper than regular officers), we might see a noticeable and favorable budget impact.

There is an image of Biscayne Park: not only the image to the outside world, but the image to us, who live here and are the stakeholders and owners of the municipality.  One speaker last night, in suggesting why we should get competitive bidding on service contracts, asked us to imagine the caution we would take if we were managing projects in our own homes.  That's good advice.  In fact, we should view the Village as a whole as our home.  The speaker didn't say that.  I'm saying it.  The Village's physical condition, as well as its fiscal condition, should be our concern.  As more than one Village resident has urged, we need strong Codes and dogged compliance with them.

It's not just abstract ideas of what this Village is about.  If it's about being a little upside down triangle, without an east-reaching handle, and if it's about having our own sanitation function, then why isn't it about a fully manned police force?  And why isn't it about beautiful medians?  Why isn't it about the quiet and security of a barrier along the railroad track?  Why isn't it about the pride of property ownership long-time residents remember?  Wouldn't we take our neighbor's advice, and invest with care and devotion?  Our neighbor wouldn't plan a job based only on one estimate.  Would she decide to leave her home in disrepair, because she'd rather not spend the money?

Slogans and banners about how we don't need annexation, and what a shame outsourcing sanitation is, are empty talking points.  They are disingenuous pandering.  They are disrespectful of reality.  They ignore, at best, that annexation doesn't change us at all, except to provide a broader and more diversified tax base.  They ignore that outsourcing sanitation is structured to leave us with better service performed by the same people (who will be better paid), more reliably, and for less money and strain on the PW Department.  These slogans and banners amount to no more Village dedication and pride than rooting for the laundry.  They are not about Biscayne Park.  They are about a goofy and insubstantial caricature-- a ghostly effigy of the Park.  They portray devotion to the real Village as much as rooting for the laundry portrays interest in the real team, or the sport at all.

You Busy in Mid-October? Pricey, but Interesting.

Press Release: SEED festival miami

20SundayJul 2014

Posted by Sage in Events

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Miami, vegan

SEED MIAMI, THE FIRST PLANT-BASED FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL IN THE COUNTRY, WHICH TAKES PLACE THIS OCTOBER IN AND AROUND MIAMI AND HER BEACHES, ANNOUNCES STELLAR LINEUP OF CELEBRITY CHEFS AND SUPERSTAR SPEAKERS

SFWF Adds James Beard Award Nominated Chefs, Bestselling Authors and Renowned Speakers to its Five Day Festival Schedule.

MIAMI, FL (June 24, 2014) – The Seed Food & Wine Festival 2014 (SFWF), an annual gathering that celebrates spirits, craft beer, fine wine and all kinds of plant-based cuisine while raising health awareness, is overjoyed about the support it is receiving from some of the biggest names in the vegan community.

SFWF has signed a stellar cast of celebrity chefs, authors and health experts to appear at the Festival, starting with the world’s leading raw food chef and best-selling author, Matthew Kenney Cuisine; 2014 James Beard Award nominees Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby; and author Brendan Brazier, a former professional Ironman triathlete considered to be one of the world’s foremost authorities on plant-based nutrition.

Kenney, an entrepreneur, bestselling cookbook author, culinary educator and celebrity chef, has earned several accolades, such as being named one of “America’s Best New Chefs” by Food and Wine Magazine, earning the French Culinary Institute’s “Outstanding Graduate” award, being named a “Rising Star Chef” by PBS, two nominations from the James Beard Foundation in the “Rising Star Chef” category and Veg News magazine’s “Chef of the Year.” He will also be opening his first Miami location, this winter in the Wynwood area, White Lotus.

The charismatic Kenney has also owned several highly regarded eateries in New York, appeared on various television talk shows, and served as speaker of the popular TEDxOKC Talk in 2011. In order to spread his extensive knowledge the master chef also founded the Matthew Kenney Academy, the world’s first raw food culinary institute. Vegan foodies attending the SFWF’s intimate dinner events, one of which will be hosted by Matthew Kenney Cuisine, are in for a one-of-a-kind experience.

