OGM EVENT: Civic Activism Empowers Political Action

The point of this workshop is to teach you how to define the needs in the particular constituency around you and how to meet other people who are grieved by the same set of issues as you are for coalition-building. Politics happens locally. Remember this as you review the description of the presentations below that we'll go over Saturday. Remember, since government cant help but involve itself in your life you should return the favor.

1) How Homeowners and Neighborhood Associations can work for you Every honest and crooked politician had the same start in a small room somewhere debating with friends about running for office. It is argued that real change is a bottom-up process. The same is true of real corruption. So before a politician becomes a congressperson or president they first had to sharpen their teeth at city hall, which makes city hall the perfect place too to start real change and reform. City Hall actually has more to do with making decisions in your everyday life than any other public institution - this is where to pay attention to whenever your congressperson refuses to change their vote. Also, if you can identify allies in City Hall then it makes your job that much easier. Learn how City Hall is paid to listen to your complaints and do something about it. And what you can do if they don't. a. b. c. d. e. Local Example: Golden Pines Neighborhood Association Coalitions Work: Miami Neighborhoods United (a City of Miami coalition of associations) Personal Story about Parks: Concurrency and establishing new parks Speaking On The Record and the Sunshine Law: Holding public officials responsible for public policy Addendum: Get involved with existing civic organizations or start your own!

2) Empowering and Training Activists Starts at City Hall Having a title and representing a civic organization with a solidly established constituency gives you a clout with public officials who listen to you and let you go back to your local meetings with a good report. It is these same groups that are concentrated on identifying the "local issues" like community events, potholes, crime, urban blight where activists should first get experience in resolving. This also applies to other civic organizations such as Parent-Teacher Associations, Chamber of Commerce and Charitable Organizations. Of course, these are precisely the same groups that are the core of your constituency when you want to push for political reform. Learn to identify existing civic organizations around you or how to create one of your own. a. Rule #1: Find out about the needs in your community i. Crime is especially important. Check Crimemapping.com (daily updates of crime in your neighborhood) ii. Work Backwards: Find others who share your interests b. Rule #2: Learn as you reform! Call 311 i. Ask questions and learn from public employees who are paid to talk to you c. Rule #3: Get to know the people in government. They arent going away any time soon. i. Retired public employees make good activists. They have the time and angst to advocate reform.

Open Government Miami

http://opengovernmentmiami.blogspot.com

OGM EVENT: Civic Activism Empowers Political Action

3) Blogging for Transparent Government "Nothing happens in a vacuum" is a saying I have heard repeated to me many times and it also follows that negative reports are much easier to spread than positive reports. Here is where blogging comes in. Blogging whether an actual blog or micro-blogging on Facebook or Twitter have the affect of reaching your neighbors, friends and family who already like you and often think like you to get involved or at least start a firestorm of rumors and questions about a particular topic. Political blogging in South Florida has resulted in several high-profile corruption stories leading to investigations, arrests and political change in short order. Learn about the best political blogs in South Florida and their achievements. And how you can do the same. a. Introduction to Miami Political Blogs b. High profile public corruption stories blogs broke: Various residency requirement violations (like State Rep. Frank Artiles and Eddy Gonzalez and in North Miami Beach & North Miami); Various voter fraud stories (like Hialeah absentee ballot fraud); Outing Public officials intimidating political opponents and city vendors for benefits; First-to-report the failure of US Century Bank (despite TARP bailout); Keeping the local media, like The Miami Herald, and local politicians honest (fact checking) c. Addendum: List of Blogs and Web Addresses d. Know your ethics (the minimum standard of good behavior) a. Before you think a public official is doing wrong check with either county or state ethics commissions b. Miami-Dade County - Commission on Ethics & Public Trust http://ethics.miamidade.gov/ c. Florida Commission on Ethics http://www.ethics.state.fl.us/ 4) Money in Local Politics Todays Miami developed out of "The Scarface Economy" of the 1970s-80s. There are always special interests in politics. The dominating special interest in Miami spun out of the drug trade that developed Miamis real estate like the "Cocaine Towers", referring to Miamis downtown skyline. After the start of the drug war, the proceeds of the drug trade money found a home in new, legitimate industries that are the source of most of the incestuous politics we complain of today. These special interest groups are organized along various industry groups: Group #1 consists of Real estate and infrastructure developers, bank, the law (lobbying) and casino (at racetracks) stand apart. Group #2 consists of Tourism, hospitality, transportation, trade (Port of Miami) and automotive sales. Group #3 consists of BIG sugar and BIG citrus (think the Orange Bowl) and other agricultural products (like ethanol). Not all of these industries invest in your particular local political arena but a lot of them do. Learn HOW-TO identify where the MONEY in local politics comes from, what is the current MONEY model in politics in a larger sense across South Florida, and why it matters if you want to accomplish any meaningful reform locally. a. A Civics Review activism in Miami requires new vocabulary (Addendum: Miami Civics Terms) b. Cocaine Cowboys: Industry built on drug money (no scruples politics) i. Problem: Blood money built this city. Moral appeals do not work. You cant make politics personal. Youll just get eaten alive (sometimes literally). Open Government Miami http://opengovernmentmiami.blogspot.com

