Why don't they do Right? "Frist rule of a Miami City Commissioner - Lying."

MIAMI - City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff and stand-in Commissioner Richard Dunn II abandoned a project to "alleviate blight" in the Overtown and Omni neighborhoods so they might extend fuller budgets into their own offices.  Where does this sound familiar?   Hum mm?   Isn't Richard Dunn in office as a stand-in for Michele Spence-Jones, accused and slung out of office for the same kind of shenanigans with Barbara Carey-Schuler?  And where in the world, btw, would the Congressional Representative for this District be standing in all of this?  He's out campaigning for the Senate seat opening up as the Democratic candidate battling against a retooled Rethug who helped sweep over the state a few years back with predatory lending that has since created the housing / foreclosure crisis for so many Floridians; you know... Jeff Greene?.

 

There is some awesome despair in Overtown and Liberty City.  Poor?  The poor do better than these communities.  While Rep. Meek is out stomping for a better pay check and higher visibility, why doesn't he stop by his own district and check out the corruption?  Or is pay to  play politics his best hometown game?  

No one is speaking to what is sitting plainly out on the table for all to see.... where are the ethics and values (let alone the legality issues) of a city commissioner who gives monies earmarked for community projects (who have applied for them and been told they are going to receive them) over to her own companies?  Where are the concerns for her constituents?  In another fish fry or chicken dinner?   That's how you win a community?  Not in providing new jobs and new industry?  Not in drawing new opportunities into the community in valuing their culture and the art they are cable of inspiring and creating?  Not in an invitation to sustainable businesses who will value the people and their needs for stability?  Decade after decade city commissioners and politicians who pay to play and vice versa have kept Miami's poorest towns, Overtown and Liberty City, a hub of misery, crime and poly-ignorance.  An outdoor urban prison ... American inner city desperate, where you work as hard as you can to 'get out'.    Is it, in the end, simply too difficult to not become corrupted by money in the city of Miami?   It's certainly cement in the poorest of neighborhoods.  The communities 'trust their own' to do right.   So where is the "do right"? 

Barbara Carey-Schuler has declared that she did sign the letter that allowed Spence-Jones to give the monies to the proper city projects.   That would be a personalized health spa in Liberty City?!?  over the waiting and long committed projects of Osun's Village, Community Builders HDC is a 501 c-3, Harlan Woodard and Nathaniel Styles?   Or Marvin Weeks of Timbuktu arts gallery?  Both are trying to establish community interests offering some home grown opportunity in developing indigenous cultural / self awareness.

[To the left: Chief Nathaniel B. Styles, Jr. Olosun, Dillard University President Dr. Marvalene Hughes and Harlan E. Woodard with then Governor Charlie Crist. 2009]

Like I said, why in the world does the community keep trusting them?  I am told it is the occasional display of community care with fish Fry's or chicken dinners for the whole neighborhood.  You would think that the non-reciprocal nature of these politico's would wake citizens up.  And people trust their spiritual and religious leaders, some of whom have been happy to take a lil' graft sometimes too.   How else do these obvious cheats keep hauling the constituency to their side?   It certainly isn't in deeds.
How many of the people of Liberty City are employed by Michele Spence-Jones' spa?  Or her other family businesses?   I'd really like to know that.  How many tourists is it drawing in? 
I'm thinking one of the reasons that this urban blight stays put is because of this lack of leadership and abundance of cheating. 

Still, Timbuktu - Marvin Weeks has hung on.  Community Builders HDC - Harlan Woodard and Nathaniel Styles are keeping their faith, they continue to plan and work towards their dream of a sustainable arts program that brings business and tourism into the Osun's Village Caribbean corridor along 7th Ave in Liberty City.  Bless them.  They are up against it. 

[Thanks to Channel 7 for the title play.]

Much ado....about everything, especially baby sea turtles.