Landau and Jacoby own and operate Vedge, one of the most lauded vegan restaurants in the country. Landau is widely recognized for wowing the judges on the popular Food Network’s series, Chopped. His creative and flavorful use of such basket ingredients as chia seeds, dandelion greens and tempeh garnered Chef Landau the win last year, making him a Season 15 Chopped champion.

The husband and wife team are also co-authors of vegan cookbooks Horizons: New Vegan Cuisine and Vedge: 100 Plates Large and Small that Redefine Vegetable Cooking, a bestseller widely hailed by such respected authorities as Publisher’s Weekly and the Chicago Tribune. Vedge was also named one of the “10 Best Cookbooks of 2013” by Entertainment Weekly.

Celebrity chef and Chopped judge, Amanda Freitag, has spoken highly of the couple’s culinary abilities, their restaurant and their cookbook, saying, “Rich Landau is a highly skilled, inspirational chef who always makes me happy with his food and his energy. He and his wife Kate have created an incredible restaurant in Philadelphia and a work of art in this book. Vegan? Yes! Magic, no . . . this is pure passion at work!”

Seed Food & Wine Festival
Midtown Miami | 110 NE 36th Street | Miami, FL 33137
Saturday, October 18, 2014 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Keeping its promise to bring together the best, most widely recognized and highly respected plant-based diet authorities together, SFWF is proud to include Brendan Brazier as one of the hosts and speakers at the inaugural SEED Food & Wine Festival. Brazier, a two-time Canadian 50km Ultra Marathon Champion and author of the bestselling Thrive cookbook series as well as co-founder of Thrive magazine, is scheduled to host not one, but two SFWF events. In addition to hosting an educational workshop on Festival Day, Brazier will co-host SEED’s VIP Cocktail Party with Maranda Pleasant, filmmaker, founder and publisher of one of the bestselling magazine about conscious living, Origin, and co-founder with Brazier of bestselling magazine, Thrive.

Also on hand will be award-winning chef, author and activist Mark Reinfeld, dubbed the “male equivalent to a vegan Rachel Ray” by Publisher’s Weekly; distinguished chef and alumnus of both the International School of Detoxification and the Matthew Kenney Academy, Nicolas Torrent; farm-to-table activist and chef, Robbie Errichetti of Thyme Catering and Loba restaurant in Midtown Miami, and Juice Goddess, Dr. Etti, with more chefs, health experts and celebrities to be announced.

In the spirit of paying it forward and promoting conscious plant-based living around the world, SFWF is donating the proceeds from all its ancillary events to Farm Sanctuary, the nation’s largest and most effective farm animal rescue and protection organization; and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a nonprofit organization that promotes a plant-based diet, preventive medicine, and alternatives to animal research through education and outreach.

Plant-based diets lower cholesterol and high blood pressure, as well as lower the risk for obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. Such diets are also eco-friendly and promote an end to animal cruelty. SFWF will demonstrate that plant-based diets are not only healthy, but delicious by providing the 5,000 estimated attendees with five full days of delectable vegan food, wine, spirit and craft beer samples, as well as cooking demonstrations and educational workshops.

Tickets and passes to the five days of festivities go on sale July 15th with prices from $10 to $125 per event or a all inclusive vip experience for $375. Follow the Seed Food & Wine Festival on Twitter and Instagram: @SeedFW and Facebook: Facebook.com/seedfoodandwine or on the web athttp://www.seedfoodandwine.com.

"Global Warming" (This is Not About Partisan Politics)

I have cousins whose politics are diametrically different from mine.  There are a few recurring topics of debate, and one of them is "global warming."  My cousins are "climate change deniers."