OGM EVENT: Civic Activism Empowers Political Action

c. d. e. f.

g. h.

Solution: Politely insist on your request until you get what your taxes are supposed to pay for. This is only asking public employees to do their job. They will eventually do it because they want you out of their way (presumably to go play golf or take an early and extended lunch). Banking, Real Estate, and Lobbying are tied at the hip (Addendum: Biggest donors in Florida by Industry) What campaign finance reports mean: Industry connections (Addendum: Campaign Finance Reports) Identifying new sources of money in politics: New Industries in the News Buying Elections (Voter Fraud): Absentee Ballot and Vote-buying (costs $20 to buy a vote; over $100 to convince a voter) i. Report Voter Fraud to Florida Division of Elections (850) 245-6200 and to the Miami-Dade County Elections Department (305) 499-8421 as soon as you see it happen Problems from Real Estate: Overdevelopment (Urban Sprawl) and Revitalization (Urban In-fill) Regulation makes $$$: New regulation always creates temporary, job scarcity in that industry (as new regulation requires the worker to be properly certified and regulated). Regulation is easier to manipulate in local government. Thoughtless regulation represents a moral hazard as it encourages the labor force into these alternatives where the first to get there makes the money. ii.

Open Government Miami

http://opengovernmentmiami.blogspot.com

OGM EVENT: Civic Activism Empowers Political Action

Addendum: Resource Guide

Creating Neighborhood Associations (not HOA) is essentially the same process as creating a non-profit corporation with the purpose statement: WE ARE A NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION AND OUR MAIN GOAL IS TO ENHANCE THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD. Some cities allow you to register your association as officially representing the area which offers certain benefits such as hearing about public policy changes coming to the area before they happen. If this is not the case in your area then simply introduce yourself as the neighborhood association to neighbors and politicians alike directly. You will recruit new activists and connect with already existing ones allow the way. Concurrency Requirements refer to Level of Service (LOS) Standards which applies to traffic times, mass transit, potable water, sanitary sewer, solid waste, flood protection, local recreation/open space (parks). Some of these requirements are strict guidelines that if the government is in breach of can be followed up with official complaints and even lawsuit. Bureaucracies make strict guidelines to satisfy LOS. But usually it is only when complaints are made that anyone does something about it (this is the Cover-Your-Ass syndrome). Speaking on the RECORD and the Florida Sunshine Law: All hearings are public and governed as quasi-judicial so all documents, emails, etc that are prepared for or by the government and those submitted by private persons are required to enter a permanent record (so we can hold the politicians accountable). The Florida Sunshine Law also requires all city business to be conducted in the open and on the record so no secret meetings between multiple city officials (especially legislative officers) are allowed since they are not on record. 311 Public Info Line: M-D County has an info line that can direct to the right people to make public complaints to and answer easy questions (or direct your call to someone who can answer a tough question). Establishing needs in the community: Just ask local businesses, neighbors, check community bulletin boards. List of Miami Political Blogs The Crespogram Report, http://www.crespogram.com Political Cortadito, http://www.politicalcortadito.com The Shark Tank, http://shark-tank.net Eye on Miami, http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com The Straw Buyer, http://thestrawbuyer.blogspot.com Random Pixels, http://randompixels.blogspot.com Votersopinion, http://www.votersopinion.com Miami Heralds Naked Politics Blog, http://miamiherald.typepad.com Miami New Times (Riptide Blog), http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide Photography is not a crime, http://photographyisnotacrime.com Homestead Is Home, http://homesteadishome.blogspot.com