Down in Miami's District 13, Liberty City... news on the slung out of office City Councilwoman Spence-Jones.  It's another bait and switch story concerning a hand written note by prosecution witness (and indicted too!) Councilwoman Carey-Shuler.  [Prosecutors then cast the letter as a forgery -- part of a scheme by Spence-Jones to take over the $50,000 grant, originally intended for two other organizations.]  The dance here is one of tumble stumble and get up and do it again!  There is no question that the money's involved were improperly spent on Ms. Spence-Jones personally owned (or family named) businesses... the question is did she outright steal it out of the deserving hands of Liberty City artisans at Timbuktu and Osun's Village?  Carey-Shuler has changed her story from no she didn't authorize and give Spence-Jones the money to yes she did.  [Carey-Shuler now says she approved the payment Karym after MMAP officials told her that Spence-Jones' company was working with Osun's Village and Timbuktu.] Miami Herald 

Still, the proprietors of Osun's Village and Timbuktu said they had no such agreement with Spence-Jones and said letters to MMAP suggesting a partnership were either misleading or fake, court records show.

My friends... that's just what they call some big assed bullshit!  But the saga continues with Ms. Spence-Jones declaring her altruistic angelic political demonstrations for Liberty City and people suffering under the corruption of City Council hacks for generations seem to keep buying her ersatz promises that she is blameless.

So why should we support Kendrick Meek?  The FL Dems and Scott Maddox says to!  That's why!  Well, I'm not sheeple, and I'll bet you aren't either.   Mr. Meek's congressional record is no dazzler, it's a lack luster rank and file.  Contribute local demonstrations, not the days on the House Floor voting with an unerring Democratic policy standard throughout his 'step right into it' career,  then you have to wonder why ... would I vote for him?   He's not addressed the criminal issues of the Stackhouse scandal nor does he address the questions of his family pay to play politics for the last few years.   To my mind, that clearly isn't Senatorial behavior or material.  According to an article over at Politico, much of the Democratic Party in DC, though not voicing it, agree.  His support is thin, it dribbles in.   The President's support is in the form of all Democrat candidates (so far) and who might blame him?  Meek didn't back Obama until the very end ... still, that makes him loyal to those who he had promised fealty to.  Hillary.  No bad there...   I don't vote just because the party tells me to.  This is the awful truth in American politics these days... and it's another form of corporate politic-ing.   I refuse.  And I don't think that makes me an "Independent", because I hold the Democratic Party to a higher standard in political America and I don't think I should quit it just because I'm not voting for every Democrat to come down the pike.   That's a political blindness and absolutism.   Screw that.   In the end, I don't really question his effectiveness, he could end up being a titan.  What I question is what he has never addressed, what he has pushed aside or ignored.  The corruption of south FL pay to play politics .... all documented in the Miami Herald.  If he had explained his part in it, had addressed the affair and explained whatever might have been his tie to family in it... then I would respect his chances as a leader.  He did not.  He continues to avoid it.  Shame on him.   District 17 (his) is one of the neediest in the entire country.  He's been on the periphery of scandals in District 13 / Liberty City, another hugely needy community plagued with corrupt politico's who serve closely with Meek's retired Congresswoman mom, Carrie Meek as one of their 'consultants' ... which, lets face it!  Consultant in most circumstances is nice way to say government parasite.  I mean, after the hallmark service to this state and our country that Carrie Meek earned!  To be part of the Miami City Council corruption clique is just unbelievable.  Mr. Meek's district is not that much better off for his services.  He has achieved a great deal and I can't say his congressional work has failed his community.  It just hasn't changed it much and in one of the neediest in the country...  it is not what I expect especially with the challenges we face today.  

It's good to see that idjit Jeff Greene spending so much fluff money here in a state that he personally helped to shatter with predatory lending.  All these commercials are adding something to our state economy.  Fox channels are playing hell out of them.  Life long Rethug, running as a Democrat playing to the Glen Beckites left in what was blue FL in the last election.  Are we getting crazy yet?  In a state with 11% unemployment, Greene spends freely to convince you that he's your buddy, he's your pal and he'll fix all your troubles that he lies and snarks  Meek responsible for.  Wingnutters are supporting Rubio, though.  There's some real demonstrative ethics and solutions!  Under suspicion for defrauding the state and refusing to spend or tax to as cure all to our economical woes... typical no talent strategy by a corporate politico who is adjusting his bank account in a higher paying under the table job.  Crist has my eye, still.  I'm watching him closely now.  The situation on our west coast beaches keeps me focused on him.  It's our eastern beaches soon enough. 

