Cuban exile mother of inaugural poet Richard Blanco now in spotlight

At first, Geysa Blanco thought her son was kidding.

"He said, ‘Mom, I have news for you,’ " Blanco said, recalling the telephone call from her son a few weeks ago.

"Between English and Spanish, he told me that they had chosen him to write and read a poem at the presidential inauguration,” she said.

But Richard Blanco, a child of exiles who was raised in Miami and graduated from Florida International University, was serious.

The Barack Obama inaugural committee chose the 44-year-old Cuban-American civil engineer and author to recite an original poem at Monday’s inauguration.

Richard Blanco has also been speechless. “It took me 10 minutes to remember what the word for inauguration is in Spanish," he said in a telephone interview Sunday from Washington, D.C., less than 24 hours before taking center stage.

Blanco, who now lives in Maine, will become the first Hispanic inaugural poet and the first openly gay one. He is also only the fifth and youngest poet in the exclusive club of poets.

The first was Robert Frost, who in 1961 wrote a poem for the inauguration of John F. Kennedy.

Then in 1993, Bill Clinton chose the African-American writer Maya Angelou. William Miller was chosen for Clinton’s second inauguration, and Elizabeth Alexander wrote the poem for Obama’s first ceremony.

In a statement, Obama said Blanco’s work represents "the great strength and diversity of the American people."

This diversity and strength could be reflected in the story of the poet’s Cuban exile mother.

"She is a very brave woman and has worked hard all her life for my brother and me," Blanco said.

During an interview at her Westchester home, Geysa Blanco, 75, said that it still seems surreal that a woman who grew up in a sugar refinery in Cienfuegos will stand in front of the National Capitol, watching her son recite a poem for the nation and the president of the United States.

“My son said reporters might want to interview me and I said, ‘Me? What for?’ ” Geysa Blanco said. Indeed, local reporters and TV cameras have come knocking and the proud mother has given several interviews.

Geysa Blanco has also become a celebrity among her neighbors, friends and customers at Regions Bank on Bird Road, where she has worked for more than 30 years.

The roots of Richard Blanco’s writing began in 1968 when his parents fled the Communist island and went into exile in Spain. At the time, Geysa Blanco, a teacher, was pregnant and she and her late husband Carlos, already had an older son, also named Carlos.

"We decided to leave Cuba because the government was becoming more and more difficult to live under," she said. "But it was very painful for me because I left my mother and brothers behind and came here virtually alone and with nothing."

After five months in Spain, where she gave birth to Richard, they emigrated to New York.

As a boy, she said Richard always had an interest in exploring his Cuban roots.

"I always had questions about Cuba, about the family we left there," he said. On his website he refers to himself as being “made in Cuba, assembled in Spain, and imported to the U.S.”

That sense of not belonging and trying to belong seeps through his books of poetry, which often feature his family and their efforts hold on to their traditions.

When Richard was about 5 and Carlos 11, the family moved to the closest place to Cuba – Miami. His mother went to work in a supermarket and later landed her bank job.

"We lived three generations in one house, my husband’s parents, my husband and I, and Charles and Richard," the poet’s mother said. "Sometimes it was hard because grandparents are not accustomed to the modern ways of young people.”

Today, she laments that those family members are gone. “I wish Richard’s father and grandparents were here to enjoy this day,” she said.

Richard Blanco did get to visit the homeland his parents yearned for when he was growing up.

"Everyone thought he wasn’t going to speak Spanish and was going to feel uncomfortable," Geysa Blanco said of her relatives on the island. "But they were surprised because he picked yucca in the fields, jumped in the canals and danced a lot, just like everyone else.”

That trip as a young man would shape the poet’s future work, his mother said. "I think that’s where he caught the bug to write about his roots," she said.

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Classroom: Washington, D.C.

When Sears D’Alemberte was 6, he enjoyed eating over his laminated plastic placemat featuring images of all the U.S. presidents from George Washington to George W. Bush.

One day, Sears looked at his father, Josh D’Alemberte, a history teacher at Ransom Everglades School in Coconut Grove, and asked why all of the presidents were white men.

Seven years later, Sears and his father will travel to Washington, D.C., to watch President Barack Obama’s inauguration for his second term.

“I’m really excited to see him because that is part of history because Obama is the first black president,” said Sears, now 13 and a seventh grader at Ransom.

Sears is one of many South Florida students who will trek to the nation’s capital to watch Obama being sworn in Monday as the nation’s 44th U.S. president. Some have tickets to the seating, others will stand shoulder to shoulder with the thousands at the National Mall. Estimates call for 600,000 to 800,000 to watch the ceremonies from the Mall.

Miami Country Day School will send 22 of its high school students to a program organized by the Close Up Foundation, a non-profit that brings students and teachers to Washington, D.C., to see the inner workings of the government.

The group left from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Thursday accompanied by Mari Conea, a U.S. history and AP teacher, and Dan Bronish, chair of the math and science department. They will be there for six days, attending political workshops and seminars, as well as attending the inauguration.