There are three arguments made by people who do not want climate change addressed.  One is that climate change is not caused by people.  The second, and related, is that people cannot reverse or even impede climate change.  But the real stalwarts of the anti-climate change argument assert that there is no climate change.  There is no global warming.  It's all made up, and the assertion that there is climate change is invented by people who either want to profit from this assertion, or they just want to make a name for themselves.  Actually, one of my cousins even sent an article that argued that there is global cooling.

This is how this debate regularly goes.  The closest either of my cousins has come to acknowledging what appears to most of us to be painfully obvious is to cite observations of an average global temperature increase of about 1.5 degrees F in the past century.  Apart from that one tentative accession, the debate never moves.  Until today.  One of these guys sent me the following link:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/11/miami-drowning-climate-change-deniers-sea-levels-rising

I don't know why he sent it.  I don't know if he thinks the article is tongue-in-cheek.  It's very unlike him-- unheard-of, actually-- to concede any point about anything.  But he did send this link.  Maybe he was making tangential fun of me, almost like a non sequitur, for living in Miami.  He lives in Connecticut.  I replied, telling him it was an interesting article.  Which it is.  And that's all I wrote.

The fact is I like my cousins.  I'm very fond of them.  As much as our political debates unnerve all of us, it's personally reassuring and pleasing to have a little conciliation like this.  Mostly, I am branded as a lefty, a socialist, sometimes a Communist, I'm accused of failing to listen to reason, and I am declared disqualified.  It's nice to find out they themselves, or at least one of them, can keep an open mind.

"Top Heavy." "Too Many Chiefs?"

You don't talk to too many people in Biscayne Park before you hear from someone who is complaining about Village Hall.  The specific complaint is what many perceive as an awful lot of "staff" for such a small municipality.  It was only eight years ago that we had no Manager and no Assistant to the Manager.  We had five Commissioners, a Clerk, and a couple of other employees, including a part-time Finance person.

It's true that the Commissioners had much more responsibility and got more money than they do now, and the Clerk was, um, haphazard.  It's also true that the Village was not run efficiently, and that many important (essential?) functions did not get done, or at least not done well.

A Charter Review Committee at the time determined that we could not continue responsibly this way, and that we should have a professional municipal Manager, who would run all operations.  The Committee had no trouble convincing the Commission of this recommendation, and the Commission unanimously agreed to surrender its authority to a Manager.  The Commission put its money where its mouth was, too, and decreased its own salary.  Because this functional change required a change in the Village Charter, the matter was submitted by referendum to the residents of the Park, and they, too, agreed.

So we hired a Manager.  Was the first bicycle you ever got, or the first guitar, or the first car, or the first house, top of the line, luxury, no expense spared?  Mine, neither.  We learned a little bit about what it's like working with a Manager, and we decided to upgrade.  It's like every other educational opportunity: we learned something, and we paid for the tutorial.

Most of us thought our second Manager was terrific.  Some of us didn't approve of her.  She accomplished a great deal for the Village, and she tightened things up very considerably.  I never heard anyone say she wasn't a very hard worker.  When she told us she needed an assistant, for whom we would have to budget a good piece of change, she got some distinct resistance.  Not enough to prevent a Commission majority approval, but enough to leave some ill feelings among some Village residents/tax-payers.  Some of that continues to this day.  It wasn't always easy for Ana Garcia to explain, to enough people's satisfaction, exactly what Candido Sosa-Cruz does, and why his contribution is important to the functioning of Village Hall and the whole neighborhood.  Then, and even now, some people simply don't believe Candido accomplishes that much, or has that many responsibilities, or is that important.  And that's sometimes the bottom line: they simply don't believe or accept it.

Ana left, Candido stayed, Heidi Shafran joined us, and Candido is still here.  Questions about that again?  You bet.  What is it exactly these people, Ana/Heidi and Candido, do?  Can it really be that much, and take that much time?  Is it worth what we pay?  Explanations about delineated responsibilities and even accomplishments do not reassure all questioners.