Are you keeping some good thoughts for our Animal brothers and sisters of marine life in the Gulf?  Please do.  That other country within our boarders, Texas, has done the unthinkable!  They are releasing baby sea turtles by the thousands into the Gulf of Mexico.   [Federal biologists are releasing thousands of endangered baby sea turtles into the western Gulf of Mexico, betting that by the time the silver dollar-sized swimmers make it to the oil-fouled waters of the eastern Gulf, BP will have cleaned up its goopy mess.]  Miami Herald    You can bet your ass some Republican bureaucrat is responsible.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service are proceeding with the annual release of Kemp's ridley turtle hatchlings off Padre Island National Seashore because Texas has not been significantly impacted by the oil spill.  Before you can think 'you gotta be kidding me'... it's done.  Another atrocity in one that keeps amassing so much more to list, it's unthinkable that more marine life would be purposely put into harms way.  [However, Crouse acknowledged the release does present a risk of oil exposure. It took a team of 14 experts days to decide whether to release the Kemp's ridleys.

"It was a balancing act between the danger of holding them in captivity vs. the damage that could be done to them by the oil," Crouse said. "That's why it was not an easy decision."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said that as of Wednesday, 167 visibly oiled sea turtles of various species had been collected alive. At least 482 have been found dead, but no oiled turtles have been found in Texas.

Carole Allen, director of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project's Gulf office in Houston, is a vocal critic of the hatchlings' release in Texas. At least some of the babies and nesting mothers should be kept in captivity until the oil is cleaned, she said.]  The Kemp's ridleys are at the base of the ecosystem of our southern oceans.  How can scientists do such a thing?  Here in Florida, because of the proximity to the oil, loggerhead turtle nests are being collected and incubated. Hatchlings are being released on the state's eastern coast, far from the oil.  They are an endangered species since '73.   Call your reps.  Call your senators.  Call the White House.  Do something.  Anything.  Make much ado....

Paradise Plundered, again and again.

The Rightwingnuts made their annual pilgrimage this week to Washington DC for the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).  Among the hucksters and Rethug liars to present at the podium was Marco Rubio... you know? the Miami - Dade County lobbyist past speaker of the FL House?  Charlie Crist might not be such a poor Senatorial candidate to consider, I'm thinking (and most of this blog will state my reasons for this twist of thought).  Such fine lobbyist creds have endowed Rubio with nearly carte blanche from the corporate interests (whomever they reveal themselves to be) ala newly released laws by SCOTUS.  For me, a dedicated liberal and Democrat (in that order btw), the bloggers over at Eye On Miami  keep giving me actionable reasons to support the current Gov., Mr. Crist.  Mr. Rubio is running a campaign ala Vote Cuban! Samba.

But here is the reasoning spelled out and intimately connective to past blogs here be monsters:

Michelle Spence-Jones, down in District 5 - Liberty City, re-ran for the office she was removed from by Gov. Crist, in the event of her corruption charges.  Not to beat this dead horse too long, suffice to say her appeal has been turned down even as her seat on the City Commission has been  duped by one Rev. Richard Dunn... who, btw, promises to make a "good fight", beginning with a demand to be made chairman of the $100 million Community Redevelopment Agency (a holder of funds earmarked for economic development in Overtown and so much more! Like the Miami-Dade Empowerment Trust.)  The REID REPORT calls this the "D5 Hustle!"  No shit, same office, same workers, same ole same ole.   But in this case, the Community Redevelopment Agency is bedrock for the traditional corruption plaguing District 5 since the Overtown riots.  And if you keep current with "Eye on Miami" blog or the Miami Herald you are aware of the relentless motion that continues on the City Commission, in this 'tradition' [as I have been told... it's about an urban polyculture anchor of politico's simply keeping a predetermined sorority / fraternity in place]  a time honored American political tradition, to be sure.   Less than 12% of the community votes and the votes were for Spence-Jones.  As they say, Miami is zoned for serial corruption and it is no wonder that D5 exists in apathy clinging to iconoclasm.