Ana Lis Garcia, 15, a sophomore at Country Day, has never been to D.C. She is excited about seeing the president, if only from afar on the National Mall.

“He’s a really cool guy,” she said. “He’s one of the most famous people in history just like Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Teddy Roosevelt and all those great presidents. He’s probably one of them and I want to be part of that.”

Students from Monsignor Edward Pace High School, Doctors Charter School and the MAST Academy in Miami-Dade, and Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory and St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Broward will also participate in the Close Up program.

A dozen students from other South Florida high schools will join about 1,900 students from across the country for the High School Presidential Inaugural Conference, an event held every four years by Envision EMI, an education company based in the Washington, D.C. area.

Students at the five-day conference will meet Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. secretary of state; design and simulate a presidential campaign; and will view the inaugural parade from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall.

Emily Riemer, 18, a student at Gulliver Preparatory School in Pinecrest, received the invitation for the conference in August and decided to go before she knew the results of the election. She had attended a leadership program in Washington last summer.

Riemer was one of the few students at Gulliver who could vote. She volunteered for the Obama campaign, watched the debates with her family and was proud to cast her first vote for the president.

“I had just turned 18 and I was ready. I was waiting for it for a long time,” Riemer said. “Maybe that one person I signed up or that one phone call I made was another vote for him.”

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King’s son brings message to South Florida

The past few days have kept the eldest son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. busy. He’s been to at least three states to carry on his father’s message: ending violence and learning from historical wrongs.

In a Fort Lauderdale Baptist church early Friday, he delivered another directive:

“A nation is judged on how we treat our most prized possession,” Martin Luther King III said. “And our most precious resource, I think, is our children.”

King served as the keynote speaker at the ninth annual Martin Luther King Jr. inspirational breakfast hosted by the YMCA of Broward County.

More than 500 gathered inside the First Baptist Church on Broward Boulevard, selling out the $2,500 per table event, to honor King’s legacy.

“My concern was that it would not be reduced to a day of relaxation,” said King III. “We have to look at this as a day on — not a day off.”

The Rev. King, a prominent civil rights leader, was born this week 84 years ago. He lead peaceful protests and bus strikes working for racial equality until his 1968 assassination.

The younger King told the South Florida audience about spending his youth at the local YMCA in Birmingham, learning to swim and working out with his dad.

“Those were wonderful experiences, experiences that I will never forget,” he said.

Like his father, King III has been a fighter for human rights, justice and non-violence in the United States and abroad. He also served as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s president, a position his father once held.

During his 2009 inauguration, President Barack Obama declared the holiday honoring King should be spent as a national day of service.

At Friday’s event, 15 youngsters from the Lauderhill YMCA were honored for their service to the community. The young friends managed to clean up a popular overpass and get rid of gangs who were harassing children.

They called their project “Own the Overpath.” The idea started when 14-year-old Kervens Jean-Louis was attacked by a gang on a fenced in walkway that spans the Florida Turnpike while coming from the YMCA, based at Boyd Anderson High School. But Jean-Louis didn’t back down.

He and other students mobilized and launched a campaign to clean-up the area surrounding the “overpath.” The youngsters made a formal presentation to the Lauderhill City Commission and Florida Department of Transportation officials.

Now, there is a $400,000 project in the works to install more lights on the bridge to increase visibility. The city broke ground in November.

“I learned that when you speak out loud it makes a difference,” said Jean-Louis.

For Jean-Louis, speaking loud meant going back to the bridge to warn others of the dangers of traveling across it at night.

He will spend this upcoming Saturday as a volunteer, painting and cleaning up a garden.

“Now I tell others what’s going on and how they can help out,” he said, much like the man they had all come to honor.

After the youngsters were honored, King III left the crowd to ponder a final thought: “We can either be a thermometer or a thermostat.”

A thermometer, he explained, takes the temperature while a thermostat regulates the temperature.

Despite the progress his father saw in his lifetime, and the decades since his death, there is still much work to be done, King III said.

“I always come with a heavy heart in January,” he said. “Because we have not fully realized the dream.”

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Jackson Health System leaders fire off memos on UM

A little known children’s program at Jackson Memorial Hospital run by University of Miami doctors has sparked two contentious memos to the county’s political leaders.

Speaking about the pediatric bone marrow transplant program, Marcos Lapciuc, the Jackson board chairman, fired off an email late Thursday to the mayor and county commissioners complaining about UM “wishing to cease” providing such services at Jackson.

Jackson Chief Executive Carlos Migoya quickly responded with a “clarifying” memo to the politicians that “we have every indication” that UM will continue to providing such services at Jackson,” but might also provide those services elsewhere. Migoya added that, if UM also undertook such services at another hospital, it would “clearly raise a host of complex issues.”

In his memo, Lapciuc complained that UM’s “maneuver will affect our most vulnerable population -- our children. This is clearly a violation of the bilateral duties and obligations that the University of Miami has under its annual operating agreement with Jackson.”

Lapciuc said Jackson’s board has “a fiduciary duty to protect and enforce all binding obligations” between Jackson and its vendors. “If this issue is not promptly addressed, then I will consider a range of options to present to the ... board.”