We have now outsourced the sanitation function of our Public Works Department, over which Candido has supervisory responsibility.  The question is quickly raised as to whether that substantial reduction in Candido's responsibility might (must?) mean that we either don't need an Assistant to the Manager, or at least not a full time employee in that position.  I wondered, others have asked me, and you can be very sure I have asked the Manager.  Here is the response.

Candido unquestionably works hard and full time or more, doing what he is doing.  As is true of so much of what should be Village functioning, there are many things we don't do.  Things we can't afford to do.  Things which Candido might be doing, if he had the time, and if we had the money.  If we didn't outsource, Candido had his work more than cut out for him.  He and Heidi would have been quite busy reorganizing and managing our PW/Sanitation Department.  With outsourcing of sanitation, one of the benefits is increased income to the Village, and some of that income is substantial.  It is so substantial that it will allow us to do things we could never do before.  Things like road maintenance.  If Candido has less PW oversight responsibility, he will have new responsibility in other areas.  This is what I have been told, and I believe it.

I'm not a municipal manager.  I don't manage a business, except my own tiny personal professional business.  We went to trouble to find and hire someone we thought would be a great municipal manager.  We wanted someone who knows a lot more about this than we do.  If Ana, and Heidi, tell me we need an Assistant, and they give me what sound like good enough reasons why we do, I am in no position, nor poised, to second-guess them.  My hypothetical reason to doubt them would be to think that either or both of them are lazy, and they just want someone else to do work for them.  And that they both care so little about the Village that they don't mind stressing Village coffers to buy themselves a glorified gofer.  This is not what I believe to be true.

Candido has recently accepted a bigger and better-paying position.  Heidi is faced with the idea of replacing him.  She has told us she intends to "underfill" the position.  She intends to hire someone with less responsibility, and who will accept less pay, than Candido.  I don't know whether this makes sense.  I don't know, and will find out, what motivates Heidi in this choice.  The question for me is how we will get the tasks accomplished.  If a Manager, or an Assitant to the Manager, no longer has to supervise the sanitation function of the Public Works Department, good.  Either we need less help from Village Hall, and they can reduce staffing, or they can apply themselves to other tasks: tasks we didn't have the manpower, money, or wherewithal to do before.

Whether we have an Assistant to the Manager, or how much of one, or how much we pay this person, is not my concern.  Elevating the Village, and providing for ourselves what we as a municipality deserve, is very much my concern.  At the moment, we are failing in our responsibilities to ourselves.  No self-respecting municipality should have streets like ours, drainage problems as we do, and medians that look like ours.  We should not do without relatively inexpensive upgrades, like security cameras and a public address/recording system.  We should not have to hope for grants from someone in order to maintain ourselves.  This needs to change.  It's certainly true we need more revenue.  We also need more initiative and organization.  I think Candido did a great job.  I will miss him, personally and for the work he did.  If Heidi can do her own job and his, I'll be happy to have her do it, and save us the money.  If Ana could have, I'm sure she would have.  Frank didn't have an assistant.  He also didn't do anything.  Should we do the math?

It Doesn't Seem Worth the Trouble, But It Very Definitely Is. More Peruvian Food.

I got a lead onto two places to get what was billed as excellent Peruvian food.  The lead came from a Peruvian person, who told me that Peruvian food is certifiably "the best food in the world."  As if someone did a test and provided an acceptable rating.  I'm just telling you what someone else told me.

I was further told that these two places, which are side by side, are owned by the same Peruvian genius chef/entrepreneur.  His name is Juan Chipoco.  Among other things, he is said to have invented a recipe for cooked sweet potato, that this recipe is served all over Peru, and that Juan Chipoco is rich on account of royalties or something paid to him by all the Peruvian cooks who serve his patented sweet potatoes.  For all I know, these stories are apocryphal nonsense, but they are the stories which were told to me.

