bathrooms and other city fiascos

I went by the bathrooms yesterday and they ARENT open and functioning yet, ten months later. The eletrical meters aren't in and the slopes up to the bathrooms aren't there. I have no real objection to making them wheelchair accessible and I believe they SHOULD be. I OBJECT strongly to paying 3, 4, and more times what it SHOULD cost!! $34,000 sounds like a LOT to me for a couple hundred feet of concrete and some handrails, but I will have my contractor friend look at it for me and run HIS numbers on that job. We are OVER $400,000 on these bathrooms, SO FAR.

Is there ANYBODY in the Springs who has a $200,000+ bathroom? As somebody so astutely pointed out before, you can buy a LOT of HOUSES in the Springs now for 400k !!!! And I believe they will be coming back for MORE MONEY before it is done because there is STILL not water fountains OR a mop sink, as per county regulations. And I wonder who hooked up the electrical and water. More importantly, at what cost was it done?

Its ANOTHER expensive financial abortion from City officials, where WE, the people, have to pay for their incompetence, or worse. WHY would we expect them to do ANY BETTER on a 32,000 foot new gym project????? Its the SAME group of incompetents practicing their incompetency AGAIN with HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of our hard-earned tax dollars, JUST LIKE BEFORE !!! Since there have been NO changes made in the players (and obviously NOTHING learned) for us to expect anything less than ANOTHER financial BATH would be crazy!!!! STOP the craziness!!!

Well, it looks like yesterday was something to do with their website as today it is running normally. I had never seen that website have that particular problem before so its my bad for thinking it was just me that wasnt able to post yesterday.

posting postponed?

Well, I posted a couple strong statements of MS.com and afterward found that I was prevented from posting any more. The captchas that you need to read to post were missing on MY computer and it wont take any posts without it. I dont know if it was that way for everybody else but I DID notice there were NO new posts after mine. My posts were in reference to the time needed to complete the CC project (520 sq feet, over 18 months), and the bathroom projects (558 sq feet, each, over ten months so far and they arent functional and operating YET). It asked how long will it ake to build over 32,000 sq feet at THAT rate!!!

The other post was a question to the City Manager- He has said in the past, to justify his LARGE salary, that he spends 15-20% of his time administering the Water and Sewer Dept. Since we are turning that Dept over to the County and he will have NOTHING to administer (?), are we to expect him to take an immediate 15-20% pay cut?

At least the local police arent waiting for me lately when I get home any more. Two weeks ago they were waiting in front of my house, something that has never happened in over fifty years of living in the Springs, until then. At first I thought it might be my neighbor driving slowly in front of my house, as he parties late sometimes. When I got closer and saw it was a police car I thought maybe they were looking for a burglar or something, but their spotlight wasn't on. When I pulled into my driveway they turned around and again drove slowly past my house. It's no use complaining because its just another example of petty small-town politics. The car that followed me out of Bryson's parking lot, 15 feet behind me, down 36 street up to the IHOP, where they turned North, makes more sense now. When I see the Chief next time I will kiddingly tell him that they don't have to wait for me at my house anymore to be sure I make it home okay. It really ISNT necessary. Thanks, but NO thanks. This political education is getting more interesting all the time!!

questions about The Black Hole that our taxes disappear into

It took over 18 months to complete the CC addition and that was 520 square feet. It has taken NINE months so far to complete two bathrooms at 558 square feet each, and I'm not sure they are even completed NOW (where are the water fountains and the mop sink?). Can you IMAGINE how long it will take to build a 32,000 square foot structure? In addition, roughly $300,000 DISAPPEARED from the CC project and ANOTHER $200,000 has DISAPPEARED from the bathroom projects (over and above the usual and customary costs). How much do you think will DISAPPEAR on a 32,000 foot gym project? MILLIONS, of our hard-earned tax dollars will DISAPPEAR into somebody's pockets, just like before, over and over, one expensive change order after another.

When will it end? When we are bankrupt? When we have been bled dry? When even higher taxes, fees, and freezes cannot keep up with this monumental wastefulness? Have they NO EMBARRASSMENT or SHAME? The Council seems blissfully oblivious to the consequences of their actions, and that can be understood because its NOT their money they are flushing and they, therefore, do NOT feel the pain. We, the people, will feel the fiscal pain for DECADES.

comments

You would THINK the average person would be embarrassed and ashamed of throwing away HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of OUR tax dollars and vow to NEVER make those mistakes again! Lesson learned!! Message received!! But obviously NOTHING has been learned and they are pleasantly oblivious to the consequences of their actions. They are almost IMPOSSIBLE to embarrass because they either dont care (because its NOT their money) or they are so so inept and clueless as to be oblivious. Continuous HUGE cost overruns on EVERY project might make one suspicious as that pattern evolves, because NOBODY can be THAT stupid ALL the time, can they? If it IS possible, we have living proof. If its NOT just incredible stupidity, ineptitude, and/or a lack of caring, then it is something much more suspect and disturbing. That is the only OTHER explanation that makes ANY sense. Is it possible that we are all being sold down the river by some self-serving politicians that only care about their own agendas?

post MS.com

Is ANYBODY suggesting we should invest in a gold course? What IS a gold course? I think that when the bathrooms are mentioned a lot its because its the LATEST construction fiasco for the City and the most obvious and visible. The "money is no object (because its YOUR money) crowd" is entitled to have their say, even if they present NO facts to back up their arguements and little logic. Or maybe its just that lady is single, past middle-age, bitter, and lonely, and hoping to meet some single guys at the bathroom to date. And what IS a bathroom fetish? I am sure she has extensive knowledge of fetishes and such things because she presents herself as an expert, so educate me, what IS it?

