But Perry has little to say about the Houston mayor's bid
Mayor Bill White on Friday officially threw his hat into the ring for the Texas governor's race, taking a few swipes at incumbent Rick Perry and offering a preview of a campaign that hopes to take the first Democrat to the governor's mansion since Ann Richards was defeated in 1994 by George W. Bush.
In a 15-minute speech that one political analyst called “passionate for Bill White,” the mayor focused on education and pocketbook issues, such as Texas' high home insurance and electricity rates. Without saying his name, White repeatedly attacked the leadership of Perry, who is locked in what many believe will be a nasty primary race with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
He also sought to move attention away from Washington and the declining popularity of President Barack Obama, a factor that undoubtedly will make White's race harder to win in a state that generally trends Republican by six to eight points.
Despite the snowy weather Friday, several hundred people — including a who's who of City Hall aides and officials — attended the announcement at the Hilton Americas Hotel and loudly cheered White's every punch line.
“Shouldn't we be the state that leads the nation and not leaves the nation?” he asked, getting in a poke at Perry's occasional overtures to Texas independence. White said he wanted to “brighten the star” in the Lone Star State by propelling Texas to the top of the nation in high school graduation rates and “hold a governor accountable” for poor performance in that and other areas.
Perry defended the fact that the state has the highest insurance rates in the nation, saying Texas' weather is to blame. He said his regulators are doing a good job of holding rates in line.
“I really don't give Bill White a lot of thought at the moment,” Perry said. “When he becomes the nominee of the party, we might engage.”
Perry went on to say White “needs to be talking with Mr. Farouk,” a reference to billionaire hair products magnate Farouk Shami, a Democrat who has pledged to spend $20 million on his gubernatorial bid.
Hopes of a comeback
Although Shami's pledge is formidable, most analysts believe White is the clear favorite in a Democratic field that grew less crowded Friday when Tyler-area rancher Hank Gilbert dropped out of the race and endorsed Shami. Kinky Friedman, a satirist from Austin, and Fort Worth schoolteacher Felix Alvarado remain in the contest.
Among his fellow Democrats, White's entry into the race has ignited hopes of a comeback across the state, as several well-known candidates have begun to announce their intentions to seek other statewide offices. Gilbert, for one, announced he will run for agriculture commissioner.
Gilbert had been building a base of support among Democratic progressives who had been turned off by former candidate Tom Schieffer's ties to George W. Bush. Shami noted he will have to earn that same support in the coming weeks.
The mayor's potential advantage over opponents allowed him to train his focus early on Perry and the perceived vulnerabilities of the state's Republican leadership.
He pledged to lower electric rates, to keep members of his staff as governor from taking “lucrative” jobs as lobbyists, and to appoint people to boards or commissions that are not campaign contributors.
Speech called ‘passionate'
White touted some of the hallmarks of his City Hall administration on energy, environmental and ethics issues. He also made an effort to cast his critics as “career” politicians who only wish to belittle the state, a charge that will most likely be leveled back in his direction as he criticizes the state's posture under Perry.
“We should not put up with Texans who put other people down in order to build their career up,” White said.
University of Houston political scientist Richard Murray, who was on hand for the speech, noted that it was “passionate” for White, who is well known in the city for his often arcane and hyper-detailed explanations of policy ideas and programs.
“We just saw the pretty complete program the mayor will run on for governor: part economic distress, part bipartisanship and part concern for the state's future,” Murray said. “Perry seemed very much the target. The 2010 political season is looking to be a hell of a lot more interesting than it did a year ago, that's for sure.”
News Source: chron.com
Customer Service Network
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
U.K. Treasury Advisers Earn 107 Million Pounds for Bank Advice
Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and law firms working on the government bailouts of British lenders Northern Rock Plc and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc will earn 107 million pounds ($178.2 million) in fees for their advice.
London law firm Slaughter & May, the biggest recipient of fees, will make 32.9 million pounds, followed by Zurich-based Credit Suisse, which will get 15.4 million pounds, according to National Audit Office documents published today. The fees will be paid for advice given from September 2007 through March 2010.