Both the medical school and Jackson have been struggling to overcome financial problems. UM so far has refused to say what it plans to do. When board members raised the issue earlier this week, UM spokeswoman Christine Morris said only that “we continuously work with our expert doctors and leadership at Jackson to make sure that our patients get the best possible care.”

Bone marrow transplant can be a crucial, life-saving treatment. UM doctors working at Jackson do about 10 to 20 of them each year on children, said Jackson spokesman Edwin O’Dell.

What concerns board members is that, as with any operating room procedure, staff needs to do quite a few each year in order to remain competent and hone their skills. If a program’s annual number of procedures gets too low, the state could withdraw certification.

Joaquin del Cueto, a veteran Jackson board member, told The Herald Thursday that the small program is symbolic of larger tensions between UM and Jackson. When UM purchased the 560-bed Cedars Medical Center, across the street from Jackson Memorial, in 2007, there was an understanding that UM pediatric services and transplants would remain services performed at Jackson, del Cueto said.

Earlier this week, a Jackson attorney told the board that there was nothing in the agreements with UM in which UM promised to keep transplants exclusively at Jackson.

Nevertheless, board members thought they had an understanding. Joe Arriola called the UM possibility of taking the pediatric program elsewhere “a stab in the back to our feelings,” to which fellow board member Darryl Sharpton added, “not to our feelings: Our viability.”

Board member del Cueto told The Herald that the spreading of the bone marrow program is “not in our best interests” because “we’ve invested millions of dollars to be the regional provider of transplant services” and Jackson has developed “highly trained professionals,” nurses and others, to do the procedures..

Del Cueto said he believes that Jackson’s basic operating agreement with UM requires UM to support the Jackson transplant program. He said he understands that Migoya is trying to calm the waters, to keep negotiations open with UM, but “I can’t sit by quietly” while UM is undermining Jackson.

In his memo to county commissioners, Migoya said, “We are continuing conversations with university leaders to find solutions that address both institutions’ long-term goals.” He said that UM has provided no notice that it plans to terminate these pediatric procedures at Jackson, but if it did, that “could be viewed” as a violation of the Jackson and UM signed agreements.

“Our professional recommendation is to continue our conversations with university leaders,” Migoya wrote.

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Mayor Gimenez appoints new Miami-Dade fire chief

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez named a new county fire chief Thursday, the same day current chief William “Shorty” Bryson announced his retirement.

Dave Downey, an assistant fire chief in charge of operations, will take the helm of the largest fire department in the Southeast on Feb. 2. Bryson’s retirement, which was expected, takes effect Feb. 1.

Downey, 49, a Fort Lauderdale native who became a firefighter for the city of Sunrise in 1982, has been with the county’s fire rescue department since 1988.

“I’ve enjoyed my 30 years in the fire service, and I think this is a natural progression,” he said. But, he added, “This is not something I had planned for.”

Gimenez appointed Bryson, a longtime, trusted friend, shortly after he became mayor in August 2011, with an eye on looming union negotiations.

“We had a lot of battles,” Gimenez recalled at a news conference Thursday. “I wanted to get somebody that was going to help me.”

Two months later, the county reached a tentative contract agreement with the firefighters’ union that avoided the steep cuts other bargaining units faced while offering savings by reducing overtime.

The mayor, a former firefighter and fire chief for the city of Miami, lavished praise on Bryson, 61, whom he has known since the two joined the city’s fire department in 1975. Bryson was the fire chief when Gimenez was the city manager; when Gimenez was elected county mayor, he brought Bryson out of retirement to seek the union concessions and streamline the department, which has a budget of about $370 million and nearly 2,500 employees.

This time around, Gimenez said he wanted to elevate someone from inside the department to the chief’s job. He tasked Bryson to groom his successor.

The mayor touted Downey’s years of service, experience teaching public safety courses at local universities and involvement in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s urban search-and-rescue program. Downey’s new salary has not yet been set. His current salary is about $164,000; Bryson’s salary was $185,000. Downey’s appointment must still be approved by the county commission.

Downey said he hopes to lower response times across the county and step up service, particularly in neighborhoods in northeastern, western and southern Miami-Dade.

“As our tax base increases, we still have a lot of areas of the county that are underserved,” he told The Miami Herald.

Rowan Taylor, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 1403, gave high marks to Bryson, saying he was able to resolve union grievances. The number of new grievances filed has also gone down, Taylor said.

And the rank-and-file is pleased that the new chief is being promoted from within the department.

“He is someone who has worked his way through the ranks up to assistant chief and now fire chief,” he said. “We’ve had a good working relationship with him.”

Gimenez has yet to name a successor for former Miami-Dade Police Director James Loftus, who retired early last August. Gimenez acknowledged that it has taken him longer to make that decision, and said he had expected Loftus to stay longer.

“He kind of left a little bit before we thought he was going to leave,” he said.

The department is being overseen by assistant police directors Naim Erched and J.D. Patterson.

