Carl Hiaasen: Call this a sign of our sleazy times - Carl Hiaasen - MiamiHerald.com: "Even in a state of perpetual sleaze, some dirty deals stink more than others. The most recent is a weird little law approved last spring that allows the South Florida Water Management District to enter the commercial billboard business. The water agency usually sticks to flood control and Everglades restoration, touting itself as a defender of imperiled wetlands. Yet in coming months, 10 large electronic billboards are due to be installed on district holdings, which are public lands, with another 20 signs to follow in 2014. And dig this: The water agency’s staff, parroting the coy language in the law, refers to these digital monstrosities as “public information systems.” The term billboard is being avoided like an embarrassing disease. How did this latest travesty occur? Palm Beach Post reporter Christine Stapleton broke the story and did a fine job connecting the dots. The billboard provision was quietly shoehorned into a crucial bill for the water district. Oddly, the amendment had no named sponsor in the Legislature, no footprints anywhere. Even stranger: The billboard industry’s main lobby group apparently knew nothing about the proposal, including where it came from. . . . Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/02/3212751/call-this-a-sign-of-our-sleazy.html#storylink=cpy
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