Re-evaluating Andrew

Striking bus drivers are making it hard for kids to get to school, even resorting to thuggery to stop them — but why even go, when they’re bound to find lousy teachers waiting for them when they get there?

Too often, that’s the case in this city; ineffective teachers can’t easily be fired. Yesterday, the United Federation of Teachers froze that sorry status quo by nixing any reasonable system for rating teachers and firing those who can’t cut it.

Not even the lure of $450 million in state and federal funds, which Gov. Cuomo assured folks would seal the deal, could buy the union’s cooperation.

AP

Gov. Cuomo

We refer the governor to our words from one year ago: “As long as Cuomo leaves the union with a veto over reforms,” we said, “there’ll never be any — even if districts lose state aid.”

Alas, he ignored our warning and left the unions veto power. Sure enough, yesterday our prediction bore out, sad as it is to note. New York’s kids will pay the price.

At the time, recall, Cuomo was trying to fix a 2010 teacher-evaluation law that he rightly called “unworkable by design.”

The law, he said, “protected the teachers union at the expense of the students.”

Yet then he pushed a new law that is just as unworkable.The failure of the city and the UFT to come to terms by yesterday — Cuomo’s deadline — shows just how flawed it is.

Of course, the UFT was ready to accept a sham evaluation system. For example, it wanted any plan to be scrapped after two years. The catch: It takes at least that long to get rid of poor teachers, so no teacher could’ve been removed in time. Great.

Kudos to Mayor Bloomberg for rejecting the charade, even if it cost nearly half a billion in state and local funds.

It’s futile to blame the UFT. After all, the union isn’t in business to serve students; its job is to protect teachers, even the bad ones. The real culprit here is the law.

We have two questions. First: Will Cuomo heed our warning now, and push legislation that holds teachers accountable, even over union objections?

Second: Will Bloomberg’s successor stand as firmly he has? (UFT boss Michael Mulgrew says, ominously, that he’s only too happy to wait for the next administration to take office “in 11 months.”)

Meanwhile, 1.1 million city schoolkids will be counting on Cuomo & Co. — that is, if the kids can manage to make it to school.

Have an opinion on this Post editorial? Send it in to LETTERS@NYPOST.COM!

Read More..

Prices for Miami Beach luxury condos soar to records

Ultra-luxury condominiums on South Beach are fetching nosebleed prices.

On Tuesday, a penthouse at the Setai Resort at 2001 Collins Avenue closed for $27 million — the highest price ever for a South Florida condominium, according to real estate agents.

“We’re definitely seeing the market turning upward,” said Jeff Miller, of Zilbert International Realty in Miami, who represented the buyer in the sale of the palatial 7,100-square-foot condominium. “We’re seeing buyers come in from all over the globe.”

Just a few weeks ago, Ohio coal mining businessman Wayne Boich Jr. completed the sale of his Icon South Beach penthouse at 450 Alton Road in the uber-trendy South of Fifth neighborhood for just under $21 million.

The 6-bedroom, 7 1/2-bath Icon condo sparked a bidding war that drove the sale $2 million above the listing price — a level that is three times the $7 million Boich paid in July 2007 in the depths of the bust. It was a record price for a Miami Beach bayside condo.

“The luxury market is on fire in South Beach — especially the South of Fifth neighborhood,” said Dora Puig, principal of PuigWerner Real Estate Services, who was the listing broker for the Icon unit. “It’s moving Miami to totally different pricing points.”

The Setai’s record may not reign for long.

Penthouse 2 in the decade-old Continuum South tower at 100 South Pointe Drive in the South of Fifth neighborhood is on the market for $39 million.

That is a record listing price for a Miami-Dade condominium, according to Puig, who also snagged that listing.

Amid the market sizzle, Puig bumped up the asking price late last summer from $35 million.

The penthouse, which has 11,000 square feet of interior space, belongs to Manhattan real estate developer Ian Bruce Eichner, who built the Continuum project at the tip of South Beach and kept the trophy for himself.