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Driver in Rickenbacker Causeway cyclist death to be sentenced

A motorist who killed cyclist Aaron Cohen in a hit-and-run crash on the Rickenbacker Causeway will learn his fate Wednesday.

A Miami-Dade judge on Wednesday afternoon will sentence Michele Traverso, 26, who earlier pleaded guilty for the crash that killed Cohen last February.

The fatality, and a similar hit-and-run wreck in 2010, has renewed calls for increased safety for cyclists and joggers on the popular causeway. Fellow cyclists staged a memorial ride and erected a billboard overlooking Interstate 95 in Cohen’s honor.

Members of Miami’s avid cycling community are expected to be on hand for the 1 p.m. sentencing.

Traverso, driving on a suspended license, struck Cohen and cycling partner Enda Walsh as the two rode in the northbound lanes near the crest of the bridge. Traverso surrendered to police 18 hours after the crash.

Though there were reports of Traverso drinking in Coconut Grove that night, investigators could not prove that his blood alcohol content level was above the legal limit because of the delay in turning himself in.

Traverso pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident involving a death, leaving the scene of an accident with great bodily harm, and driving with a suspended license. He also pleaded guilty to earlier cocaine possession charge.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William Thomas could sentence him to as little as 22.8 months in prison, and as much as 35 years behind bars.

In May, Thomas told Cohen’s widow, Patricia Cohen, that he would be unlikely to deliver the maximum sentence, although he could consider “20 or 25 years” after hearing from her and Traverso’s own family at a possible sentencing.

The Cohen family is suing Traverso and his father, who owned the car.

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Wedgie-spree at Florida theater lands prankster in jail

Authorities say that Charles Ross is known to go around Manatee County and create situations in order to harass and annoy people while filming their reaction for You Tube.

Last weekend, Ross, 18, of Bradenton, ended up in jail after police say he went on a wedgie spree at a theater.

Deputies say Ross was at Royal Palm Theater Sunday night with a friend and began grabbing people by their pants and pulling them up hard, causing discomfort.

A victim told deputies that Ross pulled up his pants, wedgie-style, and then asked the victim if he wanted to hit him, all while his friend was filming, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

One victim decided to press charges but others were too embarrassed, deputies said.

The deputy took the camera as evidence and both Ross and his friend were removed from the theater and told they would be arrested if they come back, according to the report.

Ross was booked into the Manatee County Jail on battery charges and was released Monday on a $750 bond.

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Crime Watch: Now is a good time to protect your credit cards

Well, the holidays are over, we have over-eaten and shopped until we dropped. With that said, let’s turn to a subject that we need to be very careful about: credit cards.

With all the shopping we did during the holidays, we need to make sure that our cards were not compromised. So when the bills start coming in, pay close attention to the charges, and I hope you kept all the receipts so you can match those charges!

Once again, I want to provide you with information in case you feel that you have become a victim of identity theft, so here is what you need to do immediately:

• Immediately close accounts you know or believe have been tampered with.

• File a police report and submit it to your creditors and others who may require proof of the crime.

• Contact the fraud department of the three major credit bureaus to place a fraud alert on your credit file.

• File your complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at www.consumer.gov/idtheft. The FTC maintains a database of identity theft cases used by law enforcement agencies for investigations. You can also call the FTC hotline: 877-IDTHEFT.

• Order your credit report. The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows you to get one free credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus once per year. You can get their names at www.annualcreditreport.com/ or by calling 877-322-8228.

• Correct all mistakes on your credit report in writing. Send a letter to the credit reporting agency identifying the problems item by item. Include a copy of the credit report and send the letter with a return receipt requested.

• Make a copy of all your credit card account numbers and bank account numbers and keep it in a safe place.

This past year was truly challenging for many of us, but by working together, staying informed and being involved we can continue to meet the challenges before us in 2013. Foreclosed and abandoned houses continue to be one of the biggest problems in our neighborhoods. All you have to do is ask any police officer that works those areas or the crime watch groups that have dozens of foreclosures in their community. Therefore, I hope to continue providing you with the necessary information to help resolve those issues.

To those that have chosen to implement Neighborhood Watch, I congratulate you, because you are making a difference working together with your police officers. Little by little, a block at a time, you are helping to keep crime in check in your area.

In closing I want to say “thank you” to all the readers who have helped in making this column so popular. It is hard to believe that next month I will be starting my eighth year writing this column. You the readers have contributed so much with your suggestions, your personal incidents and emails. Many of you have stated in more than one occasion this column has helped you not become a victim.

We may not always agree on some issues, but I try very hard to give you the tools necessary so you may get involved in strengthening our community. Once again, thank you for your support. Have a safe week!

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Motorcyclist killed by hit-and-run driver on Ives Dairy Road

State troopers are looking for a driver in a hit-and-run crash that killed a cyclist on Ives Dairy Road in north Miami-Dade County early Sunday.

The cyclist was riding west on Ives Dairy Road near Northeast 13th Court around 3:41 a.m. when the rider was struck and killed by a black Dodge Charger also traveling westbound.

Eyewitnesses to the crash followed the car and obtained a partial license tag number, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

Troopers have not yet released the name of the dead cyclist.

