Your Evening Sift

Back in town again after driving through thunderstorms all the way down 95 from Jacksonville. Lots 'o stuff out there today in the SoFla blogosphere. Here we go with your evening Sift...

A- Some Cranky Guy has found a silver lining to the high gas price cloud.

I am seeing far more people on bikes, be it bicycles, scooters, skateboards or motorcycles. Especially on the little trips to Publix on Sheridan and Pine Island Road. This is making us healthier people too!

I am seeing more people walking! Hell, I am walking more!

B- Random Pixels has the trailer for the new movie by Oliver Stone that's going to make Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911 look like Finding Nemo. The Chowfather adds his non food-related comments.

C- Another rockin' Black Sunday video from Rakontur.

D- 305 wanders into the 954 and finds that downtown Hollywood is pretty slick.

Yesterday, in an attempt to escape the craziness of Miami, I thought it would be a good idea to head north. I was going to trek further but instead thought - hey, I haven't been to Hollywood in like a year, so it's time to see what's going on there. I was mighty surprised in a good way to see that there are way more restaurants and bars and other establishments than I remember, and the beach front was all fixed up with the new Broadwalk and looked all purdy. Hollywood has a smalltown feel yet it has such a mix of ethnicities and randoms that you feel like you are in some small European town/yet know in the back of your mind that you're still in South Fla.

E- Volunteering at Fairchild reminds us that Sundays are free at Fairchild Gardens in August and September.

F- German bratwurst, watermelon and grapes for dinner? Daily Cocaine says yes.

G- Coconut Grove Grapevine likes the rickshaws of the Grove.

H- Is Miami a world class city? Let's hear Eye on Miami's answer..

Wasn't the American Airlines Arena suppose to make Miami a "World Class City"? And the Arsht Center, wasn't that also a "World Class City" maker? And the museums in Bicentennial Park, they are going to make this a "World Class City" too.

You can build a hundred stadiums but as long as you don’t fund our schools and take politics out of them, Miami will remain a little-sh*t [Ed.] town. You are dressing up the pig, Mayor Alvarez. Look deeper. Ridding Miami of poverty, having good transit and schools is what makes a city world class. A stadium doesn’t cut it. Just say you want baseball, don't include the "World Class City" bull, no one is buying it.

Will everyone please remove this phrase from their vocabulary until they are ready to get serious?

Make sure you read the comments.

I- Bennigan's closes up, reports MenuPages Blog: South Florida.

J- Smashed Frog restates its blogging mission.

In my view, the current political climate, whether local, state, or federal, smashes us all against the proverbial windshield. Although we fight back as constituents, to make our wishes known, elected officials of both major parties ignore us and do exactly what they want....proposing and enacting detrimental, restrictive, unconstitutional legislation. Why?

Because they can.

These jokers don't care about you. Me. Us. Or our families.

Smashing flat our quality of everyday life? THAT, they care about about.

The purpose of this blog is to wake people up, to initiate a tiny revolution of talk and of action.

Time to scrape ourselves off the windshield.

K- Incertus discusses the Wal-Mart that is being proposed for downtown Miami.

These are reasons to object to big box retailers in downtown areas--they're not practical when it comes to land use or traffic congestion, and considering that given gas prices, Miami is going to have to become even more public-transportation-friendly instead of less so, that has to be a major consideration when deciding if Wal-Mart should be allowed to build down there.

L- Discourse gives us an in-depth look at who he thinks is going to be Obama's vice-president.


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