CC

I went to the CC and altho I have been very critical of Mr. Santana in the past I have to admit that it was surprisingly nice tonite. The food was good and plentiful, the drinks were not well drinks or draft beers, and the music was okay, even with the two meltdowns. The karaoke DJ DID stay overtime to make up for the technical glitches and that was nice. The drinks were a little pricy but not all that bad and the atmosphere was friendly and welcoming. I still dont know what happens to the teetotalers among us, who dont drink at all, for whatever reasons. Do they still have to pay ten bucks if they arent drinking? Were alternative drinks offered ie lemonade, OJ, juices? There was no chair on the stage for those who would prefer to sit while performing. The sound was kind of muddy at times and those closest to the DJ had only one speaker to listen to. I would suggest that every hour or so playing some dance music so the dancers can have their turn ie line dancing. These are all minor quirks that can, and should be, worked out as it goes along. The community has shown that they will support a CC that is resident-friendly and reasonably priced. This is a tentative step back in the right direction.

Friday night karaoke

I just called the CC and the barmaid who answered the phone had no idea if there was going to be any juices, water, etc for those who either dont drink OR are on the wagon. She also didnt know if there was going to be a cover charge or a drink minimum, or not. It doesnt seem very organized at this point. In the paper it says that those who ONLY want to eat will be charged $17.50. Are those people going to be prevented from listening to karaoke if they want? I have also heard that there will be a $10 cover charge at the door that will include two drinks, but nobody seems to know if thats the case or not. That would penalize those who dont drink but still want to socialize. Will juices, lemonade, and water be available to them? It will be interesting to see if this concept works because I know of at least THREE other karaoke places in town that you can go to with NO drink or dining charges on Friday nights. Food and drinks are available at those establishments but you not required to eat or drink, and they seem to draw a crowd pretty well, so....

waiting for Godot, or Bardot

I think it is reasonable to wait until the end of the year for the new Pool Director to see what she can really do. A re-evaluation at that point would be done then. Rome wasnt built in a day, etc. No such leeway can I find for City officials that have squandered our tax monies repeatedly and continuously for the past 3 1/2 years, at least. They have had a chance to show what THEY can do and its been a series of financial and managerial disasters followed by fiascos that are followed by catastrophies. If they arent managing the CC so horribly that Santana receives the building wrapped in a bow, they are making two-wall enclosures at $600 a square foot, bathrooms at over $400 a square foot, and new gyms that, if their pattern holds true, will cost us MILLIONS more than usual and customary construction costs SHOULD cost. We have NO reason to believe the gym project will be ANY different than the others because it is the SAME cast of characters involved and its obvious they havent learned A THING over the years. IF they have learned anything its how to waste MORE of our tax dollars ie the bathrooms, which are MONTHS behind schedule and HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of our tax dollars over the usual and customary costs for that project, with MORE cost overruns and change orders on the way. They have raised their usual level of incompetence and ineptitude, which is considerable in the first place, to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL!!! And THAT is giving them the benefit of the doubt that there isnt anything more nefarious or corrupt going on.

frowns

Thank Goodness for people who are starting to think for themselves!!! I was concerned that people would start to BELIEVE the BS coming from City hall !!- $600+ a square foot is normal construction costs, 200k+ bathrooms at over $400 a square foot are usual and customary costs too, bathroom sewer hookups cost 33k, moderate bathroom elevations cost $38,500 instead of the usual 5k,etc And yes, unfortunately, it IS the same old song- City officials are STILL throwing our tax dollars away by the truckloads when they pay TRIPLE, QUADRUPLE and more for basic construction services. They HAVE NO RESPONSES to those questions and cant deny the numbers so they launch personal attacks or make up fictitious stories about actually doing DUE DILIGENCE, for instance. Except for Dotson, the Council is more interested in making a legacy for themselves than helping the community to improve itself in a way they can still afford. The City has indebted the residents for well over 400k so far for the bathrooms and I predict the costs will STILL go significantly higher AND it will be several more months before they become operational. Is there ANYBODY in the Springs who has a 200k+ bathroom? Absurd. Nobody is suggesting that anybody preach anything- let the numbers speak for themselves and they will speak VOLUMES about repeated costs overruns in the HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of tax dollars that disappear with EVERY project they undertake. NOBODY can be that stupid on EVERY project, can they? Sooner or later the sensible people in this town will wake up to these blatant boondoggles and start thinking for themselves. Then will come the changes. They just need to be educated with regards to the facts involved. So, by all means, please look at the numbers and decide for yourself whether a repeated pattern of mismanagement, ineptitude, and/or worse is happening in our City. I am voting for the Trifecta. The numbers dont lie or mislead, which is more than I can say for our City officials. Most people frown when they are being robbed, dont they? The robbers only frown when they are exposed and caught.
I tried to post this THREE TIMES on MS.com and was rejected each time, after carefully copying the captchas. Wonder why. I will try to post it again tomorrow.