The audit office expressed concern about the use of monthly retainer fees for more than a short period and the use of “success fees” paid to the advisers. Financial advisers Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank each received retainers of $200,000 a month for a year, the agency said. The contracts included success fees of as much as 5.8 million pounds, payable at the Treasury’s discretion.
“In instances such as this, where criteria for success will be unclear, it is not good practice to enter into such an agreement in the first place or to leave payment solely to the discretion of the procuring authority,” the audit office said in the report.
The U.K. Treasury took majority stakes in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group Plc and seized Northern Rock, Alliance & Leicester Plc and Bradford & Bingley Plc after financial turmoil brought the industry near collapse in 2007.
Recovery Plans
Of the fees, “the Treasury intends to recover just under 100 million pounds from the banks, the vast majority from RBS and Lloyds,” it said in the documents.
Edinburgh-based RBS agreed last month to sell insurance units and some branches as the lender took an additional 25.5 billion pounds of taxpayer aid, making its rescue the world’s most expensive bank bailout. RBS also said it would put 282 billion pounds of assets into the government’s toxic-asset insurance program.
Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank will earn about 5.3 million pounds for “financial advice on a range of measures” and Goldman Sachs about 4.5 million pounds for its advice on Northern Rock, the documents show.
More than a third of the 20 biggest acquisitions announced in late 2008 were government-induced, data compiled by Bloomberg show. In the U.S., Bank of America Corp. in Charlotte, North Carolina, agreed to buy New York-based Merrill Lynch & Co. in a $40 billion transaction announced Sept. 15. Three days later, Britain’s HBOS Plc was taken over by Lloyds in a 10.4 billion pound sale brokered by the government.
News Source: bloomberg.com
Customer Service Network
London law firm Slaughter & May, the biggest recipient of fees, will make 32.9 million pounds, followed by Zurich-based Credit Suisse, which will get 15.4 million pounds, according to National Audit Office documents published today. The fees will be paid for advice given from September 2007 through March 2010.
The audit office expressed concern about the use of monthly retainer fees for more than a short period and the use of “success fees” paid to the advisers. Financial advisers Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank each received retainers of $200,000 a month for a year, the agency said. The contracts included success fees of as much as 5.8 million pounds, payable at the Treasury’s discretion.
“In instances such as this, where criteria for success will be unclear, it is not good practice to enter into such an agreement in the first place or to leave payment solely to the discretion of the procuring authority,” the audit office said in the report.
The U.K. Treasury took majority stakes in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group Plc and seized Northern Rock, Alliance & Leicester Plc and Bradford & Bingley Plc after financial turmoil brought the industry near collapse in 2007.
Recovery Plans
Of the fees, “the Treasury intends to recover just under 100 million pounds from the banks, the vast majority from RBS and Lloyds,” it said in the documents.
Edinburgh-based RBS agreed last month to sell insurance units and some branches as the lender took an additional 25.5 billion pounds of taxpayer aid, making its rescue the world’s most expensive bank bailout. RBS also said it would put 282 billion pounds of assets into the government’s toxic-asset insurance program.
Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank will earn about 5.3 million pounds for “financial advice on a range of measures” and Goldman Sachs about 4.5 million pounds for its advice on Northern Rock, the documents show.
More than a third of the 20 biggest acquisitions announced in late 2008 were government-induced, data compiled by Bloomberg show. In the U.S., Bank of America Corp. in Charlotte, North Carolina, agreed to buy New York-based Merrill Lynch & Co. in a $40 billion transaction announced Sept. 15. Three days later, Britain’s HBOS Plc was taken over by Lloyds in a 10.4 billion pound sale brokered by the government.
News Source: bloomberg.com
Customer Service Network
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Michelle Obama previews White House's holiday look
Washington (CNN) -- Unveiling the White House Christmas tree and holiday decorations, first lady Michelle Obama explained why she chose this year's theme, "Reflect, Rejoice and Renew."
"For the Obama family, Christmas and the new year has always been a time to reflect on our many blessings, to rejoice in the pleasure of spending time with our family and our friends, and to renew our commitment to one another and to the causes that we believe in," she said Wednesday in the Grand Foyer of the White House.
