An email has been going around town, supposedly by Carlos Migoya, the City Manager. But it could be a hoax. In the letter, it states that we are now banned from City Hall. Well, we are not physically banned, but we are now banned reading according to a memo that went out on Monday! Is the memo real? People are taking it seriously.
Allegedly, on Monday, September 27, 2010 at 11:34 am, the City Manager, Carlos Migoya, sent out an email to City Directors stating that they should spread the word to their respective departments, that all city employees are banned from reading a handful of blogs, the Coconut Grove Grapevine was on the list, so was the New Times' Riptide, if you can believe that. Maybe we should take it as a compliment and not as a put down or censorship. Maybe we are so popularly read there that we were called out for that reason, because people can't stop reading us all day, and they aren't doing their job for that reason. (I also have a bridge in Brooklyn I would like to sell you).
We have contacted various city employees and agencies, including the City Manager himself and all of our requests for an explanation were ignored. No one responded that it was a joke or spoof or whatever, so for now, we feel it is real. (There is now an update, please see below).
The City Directors allegedly were further advised to incorporate the rambling email into a policy memo to be published in the Fiscal Year 2011 report.
And allegedly they feel that City employees are morons and don't understand how to use Facebook or Twitter either. The memo says: "Inform employees that they should not use any social media tool unless they really understand how it works." Maybe they should all go to the new Facebook movie coming out this week called "The Social Network," and they can pick up some tips on how it works.
I'm not sure what we did to anger City Hall, I am actually very friendly with the Mayor and his family, they have literally paid for ads in the Grapevine when running for office. So I am scratching my head here. Normally I would assume that this is just the usual thing where employees are told to do their work and not waste time reading blogs and playing on Facebook during company time, but when we are literally called out by name with a handful of other blogs, this doesn't smell right..
The Groucho Marx quote, "I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member," fits in somewhere here, I think.
I am sure that if it is real, all the memo did was now make us required reading to every City employee. You can't buy this sort of advertising. But I'm not sure what they are going to find here other than our usual wackiness in the Grove: Mad Men Monday, Bed Races, Pumpkin Carving Contests, Park(ing) Day, the Mad Hatter festival, King Mango Strut, Gallery Walk, etc. It all sounds crazy, but they're all legit events.
To to all you new readers sent over by City Hall, Welcome! Hope you come back daily and enjoy!
You know that little area in City Hall, where all the free newspapers are distributed, you know, the Biscayne Times and Community Newspapers and the others? I'm picturing them all being picked up and thrown out as we speak.
Update: Lynn Westall, Senior Assistant to the City Manager, in an email this morning states that "No such alleged letter exists." So not sure if this is a scam or not, I held back until the New Times said something and felt that they would hold back until they knew the source or validity. But anyway, the letter is making its rounds and ruffling feathers.
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