I got nothing.

[Doktor Howl]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBaX-ozbYuI

[Left]

...It would be cheaper overall if they just built them housing

State prison in Florida spends roughly $18,000 a year per prisoner.
http://www.dc.state.fl.us/oth/Quickfacts.html
That's $1500 a month
Meaning it would likely be cheaper, overall, to build little efficiency apartments for them.

I guess that would make too much sense, though.

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

That's insane. And terrifying. It is illegal to live in a way which the state does not approve of. Oh you disagree? Well we just added to your jail time. Have a nice day.


That's bullshit.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

It's a quality of life issue.

It's a quality of life issue.

It's a quality of life issue.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

"Quality of life offenses". 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

[Junkenstein]

Marc Sarnoff seems to be a bit of a shitheel to say the least:
http://notnowsilly.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/is-marc-d-sarnoff-corrupt-or-most.html

However, that changed once I started investigating the current state of Coconut Grove. The name "Marc D. Sarnoff" started cropping up with some regularity. The more I uncovered of Gino Falsetto's real estate deals, the more I saw the Sarnoff name. When I started looking into the Coconut Grove Playhouse, I encountered the Sarnoff name again. It didn't matter where I turned, Sarnoff always seemed to be RIGHT THERE. On one level that's not surprising; Sarnoff is the Commissioner for Miami's District 2, which takes in Coconut Grove.


However, it was how his name kept coming up that intrigued the journalist in me. Whenever I read about a new development, I would read about how Marc D. Sarnoff was supporting it, often against neighbours' objections. The Sarnoff name also came up often when interviewing people on deep background about the history of the Grove Gardens Residence Condominiums behind the E.W.F. Stirrup House in Coconut Grove. The prevailing opinion seems to be that if you are a developer, Marc Sarnoff is on your side. If you live in White Coconut Grove, Marc Sarnoff can be your best friend. If you live in Black Coconut Grove, Marc Sarnoff is the invisible man.

Nothing illustrates this better than last week's hastily scheduled Town Hall meeting on Trolleygate. Sarnoff only called for this community meeting once the shit hit the fan, not when this diesel bus garage was still on paper. Trolleygate can be a complicated story if one gets too deeply into the weeds. However, clearing away the clutter -- and narrowing the focus to a single issue -- it is easier to see what's at stake. In a nutshell:


On one hand: Marc Sarnoff claims Astor Development complied with all legal requirements and had every right to build a diesel bus garage in the middle of West Grove.

On the other hand: Lawyers for West Grove say that the Miami21 Plan specifically prohibits a "government vehicle maintenance facility" along Douglas; therefore, building permits never should have been issued.

They both can't be right.

True to form, residents say, Sarnoff couldn't be bothered to look for any reasons to deny a developer, even though West Grove lawyers say many exist. The courts will now sort this mess out, at a cost to all Miami taxpayers (the West Grove lawyers are working pro bono).

Much more at the link, googling the guy brings up a ton of stuff, very little complimentary.

Given the ties to developers, I wouldn't be surprised if he's got links to the private prison industry, the proposed legislation makes more sense in that light.

[Junkenstein]

More background:

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/02/marc_sarnoff_punched_reid_welc.php

Call us crazy. But if two people saw Banana Republican approach someone, sucker punch him or her, and then pin our victim to the ground, chances are we'd be taking a ride down to Miami-Dade County jail. In fact, any Joe Schmo would have been arrested for assault or battery. But Marc Sarnoff is no regular citizen. He is a Miami city commissioner who has apparently gotten away with beating up his former pal and current nemesis, Reid Welch.

Despite Welch's weird addiction of huffing propane and his eccentric behavior, his claim that Sarnoff assaulted him this past Oct. 29 are supported by two witnesses, according to previously unreleased police documents that Welch's attorney Jason Wandner showed the commissioner during a court hearing yesterday.
Sarnoff is seeking a permanent restraining order against Welch, whom the commissioner claims made a death threat against him. Sarnoff has not returned two phone calls seeking comment. We're waiting on a response from a Miami Police spokesperson.

However, a young couple who were walking their dogs told Miami police investigator Gregory Jack that Sarnoff bum rushed Welch. Alexander Maruri, 24, said he and his girlfriend saw Sarnoff run across the street to strike Welch from behind. Welch didn't see the punch coming, Maruri added. His girlfriend, 22-year-old Megan Deehan, said Sarnoff pinned Welch to the ground after punching him.

http://www.examiner.com/article/corruption-case-emerges-miami

The City of Miami has for a long time been known as a center for political corruption, and its elected officials do not help in making the Mage any smoother. Miami Commission Vice-Chairman Mark Sarnoff, a known profiteering politician, is facing charges as he put the bill of a trip he and his wife made to Brazil last April on taxpayers.

According to Sarnoff, the trip was never a gift and involved "105% work". Which explains how the couple went to watch a yacht demonstration and several rich restaurants in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. There has not been a single official meeting with local officials reported, which should be a requirement for qualification as "city business", and yet, the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau paid for all the couple's expenses.

The case becomes even more interesting when Miami City Attorney Julie Bru is asked her legal opinion. Bru pretends that declaring the trip as a gift was unnecessary as it was supposedly made as a city business visit. Blogger Al Crespo thinks it different, as he is the one bringing charges against Sarnoff.

http://www.thecrespogramreport.com/Site_10/IT_ALL_MARC_SARNOFF.html

The story about the Miami Downtown Development Authority's sending out postcards to as many as 39,085 residents in the downtown area encouraging them to apply for absentee ballots offers both a window into the real politicks that goes on in Miami, and also provides a cautionary tale about the public policy decisions that have allowed Miami City Commissioners to create and maintain independent power bases through their "leadership" of quasi-public bodies like the DDA, the Community Redevelopment Agencies (CRA) and Business Improvement Districts (BID.)

No one has come to exemplify the abuse of this system more than Miami City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff. In addition to being a City Commissioner he is the Chairman of the DDA, the OMNI CRA, and Coconut Grove BID, and has been angling to have both the Wynwood and MIMI Districts create BID's that would allow him to weld power over those entities also.

For Sarnoff critics, myself included, this relationship is nothing more than a naked manipulation and stranglehold over these tax funded groups by an individual who has used these entities to reward his friends and supporters and abuse the financial power they provide.

Even under the best and most benign of circumstances, any kind of relationship that allows a City Commissioner to weld such total power over a handful of quasi-public organizations funded through tax dollars should raise concerns.

Interesting chap. Seems corrupt is something of an understatement.