Here's the trouble.  Both places are in downtown Miami, on NE 3rd Avenue, at about 1st Street.  One is called CViche 105 (it's at 105 NE 3rd Ave), and the other is called Pollos y Jarras, immediately north of CViche 105.  If you haven't stopped reading this review yet, valet parking is $10.  Being allergic to paying $10 to some valet to park my car, I drove 1 1/2 blocks west on 1st St, and paid $1.50 to park the car myself for an hour.  That's more like it.

I went to this trouble for a reason.  I wanted to find out what's so great about Peruvian food, although I already had a lesson at Tunky-Tunky, up our way.  I did not go to CViche 105.  Not only am I allergic to paying a valet $10 to park my car; I'm also allergic to standing on line for an hour to get a seat in a restaurant.  So I went to Pollos y Jarras.  It's much better to sit upstairs in the real restaurant than it is to sit at the bar downstairs.  It's more comfortable, and you can watch the World Cup, or whatever else they show on all the TVs on the walls.

CViche 105 appears to be distinctly trendy.  I'm not exactly allergic to trendy places, but I generally don't like them.  Pollos y Jarras is funky.  This is directly up my street.  The decor is brick and white panel with graffiti.  Nice, though.

Shortly after you sit down, you are brought a little arrangement of four dips.  It was not made clear what the purpose of these dips was, but they looked nice.  One looked like pickle relish, but it was very good.  Two looked mustard-based, and both were mild and delicious.  The other looked cream-based and tasted subtle, but good.  You are not brought bread, so the dips were not for that.  I used them for the fried yucca.  Maybe they're the Peruvian equivalent of chimichurri, and they should have been used on meat.  I don't know.  Not long after the dips arrive, a ramekin of green stuff is brought.  This ramekin turns out to contain a complimentary serving of soup.  As best I understood, the soup had chicken and vegetables in it.  It was thick, and it certainly had whole baby peas.  The soup was remarkably good: full of flavor and a little bit spicy.  As soon as you realize you got that fantastic little serving of soup for free, you start feeling very friendly to the place.  And once you look at the menu, and see the prices, you feel even more friendly.  After you've ordered and discovered how much food they bring you for that price, you wonder if you're falling in love.

I got ceviche, of course.  It happened to be the Ceviche Pucusana.  It cost $10.95.  I wouldn't say I've made a career of exploring ceviches, but I've had them enough times.  This one was by far the best I've ever had.  And there was a great deal of it.  The Buenas Yucas was served in a little metal basket, like a tiny version of the thing in which french fries are fried.  I'm estimating there were about six pieces, and the cost was $6.95.  A special dipping sauce was brought for the yucca, but I used all five sauces (the first four, and the special one).  What can I say?  I don't normally get fried yucca, but these were excellent.  They were not greasy, they were perfectly done, and they were hot (caliente, no picante).  They would have been fine on their own, but the sauces were perfect.  Ensalada de la Huerta sounded to me like the most interesting salad.  At $9.95, it was also tied for most expensive.  You and two of your friends could have shared the Ensalada de la Huerta.  It had tons of stuff in it, and ingredients included various lettuces, tomato, cheese chunks, artichokes, asparagus, and what I found to be the almost ubiquitous Peruvian corn.  You can see it whole when you walk in.  It has massive kernels.  It's also very tasty, both boiled and roasted, both featured in the salad.  The dressing was very good, too.

Oh, the chef/entrepreneur's special sweet potatoes.  This dish wasn't available as a side order (although I was told it is available at CViche 105), but a chunk was included in the ceviche.  It looks like what it is: a piece of cooked sweet potato.  It doesn't appear as if anything has been done to it, apart from baking it.  And it tasted like sweet potato.  Except it was unusually good.  If Juan Chipoco did something to the sweet potato, or used some rare species of sweet potato, it wasn't obvious, except that it tasted better than any other sweet potato I've ever had.

Two or three people could have had an adequate small meal sharing the items I ordered.  And not one of those items was an entree.  They have plenty of those, too.  I saw some gorgeous platters go by.  I also saw the parrillada, which is definitely on my list for when I bring a few friends.