BS me once...

it seems that the Council and the mayor are attempting to press forward with this annexation issue just like they did with the new gym issue. Lets state our intentions and make some proclamations, etc. so that it will appear that everybody is on the bandwagon. At the annexation meeting we will pack the crowd with people who stand to benefit from annexation and make it appear that there is a GROUNDSWELL of support, just like last time. It worked so good last time lets try it again! of course most of the Pelican Players last time are in junior high and don't vote or pay taxes. Most of the others were contractors who stand to make a HANDSOME PROFIT from a new gym and they didn't care who knew it!! the mayor is again TALKING about doing DUE DILIGENCE in this matter but why would we believe he is telling the truth THIS time when DUE DILIGENCE wasn't done LAST TIME? Fool me once shame on you. Fool me TWICE, shame on me. I have NO reason to believe that the Mayor or Council will do DUE DILIGENCE this time either and I am tired of being BS'd. Bain got his legacy plaque, Best got his theater, now Youngs will get his annexation legacy project and Garcia will be able to pay off his campaign contributors, so everyone (on the Council) will be happy! The residents will be stuck paying the bills for these expensive self-serving agendas for DECADES! Dotson is the ONLY one with any sense in that whole group. Dotson for Mayor! Who has that recall petition?

The Mayor is calling for a movement forward in this annexation issue and says DUE DILIGENCE will be done. Bullfeathers!! Like it was done LAST TIME? All of the options were NOT explored last time (no matter WHAT the Mayor says) and I doubt they will be explored THIS time in any depth ! They didn't even PRETEND to look at the Pistorino option. They paid the engineer to give an evaluation and then they totally ignored it when it didn't come to the conclusions they wanted to hear. Buried it deep. What the Mayor means when he even suggests that DUE DILIGENCE was done is that all the options that HE wanted to look at were reviewed. In his infinite wisdom HE decided which options are viable and could get him that legacy plaque he covets badly, no matter WHAT the cost is to the residents or whether its really needed. What IS really needed is, the Mayor really NEEDS that legacy plaque, and he apparently doesn't care if he has to mislead, deceive, or be dishonest to achieve that goal. I have NO use for people who dont tell me the truth.

further comments

Dont get me wrong. I like the Rhodes Bros personally and enjoyed going to the CC during that time. As performers and personalities they were, and are, excellent. However, as managers and the main attraction for customers, the numbers suggest something considerably less-than-excellent. We just couldnt afford them. They should have been given a minimal contract with a percentage of the receipts that would have kept growing as the business grew. That would have given them incentives to keep striving to make it work and protected the residents investment at the same time by NOT putting us in such a deep hole to start with.
Their base pay was too high at the start and even tho it was subsequently reduced, it was too late by then and too much up front for a new business just starting out. A moderate contract with lots of incentives would have worked out better for them and the City. One of the Rhodes Bros once said that HIS NAME alone was worth 80 grand. If that was actually the case it would have been reflected in the numbers. Again, it was NOT necessarily the Rhodes Bros fault as much as it was another example of poor City management.
There is plenty of blame to spread around if one wants to go there but maybe more importantly, what have we learned from that experience? What will we do DIFFERENTLY, and better, once the Santana contract is done?

