Friday, May 16, 2008

concept and goals

Well, I was so excited about this blog business I couldnt sleep well and got up after only four hours to further empty my mind. I would like this to be a Green area to post in where anybody who has a good Green article could send it here for further exposure and discussion. I still am having my doubts if I truly have anything of importance to say but I guess we will just have to see!! I would also like this to be an area for jokes, trivia, and interesting facts and articles. One example might be an article I read online about things that you should NEVER buy new! Another addressed stuff you should NEVER buy used!! Some were directly from Consumer Reports, a highly-valued source of unbiased consumer advice. This is pretty cool stuff for a guy like me, who is usually ten year BEHIND the trends. This time I am ONLY eight years behind jumping into the 21st century!! Can a digital video camaera be far off in my future? I went to the Historical Society yesterday ti interview one of our City Pioneers. To be a Pioneer you have to have lived in the Springs for at least 50 years. This lady has been here from the 20s and 30s and her family knew Glenn Curtiss, the founder of Miami Springs. We got about 30 minutes of video before her voice gave out and it was very interesting! I would like to get a video history of MOST of our local Pioneers as a living slice of our history here in Miami Springs. Eventually I would like to take all the raw footage to the MSSH video young people ( I keep calling them kids and they DONT like that!) to edit for us and make a documentary of our unique history here in Miami Springs. The students have been cooperative in my preliminary discussions with them but it is difficult to find time around their full schedules. They could get community service hours and TRULY perform a community service. Most of the people are elderly, of course, and we are losing them almost on a monthly basis so time IS of the essence!! We finally do have a video camera to take the videos but not a whole lot of expertise to do it with in running the camera and having it do what we want ie we spent an hour trying to figure out how to rewind it after we had recorded the first 45 minutes or so. I wanted to see if the sound was sufficient and the picture was clear, with no glare, etc. I read the directions and can usually muddle thru after much frustration and cranky thoughts, but if somebody KNEW how to do these things it would certainly expedite the process! We have at least a dozen Pioneers on our list and assume that each can talk for at least an hour about their experiences growing up and living in Miami Springs during their respective eras. Mine was the 50s and 60s. Paul Dotsons was the 40s and 50s. I am thinking, at this point, of breaking the interviews up by decades- the 30s, the 40s, the 50s, and so on but I am open to other ideas. A video friend of mine suggested that We just gather ALL the raw footage we can while we can and just edit it all later. Its going to be a BIG job. We are losing Pioneers and longtime residents to medical problems and memory problems. Its a race against time to gather ALL the memories and history we can before Mother Nature takes them away. Stay tuned.

First Blog

This is my first blog, or ANY sort and its kind of cool to have a space to share my ideas with others and get feedback. I am hoping that the flamers will leave it alone even while anticipating at least, SOME spirited debate!!! I put a post at MiamiSprings.com that was 'somehow" erased. I was discussing the problems I have discerning the intentions and motivation of our City manager. There are several people who believe that he is a good guy who occasionally makes mistakes. I do not know him that well personally to ascertain why he does the stuff he does. All I can go by is what I see.
What I see is a guy who spends TRIPLE the usual and customary cost on EACH and EVERY construction project undertaken in the past three years +. The CC was a 520 square foot enclosure of two walls that should have cost $65,000 at most to construct and another 25k for renovations ( $125 a square foot times 520 square feet= 65k). Add another 35k for renovations, tables, chairs, and the new bar and the total shouldn't have been over 100k ! We paid (at least) 401k ! and probably considerably more. Where did the extra money go? That's a $300,000 cost overrun and the FIRST TRIPLE!

Then we built two bathrooms at 558 square feet each. (558 x 125 = 70k, and includes a VERY nice 25% profit for thee contractor!). We paid $350,000 for THAT project! Where did all THAT money go? Into whose pocket? That's another $280,000 right there that disappeared. A SECOND triple!!!

To top that we built up the bathrooms to meet flood plain requirements, one 8 inches and the other 14 inches. An experienced local contractor examined that project in detail and said he could do both of those bathroom elevations in ONE DAY for less than $5000. How much did we pay? $38,500, more than SEVEN TIMES the actual costs. And they knew ALL the time that the elevations were going to be necessary prior to starting the project!

Its hard to top that but the City tried when they "realized?" they had allowed for NO WATER, SEWER, or ELECTRICAL connections. Who would build bathrooms with NO connections? Of WHAT possible value would THAT be? They FORGOT?? And THIS is professional management? Please... They THOUGHT they could do it in house? Why didn't they know? I am not sure if the electrical stuff is hooked up yet or not.

So they hooked up the sewer lines, generously estimated at 250 feet, and charged us $33,000. The usual and customary costs for running sewer lines is $8 per linear foot (8 x 250= $2000). Add in labor and a trencher, plus a 25% profit for the contractor and the total costs are less than $ 5,000. Where did THOSE cost overruns of over SIX times go?

And they are not finished milking us on these bathrooms because they STILL do not meet the County's codes in that they have NO water fountains OR a sink for the mops. So the City manager will be returning AGAIN to milk some MORE money out of us and our tax dollars. How much is enough? When do we say ENOUGH!!!
Stay tuned, as this sad saga continues (for us residents). It isn't sad for the City because they apparently don't care if they throw away our tax monies.