I will certainly be back, trouble and all.  And I'll make my way to CViche 105, when it's less busy.  David Coviello and Harvey Bilt could easily walk there from Chopin Plaza.  Drew Dillworth and Roxy Ross would have a somewhat longer walk during the work day.  But far be it from me to discourage them.  It's well worth the trouble.

Wanna Fight? Talk to Joe Chao.

Or maybe you just want to learn some self-defense.  How about a good, low-impact workout?

Joe Chao works for the County.  That's his day job.  But his passion is martial arts.  He's an expert and a certified instructor in Muay Thai, Krav Maga, and Kung Fu.

On Thursday, June 26, Joe gave anyone who was interested a free, introductory lesson at the Recreation Center.  He had about 10-12 "students," some from the Park and some not.  I was the oldest.  Joe's son, Julian, about 8, was the youngest.  Most, but not all, of us were men or boys.  Many of us were in relatively good physical condition, but some were not.

Joe taught us basic Muay Thai moves.   Muay Thai is essentially Thai boxing.  We didn't touch each other, except in very controlled and gentle ways, and the focus was on learning the movement techniques.  We also learned some of the superficial examples of how they could be applied.

Joe's not looking to train people to fight with each other.  He's stimulating interest in something about which most of us don't know, he'd like to promote enthusiasm for a different way of moving and conditioning, he's an advocate of self-sufficiency, and above all, he's a devotee of safety.

What Joe wants to do is offer martial arts training as an ongoing program.  Some equipment is involved, although we didn't use any on Thursday, and he can get it at substantial discount.  He'd like interested people ("students") to commit to maybe two or three sessions a week.  For the sake of his passion, he'll provide this for a cost that is far below the usual market.  He's thinking of about $10 per person per session, or maybe $90 a month.  He estimates that the initial start-up, for the equipment, will be about $50, reflecting the excellent pricing he can arrange.

This isn't as easy and straightforward as it seems.  Joe needs liability insurance policies, which are not exactly cheap.  He also needs a commitment from potential students.  He'd like to do this in the Recreation Center for all sessions.

I will tell you this: I'm not exactly pugilistic.  I would not, normally, be looking to prepare myself to do combat with someone.  And my back has been acting up lately.  But I had a very good time, and I met some interesting people.  I got a decent workout, and that was with lots of breaks, so we could be taught the next technique.

If this might interest you, let Joe know.  He needs to make a presentation to the Village (Manager and Commission), and it will help him to know about how many people he might be serving.  You can reach Joe at Modern Martial Arts & Fitness: www.mma-f.com, modernmartialartsandfitness@yahoo.com, or call him at 305-542-5549.

Dependency Conflict

People are born completely dependent, although with some frustrations.  They don't get all their "needs" met.  They then strive for independence, although not without resistances, sometimes mutual.  Many of them then have someone who is dependent on them, though with plenty of tension, as development progresses.  And many of us end by being dependent once again.  No one escapes the first stage.  Not everyone experiences the third stage.  Likewise, some never experience the fourth stage.  The second stage is a bit up for grabs.

We wind up on a continuum of adaptation regarding dependency.  Some never really develop adequate independence, while others become fiercely independent.  Most of us fall somewhere between the extremes.  Many people expect the same adjustment of others that they work out for themselves, with one exception.  Those who remain comparatively dependent require someone else to do the providing.  The dependent ones don't always give careful consideration, or gratitude, to those on whom they depend.

As we always say to each other, our Village is unique.  One of its unique features is its peculiar limitation.  We have special charm, which translates to special value, but our properties are comparatively modest in value and price.  Since we can't depend for revenue on anyone but ourselves as property owners (one of our charms is that we have no commercial pockets to pick when we need money), we are limited in what we can provide for ourselves.  This leaves us with things we can't do, or at least not easily and without special exertion.  One of the ways some of us have thought of to confront that limitation is to try to rely on people who have nothing to do with us.  A popular mechanism is to pursue "grants."  But grants are not without complication.