She said everything came together with the help of East Wing and residence staff members, and 92 volunteers from 24 states who spent more than 3,400 hours getting the White House ready for the holidays.
Not part of the theme but on the minds of the first family is recycling.
Decorators used about 800 ornaments left over from previous administrations. "We sent them to 60 local community groups throughout the country, and asked them to decorate them to pay tribute to a favorite local landmark and then send them back to us for display here at the White House," Obama said.
Kim Fawley, a schoolteacher in Virginia who volunteered her time to help decorate, said she was impressed by the handmade ornaments, which include the Statue of Liberty, the Boston Celtics, Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo and the DuSable Museum of African American History.
"They're just beautiful. The love and the care that they took to put them together is obvious when you hold them in your hands," Fawley said.
In keeping with the environmentally conscious theme, the official White House Christmas tree, a Douglas fir that stands 18½ feet high in the Blue Room, is lit with energy-saving LED lights. And according to the first lady's office, six of the trees on display at the entrances of the East Wing, West Wing and North Portico will be replanted after the holidays by the National Parks Service.
White House pastry chef Bill Yosses and his team personalized the annual white chocolate-covered gingerbread White House to reflect the first family's first year in the White House. The 390-pound house includes replicas of "first dog" Bo and the first lady's kitchen garden.
Yosses said this is also the first time the gingerbread White House includes an interior replica of the State Dining Room, complete with furniture made of dark chocolate.
News Source: cnn.com
Customer Service Network
"For the Obama family, Christmas and the new year has always been a time to reflect on our many blessings, to rejoice in the pleasure of spending time with our family and our friends, and to renew our commitment to one another and to the causes that we believe in," she said Wednesday in the Grand Foyer of the White House.
She said everything came together with the help of East Wing and residence staff members, and 92 volunteers from 24 states who spent more than 3,400 hours getting the White House ready for the holidays.
Not part of the theme but on the minds of the first family is recycling.
Decorators used about 800 ornaments left over from previous administrations. "We sent them to 60 local community groups throughout the country, and asked them to decorate them to pay tribute to a favorite local landmark and then send them back to us for display here at the White House," Obama said.
Kim Fawley, a schoolteacher in Virginia who volunteered her time to help decorate, said she was impressed by the handmade ornaments, which include the Statue of Liberty, the Boston Celtics, Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo and the DuSable Museum of African American History.
"They're just beautiful. The love and the care that they took to put them together is obvious when you hold them in your hands," Fawley said.
In keeping with the environmentally conscious theme, the official White House Christmas tree, a Douglas fir that stands 18½ feet high in the Blue Room, is lit with energy-saving LED lights. And according to the first lady's office, six of the trees on display at the entrances of the East Wing, West Wing and North Portico will be replanted after the holidays by the National Parks Service.
White House pastry chef Bill Yosses and his team personalized the annual white chocolate-covered gingerbread White House to reflect the first family's first year in the White House. The 390-pound house includes replicas of "first dog" Bo and the first lady's kitchen garden.
Yosses said this is also the first time the gingerbread White House includes an interior replica of the State Dining Room, complete with furniture made of dark chocolate.
News Source: cnn.com
Customer Service Network
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Tarnished Jewel of the Boulevard
Abandoned by its owner, the iconic Vagabond Motel faces an uncertain future.
When Eric Silverman bought the Vagabond Motel at 7301 Biscayne Blvd. for $4 million and announced his intention to restore the 1950s complex to its former glory, he generated publicity not just in Miami but across the nation. After all, Silverman often repeated, Frank Sinatra had stayed there. More significantly, he said he hoped his renovation would spark a South Beach-like renaissance along Biscayne Boulevard’s somewhat seedy motel row.
“Keeping some of the treasures that are really Miami is important to us,” the silver-haired investor told the Miami Herald in January 2006, not long after purchasing the property. “We think the beauty is to blend the old with the new.”
