Carnival committees must unite to present one carnival

Miami Carnival has the potential to become the biggest Caribbean Carnival in the United States, so too does Broward Carnival. The problem is, neither of them will realize their potential unless they join forces and stage one carnival. That is easier said than done, as egos and other personality differences as well as economics have contributed to a stalemate on any discussion about joining forces. It is time for the community to demand that these two entities sit at the table and have some serious discussion about one Miami carnival.

Last year, both carnival committees staged successful events. Thousands of Caribbean-Americans as well as visitors from the region descended upon South Florida to play Mas and participate in the annual revelry of fete and merrymaking.

Miami Carnival parade was part of the grand celebration of the opening of that city's world-class performing arts center - appropriately named the Carnival Center, not after our annual festivities but the cruise ship company - making a spectacular and lavish presentation. Broward Carnival on the other hand, had their most successful turnout at Markham Park, creating traffic and logistical nightmare in Sunrise and by doing so had to search for a new venue for this year.

Anxious to save the county from draconian reductions in revenue, in light of proposed property tax reduction measures submitted to the Florida legislature, municipal and county leaders in Miami-Dade County have drafted their own proposal for property tax relief in the state.

Under the new plan that was announced last Friday, there would be a sliding-scale reduction on property taxes related to the value of properties. Accordingly, there would be a 50 percent reduction for homes valued up to $211,080; 25 percent reduction in property taxes for homes valued from $211,080 to $422,00 0; a 10 percent reduction in homes valued from $422,000 to $633,000, and houses valued above $633,000 would not be eligible for a tax reduction. Under this proposal over 50 percent of the residents of the county would the 50 percent reduction in their property taxes since the median appraised value for homes in that county is $210, 800.

However, as gleaned in a recent CNWeekly News survey, homeowners in the county who are of Caribbean descent will only see a 25 percent reduction in their taxes, as the median value of Caribbean-American homeowners in Miami-Dade County is estimated at $348,000.

Author and radio personality Tavis Smiley was a featured speaker of a two-day Empowerment Conference sponsored by the Collective Banking Group, recently. The CBG is a coalition of 60 African American churches in Broward and Miami-Dade created two years ago with a mission of maximizing the combined financial power of church members, for their benefit. At the conference held in Hallandale Beach, church members and others were afforded the opportunity to learn about managing credit, home ownership and financial practices for faith-based organizations.

The Florida chapter of the CBG is that organization’s fifth chapter. The organization was originally formed in Maryland in 1993 to serve as a liaison with commercial banks, and to carefully monitor the deposits of member churches to illustrate their power.

The president of the CBG, Rev. Dr. Joaquin Willis, has stated that the CBG was necessary, because black people have historically been charged higher interest rates and denied loans at a higher rate than white people. Willis said that the chapter in South Florida has made great strides, with membership that deposits an average of 5 million dollars weekly. These amounts are deposited into the churches’ accounts and used for their expenses. Willis said that before the formation of CBG, church members would deposit their money in the banks which did nothing “to make us feel valued or give back to our community.”

South Floridians suffering from respiratory illnesses flooded emergency rooms and pharmacies last week after the state was covered for days by a blanket of smoke.

According to Michelle Cuello, Broward General Hospital’s Marketing and Media Relations representative, the emergency room has seen, on average, one new patient every hour for respiratory problems during that period.

The smoke, which hovered menacingly in the air, covered cars and buildings with soot and was a health hazard to the elderly and people suffering from respiratory ailments like asthma. Health officials warned both groups to stay indoors.

Cuello said, however, Dr. Nabil ElSinadi who heads the emergency division, reported that 99 percent of those patients had pre-existing respiratory problems which have been triggered or made worse by the smoke.

Across Florida and parts of southeastern Georgia, haze and a burning smell tainted the air since last week Tuesday, despite some rainfall over parts of Broward County on Sunday evening.

Americans must have been taken aback as they saw images of the leader of the free world, on TV, the Internet and in print drumming and jigging last week. One Lauderhill resident queried whether the leader was succumbing to the stress of the job, while another speculated that he just wanted to cast off the conservative profile, as they saw the images of President George W. Bush dancing to the music of Senegalese performers from the West African Dance Company. Bush’s jig came at the conclusion of a session that dealt with a serious subject – malaria. The occasion was the White House, for the first time commemorating Malaria Awareness Day, while observations were being held elsewhere in the world.

More than one million people die each year from malaria, which is directly associated with mosquito bites. The disease is the leading cause of death of African children under age five. Tens of millions of people suffer chronically. In a statement Bush said that on the Malaria Awareness Day his administration renewed its commitment to lead the world toward the urgent goal of turning the tide against malaria in Africa, and around the globe. He also stated that the deadly disease is both preventable and curable. That requires distributing insecticide-treated bed nets, expanding insecticide spraying, providing anti-malaria medicine to pregnant women and delivering cutting-edge drugs to people with the disease.

In 2005, Bush launched a five-year, $1.2 billion initiative to combat malaria in African nations like Angola, Tanzania, and Uganda, among the nations with the worst outbreaks of Malaria. At that time the president challenged the private sector to join the U.S. government in reducing the disease's mortality rate by half in targeted nations, which later included Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda and Senegal, Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali and Zambia.