CC comments

There is NO doubt the CC was horribly mismanaged in the past. Who was in charge of that mismanagement? who hired the Rhodes bros and agreed to pay them 100k without any regard or concern about how much business they actually could bring in? Who did NOT insist on adequate oversight and safeguards to be in place to protect the tax payers investment? The buck stops with the City officials, doesnt it? Santana practically BEGGED for the CC contract and, once it was his, began running it like it was his little fiefdom and he was the resident dictator. The numbers he demonstrated to show his supposed LOSSES are highly suspect at best. We need to do an audit of his books to get the real picture. Giving away the CC was NOT the solution to the problem; getting rid of the City mismanagement team that was responsible for all those losses WAS. If we need to shut it down or limit its operations for 6 months or so, so be it. Very few of us get to use it anyway.

Santana

A couple months ago Mr. Santana ordered a local senior citizen out of "his" building. The citizen had been walking around and admiring the facility the citizens bought for him, about an hour or so before a wedding reception on a Saturday. There was no other adults present and when the resident refused to leave, saying he was one of those who paid for it, he was told it was HIS private business and that HE would decide who could, and couldn't, be there. The resident wasn't sure of the legal status and left, but asked the City Attorney for a legal opinion a few days later and was told he only gave those at the request of City officials.

HE truly believes that the Country Club IS HIS, except for that little enclosure that cost US 500k. What arrogance! We, the residents, pay for ALL the golf course AND all the Country Club! We cant walk around OUR place? disturbing nobody, interfering with NO business, and we have to ask HIS permission to walk around OUR HOUSE??? Incredible. ANOTHER City giveaway and more mismanagement that we are paying for and regretting later.

Somehow Mr. Santana felt that I believed that the City gave him a sweetheart deal beyond belief. He is right. And now we find out that we may very well have been paying for his utilities all this time. Somehow the City didnt know that there were three electric meters; one for the golf shop, one for Santana, and another for Santana. City officials say they thought there were only TWO meters- one for the golf shop and one for Santana. Shouldnt they KNOW how many meters there are and who is paying for what? The amount is close to 90k a year, I hear. MORE incompetence and ineptitude at City hall. The hits keep on coming.

Is there ANYBODY in the Springs who couldnt make GREAT money if they had someone paying for their rent, taxes, and utilities for them? Less than 1% of our residents actually USE the Country Club but 100% of us pays the bills ! Whats wrong with THAT picture? I DID NOT vote to buy the golf course and CC to make Mr. Santana a very nice living.

It might be easier to accept if he were not so blatantly arrogant and discriminatory.

annexation

I was very surprised to NOT hear ONE city official mention POLLUTION as a BIG problem with annexation, even though it is well known to locals. WHO will clean up these areas? AeroDex is out of business, the SuperFund is broke, the companies that did the polluting are gone, or wont do the cleanups.. WHO is going to do those expensive cleanups? NINE commissioners do NOT want to give up their zoning powers to us.. HOW is this POSSIBLY going to work in OUR FAVOR? I don't see it.

This is in response to last nights Council meeting where the Mayor is pushing annexation again. They apparently feel that they slipped the new gym by without doing their DUE DILIGENCE and can maybe slip another one over on the people. They are on a roll now and want to follow-up while the people are still sleeping. If the people continue to sleep, of course, they will deserve what they get. People will complain a while when their bills and taxes go up but apparently don't care enough to actually DO anything until its too late. It is my belief that the new gym will put us into bankruptcy by constant change orders and cost overruns into the MILLIONS. It is the history of these city officials in the past and will be no different in the future. They have no finished a project in the past 3 1/2 years anywhere CLOSE to on time OR on budget. To expect them to do ANY different THIS time would be insanity on OUR part because NOTHING HAS CHANGED. Since the contractors only have a sketch to work from there will be DOZENS of change orders that the City will request and they will be filled at the cost of MILLIONS OF DOLLARS to the taxpayers.
IF, by some miracle, the new gym project does NOT put us into bankruptcy, annexation will.