The Continuum penthouse, which has 6,000 square feet of deck and a rooftop heated pool, boasts sweeping 13 1/2-foot ceilings that give the feel of a single-family home. The floor-to-ceiling glass walls offer a 360-degree view of the Atlantic Ocean, Biscayne Bay, downtown Miami and Miami Beach from 40 stories up.

“It looks down on Fisher Island, way down,” Puig said with a smile.

The unit has a private interior elevator, of course, and stretches over two indoor levels and two largely exterior levels.

One big plus: It has a gated entrance and sits on an expansive enclave of rolling lawns and gardens adjacent to a city park at the tip of the island.

The unit comes with an additional 874-square-foot guest quarters that would delight most mortals. “The guest unit is intended for professional quarters: the maid, the nanny, the chef, the pilot,” Puig explained.

Also included is a snazzy cabana on the beach.

Eichner has used it as a vacation home and once rented it to Tom Cruise for a couple of months while he was in Miami to film Rock of Ages.

On Thursday, Puig hosted Miami’s power brokers for a look at the Continuum penthouse over champagne and hors d’oeuvres. Next week, she plans to spend three days in New York touting the property to high-end brokers.

Such palatial properties typically are paid for in cash. But what would a monthly payment be?

With a 20 percent down payment of $7.8 million, the buyer would have to finance $31.2 million.

“I don’t know that I’d be able to find anybody willing to go that high on one unit,” warned Steve Schneider, a mortgage broker who is owner and president of Abacus Lending Group in South Miami.

If a buyer could line up a 15-year fixed rate mortgage at 3.5 percent, the monthly payment for principal and interest would be $223,043.35.

“I’d hate to see the tax bill,” said Schneider.

According to Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser records, the 2012 property tax bill on the Continuum penthouse was $264,896.17. That was based on an assessed value of just $9.5 million, less than half what the Property Appraiser listed as the market value of $19.3 million. The tax break came as a result of the state law that caps increases in assessed values on non-homesteaded property at 10 percent a year.

The condo maintenance fee for Eichner’s unit runs $7,624 a month. “I think that’s low for what you get,” said Puig.

Read More..

Scott supports review of state gun laws: ‘I want people to feel safe’

LARGO --
Gov. Rick Scott voiced his support for a broad review of Florida’s controversial gun laws by state lawmakers Wednesday, saying the state’s vital tourist economy depends on visitors being able to “feel safe” amid an increasingly well-armed population.

“We have a legislative session coming up,” Scott said during a visit to the Honeywell Aerospace plant in Largo, where he was touting his new plan to boost state manufacturing. “I think the right thing to do is go back and look at our laws.”

The father of a teacher, Scott said he would particularly support looking at ways to make schools safer. But he did not specify which other areas of existing state law might deserve scrutiny, refusing to respond to questions about universal background checks for firearm sales and a ban on assault weapons.

“I want people to feel safe in our state,” he said.

His remarks came in response to reporters’ questions on gun control, as the nation awaited an announcement from the White House on proposals to reform federal firearm regulations. President Barack Obama called on Congress Tuesday to enact bans on assault weapons and high-capacity gun magazines, and expand background checks for gun purchasers.

Scott’s statements about a review of state gun laws were a rare — if still vague — foray into the debate over gun control in the wake of the Dec. 14 massacre of 20 children and six adults by a gunman at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

In previous public remarks, he has emphasized his sympathy for the victims’ families, rather than a legislative response. Scott skipped a conference call held by Vice President Joe Biden last week in which Biden solicited views on gun violence.

Scott’s press secretary, Jackie Schutz, later said she wanted to clarify that the governor’s support for a review of existing gun legislation doesn’t detract from his backing for citizens’ constitutional right to keep and bear arms. She said his remarks were not a “call to action” for specific legislation or reforms.

“Gov. Scott, as he has continued to say, is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment,” Schutz said. “He’s open to having a conversation, and he wants people to feel safe.”

Florida’s patchwork gun laws have subjected the state to criticism from gun-control advocates across the country. The state received a grade of “D-” in a recent review of state firearm laws by the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a San Francisco-based nonprofit.

In addition to its hotly debated “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law, Florida does not require background checks for private sales of weapons and places no limit on the number of guns a person can buy at one time. The state has issued more than a million permits to carry a concealed handgun.