This is a response to woman on MS.com who is implying that, because we frequently talk about the bathrooms and ALL the money being wasted there, we have a bathroom fetish, whatever THAT is. She, and another poster today, have implied that since we focus so much on that, we are the type of guys who "hang out" in bathrooms. They are, of course, implying we are gay, because we strenuously object to the City wasting HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of our hard-earned tax dollars. It is a character smear, of course, not true, and has NOTHING to do with the issues at hand. It IS an intimidation factor in that they seem to be saying, "If you expose our graft and corruption, we will try to assassinate your character by spreading false rumors all over town". Its small town politics at its worst but par for the course for these guys.

Today they went back to the Council for MORE money to make sidewalks from the fields to the bathrooms, $34,000, to be exact. It was to comply with the American Disabilites Act. Five hundred feet of concrete and railings cost $34,000 ? I am going to check with my contractor friend to see how much this SHOULD have cost. Tomorrow I am going to ask City Hall how much we have spent, in total, on these bathrooms as I dont want to give out bad numbers. I expect my reply to be in detail, timely, and very specific. I will also get the contract for the sidewalk job. We shall see. They havent answered my questions from almost a month ago yet.

another bathroom change order

I have heard that the new bathrooms didnt have water fountains OR a mop sink, which is required by the County. Those requirements were known BEFORE the bathrooms were started. ANOTHER CHANGE ORDER? MORE EXPENSES? How do YOU spell INCOMPETENCE? INEPTITUDE? FUTILITY? CLUELESSNESS? Prior to this latest change order the city was cruising along at their USUAL TRIPLE cost overruns but now it appears they have set a NEW record for poor preparation and management!!! They are NUMBER ONE (in throwing our tax dollars away by the truckloads). I repeat, they CANT build two BATHROOMS at less than TRIPLE the usual rates!! Does ANYBODY really think they will be able to build a new gym at anything less? This is just a small taste of what we would be in for, if the new gym project is approved- expensive change order after change order, bleeding us dry, and possibly bankrupting us in the process.

very interesting. I tried to post something FIVE TIMES on MS.com and it wouldnt allow me to do it. Every time it said I did something wrong altho I carefully followed every direction to the letter. It was about a supposed surplus we may have of 2 million plus. last year for the first 6 months the property taxes were still rising but the second six months they were dropping like a rock and continue to drop all this year. It is forecast that there will be another 25% drop in property values, and property taxes, before a bottom is accomplished. My house has lost 150k in the past 18 months.

My take on Ms Sosa's response is that first, the FEC property is not up for sale, at their request. Second, even if it WAS to become available, we would STILL not have control of zoning and that is a deal breaker for me. And it doesn't even begin to address the expensive pollution and cleanup issues that are involved. The County's interests may very well NOT be in accordance with Miami Springs' interests, like the conflict that occurred in Doral. The County didn't make Lennar Homes clean up their construction debris when they finished building out there and the City of Doral was left to do the cleaning up at their own expense. Pollution cleanups are usually MUCH more costly.

We cannot afford to do the cleanups, just like we cant afford a new gym. For ANY city official to suggest, or even imply, that the Council has done DUE DILIGENCE (looked at ALL the options) in this matter is simply NOT TRUE. The Council requested Mr. Pistorino give his professional opinion and paid him $20,000 to do so. When his findings found a solid foundation and supported restoring the gym for 1.6-1.8 million dollars (which WASN'T what Mayor Bain wanted to hear), it was buried. RFPs were asked for and examined for a NEW gym but NONE were ever even REQUESTED for the Pistorino restoration option. Mayor Bain is on record saying he didn't want to spend any time on an option that he considered a "dead-end". He had already decided about his legacy project and didn't even bother to make the APPEARANCE that he was looking at all the options, OR doing DUE DILIGENCE. It is his responsibility and obligation to the people that elected him to look at ALL the options. It simply has NOT BEEN DONE. Why not ? What are they afraid of ? Has the Mayor's ego skewered whats left of his common sense? We are in a recession, unemployment and foreclosures are up, property values and tax revenues are down, gas is $ 4 a gallon and still rising - this is a time to take on significantly more debt???? I doubt there are many of our average residents taking this opportunity to charge up their credit cards (increasing their debt) and living beyond their means. Why is the City any different?

confusion reigns

I am confused by the actions of a local resident. I dont know if his wife is a teacher or not, but he is apparently soliciting donations from the local community to make up for the coming cuts from the School Board. The School Board has realized that we are in a recession, tax revenues are decreasing, and there is a need to tighten its belt accordingly. Whether it is because it would adversely affect his wifes work (if she's a teacher) or because it could affect his kids education (or both) isnt clear. It COULD be very innocent and decent gesture by a guy who is just concerned about our educational system.
At the same time, somehow, magically, the City of MS has avoided the recession, has NO fiscal pain, and is ready, in his eyes, to spend MILLIONS of dollars on a new gym, incurring major debt to do it. He sees No recession in HIS future, as he has a lucrative bid in on the new gym project and will easily be able to pay the increase in taxes. He apparently has NO concern about the rest of the MS residents who WONT make a LOT of money on the project but WILL get stuck with the bills for the next twenty years. At the very least he appears self-serving. Both cases appear to be in the best interests of our community (good schools and a new gym) but it is not at ALL clear if that is all there is to it. If he truly believed that we are in a recession and need to tighten our belts he could see it applies to the City of MS too, and the new gym project is a polar opposite to that end. Can it be that he DOESNT believe that MS, and the nation, are in a recession? Can he be ignoring the four dollars a gallon, and still rising, gas? rising unemployment, especially in the construction industry? rapidly falling property taxes and revenues to the City? The City Manager's warning of "Draconian" cuts in the near future?
Or is it that he really doesn't care about all of that, as long as HIS pockets are lined at the City taxpayers expense? You decide.