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Dave Barry on man-vs.-snake Everglades smackdown

Would you like to make some extra money, and at the same time run the risk of being eaten by a carnivorous reptile the size of a war canoe?

If your answer is “yes,” I have an exciting opportunity for you. It’s called the Python Challenge, and I am not making it up. It’s a real event that was dreamed up by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which apparently was concerned that Florida does not seem insane enough to people in normal states.

The Python Challenge is a month-long contest; its purpose, according to the official website (pythonchallenge.org) is “to raise public awareness about Burmese pythons.”

Q. What do they mean by “raise public awareness about?”

A. They mean “kill.”

The contest is open to anybody who registers, pays a $25 fee and takes an online training course; so far about 400 people have signed up. These people have from Jan. 12 through Feb. 10 to go out in the Everglades and raise public awareness on as many pythons as they can. There’s a $1,500 prize for whoever kills the most pythons, a $1,000 prize for whoever kills the longest python, and a $500 prize for whoever kills the python with the best personality.

I’m kidding about that last prize, of course. Burmese pythons do not have personalities: All they do is eat and destroy the ecosystem. They are the teenage males of the animal kingdom. That’s why the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is trying to get rid of them.

Be advised, however, that you cannot kill these pythons any old way you want. No, sir: This is an official state-sponsored event, and if there is one word that comes to mind whenever you hear the name “Florida,” that word is “ethics.” The Python Challenge guidelines clearly state that you have — this is an actual quote — “an ethical obligation to ensure a Burmese python is killed in a humane manner.” That means you cannot kill your python using cruel and inhumane methods such as forcing it to watch Here Comes Honey Boo Boo until it commits suicide, or placing it at the entrance to a Boca Raton restaurant just as the Early Bird special begins, where it would be trampled to death in seconds.

So how do you ethically kill a Burmese python? According to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, you can use a device called a “captive bolt,” or you can shoot it in the head with a firearm of “a safe, but effective caliber.” (Got that? You want your caliber to be safe, but also effective.)

You are also permitted to whack off the python’s head with a machete, provided you do so in an ethical manner. To quote the commission: “Make sure your technique results in immediate loss of consciousness and destruction of the Burmese python’s brain.” (If you think I’m making any of this up, I urge you to go read the Python Challenge guidelines.)

One thing the guidelines are not very specific about is how you’re supposed to catch the python in the first place. I happen to have some experience in this area. A few years ago, I captured a snake that somehow got into my office and onto my desk, despite the fact that I live in Coral Gables, where snakes are a clear violation of the zoning code. The technique I used to capture this particular snake was as follows:

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South Florida man charged with brewing moonshine in his backyard

Authorities say they have arrested a 23-year-old man who has been distilling and selling moonshine at his Lantana home.

Daniel David Pawa is in the Palm Beach County Jail this morning facing charges including possessing moonshine, conspiracy to violate beverage laws and possessing a fire arm, according to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Department officials say Pawa was arrested early this morning in Lantana by agents from their Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco. The address of Pawa’s West Palm Beach home, where authorities say he was cooking the alcohol, was not immediately available.

Authorities did say that undercover agents had bought more than 40 gallons of moonshine from Pawa. When they searched his home they found a moonshine still, liquor bottles, a hydrometer, mason jars and a .45 caliber gun.

Possession of the gun is the most serious charge, a second degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines. Pawa faces four other charges, all third-degree felonies that could earn him up to five years in prison and/or up to a $5,000 fine for each should he be found guilty.

The West Palm Beach and Lantana police departments assisted with the arrest and securing the home. The address where Pawa was arrested was also not immediately available.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office bomb squad responded to scene when a grenade was found during the search, according

to the department.

Authorities are still looking for two other individuals they believe were in on the moonshining operation.

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Plan to add 100 Miami police officers wins city commission support

The Miami City Commission will move forward with a plan to expand its police department by 100 officers.

The additional personnel will boost the department’s ranks to 1,244 sworn officers, and better align the ratio of police to residents in Miami with cities like Baltimore, Atlanta and Memphis.

“If we are ever going to become the great city that we claim we are going to become, we need to do at a minimum what Philadelphia does,” said Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, noting that Philadelphia employs 4.3 officers for every 1,000 citizens, compared to the 2.6 officers for every 1,000 citizens in Miami.

While the commission did not take an official vote, a majority of members and Mayor Tomás Regalado expressed support for the initiative, and City Manager Johnny Martinez said he would begin work on a detailed strategy for police hiring.

“The number one priority should be policing,” Commissioner Francis Suarez said. “It’s a critical need in the city.”

Sarnoff, who pitched the idea in his first official act as commission chairman, wants to go further, adding 300 officers over the next three years.

It won’t be easy. Miami is already 50 officers shy of the 1,144 officers covered by the budget. City officials blame the shortage on administrative hiccups between the police department and the city’s human relations department.

Making the bottleneck worse, Miami must adhere to special guidelines from the Department of Justice when recruiting new officers.