Until someone new, bright and shinning comes along to upset the same ole same ole.   The truth shimmers still on inner city / urban / metro elections (sans mayorial)  as unattractive to the 18-40 year old demographic, but Michelle Spense-Jones is doing little worrying about her eventual outcomes... not written in the cards but solid in unspoken rules of play to pay politics (that are hanging on by the thinnest of threads and the age of those who uphold it) goes about the waiting game until she is returned to her seat at the City Commission ousting Rev.  Dunn.  Can I have an Amen?   Shit.  

My care and attention to the Spence-Jones outcome is relative to my care for the services of a special group of people who are genuinely devoted to building something lasting, evolving and tourism based in the heart of Liberty City.  Working everyday to further the creativity and initiatives of "Osun's Village".  Nathaniel Styles and Harlan Woodard are supporting indigenous and African / Caribbean diaspora influenced artisans - industry to engage a new tourism inside of District 5.  This is a new community effort to bring the flow of green directly into Liberty City and revive local business.  All the work they have so far accomplished shows, yet they require the support of political integrity and ethics.  Since Michelle Spence-Jones has been charged with stealing funds intended to support Osun's Village projects, the disposition of her ongoing status in relationship to governing of Liberty City is of concern.   You need to DO RIGHT when you take the up the responsibility of community.  Period.  [The photo on the left from left to right includes Chief Nathaniel B. Styles, Jr. Olosun, Dillard University President Dr. Marvalene Hughes, Gov. Charlie Crist and Harlan E. Woodard.]

Moving forward: I am a member of the Democratic Party of the State of Florida and volunteer in assisting the goals and challenges of it.  Of late I have given time and some small effort to raising awareness and working towards electing Rep. Kendrick Meek to the vacated Senate seat now being chewed on by Rubio and Crist.  The more research and digging I do, the more I realize just how damn short on substance and due diligence my Party seems to be in the state.  Rep. Meek has successfully petitioned for and is running for this Senate seat.   He has the tacit support of the FL Dems.  But here's the thing: I'm pulling my support for him, and this is why;

Two months prior to her retirement at election time in 2003, Rep. Carrie Meek stepped aside in the election to allow her son to take her place.  Damn smart politics.  Kendrick Meek is no slouch, he has experience and ideally, an integrity that his mother carried into her service to the state and nation.  Carrie Meek is a genuine Florida Woman Hall of Fame-er.  First African American woman elected to the Congress from the state.  I remember Carrie Meek in the 1970's.  She has accomplished a great deal.  So, when she came to her get off place in the road, she played smart politics... a family tradition was created when son Kendrick stepped into her seat, extremely easily.  Still, Ms. Meek cut a smart piece of lobbyist pie for her retirement plan with the City Commission of Miami.  On the face of it, it does not demonstrate 'play for pay' political rigging or stomping.  But the legacy of women on the Miami City Commission includes Ms. Meek and play to pay politics are implicated with both Meeks'. I refer to the tangled web over the Miami - Dade Empowerment Trust and all of the fall out surrounding it.  A hugely corrupt operation that includes both Meek's involvement without having to even consider no due diligence.  Due diligence is banned in the District 5 zone.  The now Kendrick Meek is asking for our support in a Senatorial run?

Nope, no can do.  And frankly, if another Democrat candidate runs against him in a re-election bid upcoming for the seat he does hold, I will take a strong look at supporting that.  The circular corruption and fiscal irresponsibility (so well documented by the Miami Herald in Poverty Peddlers) in District 5 Dade County needs to be addressed with integrity.  And the 18-45 demographic of voters needs to be engaged. 
Here is something about the Miami Herald series, well worth the time to read.