Top Republicans in Tallahassee have so far balked at the prospect of adjusting those laws, though they have signaled some openness to increasing funding for school-security measures after the Newtown shooting.

Senate President Don Gaetz, a Niceville Republican, told the Orlando Sentinel this month that regulating gun access is “not something I think the Legislature will get involved in, other than peripherally.”

Asked to clarify the governor’s position on which state laws should be examined, Schutz said she could not offer specifics.

“Generally, he wants to take the [legislative] session to look at them, like he said,” Schutz said. “He wants to look at any ideas.”

Schutz declined to offer details about the governor’s ideas on school safety, or the possibility — advocated by the National Rifle Association — of placing armed guards in every elementary school.

“The safety of our schools — the teachers, the students, the people who work in the schools — is incredibly important,” she said.

Read More..

Kirstie Alley's Cheers Reunion

It's been nearly two decades since Cheers went off the air, but the onscreen chemistry hasn't changed between Kirstie Alley and Rhea Perlman, as seen in Kirstie's new TV Land pilot, Giant Baby.

On the show, Kirstie plays a Broadway diva whose life gets up-ended.

VIDEO: Kirstie Alley Celebrates 62nd Birthday with ET

"You know, we were planning this when we were doing Cheers," Kirstie said of reuniting with Rhea. "We said when Cheers isn't on the air anymore we'll do a show together."

Rhea plays Kirstie's best friend on Giant Baby, but she's also been a close friend to the Golden Globe winner in real-life, as Kirstie mentions in her New York Times bestseller, The Art of Men.

Kirstie's book, detailing her sexual exploits and struggles with drug addiction, has had so much success that it's attracted readers that Kirstie never thought would buy it.

"It never dawned on me that my dad would read my book," Kirstie said. "I didn't give it to him!"

Click the video for more.

Read More..

Give us your drives

The Securities and Exchange Commission has become more aggressive in seeking full hard drives from the companies and individuals it investigates, startling defense lawyers who question whether the agency is allowed to obtain such information.

It is part of a larger effort by enforcement authorities, both criminal and civil, to use bolder and more sophisticated tools to nab fraudsters who themselves are becoming savvier in their techniques.

Read More..

Miami Dolphins bill would bring state money to aging stadiums

A bill drafted by the Miami Dolphins would give Florida sports teams $3 million a year in state money to improve older stadiums, provided the owner pays for at least half the cost of a major renovation.

Under the law, the stadium would need to be 20 years old and the team willing to put in at least $125 million for a $250 million renovation. That’s less than the $400 million redo of Sun Life Stadium that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross proposed this week, which he hopes will win state approval thanks to his offer to fund at least $200 million of the effort to modernize the 1987 facility.

Miami-Dade and Florida would fund the rest through a mix of county hotel taxes and state general funds set aside for stadiums. Sun Life currently receives $2 million a year through the program, and the Dolphins want to create a new category that would give them an additional $3 million.

While the Miami Marlins and Miami Heat both play in stadiums subsidized by county hotel taxes, the Dolphins receive no local dollars. The bill would change that by allowing Miami-Dade to increase the tax charged at mainland hotels to 7 percent from 6 percent, and eliminate the current rule that limits the money to publicly owned stadiums. Sun Life Stadium, in Miami Gardens, is privately owned but sits on county land.

The bill pits enthusiasm for one of Florida’s most popular sports teams against a lean budget climate and lingering backlash against the 2009 deal that had Miami and Miami-Dade borrow about $485 million to build a new ballpark for the Marlins. Ross also must navigate a Republican-led Legislature that has twice rebuffed his requests for public dollars.

“I would be surprised if that bill even got a hearing in committee,” said Mike Fasano, a Republican representative from the Tampa area and a critic of tax-funded sports deals. “I’m a big Dolphin fan, and have been for years. But with all due respect, we’ve got people who are struggling throughout this state right now . .. The last thing we should be doing is giving a professional sports team or facility additional tax dollars.”

While the bill would open up the $3 million subsidy to other the teams, the Dolphins see it as unlikely that another owner would be willing to put up as much money for renovations as Ross, a billionaire real estate developer.