Regalado said that streamlining the process for hiring police might require a change to the city charter. If that is the case, he said, it would have to wait until the next election.

But Police Chief Manuel Orosa said the city could reasonably hire between 150 and 200 new officers in 2013 by adding a few additional police academy instructors.

“Parts of our city are becoming more vertical,” Orosa said. “You need more officers to cover the density.”

Orosa estimated that the salaries for 100 new officers would cost about $7.4 million a year. There would be additional costs for the officers’ uniforms, cars and fuel, he said.

The commission would need to formally approve the additional expenses.

After Thursday’s discussion, Regalado said he was committed to expanding the police department as quickly as possible.

Martinez, the city manager, offered a note of caution.

“We need to be very strategic,” he said. “It’s not just hiring 100 officers, it is hiring the right 100 officers.”

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Hollywood OKs deal with Cinema Paradiso

Cinema Paradiso will soon have a sequel.

Hollywood’s Community Redevelopment Agency board agreed Wednesday morning to buy 3,000 movie tickets a year — at a cost of $30,000 — to help the small art house theater open a second location.

“The outpouring of support is amazing,” said Gregory von Hausch, the theater’s executive director. “Now we just have to work to get it open.”

Having a Hollywood location has been three years in the making. The theater, which shows documentaries, foreign and independent films and retro movies, currently operates from a spot near the Broward County Courthouse on Southeast Sixth Street in Fort Lauderdale, but wanted a second, more metropolitan location.

It’s worked out a deal to lease a nearly 3,000-foot space at 2008 Hollywood Boulevard.

It just needed the CRA’s guaranteed financial support in order to commit. And city leaders say the theater is the perfect for downtown, where they envision an arts and cultural district.

“This is more than a no brainer,” said Mayor Peter Bober. “This is a deal that makes absolute sense.”

The tickets will be given for free to area hotels to distribute to guests. The theater will also work something out to encourage Hollywood residents to view films there.

Several residents and theater supporters came out in favor of having a theater location in Hollywood.

“Here is a wonderful way of bringing people from all over Hollywood downtown,” said Terry Cantrell, president of the Hollywood Lakes Civic Association.

With the approval, von Hausch said they will immediately start work on the space to create a ticket booth, concession stand, screen and other theater necessities. The hope is for the theater, which will have about 100 seats, to open in three months.

Board Chair Alan Koslow is already dreaming of a second phase.

“This is just the start,” he said, adding that the film society would love to add a film school. “We want to bring Hollywood, California to Hollywood, Florida.”

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Scott Israel is sworn in as Broward sheriff

As several thousand people looked on inside the Faith Center of Sunrise, new Broward Sheriff Scott Israel was introduced at Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony to a standing ovation.

It’s one of the most powerful elected post in the county, overseeing about 5,500 employees and a $670 million budget.

The BSO Honor Guard and a pipe and drum corps led the procession on stage. Israel’s triplets, 16-year-old Blair, Blake and Brett, led the “Pledge of Allegiance.’’

Israel, a Democrat, takes the reins from form Sheriff Al Lamberti, a Republican, who served in the post since first being appointed by then-Gov. Charlie Crist in 2007. Lambert won over challenger Israel in 2008, but in the most recent election, Israel handily ousted the incumbent. Lamberti has not said what his future plans include.

Even before taking office, Israel set to work changing things at BSO. In December, his transition team sent emails to 28 high-ranking employees telling them they would be out once Israel took over. Many top officials had already announced they would be leaving, including BSO spokesman Jim Leljedal, attorney Judith Levine and Undersheriff Tom Wheeler. Emails from Israel’s transition team to BSO show that Israel has sought information about every aspect of the agency, including budget forecasts, contracts for everything from garbage collection to lobbying, statistics about the race of employees and even about the protocol for military casket arrivals.

Beyond staff changes, it is not yet clear how Israel, a 56-year-old former Fort Lauderdale police captain and North Bay Village police chief — will change BSO.

But Israel’s senior command staff includes many who played key roles in his campaign, including his new general counsel, Ron Gunzburger, son of County Commissioner Sue Gunzburger, and Lisa Castillo, who worked on Israel’s campaign. The name of her husband, Pembroke Pines Commissioner Angelo Castillo, is also being bandied about as having a role in the Israel administration.

Israel, his wife Susan and their teenage triplets live in Parkland.

Miami Herald staff writer Amy Sherman contributed to this report.

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BCS ticket prices falling (but so is the number of available seats)

Procrastination pays.

For those fans who waited until the last minute to buy tickets to Monday night’s national championship football game in South Florida, now’s the time to buy.

Ticket prices have fallen by about half since Dec. 1, when the University of Alabama clinched its spot in the title game. The average price is about $1,500 as of Monday morning, with the cheapest seats costing $865, according to the ticket-tracking services SeatGeek and TiqIQ.

But there are only about 2,200 to 3,000 tickets available from third-party brokers right now. So though the price could fall more, this is probably the best time to buy.

“We always see this: Prices are highest on the day of an announcement for the latest concert or a national title game,” said Will Flaherty, SeatGeek’s communications director for the ticket-tracking firm.