But that promise was never realized. Instead the 22,154-square-foot historic landmark became home to a small clothing store run by Silverman’s wife, and a sparsely attended weekend farmers market. Those operations ended more than three months ago, and today Silverman, once a ubiquitous figure on the motel grounds, is nowhere to be seen. Weeds have overtaken the landscaping. Code enforcement notices announce a variety of violations. City workers recently cleaned up some of the garbage and graffiti littering the property.
Where did Silverman go? Vagabond neighbors who used to see him regularly don’t have a clue. After agreeing to speak with the BT, Silverman, a Davie resident who once headed Hugo Boss USA and Dolce & Gabbana’s Western Hemisphere operations, did not return several subsequent phone calls seeking comment. His business partner and cousin, Octavio Hidalgo, could not be reached. The number for Eric Silverman and Associates, a realty firm, has been disconnected. The company Silverman and Hidalgo used to purchase the Vagabond, Milano at Ocean Drive LLC, officially became inactive as on September 25.
Fran Rollason, president of the MiMo Biscayne Association, doesn’t know his whereabouts but does know that he struggled to succeed. “He just had a hard time making his vision happen,” she says.
Teri D’Amico, co-founder of a movement to preserve examples of Miami Modern (“MiMo”) architecture, somewhat quirky buildings constructed between the 1940s and 1960s, says Silverman’s effort to revive the Vagabond was doomed. She feels she should know: D’Amico briefly worked for Silverman as the Vagabond’s interior designer. “This guy doesn’t take care of his property,” she says flatly. “He made it worse than before he bought it.”
The Vagabond’s previous owners, David and Wen-Yang Lin of Vagabond Motel Inc., are suing to foreclose on the property, claiming they are owed $2.7 million on a mortgage. Several other lenders are on the hook for as much as $1.7 million. Gary Anstey placed a lien on the property in September 2007 after Silverman and Hidalgo allegedly failed to pay him $26,000 for improvements made to the motel property. Unpaid property taxes run to nearly $200,000.
According to the city’s code enforcement director, Mariano Loret de Mola, the Vagabond has been slapped with at least $5000 in fines for violations that include operating an outdoor market without a license, not having a valid business tax receipt, improper outdoor storage of materials, and failure to register a vacant building.
It’s been a long fall from the Vagabond’s heyday.
Built in 1953 by Sidney Goldberg and designed by B. Robert Swartburg (architect of Miami Beach’s Delano Hotel and Bass Museum), the Vagabond quickly became a popular post-war destination for vacationing families thrilled to drive down U.S. 1 to Miami’s warm weather. The Vagabond’s popularity was such, in fact, that it supposedly hosted stars like Frank Sinatra, Jackie Gleason, and Dean Martin, though such accounts may be mixed up with the Vagabond Club, which also operated during the 1950s and 1960s in downtown Miami.
Silverman’s original plan was to create a moderately priced boutique resort and spa, with a restored pool area and lobby, a clothing store, and a restaurant. But his plans changed repeatedly. Months after taking ownership, he decided to turn it into a condo hotel. In December 2007, he announced plans to transform it into an office and retail complex. Affordable studios for artists was another idea. The next year it was going to become a farmers market -- and he even helped persuade the city commission to pass a special law allowing it.
Silverman was perpetually dogged by zoning conflicts and permits he needed but didn’t acquire for this or that activity. He ran afoul of some nearby residents who complained that allegedly lax security was attracting petty criminals. His fellow property owners along the Boulevard were divided in their sympathies. The city, however, tried to help keep the Vagabond dream alive by granting him temporary permits for new signage and finding ways for him to legalize his farmers market. But by that time, it’s likely Silverman was distracted by the foreclosure action launched by the Lins.
In a response to the foreclosure this past March, Silverman and Hidalgo’s attorney, Brandy Gonzalez-Abreu, claimed the Lins had essentially led her clients to believe they were willing to negotiate new terms. Instead Silverman and Hidalgo were served papers that “unfairly surprised and harmed [them] by making refinancing efforts…difficult, if not impossible.”