fiction, freedom of information

how long is reasonable to wait for a Freedom of Information request to be answered? A week? A month? SIX months? I made a Freedom of Information request SIX weeks ago and have had NO response so far. These requests were for simple everyday information and required NO complex calculations, calculus, etc. The law says 'a reasonable time frame" and doesnt allow for excuses like "we were too busy",etc. The people have a right to know where their money is going, dont they? If its because the numbers may embarrass them or are impossible to logically explain away, as I suspect, then they will just have to live with those ongoing evidences of gross mismanagement and financial irresponsibility. If somehow, they are able to present a logical explanation for $400+ or $600+ a square foot new construction costs it would be most welcomed. Normal new construction costs are $125 a square foot so we are talking considerable imagination and creativity would be required in THAT explanation, not to mention a suspension of any connection to reality to actually BELIEVE IT. Fiction is ALWAYS more fun than facts.

blind leading visually impaired

A three BILLION dollar deficit is projected for the state of Fla's budget next year and the City's politicians are acting like there is PLENTY of money to go around. The skate ramp that started at 180k is NOW 250k and was thrown in last night like it was chump change. It IS something nice for the skateboarders and IF WE COULD AFFORD IT would be something to consider. Looking down the road I dont see how we can make that happen anytime soon tho. Somehow, the Council believes that there is PLENTY of money from the FAT years that will carry them thru the LEAN years. Can they NOT see down the road any further than their noses? have they no vision? Or is it that they arent really concerned because they just plan to raise our taxes, fees, and millage rates anyway, when the trough gets low ? Its not THEIR money so they really dont seem to care. Dotson cautioned them about spending money now because next year will be even worse but they turned deaf at that point too, besides having NO vision. Lets see, they have deaf and blind covered, whats left?

hard times ahead - part 2

We are in a recession..."One thing to keep in mind here is that many of our existing revenue streams are 100% dependent on consumer-spending. As the general economy continues to stagnate, so do consumer-spending patterns. Decreased spending on gasoline can lead to reductions in state and local gas tax revenues. Reduced sales in general statewide can reduce sales tax revenues we receive from the state. Will residents cut back on heating and cooling costs, thereby reducing our franchise and utility fees? Will local businesses be forced to close and reduce our occupational licensing revenues? As interest rates fail to bolster the economy, how will this affect our return on the investment of our surplus funds?"Interofice memo - James Borgemann Feb 21, 2008
He acknowledges we are in a recession, 1.8 million behind on revenues, and "something will have to give". Yet, somehow, he and the Council decide this is the PERFECT time to go MILLIONS of dollars into debt. Apparently it is US, the taxpayers, who will be doing the giving ie increased garbage and trash fees, recreation fees, building permit fees, and occupational licenses, in addition to posible new user fees and increased millage rates. The belt tightening that needs to be done will apparently be done by the residents, not City officials. Leadership starts at the top so ALL senior officials should immediately take a 15 % pay cut as a show of leadership; or not, if they believe that the pain is only for others.
This is in response to two posts that cite fiscal problems in Boynton Beach and Tallahassee as a result of the recession. All City officials making over 100k per year should volunteer to take a 15% pay cut, effective immediately, as a demonstration of what it means to lead, to set the tone. Lead by example. Or not.

who is the City Attorney looking out for?

Is it possible that the City Attorney has written the bathroom contract like he did the CC contract? no materials specifications, do it whenever you get around to it, add on as amny change orders as you want, no deadlines, and no penalties for anything? A first year law student can write a better contract than that!! That was an open-ended invitation to pad the bill at the tax payers expense! and that's exactly what happened- we got hosed then, we are now getting hosed again on the bathrooms, and we will be ROYALLY hosed on this new gym project!! ENOUGH !! Find a competent attorney who can write a competent contract that protects the interests of the the tax payers, not the contractors ! And yes, I STRENUOUSLY object to having my pocket picked and money stolen. Most people would object to that, I believe. The only ones who WOULDNT object are the muggers and thieves themselves.
We do NOT pay him to protect the contractors interests. The CC contract was a contractors dream, unheard of in the construction industry! DISASTEROUS for the taxpayers! is he going to give away the store again? If past history is any indicator, we will be sold out AGAIN. The contractors dont NEED an attorney because they have the CITY ATTORNEY looking out for THEM. Why would WE pay him to represent THEM?

