miami-imc
Home About Us Contact Us Radio Print Video Calendar
Translate

Search the Site


All the Newswires
Florida IMCs
About Indymedia

Indymedia Projects
INDYMEDIA NETWORK
printable version - email this article

The Miami IDB Meeting: NO SHOWS = NO RESPECT + SCREWING THE TAX PAYERS
by Al Crespo Sunday, Apr. 06, 2008 at 6:25 PM
alcrespo@bellsouth.net

I went to the meeting of the InterAmerican Development Bank going on this weekend through Tuesday on Miami Beach. It is a VERY BIG event, and includes the finance ministers and the heads of the national banks of all of the countries in the Western Hemisphere. Bill Gates even came to town on Friday to address this group. As I wandered around the Miami Beach Convention Center, Sponsors Pavilion, looking at the various governmental and business displays touting their wares along with the displays of various cities and countries, I came across the following site:

The Miami IDB Meetin...
unmanned_booths_at_idb_conf.jpg, image/jpeg, 504x336

The above photo shows the promotional spaces set aside for the City of Miami Beach and Miami.

While I was sitting at a little rest area to look over some documents, I noticed that no one had bothered to set up and staff the city booths. I mentioned this to a reporter for a major Latin business publication sitting across from me. He looked over and said, "That's incredible!"

No, unfortunately it’s far from incredible. It's just the normal business behavior of a bunch of lazy-assed public officials who probably all had their asses parked on seats at the Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament on Key Biscayne. Anyone care to wonder how most of these people got tickets?

Anyway, its embarrassing and indicative of the sorry state of affairs in Miami and Miami Beach that a major event of this kind is taking place here, and that no one from either of these cities is present, even to keep a chair warm.

And people wonder why Miami and Miami Beach have such a bad business reputation.

Well, these attitudes seem to be prevalent throughout these two cities economic development agencies, because I'm willing to bet a dollar to a donut that if this banking conference - as it has been in other years - was being held in another country, the entire economic development staff would have had their sorry asses on a plane to wherever the conference was being held.

Instead, because it is in their back yard, this is a sure-fire way to guarantee that none of the lazy, whiny city officials will show up.

The InterAmerican Development Bank meeting is a really big deal, and that's why the failure of the City of Miami and Miami Beach to have anyone manning these tables at the trade fair that is part of this event is such an astounding example of ignorance and incompetence.

We are supposed to be the gateway to the Americas, yet, we show our ass in too many ways for me to go into when it comes to really paying attention to, engaging and working with Latin American countries.

The failure to have anyone at these tables is just a small, but revealing example of the fact that no one seems to be manning the ship.

And it’s a ship that we're all paying for.


add your comments


Miami IMC Newswires
Upcoming Events
All Recent Articles
Article Photo Video Audio
M11 8:34PM
Pizza, champagne y Menem vestido de sotana en Paraguay
M11 7:18PM
Conscientious Objector Status—Who Should Decide?
M11 11:59AM
The Simple but Powerful Secret to Freedom Is Already Within You
M11 11:56AM
on the path of light
M11 8:55AM
DEL HOLOCUSTO A LA NAQBA(2 Holocustos)
M11 8:04AM
Mission and Evangelization
M11 12:21AM
Will King George NUKE Ron Paul's Revolution?
M10 10:29PM
An Anarchist FAQ is due to be published by AK Press later in 2008!
M10 5:29PM
Rethinking Crimethinc
M10 8:35AM
Limits of Private Property
M10 7:54AM
CUBA: el secreto de la Era de Acuario
M10 12:16AM
War Is Commonsense
M09 9:28AM
Will the Neoliberal Consensus Survive the Banking Crisis?
M09 5:02AM
to bring back the "Clinton years"
M08 11:34PM
Asia century vs war: globalized finance, trade, outsourcing, politics, jobs, culture, law
M08 5:18PM
Two New Publications From Infoshop
M08 7:55AM
Hunger in Abundance
M07 11:20AM
"Mothers Day Proclamation" by Julia Ward Howe - 1870
M07 9:27AM
Robert Reich's "Super-Capitalism: How the Economy Undermines Democracy"
M07 7:28AM
China entrepeneurship: how do 700,000 global and Chinese multinationals, hightech compete?
M06 7:18PM
VOLVERA EL FEUDALISMO A BOLIVIA?
M06 3:04PM
US Media's 'Left Wing' Agenda and the Public's Knowledge of Climate Science
M06 12:17PM
“Committed To Healing: Involuntary Commitment Procedures” : A Fraud
M06 8:15AM
Farewell to Neoliberalism
M05 6:48PM
May Day 2008- International anarchist communist statement
M05 12:05PM
Success Breeds Failure
M05 8:36AM
Warning of the American Friend
M05 12:27AM
Open Letter To My Fellow Apes Regarding Civilization
M04 11:32PM
May Day Strike Against the War Shuts Down All U.S. West Coast Ports
M04 9:41PM
Strange Reality:USA gets most of it Oil from Canada?
M04 7:22PM
MAYDAY ALERT -- TEXAS UPDATE
M04 6:30PM
“The End of America” is Thomas Paine Reborn.
M04 5:04PM
Brazil: Repressed March of Marijuana.
M04 1:25PM
The Ecological Challenge: Three Revolutions are Necessary
M04 1:20PM
Sixth Encuentro Tawaintisuyu Abya Yala Pacha Mapu Woumain - Venezuela
M04 1:03PM
Struggling for the autonomy of Venezuela’s social movements
M04 12:15PM
Devilvision Now Online
M04 10:01AM
LA FALSEDAD DE LOS MICROCREDITOS
M04 9:39AM
The Reality of God and the Worldliness of the World
M04 8:51AM
June 25 and 26: North America 2030: An Environmental Outlook, CEC, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Older Newswire Posts
View Hidden Posts


© 2000-2005 Miami Independent Media Center. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by the Miami Independent Media Center. Running sf-active v0.9.2 Disclaimer | Privacy