About the series

Poverty Peddlers is the continuation of a Miami Herald series published in June that revealed sweeping problems at a celebrated biopharmaceutical park proposed in Liberty City.
The newspaper found that developer Dennis Stackhouse diverted more than $500,000 from the project through double billing and questionable expenses while paying a host of political insiders to rally support for the plan.
The nonprofit agency that sponsored the project - The Miami-Dade Empowerment Trust - was supposed to monitor the developer's spending, but no reports were produced nor were any audits conducted, the newspaper found.
After the series was published, Miami-Dade County leaders killed the deal and broke all ties with the trust, while local prosecutors began a criminal investigation. After three months, prosecutors charged Stackhouse last week with improperly bundling campaign contributions. The investigation into the project's finances continues, prosecutors say.
While the newspaper was investigating the biotech deal, it was examining dozens of other projects sponsored by the Empowerment Trust - the subject of the current series that begins today.
To report the stories, reporters reviewed more than 300 resolution files from the agency, culling through thousands of pages of memos, correspondence, receipts and contracts to track the trust's efforts in combating poverty.
The reporters also examined dozens of lawsuits and bankruptcy cases, property records, nonprofit tax filings from the Internal Revenue Service and thousands of documents from other county agencies, including the Office of Community and Economic Development.
To verify job numbers the trust filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, reporters sifted through hundreds of pages from 15 progress reports the trust submitted to HUD this year and compared them to the agency's own internal files.
The comparison showed that the trust created eight of the 310 jobs it claimed in reports to HUD.
Reporters also interviewed scores of small-business owners scattered throughout the county and visited dozens more.
To measure the effectiveness of the empowerment zone program, the newspaper analyzed 16 years of demographic data from the U.S. Census and Claritas, a private research firm.
Because the empowerment zone program uses geographic areas created by the U.S. Census Bureau - called Census tracts - to identify neighborhoods, the newspaper relied on data from Claritas, the only source for current tract-level data available.
Although Claritas does not rely on the one-in-six sample used by the U.S. Census to report economic statistics, it is cited by many academic, corporate and government papers as a reliable source of economic and demographic data.
In fact, the U.S. Government Accountability Office cites Claritas economic data in a September 2006 report to Congress regarding the status of empowerment zones nationwide.
As part of its analysis, the newspaper examined various economic indicators from the 1990 and 2000 censuses, including family poverty data, workforce and employment statistics and median household income.

   

Another round of corruption...again with Michelle Spence-Jones

On Wed. January 13th the news in the Miami Herald was of the overwhelming victory in a special election for Michelle Spence-Jones... the City Commissioner who has been charged with corruption and graft over finances in Miami's abused District 5.  It was a very low voter turn out, and the word is apathy  ... she says, "...the people do not care about that"...  But the law does.  [Defiant as she basked in victory before supporters at her Liberty City headquarters, the two-term District 5 commissioner said her easy victory showed that constituents still believed in her. She easily separated from a field of eight others in an election with a dismally low turnout.] Miami Herald   And Gov. Crist, true to his word, has ousted her once again.  Spence-Jones has filed a law suit against the Gov. to overrule his actions. 

[Spence-Jones attorney Dennis Bedard filed an additional motion Thursday. It's a motion some legal experts -- who are split on Crist's decision or how the courts will ultimately rule -- say is the strongest part of his argument.

``She cannot be suspended for conduct before she took office,'' said Bedard.

Spence-Jones was first elected to the Miami commission in 2005 with the backing of then-Mayor Manny Diaz's powerful political machine.

Before that victory, she had served on the mayor's staff as an events coordinator. While in office, she pushed for more affordable housing and has pressed for improvements along Third and Seventh avenues.

But she became the third consecutive elected commissioner from the district to be charged with a felony, cases that have hampered long-term attempts to revive the city's most impoverished community.]  Miami Herald

The tragedy here is not about voters loosing any gain of a qualified, dedicated Commissioner... the tragedy is in the voters being bamboozled by an opportunist politico and grafter.  It's a personal opinion, backed up by legal charges.  Eh? 

Arrogance all over Miami! Michele Spense - Jones vs Jeff Torain

On MSNBC Friday, "Morning Meeting" host Dylan Ratigan got into a heated dispute with Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.) over health care reform.

Ratigan pointed to the rise in insurance company stocks as a sign that the Senate health care bill's coverage mandate is good for the industry and not for struggling Americans.

The host asked Wasserman-Schultz repeatedly why those stocks would go up if the bill was really bad for the insurance industry. Whenever she tried to talk about the the benefits of the legislation, he cut her off.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

What can you say about an obvious asshole like that?  I don't happen to agree with the HCR bill that is currently in the Senate, I do however agree with the one Congresswoman Wasserman-Schultz sent over to the Senate under the marshaling guidance of The Speaker of the House... a CAN DO WOMAN, Nancy Pelosi!  That bill should be reconsituted through the Senate.