money is NO object projects

I have NO problem making improvements in the Springs. I DO object strongly to paying three, four, six, and seven TIMES more than it SHOULD cost to get those improvements. I hear a "money is no object" mentality on some of the posts and assume those comments are made by the Council and/or the City Manager because that IS their attitude. The only people who have that attitude are the ones that are going to profit from that approach. I don't believe the average middle-class Springs resident could, would, or should pay those outrageous cost change orders and cost overruns.
I STILL haven't seen ANY numbers that contradict the numbers that were presented. You can call Poe's rental yourselves to confirm those numbers. And I am talking about having the work done by a licensed GC, not a bunch of local kids. Don't be ridiculous. If you have no clue about what you are commenting on or factual basis for your remarks maybe it is just better to keep your mouth closed and have people suspect you are a fool, than open your mouth and confirm their suspicions.
"Money is no object" is NO FINANCIAL BASIS for running a city, except for those lucky local few that reap the benefits of the TRIPLE billing and payments. I expect those who are lining their pockets at the resident's expense to be in favor of these outrageous projects. At least some of them are upfront about it and freely admit their self-interests; others are deceptive, devious, and dishonest about their profit motives.
After living here for OVER fifty years I see no reason for me to leave my hometown anytime soon. Retirement here looks pretty good to me. It is precisely for the next generation that I protest the wanton wastefulness of this City government. They are determined to mortgage the next generation of kids futures by building this new community center that we don't need and cant afford (during a recession). That makes NO SENSE.

figures

Okay. A local contractor with 25 years experience has examined, photographed, and measured the bathrooms and states that he can do BOTH of the elevations in ONE DAY, for less than $5,000 and be done by 3pm. He can give quotes for crushed rock, Poe's rental for a machine to tamp it down, and includes one day of labor to run the machine (labor). We paid $38,5000. That is more than SEVEN times what the actual costs are. Where did that $33,000 go? He also says he can hook up the bathrooms sewer connections for $8 a linear foot. If you generously figure the distance needed as 300 feet that is $2400. If you rent a trenching tool from Poe's and hire a guy to operate it for a day, two days at the most, the costs are STILL less than six grand, well below the $35,000 we paid. That's almost SIX TIMES what the actual costs are. Where did THAT money go? The actual hard construction costs of the two-wall enclosure at the Country Club was $315,000+. That is OVER $600 a square foot. Normal construction costs in Dade County should be $125 a square foot for that 520 foot enclosure. 125 X 520= $65,000. We paid $315,000. Where did that $250,000 in cost overruns and/or questionable payments go? Several other financial fiascos, overruns of TRIPLE the usual and customary costs, questionable bids, AND MORE are available for your response but I would be interested in your reply to these first.That's a start but here are MANY more examples to come. Thanks for the opportunity to detail the specifics of my objections to blatant ineptitude and/or mismanagement (or worse) by our City officials. NOBODY can be as consistently stupid, clueless, or inept (the choice is yours) as the City has been over the past three years or so. ITS IMPOSSIBLE.

This is in response to a poster who suggested they had rational responses to the multiple and repeated City boondoggles of just the past three years or so. I was hoping somebody would ask me for numbers to back up my claims and they finally did. Its a perfect oppurtunity to list each project and how much money disappeared from each one, over and above normal costs. I am NOT a construction expert (although I have some construction experience), so I consulted with a couple guys who each have over 25 years in the construction business and some other seasoned construction-related professionals. Apparently the normal Dade County new construction costs at $125 a square foot includes a healthy 25 % profit built into it for the contractor. Anything above that is icing on the cake. the City is consistently paying TRIPLE, QUADRUPLE, and up to SEVEN TIMES the actual costs for these projects. This can NO LONGER be tolerated !! Those responsible have to go ! NOW. A recall petition is being circulated around town. Stop the bleeding before we bleed to death.