“Fans think: ‘Oh no, I need to act quickly and get the best price for my tickets.’ But that’s often one of the worst times to buy,” he said. “Ticket prices tend to fall when you get closer to game time.”’

Assuming a buyer times his purchase properly, Flaherty said tickets could go for as low as $700 (a little more than double the face value of the cheapest wholesale tickets). He said that the average overall ticket price for this event is about $1,700 — the most-expensive event since the 2007 Super Bowl in Miami.

“I’d recommend buying from online retailers who have some sort of guarantee that you will receive legit tickets and not fakes (safest way),” Chris Matcovich, TiqIQ’s data and communications director, said in an email.

“There maybe good deals on Craigslist and amongst scalpers outside the stadium, but doing that you run the risk of losing hundreds of dollars if the ticket is a fake,” he wrote. “If people do decide to buy from people outside the stadium, one way to protect yourself from buying fakes is by asking the seller to walk to the gate with you to make sure you get in.”

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Mystery surrounds raft found near Black Point Marina in south Miami-Dade

Mystery surrounds an abandoned makeshift raft that washed ashore near Black Point Marina Saturday afternoon.

Boaters spotted the wooden raft with some personal items inside at about 2 p.m. They posted pictures and a video of the raft on the shoreline to Facebook.

Still onboard were wooden oars. Inside the raft, photos show some sort of clothing or tarps, a backpack, and a wallet with money and what appears to be an identification card with a man’s photo.

The whereabouts of the person in the raft are unknown.

It is also not clear, whether this marina was the intended destination or whether anyone on board the raft might have come ashore somewhere else.

Black Point Marina is in South Miami-Dade not far from Cutler Bay. In the hours after it was found law enforcement boats arrived at the scene.

The Coast Guard would only say that this is the subject of an ongoing investigation.

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Prosecutors: Miami Police sergeant on trial did “wrong instead of right’’

Miami Police Sgt. Raul Iglesias chose to do “wrong instead of right” in 2010 when he took over an undercover squad fighting drug dealing in the inner-city, a prosecutor said during opening statements of a federal trial Thursday.

Iglesias planted cocaine on a suspect and stole drugs and money from street dealers, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ricardo Del Toro told a 12-person jury. He also lied to FBI agents when they questioned him.

“He abused his badge and his authority and he committed crimes,” Del Toro told jurors.

Iglesias, 40, was indicted in July on nine counts, including violating suspects’ civil rights, conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute, obstruction of justice and making false statements between January and May 2010. Iglesias, who was relieved of duty with pay in 2010, faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

The two-week trial is expected to be tricky for prosecutors, who plan to put on the stand several undercover detectives who worked in Iglesias’ street unit to testify against the 18-year veteran cop. Moreover, it was apparent from the opening statements of Iglesias’s attorney, Rick Diaz, that he plans to put on a vigorous defense by attacking the government’s portrayal of his client as a corrupt supervisor.

Diaz said Iglesias was actually striving to clean up a dirty Crime Suppression Unit, and that several undercover officers turned against him because they didn’t want to play by his rules.

Some of the CSU officers reported Iglesias’s alleged misconduct to the Miami Police Department’s internal affairs section, which notified the FBI.

But Diaz warned jurors: “Perception is sometimes not reality,” saying that the prosecutor “sees it one way and I see it the other.” Diaz declared he will show his client “is not guilty of each and every” count in the indictment, adding that the government’s case was largely built on the “word of convicted felons.”

The indictment cited at least four dates when Iglesias allegedly stole or planted drugs, or lied to investigators.

On Jan. 27, 2010 — his first day on the job as the CSU supervisor — Iglesias allegedly ordered two of his officers to search a man identified in court documents only as “R.H.” He was identified in court Thursday as Rafael Hernandez, who has a criminal history.

When cocaine was not found on him, Iglesias allegedly asked his officers, Luis Valdes and Suberto Hernandez, for some “throw-down dope” to plant on the suspect. But Valdes and Hernandez, who are scheduled to testify Friday for the prosecution, refused to carry out Iglesias’s order, Del Toro said.

A third officer from a gang unit, identified only as “R.M.,” gave Iglesias some cocaine to plant on the suspect, according to the indictment. That officer was identified in court as Ricardo Martinez. In 2011, he pleaded guilty in a separate federal case to helping fence a shipment of about 10,000 stolen Bluetooth headsets with plans to sell them on the black market.

“This was the first day [on the job] to see if his officers were going to play ball,” Del Toro said.

But Diaz said that account was not true. The defense attorney said Valdes and Chalumeau “missed” the drugs during the search, and Iglesias later found them on the suspect before making the arrest.

On April 8, 2010, Iglesias also allegedly stole “money and property” from someone identified as “C.R.,” according to the indictment. His name is Carlos Rivera, who also has a criminal record.

But Diaz said he plans to call Rivera as a witness, and asserted he will testify that “nobody took money from him that day.”

Then on May 5, 2010, Iglesias and another CSU officer allegedly stole marijuana and cocaine from a drug dealer who operated out of an Allapattah window-tinting shop.