On an relative updated matter by current Gov. Crist, interviewed by the Miami Hearld: [With polls showing his U.S. Senate rival on his heels, Gov. Charlie Crist reversed course Friday and said he would return all campaign donations from people who worked at alleged swindler Scott Rothstein's law firm in Fort Lauderdale.

In a meeting with the The Miami Herald's editorial board, Crist was asked about Republican Senate President Jeff Atwater's pledge to give back contributions -- not just from Rothstein himself but also from his associates at Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler.
"I am doing the same," Crist said. Later Friday, Crist's campaign said he was "in the process'' of returning $76,250 from 35 employees of Rothstein's firm. 
Posed with this question concerning the ousting of corrupt Miami politician Michele Spense-Jones, Gov. Crist revealed this about her stated run for re-election;
[Crist's remarks about Rothstein came during a broader conversation about cracking down on public corruption in Florida, which he said would be a priority for him during the 2010 legislative session. Crist recently removed Miami City Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones from office after she was charged with grand theft, but once a special election to replace her was scheduled, Spence-Jones said she would run for her old seat.
What would Crist do if she won? "I hesitate to say, but I think there might have to be another special election," he said, suggesting that he would oust her from office a second time.] read it all

Here's the GOOD NEWS!

Concerned, committed and HONEST.  This is gentleman should be heard and given his chance.  Especially in the absolute awareness that Spense-Jones would be removed from office, if she did run for it and win...
just what District 5 needs... more of the same ole corruption!   Not so much, huh? 

Michele Spence-Jones: Bleeding her community?

Let's get on with it:

so... You remember Tammany Hall? The Sons of St. Tammany? Small refresher: (Irish run) Democratic turn of the last century political machine in NYC so notoriously violent and skeezy that Teddy Roosevelt registered Republican?   From the 1790's to the 1960's it held sway over New York  Democrat politics. You know..."nothing dumber than a New York Democrat"?  It rose to enforcement on a constituency of poor and disenfranchised, notably immigrants, who in the early days_ were paid for their votes.   Though Tammany Hall was not completely without redemption; they did represent the Democratic Party...their social contributions included aid to the sick and unemployed, advocacy for tenants and workers.  Precursors to the Social Security Dept and other  massive government social programs...the better to plunder!  Not a bad legacy, if that were all it were.  "Boss" Tweed was notoriously the most corrupt of the heyday sports' who ran the old town through graft and political corruption with a penchant for purchasing votes from the working class / poor and forging documents to transfer city funds into his bank accounts.   It's a well worn warrant of politics and Tammany Hall is a standard bearer for political graft, corruption and manipulation.  

District 5 in Liberty City, Miami, is now exemplifying notoriety like a southern Tammany Hall with Michele Spense-Jones as it's active Boss.   Her methods of graft are 'curious and simple', just like Boss Tweed's, including the use of an established political machine to assist her in retaining her voting constituency by all means including the purchase of their loyalty, as the word is.  Just talk on the street by wiser folks who stand back and watch it all go down with the usual grimace of communal fatigue and ultimately, community defeat.  Beaten down by the 'man' who, in this case, is a grand standing, arrogant woman playing politics for a dime and reversing the argument to proclaim her 'innocence'. 
Last week this came down:

Nathaniel Styles and Harlan Woodard down at Osun's Village in Liberty City are disappointed.   So is Marvin Weeks at Timbuktu.  You can't blame them.  These creative inner city mentors have worked diligently and without much applause to bridge creative / artisan communities between the Caribbean, Mother Africa and south Florida to provide a new, robust tourism base for their chosen community: Liberty City.  Little did they know that Michele Spense-Jones had purloined funds that they had  tirelessly lobbied for!  They felt their work, the work of many volunteers inside and outside of the community, had been unduly swept aside, but they had no genuine idea why.   