List of County-Wide Newspapers

List of Community (local) Newspapers

The Miami Herald, http://www.miamiherald.com Community Newspapers, The Miami New Times, http://www.miaminewtimes.com http://www.communitynewspapers.com Miami News Today, http://www.miamitodaynews.com Biscayne Times, http://www.biscaynetimes.com The Sun-Sentinel, http://www.sun-sentinel.com

Open Government Miami

http://opengovernmentmiami.blogspot.com

OGM EVENT: Civic Activism Empowers Political Action

Addendum: Resource Guide

Where to find campaign finance reports and how to read them (federal, state, county and municipal) Federal: http://www.fec.gov/ (http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/candcmte_info.shtml) State: http://election.dos.state.fl.us/ (http://doe.dos.state.fl.us/PublicRecordsBER/wfPublicImagesBER.aspx) County: http://www.miamidade.gov/elections/ (http://www.miamidade.gov/elections/resources_election_results.asp) Municipal: Check on the municipal website or contact the city clerk

Biggest donors in Florida by Industry (from OpenSecrets.org)

Retired Securities & Investment Real Estate Lawyers/Law Firms Health Professionals Misc Finance $45,707,799 Pensioners & developers $17,994,935 $13,622,155 $11,694,272 $8,511,552 $7,039,813 Mostly wives of lobbyists

Homemakers/Non-income earners $5,784,140 Business Services Oil & Gas Misc Business $5,361,964 $5,146,568 $4,691,192

Recommended Resources: 1) 2) Video Documentary: Cocaine Cowboys available on Netflix and other streaming video services Book: Sins of South Beach The True Story of Corruption, Violence, Murder and the Making of Miami Beach by Alex Daoud (former Miami Beach mayor and convicted felon for public corruption) Book: Miami Babylon: Crime, Wealth and Power by Gerald Posner (Journalist and Pulitzer Prize for History) http://opengovernmentmiami.blogspot.com

3)

Open Government Miami

OGM EVENT: Civic Activism Empowers Political Action

Addendum: Resource Guide
4) Web Resource: Miami New Times, 2011 Best of Political Blogs http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2012-0119/news/miami-s-best-blogs-from-the-crespogram-report-to-political-cortadito/ 5) Web Resource: Rolling Stone, Goodbye, Miami (July 4, 2013), http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/whythe-city-of-miami-is-doomed-to-drown-20130620 Read about the Water Crisis and Turkey Point part of the story

General Civics terms: Sam Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Two-party system, grassroots, national committee, plank, delegates, nomination, third parties, petition, political party, open primary, political machine, platform, single-issue party, green party, caucuses, precinct, majority, plurality, runoff, Tammany Hall (Boss Tweed), pork, The Constitution, Bill of Rights, natural law, limited government, English Common Law, Republic, Congress, The White House, States rights, territory, state, nation Miami Civics terms: Alberto San Pedro, Ron Book, lobbyist, corruption, Cocaine Towers, BIG sugar, LBA, Belen, boletera, Beacon Council, urban sprawl, foreclosure, predatory developer, capital of Latin America, Everglades, low-income housing, Carlisle Group, Lennar, Turkey Point, UDB, CRA/DDA/CDD (TIF), CAFR, incorporation, Agenda 21, charter, referendum, residency requirement, subdivision, municipality, county, home-rule, plat, concurrency, impact fees

Dade County 1860s versus 2010s Keep the following in mind where reviewing these graphics: 1) The change in landscape from nature to urban 2) More Floridians now live in the suburbs than in cities 3) There are 40 municipalities in Miami-Dade County while Florida has just about 400 municipalities by itself (there are 67 counties) 4) Water politics of the past have led to serious issues in the present. Observe how the aquatic landscape has changed, especially the shape and size of Lake Okeechobee. 5) The last county to be created in Florida was 1925. We have antiquated political boundaries and for the most part that is also true regarding other forms of public policy.

Open Government Miami

http://opengovernmentmiami.blogspot.com