If the bill were enacted today, any stadium opened before 1993 would be eligible for the money, provided it could show the proposed renovation would generate an additional $3 million in sales taxes.

Ross and his backers are pitching the renovation as a boon to tourism, with Sun Life a magnet for the Super Bowl, national college football games and other major events. The National Football League is considering South Florida and San Francisco for the 2016 Super Bowl, and the Dolphins say approval of renovation funding is crucial to winning the bid.

Sen. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, who sponsored the Senate bill, said the funding makes sense because when Sun Life hosts a Super Bowl, the entire state benefits from both tourism dollars and publicity.

“It’s a small price to pay for economic development, and for all the shine we get from major sporting events,” said Braynon, whose district includes Sun Life. Rep. Eduardo “Eddy” Gonzalez, R-Hialeah, is the sponsor on the House side.

Read More..

Support mounts to allow unlimited political contributions in Florida

TALLAHASSEE --
Florida’s campaign finance system is so riddled with holes that a state ethics watchdog group will urge lawmakers Wednesday to open the spigot and let an unlimited amount of campaign cash gush into campaign coffers.

Integrity Florida, a non-profit, independent ethics advocacy organization, will tell the Houses Ethics and Elections Committee that the state should allow no-limits campaign finance in exchange for public disclosure of all donors.

Disclosure would be made within 24 hours of every check deposited to any state or local campaign account and every expenditure paid. The group also wants the elimination of powerful political slush funds that whitewash funds and shield donors, known as Committees of Continuous Existence.

“There is no evidence that caps on contributions are effective,’’ said Dan Krassner, executive director of Integrity Florida. “The money is going to find its way into the system. It is broken in every possible way.”

House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, who has made eliminating CCEs a political priority, told the Herald/Times that he is “open to considering” the removal of contribution limits.

“We already have a system that allows for unlimited money,’’ he said.

Republican Party Chairman Lenny Curry said he supports any proposal “that creates more transparency,” but would leave it to lawmakers to work out the details.

Democratic political consultant Steve Schale said ending donation limits and requiring fast-track disclosure “is the only way to get rid of the fiction of limits and open the gates of sunshine.”

The proposal was unanimously supported by the board of Integrity Florida, which includes the president of the Northwest Florida Tea Party Mike Hill, the executive director of the First Amendment Foundation Barbara Petersen, and retired associate editor of the St. Petersburg Times, Martin Dyckman.

For about two decades, Florida has required political contributors to limit donations to candidates to $500 in the primary and another $500 in the general election. But those limits have been outmatched by a flood of money pouring into the system in the era of Super PACs and the 2010 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision to recognize corporate contributions as political speech.

In the 2011-12 election cycle, Integrity Florida found that $230 million of the $306 million raised — about three out of four dollars — went to parties and political committees, which skirt the campaign finance limits and were subject to fewer disclosure rules.

Many of those CCEs are controlled by legislators and used to raise money, which they transfer to other campaigns or use to pay for meals, travel, car expenses and even gifts. The process has allowed the Legislature’s most powerful lawmakers to amass more clout during the election cycle as they transfer funds to the campaigns and committees of other members in an attempt to consolidate power.

In the last cycle, lawmakers who have risen to the most powerful posts in the House and Senate, raised more money in their political committees than most special interest groups in Florida. Most of the money was transferred to other accounts, leaving the public no clear trail to follow the money.

The Senate Ethics and Elections Committee chairman, Sen. Jack Latvala, R-St. Petersburg, said he wants to close those spending loopholes by banning the use of CCE funds on gifts and meals. But he does not want to eliminate CCEs. Latvala is also not a fan of removing the contribution limit because he believes the $1000 per-cycle contribution cap is working fine.

Read More..

Megan Fox Apologizes for Lindsay Lohan Comments

In the process of explaining her reason for removing a Marilyn Monroe tattoo on her forearm to Esquire magazine, cover girl Megan Fox unleashed what appeared to be a harsh criticism of actress Lindsay Lohan. In light of all the attention Fox's words have garnered, the star has taken to Facebook in an attempt to clarify her comments. 