[In the case of the Osun's Village grant, prosecutors discovered, the victims didn't even know they were victims.
In 2004, architect Harlan Woodard and his partner, Nathaniel Styles, needed grant money for Osun's Village, a special district along Northwest Seventh Avenue where they hoped to remake the business facades with modern architecture reflecting African heritage. They took their plan to Carey-Shuler.
``This project is really to reconnect the people to who they are,'' Woodard said Friday. ``We wanted this to be an area that is primed for transformation.''
But no money ever arrived. They forgot about their request.
Later, Weeks (Marvin) in passing mentioned the grants to them. Woodard later searched the Internet -- and discovered county records showing that Carey-Shuler had set aside $25,000 for their project.
The slap in the face: MMAPP had given the money to Karym Ventures, which opened a spa and cafe just nine blocks from Woodard's Liberty City office.
Woodard said he and his partner never had any agreement with Spence-Jones to work together on the Osun's Village project.
When Scruggs and investigator Robert Fielder met with Woodard and Styles, they showed them an unsigned letter under their organization's name. It had been used to give MMAP authorization to hand the money over to Spence-Jones. ``We are victims of identity theft!'' Woodard told Scruggs and Fielder.] Miami Hearld 11-21-09


To bring a renewable vitality into a community with a median household income of $18,809.87 is a service that speaks about the quality of their character and their dreams.   Neither Harlan nor Nathaniel or Marvin Weeks did anything outright to provoke the enmity of Spense-Jones, it was more that they stood in the way of her own needs: ``Shoes, clothes, perfumes, etc.,'' Fernández Rundle said. ``Many might say such uses of the public's money did very little to improve the lives in Miami District 5's community.'' 

District 5, Liberty City is a community of 3.5% combined Latino, .06% White, 1.7% mixed racial identity and 94.7% African American citizens.   It spreads across 6 square miles of inner city Miami.  To many Floridians, Liberty City was a 'watchword' for violence, stemming from the "Liberty City Riots" of 1980 (an unfortunate injustice clearing guilty cops from the death of a black motorcyclist) and the area is blight with drug gang violence.  It was home to Carrie P. Meeks a FL state Representative, District 17,  of great respect and acclaim.  [Her son, Kendrick Meek is the only candidate at this point to oppose and run in the current Senatorial race against Crist & Rubio...SUPPORT HIM!]  Liberty City is also home to the Miami Workers Center. A strategy and organizing center for low-income communities and low-wage workers in Miami-Dade County. Initiated in March 1999, the Center’s mission is to work to end poverty and oppression. 

The inner city political career of Michele Spence-Jones has enjoyed a short ride of profiteering plenty.  Mud clings to her skirts throughout it, repeatedly investigated for years.   She cultivates the 'community' with the help of a considerable politic machine as the protege of past Mayor Manny Diaz (whom has not outwardly denounced her, yet is distancing himself abjectly).  As an account from Spense-Jones' point of view reads over at New Times, the main witness against her will recant: [Barbara Carey-Shuler is apparently backing off her sworn statements against her protege.]  New Times - 11-16-09   This certainly does not read...since Ms. Carey-Schuler has agreed to testify after charges against her have been dropped under the provision of her testimony.   Spense-Jones' attorney claims that Ms. Carey-Schuler contacted him saying 'her testimony was taken out of context'...does anyone think that this is out of context: [``Did you in any way intend for Karym Ventures to get the money from Timbuktu and Osun Village?'' prosecutor Richard Scruggs asked her, in a transcript of her sworn interview released Friday.
``Absolutely not,'' Carey-Shuler replied. ``I intended for it to go to groups that I allocated it to at the budget hearings.''] - Miami Herald
What remains in light of this fact is really, what does the evidence say and who's zoomin' who?   In the New Tiimes piece a neighborhood supporter of Spense-Jones, Leroy Jones, decries KDI (Woodard and Styles) as angry for not receiving the funds (ah, yeah, well, dude...obviously you've gotten YOURS) ... [Jones says his organization Neighbors for Neighbors Association had partnered with KDI Architecture, a company owned by Woodard and Styles, on a $500,000 project to renovate building facades along NW Seventh Avenue with Afrocentric designs. "KDI has been paid $71,000 by the city but they have never submitted any drawings," Jones says. "Michelle took the position that they needed to turn in the plans before the city gave them any more money."]  but if you check the city planners office you will find the submissions from KDI presented over a year ago.  You feel me?!  GAD! 

here be monsters:  Michele Spense-Jones is a pariah on Liberty City.  Ultimately it's Liberty City who looses.  Someone who now defines audacity in running for the seat she has just been suspended from!  Tragic.