Is the New York Times Now Our Local Paper?

Wow what a glorious morning, huh?

Have you noticed that lately the NYT has more comprehensive and thorough coverage of South Florida issues than our local hometown paper?

Just today, I read about Obama's plan to allow oil drilling off the east coast of Florida (the Herald, by contrast, merely notes to the NYT story in a blog entry).

Then you had this incredible story that Gimleteye noted about how Florida restaurants no longer serve local fish (or maybe it depends on how you define "local"):

The postcard Florida experience: sun, fun and plenty of local seafood. It was the latter that brought Gary and Vicki Haller from Kansas to Wahoo’s here last week, with its waterfront views, toucan colors and promise of fresh food “from our docks.”

“We live in cow country,” Mr. Haller said. “Here we eat fish.”

But the fish in his “belly buster” sandwich actually traveled farther than he did. It was Pangasius, a freshwater catfish from Vietnam. The grouper and tuna were also imports, according to Wahoo’s managers. And the “local” label on the menu? It still applied, they insisted, because their distributor was down the road.

Finally you had this in-depth profile of the Wynwood area and its resurgence spurred by investor Tony Goldman:

Now, Mr. Goldman’s effort to work the same magic in Wynwood, a former industrial neighborhood here just north of downtown and a mile and a half west of Biscayne Bay, is starting, slowly, to bear fruit. Since 2004, he has spent some $35 million to buy about two dozen buildings.

On a recent tour, Mr. Goldman pointed out galleries that have sprouted in brightly painted cinderblock buildings once used as warehouses by shoe manufacturers; a former junkyard that now houses a stainless-steel sculpture park; and a new restaurant, Joey’s, which is named for his son and draws a fashionable crowd. Mr. Goldman has always used restaurants, whether the Greene Street Cafe in SoHo or Lucky’s in South Beach, to get people to talk about a neighborhood.

To provide an incentive to restaurateurs, the Goldmans persuaded Miami officials to ease parking-space requirements. Now Joey’s is one of seven recently opened lounges and restaurants in Wynwood. “He’s the perfect neighbor for us,” said Mera Rubell, an owner of the Rubell Family Collection, which operates out of a Wynwood warehouse. “Not only did he buy properties here, but now he’s bringing life and activity to them.”

All true, you might say, but what about Glenn Garvin?

Ok, you got me -- where else can you read anti-Census fear-mongering from our favorite local TV critic so loopy the Herald had to carry a public rebuke from the Arab American representative of the Census Advisory Committee?

(But Glenn covered the war in Nicaragua!)

You know, I started this morning in a good mood.