Pics: New Mom Megan Fox's Sexiest Shoot Yet

"In the newly released article that I did for Esquire, there is a reference that is made to Lindsay Lohan that I would like to clarify before it snowballs into something silly," began Fox in an open letter posted to her personal page.

"The journalist and I were discussing why I was removing my Marilyn Monroe tattoo, especially since, in his opinion, Marilyn was such a powerful and iconic figure for women. I attempted to draw parallels between Lindsay and Marilyn in order to illustrate my point that while Marilyn may be an icon now, sadly she was not respected and taken seriously while she was still living.

"Both women were gifted actresses, whose natural talent was lost amongst the chaos and incessant media scrutiny surrounding their lifestyles and their difficulties adhering to studio schedules etc.

"I intended for this to be a factual comparison of two women with similar experiences in Hollywood. Unfortunately it turned into me offering up what is really much more of an uneducated opinion. It was most definitely not my intention to criticize or degrade Lindsay.

"I would never want her to feel bullied, as she does not deserve that. I was not always speaking eloquently during this interview and this miscommunication is my fault."

Related: How Megan Fox Lost All That Baby Weight

Fox's original quote to Esquire reads as follows:

"I started reading about [Marilyn] and realized that her life was incredibly difficult. It's like when you visualize something for your future. I didn't want to visualize something so negative.

"She was sort of like Lindsay [Lohan]. She was an actress who wasn't reliable, who almost wasn't insurable. ... She had all of the potential in the world, and it was squandered. I'm not interested in following in those footsteps."

Read More..

BamCare’s next crisis

Betsy McCaughey

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported last week that health spending in the United States inched up 3.9 percent in 2011 — the latest available statistics, and the third year in a row it rose at that tiny rate. It’s the slowest pace in 52 years, after decades of staggering double-digit increases.

It’s an embarassing fact for President Obama. To frighten the nation into passing the Affordable Care Act (a k a ObamaCare), he repeatedly warned throughout 2009 and 2010 of “skyrocketing” health-care costs threatening family budgets and the nation’s economy. He even labeled these “skyrocketing” costs “the domestic crisis of our time.”

Now the data show just the opposite, that health-care spending was growing more slowly than at any other time in the last half-century.

The federal report highlights one reason for the trend: a decline in inpatient hospital care (down 1.1 percent), as more folks get outpatient treatment instead. New technologies such as anesthesia-reversing drugs help make that possible.

But in a separate report, the same agency’s actuaries project that the Affordable Care Act will soon reverse our progress in taming spending growth. In 2014, when most of the law’s provisions take effect, spending will jump 7.4 percent — 2.1 percent faster than if ObamaCare hadn’t passed.

In other words, the government’s own actuaries warn that ObamaCare will cause the very “skyrocketing” costs we were told it would cure. They also say spending will continue to grow 6.2 percent a year through 2021, pushing health care to 19.6 percent of GDP by 2021.

Blame government programs for the increase. In 2011, federal, state and local government funding for health care grew 6.4 percent, while health spending by business, households and other private sources rose only 1.9 percent. Government will pay for over 49 percent of health care by 2021.

Sadly, spending will grow fastest on something that doesn’t provide care to the sick or even preventive care for the healthy: namely, on government health-care administration — bureaucrats and regulators telling doctors what to do.

This cost will soar from $29.6 billion in 2009 to $68 billion in 2021. That increase alone is enough to buy health plans for 2 million American families a year.

The projections from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services identify other problems ahead: One is an 8.5 percent rise in demand for physicians’ services in 2014, when coverage expands. Who’ll meet this demand? A 2010 report from the American Association of Medical Colleges warns of a 10 percent shortfall in doctor supply by 2020 (91,500 too few physicians).

The situation may be worse. A survey last October from the Physicians Foundation shows that many doctors are shortening hours and seeing fewer patients in response to mounting regulations, low pay and the impact of the new health law.