Gonzalez-Abreu, who did not return calls from the BT, also claimed the Lins sold her clients the Vagabond under false pretenses, failing to mention that half of the motel property was zoned C-1 commercial and the other half R-3 residential, halting the renovation project and costing Silverman and Hidalgo revenue they had anticipated and needed. (At Silverman’s request, the Miami City Commission rezoned the entire 56,165-square-foot lot C-1 in December 2007.)
By 2009 much of the goodwill extended to Silverman by the city and many of his neighbors had evaporated. This past March D’Amico collected signatures from more than 20 property owners, including some who once supported Silverman’s market concept, claiming the dilapidated condition of the Vagabond attracted drug dealers and prostitutes and demanding that the city stop granting Silverman “special exceptions.”
On May 13, Silverman was found guilty of five code citations related to his unpermitted market and given two weeks to correct them. “Instead of fixing everything,” D’Amico says, “he closed up everything.”
If Silverman has indeed given up on the Vagabond, D’Amico believes the motel will be the better for it. She says it’s looking better already, thanks to the city. “Someone will buy it,” she predicts. “It is a unique property. It has so much potential.”
Michael Cannon, a respected real estate analyst and managing director of Integra Realty Resources--AREEA/South Florida, examined Silverman’s project several years ago on behalf of a client who considered extending a mortgage. Cannon agrees with D’Amico that the Vagabond is special and has a “tremendous history.” But he cautions that the Boulevard’s motel row is still in transition. “It took 25 years for Ocean Drive to become what it is today,” he observes, adding that it may take another 20 years before the MiMo District is no longer considered a risky investment.
For her part, Fran Rollason hopes something positive will happen with the Vagabond -- and soon. Its current condition, she says, is “a disaster for the neighborhood.”
News source: biscaynetimes.com
Customer Service Network
When Eric Silverman bought the Vagabond Motel at 7301 Biscayne Blvd. for $4 million and announced his intention to restore the 1950s complex to its former glory, he generated publicity not just in Miami but across the nation. After all, Silverman often repeated, Frank Sinatra had stayed there. More significantly, he said he hoped his renovation would spark a South Beach-like renaissance along Biscayne Boulevard’s somewhat seedy motel row.
“Keeping some of the treasures that are really Miami is important to us,” the silver-haired investor told the Miami Herald in January 2006, not long after purchasing the property. “We think the beauty is to blend the old with the new.”
But that promise was never realized. Instead the 22,154-square-foot historic landmark became home to a small clothing store run by Silverman’s wife, and a sparsely attended weekend farmers market. Those operations ended more than three months ago, and today Silverman, once a ubiquitous figure on the motel grounds, is nowhere to be seen. Weeds have overtaken the landscaping. Code enforcement notices announce a variety of violations. City workers recently cleaned up some of the garbage and graffiti littering the property.
Where did Silverman go? Vagabond neighbors who used to see him regularly don’t have a clue. After agreeing to speak with the BT, Silverman, a Davie resident who once headed Hugo Boss USA and Dolce & Gabbana’s Western Hemisphere operations, did not return several subsequent phone calls seeking comment. His business partner and cousin, Octavio Hidalgo, could not be reached. The number for Eric Silverman and Associates, a realty firm, has been disconnected. The company Silverman and Hidalgo used to purchase the Vagabond, Milano at Ocean Drive LLC, officially became inactive as on September 25.
Fran Rollason, president of the MiMo Biscayne Association, doesn’t know his whereabouts but does know that he struggled to succeed. “He just had a hard time making his vision happen,” she says.
Teri D’Amico, co-founder of a movement to preserve examples of Miami Modern (“MiMo”) architecture, somewhat quirky buildings constructed between the 1940s and 1960s, says Silverman’s effort to revive the Vagabond was doomed. She feels she should know: D’Amico briefly worked for Silverman as the Vagabond’s interior designer. “This guy doesn’t take care of his property,” she says flatly. “He made it worse than before he bought it.”
The Vagabond’s previous owners, David and Wen-Yang Lin of Vagabond Motel Inc., are suing to foreclose on the property, claiming they are owed $2.7 million on a mortgage. Several other lenders are on the hook for as much as $1.7 million. Gary Anstey placed a lien on the property in September 2007 after Silverman and Hidalgo allegedly failed to pay him $26,000 for improvements made to the motel property. Unpaid property taxes run to nearly $200,000.
