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:

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