This past weekend, I attended a three-day seminar sponsored by the Florida League of Cities.  The seminar was for recently elected municipal officials.  Many topics were presented, and one of them was about revenue.  Mention was made of grants, and the problems to which they can lead.  The bottom line, frankly, was that grants should be sought only after very careful consideration, and their complications must be kept in mind.  One statement made about grants is that they can cost more than they provide.  An example of that problem is grants that carry a requirement for upkeep or maintenance, and that requirement can sometimes exceed the wishes, expectations, or even ability of the beneficiary of the grant.

I'll give you two examples of the real or potential problems of grants.  We have a central park and recreation complex in the Village.  You might not know this, but the reason we have it, and the reason we could afford to develop it, was a contribution by a grant from the State of Florida.  But here's the problem.  The park and recreation area, because it was contributed-to by a State grant, does not exactly belong to us.  It belongs, in some sense, to everyone, including everyone in the State of Florida.  There have been times when some BP residents have wanted to claim, or as they thought re-claim, the park and recreation area, so that it would belong to us, and we could permit whom we want and exclude whom we want.  Nope, can't do it.  We took the grant money, and the park/rec is to be shared with anyone at all who wants to use it.  So some thought further of offering to reimburse the State, in effect to buy back the park/rec from them.  No, thank you, they told us.  We don't want the money.  We want you to keep the park open to everyone.

But you don't understand, we pleaded, we had to take a State grant.  We couldn't afford to do this on our own.  Oh, but we certainly do understand, the State replied.  The thing is, though, you took the money, because you weren't independent, and now you play by our rules.  That's the price you pay for being dependent.  You want to borrow money, don't go to the Mafia.  You want a grant, be very careful before you ask the State (your 19 million neighbors).

The second example is a potential one.  I don't know the details, and I don't yet know how they will come out.  Very recently, we received another grant from the State.  This time, it was for renovation and expansion of the log cabin Village Hall.  Funny enough, we applied for a grant for this purpose last year.  We requested $500K.  We didn't get it, because the Governor vetoed our application.  He didn't think the State should pay its money for something like renovation of the BP Village Hall.  This year, however, he's running for re-election.  Or he got new glasses.  Or he sharpened his pencil.  This year, we requested $1M, and the Governor didn't veto it.  So now, we have $1M to spend to renovate the log cabin, and add a wing for Village administrative services.  But the question is what requirements might come with the $1M.  We never kept the log cabin in proper condition, in part because we couldn't afford to.  But the structure is a "historic" one, and to keep it that way, we have to provide a certain style and level of maintenance.  Suppose the $1M grant holds us to that.  Suppose it requires us to do things our fiscal limitations, or inertia, or lack of ambition, never before permitted.  I'm glad the Governor didn't veto our application, and I will be glad we can now do what we never did before, but frankly, it makes me a bit nervous.  We are potentially now called upon to be responsible and independent in ways we never were before.  Can we handle that?  Are we up to it?

We have also sat idly by and allowed our medians to deteriorate, and our streets to crumble.  We do not provide proper lighting to various places in the Village, we have not updated a very marginal sound/recording system, and we can't even do tree maintenance unless someone cuts us an amazing deal, because they piggyback us onto someone else's contract.

It's perilous being dependent.  There are things you can't do, and shots you don't get to call.  We really need to think about that.  "Budget season" is about to be upon us.  We have a millage rate to consider, and we have to think through the idea of special assessments.  We have a lot of responsibilities as an independent municipality, and we have thus far failed to meet many of them.  The big decision is how independent, and how grown up, we want to be about this.

Obviously, the Village is not a person.  It's not even a small family.  It's a good size collection of people, some of whom have different ideas and expectations about independence than do others.  Hence, the "conflict."