The report also warns that “some large employers with low-wage employees are expected to discontinue health-insurance benefits for their employees,” and pay a penalty instead. It’s no wonder: The ObamaCare law requires employers with 50 full-time employees to provide a package of “essential benefits” more costly than what many employers now offer. It will add $1.79 an hour to the cost of a full-time employee, calculates James Sherk of the Heritage Foundation.

That’s affordable when hiring lawyers and stockbrokers, but not waiters.

On Jan. 6, a Nebraska network of Wendy’s restaurants announced what many other employers are expected to say, that they are cutting back employees’ hours to part-time to avoid the mandate. Federal data suggest that fewer employees will get coverage on the job after the “employer mandate” goes into effect in 2014 than if it had not been enacted.

In short, Obama invented a crisis to get the Affordable Care Act passed — but now that law will indeed put many Americans in crisis.

Betsy McCaughey’s new book is “Beating ObamaCare: Your Handbook for Surviving the New Health Care Law.”

Have a comment on this PostOpinion column? Send it in to LETTERS@NYPOST.COM!

Read More..

Coral Gables culinary students learn the art of sushi making

Christian Rivas is still years away from becoming a professional sushi chef, but his hand-crafted California roll looks good enough to serve professionally.

“The hard part was getting the roll to be in good shape,” Christian, a 16-year-old junior at Coral Gables Senior High, said of his first attempt.

The Gables student was one of about 30 who stood in rapt attention inside the school’s kitchen classroom. He is a member of the school’s culinary arts program.

On Tuesday morning, chefs and executives from Sushi Maki, including CEO Abe Ng, volunteered to teach these students about the restaurant business. The main part of the presentation was Kingston-bred director of sushi education Steve Ho Sang’s instruction on how to make sushi rolls and hand rolls.

Sushi Maki goes through three tons of fresh salmon every week, Ng said. The succulent Norwegian fish in front of the class, expertly filleted via Ho Sang’s knives, looked like half a week’s supply.

The executives were there as part of the Education Fund’s Teach-a-Thon program which brings business professionals into Miami-Dade County Public School classrooms. These pros volunteer to teach a class at the elementary, middle or high school level to help raise money for school activities such as Coral Gables’ culinary program and to promote the value of public school teachers.

“What a lot of people don’t realize is that teaching is really brain surgery,” said Linda Lecht, president of The Education Fund. “We want to call attention to the fact that teaching is a hard job and we, as a community, have to rally around our teachers if we are going to improve education. We want to get out the message of how important teaching is to our whole economy.”

Mercy Vera, Coral Gables’ culinary teacher, sought a partnership with The Education Fund — a North Miami-based non-profit that helps fund programs at Miami-Dade public schools from Homestead to Miami Gardens — to help prepare her students for careers in the profession.

The Education Fund’s latest fundraising campaign currently has $23,202 to split among 26 participating schools.

But having pros come into the classroom is also invaluable, Vera said, because it is impractical, if not near impossible, to cram 30 or more teenagers into a professional restaurant kitchen. And, of course, they would not be allowed to use the knives and other utensils. Here, in the school’s carefully stocked kitchen classroom, the guests give the kids a taste of reality.

“This brings a totally different dynamic to the classroom. This is an experience they normally wouldn’t have and this is the only way to show the children industry,” Vera said.

“I love the energy of public schools,” said Ng, 39. “I’m excited to do a restaurant 101, and to ignite a spark in them would be a big thing to me.”

The experience met with much enthusiasm from senior Jorge Castro, 19, who says he hopes to follow in the footsteps of Food Network star chef Bobby Flay, one of his inspirations in the culinary world.

“This is one of those jobs where you meet a lot of people and you make people smile when you make them good food and that counts — to see them smile,” Castro said.

Ng, a Palmetto High and Cornell grad, is part of a family that opened the Canton chain of Chinese food restaurants locally in 1975. His mom and dad still work at the South Miami and Coral Gables locations and the family also operates the spin-off Sushi Maki chain, which opened in 2000.

Ng enjoyed stepping out of the boardroom and into the classroom for his two-hour teaching experience.

“These students seem to have a good foundation,” he said as the students hustled to clean the kitchen. “The future generation of culinary, I’m optimistic about it.”

Follow @HowardCohen on Twitter.

Read More..