Newspapers are in accelerated decline except for a very few like The Wall Steet Journal, Washington Post, and New York Times which are read nationally and internationally. Big chains have gobbled up thousands of local papers and have decimated their newsrooms in an attempt to profit from the remains. I…

Florida has been in the forefront of the school voucher movement. That is a program that I applaud. Every school should be a “charter.” If that were to happen, then the state must provide a level playing field for traditional public schools to compete. Senate President Passidomo is attempting to…

In the last edition of Friends & Neighbors, I decried the lack of transparency given to the public in the agenda item regarding choosing a new city attorney. Nothing whatsoever was included in the agenda packet that was provided to the public. There weren’t even the names of those who…

A recent story in The Washington Post reported on the use of AI generated stories in local papers owned by Gannett. It seemed to be used exclusively to report on local high school sports. The uniqueness of the language led people who read the stories to mock them. Writing on…

In 1980, the inflation rate was 13 ½%. A few years before in our commercial real estate leases, we instituted a semi-annual consumer price index. Our company did that for a couple of reasons. …

Local government needs to be saved from local career politicians. Pols will remain in office for as long as they can. The original concept of spending a few years performing your civic duty is no longer desired by the men and women who stay in office year after year and…

I recently read that Richard Ravitch had died at the age of 89. I had met Ravitch several times, and though I can’t say I knew him well, I admired the man. He was a developer who refused to abandon New York in the 1970s. Instead, he built thousands of…

This may be a hard concept for some to understand, but the truly rich don’t leave their homes in cities and states because they think their taxes are too high. They flock to where other rich people live. They stay put because of what New York or Los Angeles can…

Governor Ron DeSantis prides himself on being our protector from “woke corporations.” However, when it comes to how he reacts as governor in steering business to campaign contributors and running for president, different rules apply…especially to Florida pension funds that DeSantis oversees. As one of the trustees, along with Attorney…