I’m pro Israel and baffled by Miami Beach mayor’s attempt to censor O Cinema | Opinion
Cine-drama
Re: the March 13 story, “Miami Beach mayor moves to end O Cinema lease after screening of Israeli-Palestinian film.” I am Jewish and a Miami Beach resident. I am steadfastly pro-Israel. I spent Yom Kippur in 1973 as a young American student, sitting in a bomb shelter in Kiryat Shemona, as Soviet MiG’s flew overhead. I could not imagine anything more devastating than the Yom Kippur War until the horrific day of Oct. 7, 2023.
That said, I plan to be at a screening of “No Other Land” next week. I disagree with Mayor Steven Meiner’s claim that he is acting on my behalf in pressuring O Cinema not to show the film. This is blatant censorship and an affront to my constitutional rights. Even worse is his attempt to shut down the theater because the owner refused to comply with his demand.
O Cinema is an independent movie house with a mandate to show interesting and provocative films and plays an important role in our community. The owners have a right to program their theater. As an audience, we have a right to see these films or not, but it is our decision to make.
Charlotte Libov,
Miami Beach
FIU’s man of action
In his brief administration, Florida International University President Kenneth Jessell achieved more in three years than many university presidents do in 10. He negotiated a partnership for the ages between Baptist Hospital and the FIU medical school that was the dream of the school’s founders; a truly transformational achievement. To meet Baptist’s need for a pediatric practice, Jessell signed a major agreement with Nicklaus Pediatric Hospital.
FIU also joined the other three “preeminent” Florida universities, UF, FSU and USF, resulting in $5 million additional annual funding. Further, FIU ranked among the top 50 public universities in the nation for the first time.
Some leaders achieve much but lack class and moral fiber, but Jessell achieved much while retaining his characteristic humanity and kindness. Let’s celebrate his achievements and his graciousness. I am proud that he is my friend and a worthy successor.
Mitch Maidique,
president emeritus, FIU,
Miami
Whither public service?
We witness, daily, the diabolical and deliberate destruction of more than 100 years of built-up professionalism and excellence of our non-partisan civil service. The intention seems to be to replace it with political counterfeits who are often nincompoops with a fallacious sense of omnipotence. We who have labored in public service despair and our minds and hearts fill with frustration.
Building competent, professional government takes a long time. All of it can be destroyed in a short time by erroneous decision-making and cowardice to stand for democracy and the rule of law.
Those who seek to manage in government have an awesome responsibility to get it right. In the private sector, when managers make a mess of it, the impact is contained. In the public sector, a city, county, state, or country can be destroyed.
There is an immense difference between making a profit and the public good. Public sector professionals’ careers, in service of the public good, is a vocation. My father, Frederick Cannon, and my husband, Merrett Steirheim, were among the best of those great public servants.
My father was a police chief on the island of St. Lucia. My husband was one of Miami-Dade’s greatest public administrators and one of the great public sector managers who graduated from Wharton’s Master of Governmental Administration program at the Fels Institute of Local and State Government at the University of Pennsylvania (now the Fels Center of Government.) Samuel S. Fels was a philanthropist who believed that local government was the front line of democracy.
As citizens, we have a right to, deserve and should demand excellence and professionalism in the management of our public sector institutions.
Judith Cannon,
Miami
Land-use zoning
The March 13 article, “Grazing cows allow tax loophole for Florida property owners,” raises concerns about developers buying and leasing land for cattle grazing to claim agricultural tax assessments before developing it.
Enacted in 1972, Florida’s Greenbelt Law aims to preserve farmland and encourage agricultural production. Under Florida law, property appraisers have the tools to determine whether or not a parcel is used for agricultural production. Greenbelt Law assesses property tax based on the value of the crop, helping farmers and ranchers continue growing the food, fiber and foliage essential to Floridians and the nation. It also ensures Florida remains a good steward of its landscape, replenishing its aquifers and protecting critical wildlife habitats.
The Greenbelt Law does, indeed, play a vital role in preserving Florida’s agriculture industry, which generates more than $150 billion in annual economic impact, supports more than two million jobs for Florida families and produces more than 300 commodities. This is not just a local concern; it’s a national security matter. Without this law, our nation’s food supply is at risk. It must remain intact.
Jim Spratt,
chairman,
Florida Ag Coalition,
Tallahassee
This tax must go
Kudos to Gov. Ron DeSantis for his leadership in promoting the abolition of real estate taxes. While it is quite common all over the world to pay taxes at closing on the sale and purchase of real estate, it is a transaction tax. However, to tax the asset one owns is a form of government confiscation and should be outlawed.
Florida’s property owners who are nearly retired or have retired and live on fixed incomes should be protected and insulated from this most regressive tax. Fear-mongers who claim that abolishing property taxes will signify a reduction in critical municipal services are only preying on the uninformed to maintain a status quo characterized by government inefficiency and corruption.
The state has options, such as hotel bed and cruise passenger taxes and it can also increase sales taxes. Property taxes should be extinguished for every property owner’s homestead statewide after age 65.
Willy Bermello,
Coral Gables
Community values
In the March 11 article, “Marco Rubio says 83% of USAID programs are to be canceled,” the secretary of state posts that contracts being terminated — some of which provide nutritional assistance for infants and treatments and for prevention of polio, malaria, TB, Ebola and HIV — did not serve (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States.
Which national interests, in particular, were not served (or even harmed) by feeding the hungry and healing the sick?
Ted Burg,
Pembroke Pines
Recycle, Florida
We live part time in Colorado and have excellent recycling. Grocery bags cost 10 cents, in order to stop the excess. I have a large compost bin at my home there. Our city once a week collects all food scraps, mowed grass and garden waste. Cooking oil and Styrofoam can be taken to a site. Colorado is serious about recycling.
I have noticed that in South Florida malls nothing is recycled.
When will Florida take recycling seriously?
Valerie Varrell,
Fort Lauderdale
Blame Canada?
As a reasonably patriotic American for all of my life, I find myself in the unusual position of strangely rooting for our neighbor to the north in President Trump’s tariff game of chicken.
If this gets any worse, I’m going to have to learn the words to “Oh, Canada.”
Bruce Shpiner,
Miami
This story was originally published March 14, 2025 at 10:05 AM.