I have to daily thank any dieties that are responsible for Al Crespo, the blogger who brings us The Crespo-Gram Report, which keeps scooping all the mainstream media and bringing us breaking big stories like Tony Crapp's resignation and the bribe, er, I mean early retirement offer by Mayor Tomas Regalado to Police Chief Miguel Exposito so he would resign and lay off him, with downloads and everything. Gotta love that.
Crespo is an inspiration to Ladra. Fresh posts are scheduled to be published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, but lately he's been updating it daily with a stream of breaking news. He is the source on inside Miami Proper politics and government games and graft.
Earlier this week, he posted a story about a meeting to discuss a proposed CRA development with a private development company -- and brought out a PDF of a fundraising flyer/invite from Commissioner Richar Dunn's campaign last year hosted by the same development group. Then he went to Dunn's campaign reports, and found $20,000 in the three days after from developers and such, including the company's president. The meeting was cancelled -- I think after his post. Gotta love that.
http://www.crespogram.com/
He is relentless with his public records requests and is adept at connecting the dots and putting it into context, having the benefit of a wealth of insider knowledge and history and adding his own perspective, which is wise beyond its humor.
Yes, thank heavens for Al Crespo. For without his voice and vigilance, imagine all we would never know.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
6 comments:
I have decided to moderate comments for a while as there are some that are simply off-subject and have become personal and offensive in nature, attacking not just me but others through this venue.
Comments that add substance and context to the news and issues in the blog will be posted. Comments that use profanity and abuse this open space to attack others will be saved and, when called for, sent to the appropriate authorities.
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Good for Al. Ladra let the people know the latest in politics all over Miami-Dade. This is just what bad politicians want to keep from the TAX PAYING PUBLIC.
ReplyDeleteLadra:
ReplyDeleteI agree with your kudos to Al Crespo.
Ladra, Thank you for your kind words, although I don't think that I'm doing so much, as the traditional news media is actually doing so little.
ReplyDeleteWe're all part of a new world - whether it turns out to be brave is another question - and I think that for the next few years folks like you, me, and the other bloggers who cover local politics will continue to develop formats and processes that will see a real merging between us and what remains of traditional news organization.
For now though, this has certainly turned out to be an interesting chapter in my life!
Thanks,
al
Once, in a faraway time, I started a community newspaper for the same reasons Crespo started his blog; I could not believe the shenanigans going on at Miami city hall. Crespo has taken city reporting to a new level. I check his blog 3 or 4 times a day. Incredible to say the least.
ReplyDeleteThe other day I was having lunch with a journalist, fresh out of college. I mentioned Crespo and she asked me, "how is he able to do what he does? How is he able to scoop all the other news outlets?" My reply did not take a moments thought, "He doesn't do it for a paycheck."
I only wish he would allow comments, so we could tell him directly. Hope he reads this.
Besaculo
ReplyDeleteThank you guys for what you do! you guys may be single handedly be saving us millions of dollars by exposing these crooks. Please keep writing....
ReplyDeletecity of miami employee and taxpayer