Retail plaza sells for $11M, a 36% gain

The Plaza 8 shopping center near West Miami sold for $11.45 million, a 36 percent gain from its last trade three years ago.

Mall9600 LLC, an affiliate of Key Biscayne-based AD4 Group, sold the 53,428-square-foot retail plaza at 9600 S.W. 8th Street and 909 S.W. 97th Ave. to Allegheny Capital Growth L.P. The sellers were represented by Cushman & Wakefield's Miguel Alcivar and Dominic Montazemi, plus Bill Strauss from WCl Properties.

The price equated to $214 per square foot. Retail property value…

My Dilemma on this Blog. By Geniusofdespair

I just can't couple the two words together for our new president. Somehow I believe if I don't type those two words, it won't be true for me. Or maybe it is because I don't want to puke. Yes, I know it is denial. But for years Josiah Bartlet  of the "West Wing" provided me with a president I could admire during the Bush years.

I have been thinking about this a lot. I can hack The Donald.  I suppose I could write: President The Donald.  Any other suggestions?

Fidel ... by gimleteye

I share the anguish of Cuban American friends who lost loved ones in the violence under Castro. For some, personal tragedies will be genetically imprinted and echo through generations. One could say, Castro's passing marks a time of healing.  Perhaps celebrations will help dissipate the pain he and his regime inflicted on families and friends. Perhaps. Miami has long projected an ethos -- hatred of Castro -- with mixed results. Castro projected his influence on Miami politics for generations and through Miami, the nation. His death will be not be a meaningful symbol unless we account for the architecture of personal and political catastrophe, here and across the Florida Straits. 

What we are reading ... Happy Thanksgiving! ... by gimleteye

An Open Letter to Stephen Bannon from the Seven Sisters Presidents
https://www.smith.edu/about-smith/president-kathleen-mccartney/speeches-media/speeches-messages/president-speeches-open

Trump's climate denial is just one of the forces that point towards war
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/23/donald-trump-climate-change-war

Jeff Sessions interview By Tony Perkins, Family Research Council, November 30, 2015
http://www.frc.org/wwlivewithtonyperkins/jeff-sessions-everett-piper

The Rockefeller Family Fund vs. Exxon
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/12/08/the-rockefeller-family-fund-vs-exxon/

Under Trump, NASA May Turn a Blind Eye to Climate Change
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/under-trump-nasa-may-turn-a-blind-eye-to-climate-change/

What So Many People Don't Get About the U.S. Working Class
https://hbr.org/2016/11/what-so-many-people-dont-get-about-the-u-s-working-class%3Chttps:/hbr.org/2016/11/what-so-many-people-dont-get-about-the-u-s-working-class%3E

Wynwood Zika designation lifted, leaving business leaders to reverse 'unseen losses'

Gov. Rick Scott visited Wynwood on Monday morning to officially declare the neighborhood Zika-free, lifting from the arts-and-entertainment destination a blemish that has in recent weeks caused a slump in business.

The announcement means that no new cases of the mosquito-borne virus, linked to birth defects in babies born to infected women, have been identified in the area in more than six weeks.

“Over the past few weeks, Floridians have worked together to prevent the spread of mosquitoes, take…

Comcast Xfinity Sucks Big Time. By Geniusofdespair

Comcast is so inferior to Atlantic Broadband.  SOOOO INFERIOR. Maybe our 5,762,000 page views will at least make Comcast take a look at their model with service calls and showing up -- which stinks.

Not only does Comcast Xfinity LIE. They Lie. We caught them in 1/2 a dozen lies. 2 we have on tape. And of course they don't show up for service calls. I stayed home for 3 service calls. Never showed.

I got this message yesterday: "They will be there in 20 minutes at about 4:40." Then about 4:30 we got a voicemail that said they were there but the building wouldn't let them, because on Friday after 4, Saturday, and Sunday trucks are not allowed in. Hah, I didn't believe them. I walked to the guard booth and asked the guard why we weren't called when Comcast Xfinity came. He said they were never here. He did say there was one Comcast Xfinity truck today. He said that truck was servicing another condo (it was 5:30). The Guard said the condo has no such weekend rule for Comcast Xfinity if the customer is home.  None.

The Guard said before becoming a Guard he was a Comcast Xfinity installer. The Guard said there is a scam at Comcast Xfinity with the installers. He said first they call you a couple of times (which they did but no one was on the line when we answered). Then they say you weren't home and then you are rescheduled by an automated voice with a random appointment. Meanwhile, you have been sitting there like a jerk for 3 hours and the NEW random appointment is a week out.

We also got a call from a garbled guy from dispatch who gave us a different story: They had an emergency and they were canceling our appointment. Then you couldn't understand anything he had to say.  We got disconnected a bunch of times from Comcast. Twice while making an appointment.

In one of the other cases, I was here for 3 hours no one ever showed. I called and they said I had no appointment. They insisted. Only thing is, I had a voicemail of the appointment time and date and the guy talking who scheduled it. The Comcast Agent wouldn't listen to it. In the first case, they just never showed up.

Will  4 times be the Comcast Charm? Fuck Comcast the worst company ever. I have spent 9 hours waiting for them so far. The part I hate: The lies.

In South Florida, Marco Rubio Is Sinking ... by gimleteye

Marco Rubio disagrees with Pope Francis.

"Pope Francis announced that caring for the environment should be added to the traditional Catholic works of mercy drawn from the Gospels and Christian tradition, such as feeding the hungry and sheltering the homeless. In a message released on Thursday, the pontiff noted that it is refugees and the poor who are most impacted by global warming." (Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, Sept. 1 2016)

Marco Rubio doubts climate change science and says there is nothing we can do about man-made climate change.

"Climate change ... is the greatest long-term threat facing the world, as well as a danger already manifesting itself as droughts, storms, heat waves and flooding." (Obama on Climate Change: The Trends Are 'Terrifying', NY Times SEPT. 8, 2016)

Marco Rubio won't meet with climate change scientists.

"When he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2010, Rubio ... stopped talking about green energy and climate and began openly questioning climate science. Miami geologist Harold Wanless, who has modeled sea level rise for local leaders, met Rubio at a fundraiser that year and handed him a letter, signed by scientists, requesting a meeting to brief him on the data. Rubio took the letter but never responded." ("South Florida Is Sinking, Where Is Marco Rubio?", cover story on Newsweek Magazine, Jan. 28, 2016)

In November, Florida voters can respond: no mas, Marco.

"Since the appearance of visible life on Earth, 380 million years had to elapse in order for a butterfly to learn how to fly, 180 million years to create a rose with no other commitment than to be beautiful, and four geological eras in order for us human beings to be able to sing better than birds, and to be able to die from love. It is not honorable for the human talent, in the golden age of science, to have conceived the way for such an ancient and colossal process to return to the nothingness from which it came through the simple act of burning fossil fuels." Adapted from Gabriel Garcia Marquez