Slow but sure
On a trip to Medina’s Restaurant I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes from Arthur Hoppe, longtime columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle: “Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.” The corollary to that is: “Never let the restaurant get in the way of a good dinner.” I…
Bounty for job killers
There have been headlines recently about the stunning levels of paychecks that corporate executives pocketed last year — averaging a 54-percent increase over the previous year. Behind the headlines, though, is an even more stunning story, which is that these huge payoffs often were a reward for layoffs. You see, most of a CEO’s pay…
Butts, seriously
The roots behind a rebuff of nudists who refuse to surrender the beach Twelve years ago, Marianne Cervasio’s flirtations with public nudity were limited to topless sunbathing in the backyard of her Brooklyn, New York home. When she and her husband, Frank, first visited a nude beach in Florida, “I thought, ‘I’m not going to…
Party poitics in a nonpartisan race?
The scandal that threatens to deflate the higher political aspirations of Orange County Commissioner Bob Freeman started innocently enough at a party in January. A woman named Kathy Hillary told an acquaintance that, for a price, Freeman, a Realtor, had offered to broker the sale of property she owned near Windermere. Freeman later joined the…
An unreal sense of place
What would you do with $215,000? A new house? His ‘n’ her Hummers? Save for retirement? How about hiring a bunch of people to tell you what you want to hear? Sounds crazy, but that’s just what the city of Orlando did. The story involves two consultants, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and Nelessen Associates.…
Bounty for job killers
There have been headlines recently about the stunning levels of paychecks that corporate executives pocketed last year — averaging a 54-percent increase over the previous year.;;Behind the headlines, though, is an even more stunning story, which is that these huge payoffs often were a reward for layoffs. ;;You see, most of a CEO’s pay these…