According to the city’s code enforcement director, Mariano Loret de Mola, the Vagabond has been slapped with at least $5000 in fines for violations that include operating an outdoor market without a license, not having a valid business tax receipt, improper outdoor storage of materials, and failure to register a vacant building.
It’s been a long fall from the Vagabond’s heyday.
Built in 1953 by Sidney Goldberg and designed by B. Robert Swartburg (architect of Miami Beach’s Delano Hotel and Bass Museum), the Vagabond quickly became a popular post-war destination for vacationing families thrilled to drive down U.S. 1 to Miami’s warm weather. The Vagabond’s popularity was such, in fact, that it supposedly hosted stars like Frank Sinatra, Jackie Gleason, and Dean Martin, though such accounts may be mixed up with the Vagabond Club, which also operated during the 1950s and 1960s in downtown Miami.
Silverman’s original plan was to create a moderately priced boutique resort and spa, with a restored pool area and lobby, a clothing store, and a restaurant. But his plans changed repeatedly. Months after taking ownership, he decided to turn it into a condo hotel. In December 2007, he announced plans to transform it into an office and retail complex. Affordable studios for artists was another idea. The next year it was going to become a farmers market -- and he even helped persuade the city commission to pass a special law allowing it.
Silverman was perpetually dogged by zoning conflicts and permits he needed but didn’t acquire for this or that activity. He ran afoul of some nearby residents who complained that allegedly lax security was attracting petty criminals. His fellow property owners along the Boulevard were divided in their sympathies. The city, however, tried to help keep the Vagabond dream alive by granting him temporary permits for new signage and finding ways for him to legalize his farmers market. But by that time, it’s likely Silverman was distracted by the foreclosure action launched by the Lins.
In a response to the foreclosure this past March, Silverman and Hidalgo’s attorney, Brandy Gonzalez-Abreu, claimed the Lins had essentially led her clients to believe they were willing to negotiate new terms. Instead Silverman and Hidalgo were served papers that “unfairly surprised and harmed [them] by making refinancing efforts…difficult, if not impossible.”
Gonzalez-Abreu, who did not return calls from the BT, also claimed the Lins sold her clients the Vagabond under false pretenses, failing to mention that half of the motel property was zoned C-1 commercial and the other half R-3 residential, halting the renovation project and costing Silverman and Hidalgo revenue they had anticipated and needed. (At Silverman’s request, the Miami City Commission rezoned the entire 56,165-square-foot lot C-1 in December 2007.)
By 2009 much of the goodwill extended to Silverman by the city and many of his neighbors had evaporated. This past March D’Amico collected signatures from more than 20 property owners, including some who once supported Silverman’s market concept, claiming the dilapidated condition of the Vagabond attracted drug dealers and prostitutes and demanding that the city stop granting Silverman “special exceptions.”
On May 13, Silverman was found guilty of five code citations related to his unpermitted market and given two weeks to correct them. “Instead of fixing everything,” D’Amico says, “he closed up everything.”
If Silverman has indeed given up on the Vagabond, D’Amico believes the motel will be the better for it. She says it’s looking better already, thanks to the city. “Someone will buy it,” she predicts. “It is a unique property. It has so much potential.”
Michael Cannon, a respected real estate analyst and managing director of Integra Realty Resources--AREEA/South Florida, examined Silverman’s project several years ago on behalf of a client who considered extending a mortgage. Cannon agrees with D’Amico that the Vagabond is special and has a “tremendous history.” But he cautions that the Boulevard’s motel row is still in transition. “It took 25 years for Ocean Drive to become what it is today,” he observes, adding that it may take another 20 years before the MiMo District is no longer considered a risky investment.
For her part, Fran Rollason hopes something positive will happen with the Vagabond -- and soon. Its current condition, she says, is “a disaster for the neighborhood.”
News source: biscaynetimes.com
Customer Service Network
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