One of Iglesias’s detectives, Roberto Asanza, pointed the finger at his boss after FBI agents detained the officer, seizing 10 bags of cocaine and two bags of marijuana stolen from the tinting shop.

According to court documents, Asanza told agents that he and Iglesias used some of the stolen cocaine to pay off a confidential informant, identified as David Altoro in court records. Altoro had tipped them off to the drugs at the tint shop, which led to the arrest of a dealer, Luis Roman.

“Asanza admitted that he knew it was wrong to give drugs to the [informant], but that he was trying to build a rapport with the” informant, according to the criminal complaint for his arrest.

Asanza pleaded guilty last February to a minor drug charge of possessing a controlled substance, and was sentenced to one year of probation, court records show. The ex-Marine also gave up his law-enforcement certification. He is expected to testify for the government.

Twenty days after the May 5 bust at the tint shop, Iglesias allegedly lied when he told FBI agents that he did not know how much money was stashed in a shoebox seized that day as well.

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UM medical school names new COO

Amid roiling faculty anger, the University of Miami announced the number two executive at the Miller School of Medicine, Jack Lord, is “stepping down,” to be replaced temporarily by Joe Natoli, UM’s chief financial officer.

The change, announced by Dean Pascal Goldschmidt, comes as a petition circulates among tenured medical school faculty expressing no confidence in both Goldschmit and Lord.

Goldschmidt said in a letter to faculty, obtained by The Herald late Wednesday that he extended his “deepest gratitude” to Lord for his leadership in helping to restructure the medical school’s finances, which showed a surplus of about $9 million for the first six months of this fiscal year -- compared to a $24 million loss for the first six months of the previous fiscal year.

Lord, a physician who had been chief innovation officer at Humana, became the medical school’s chief operating officer last March. He was deeply involved in a series of drastic changes, including laying off about 900 full-time and part-time employees in the spring.

Many faculty members, who had spent decades at the medical school without seeing mass layoffs, were angry that the cuts were made without consulting them. A report by a faculty senate committee said medical school professors described the layoffs as “unprofessional,” “graceless” and “”heartless.”

The report said faculty “fear is widespread within the school. They cited instances in which someone suffered retribution for criticizing the school’s administration. ... Faculty with alternatives are leaving.”

UM did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. Last May, President Donna Shalala, a veteran administrator at several universities, said tradition-bound faculty often complained when tough changes needed to be made.

Associate Professor Sam Terilli, head of the committee that wrote the interim report in late August, said last week a follow-up report is being prepared, but said it was too soon to offer details of what it would say.

Meanwhile, several anonymous sources have sent The Herald a copy of a petition being circulated among school faculty members who “wish to express, in the strongest possible terms, the concern we feel for the future for our school of medicine.” The petition blamed “the failed leadership of Pascal Goldschmidt and Jack Lord. ... We want to make clear that the faculty has lost confidence in the ability of these men to lead the school.”

The petition states: “Under the current leadership, there has been a major shift in the mission of the schools that we feel jeopardizes our educational, clinical and research enterprises. The deterioration of the relationship with Jackson Memorial Hospital fundamentally threatens both our graduate and undergraduate medical education programs without which the school of medicine cannot exist.”

A half-dozen persons closely connected to the medical school who requested anonymity told The Herald that they’ve heard that between 400 and 600 of the school’s 1,200 faculty have added their names to individual copies of the petition.

The petitions are addressed to the chair of the faculty senate, Richard L. Williamson, a law professor. Williamson said last week he would not comment on how many had signed the petition because it was “an internal matter” and may never become public. He said that the number of those who know how many have signed is “extremely small and none of them will talk.”

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Naked man arrested after choking family dog

A barking dog woke a homeowner out of his early morning sleep Wednesday. When he grabbed his gun and went to check, he found a naked man choking the family pet.

When the victim tried to intercede, the culprit quickly turned around and began biting the man, according to Miami Police.

Fearing for his life, the victim shot the man, while family members called police.

The culprit continued to fight with officers who arrived on the scene.

The subject finally was taken into custody and transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center to be treated for a gunshot wound.

The victim was treated for his injuries.

Police charged the man, who refused to give his name, with burglary with an assault, resisting arrest with violence, lewd and lascivious behavior and animal cruelty.

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Peeping tom suspect nabbed at Forever21 store at Sawgrass Mills mall

A suspected “peeping tom” was arrested Sunday after he was caught with video of women trying on clothes at the Forever21 store at the Sawgrass Mills mall.

Andre Clements, 30, has been charged with video voyeurism and disorderly conduct, Sunrise police said.

A manager at the store became suspicious when Clements, 30, was caught loitering in the dressing rooms. Customers also complained about Clements.

The manager alerted mall security, who called Sunrise police. When police arrived, the manager found several large slits in the curtain which separated the fitting room Clements was in and the adjoining fitting room.

In Clements possession police found a Sony camcorder with videos of young women changing clothes.

Clements admitted taping the women just before police had arrived.

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