An afternoon at the pool

Went to the Rec pool today and took the 6 yr old. She had a blast on the water slides and the lifeguards were friendly, helpful, and attentive. Locker rooms need some paint and attention tho, and there were no visible signs of any drill instructors barking orders this afternoon.
Mother Nature is what eventually did us in as there was a torrential downpour with thunder and lightning that scared the little one and made her want her Mommy. Yes, therte WAS some loud thunder and lightning but she has been taught by her parents to be afraid of any rainy situation, and she is.
It is a shame really because some of my fondest memories as a child were sitting out on our enlosed front porch and watching thunder storms and hurricanes pass by with my Dad.
My brother's girls were terrified of dogs, even puppies, because their Grandma is scared of dogs and passed her fears along to them. It took a while to help them get over those fears, starting with little puppies I would play with and moving to a little bigger dogs gradually desensitizing them. Now I think they are okay with dogs. Their Grandma? I dont know.

annual mitigation fees for dump?

Is it true that, besides the 5.5 million mitigation fee upfront for annexing the 58th street dump, there is also an annual 1.5 million fee? Is the FEC property one of the MOST polluted? Does ANYBODY seriously think the COUNTY would even attempt to make the FEC clean up its proprty? FEC has always had considerable political clout all the way up to Washington. They stopped passenger service over thirty years ago when every OTHER railroad was REQUIRED to carry passengers, as a public service. The money is in the freight-hauling for the railroads, so they just stopped the passenger side, and got it approved. THAT is how much political influence they have. The County will do nothing to make them clean up their land, just cover it up. DERM will run some tests, give it a clean bill of health, and WE will be stuck with the cleanup consequences. They have done it before.

Fla foreclosure rates

The State of Fla foreclosure rate is up 92 % from this month last year. People in the Springs are losing their jobs and their houses, and the Council decides to take on several MILLION dollars of new debt? Where is the money to pay this debt going to come from? The raised taxes? increased fees? reduced work weeks? What about the Seniors who are struggling to make ends meet now? Are city officials going to take significant pay cuts to pay for their own stupidities? Of course not, its the RESIDENTS who will have to tighten their belt and pay for their continuous colossal blunders. There MUST be payoffs, kickbacks, rigged bids, or something crooked involved, as NOBODY can be THIS stupid ALL THE TIME. Its IMPOSSIBLE. Nothing else makes any common sense.

foreclosures

Foreclosures are up 53% in June. Fannie Mae stock drops 20%. Fear that it will go under pervade the stock market and it drops accordingly. There are several foreclosures in the Springs. And the Council decides THIS is the time to take on MILLIONS of dollars in debt? Incredibly stupid. Ignorance beyond belief. Asinine. Ridiculous. How many ways must this stupendous stupidity be described? Has NOBODY in City Hall ANY common sense? fiscal responsibility? Awareness of the overall economic picture? Fannie Mae has TRILLIONS of dollars in loans and if they go down EVERYONE will suffer. How long can our city officials live in La-la land? twilight zone? Whereever they are living its obviosly not in the same reality as the rest of us! The bungling, stumbling, and fumbling HAS to stop somewhere, doesnt it? Where does THIS buck stop?

58th street landfill

Does the 58th street landfill STILL have a 5.5 million dollar remediation fee? Dont the FEC tracks run right over the old Miami Drum Company? Has DERM purged those records from their files? one way to eliminate a problem is to erase any records of it, and thats what DERM has done in the past. Where is the Super Map?

Oversee big picture

It would be interesting and informative for any Board to review the past projects so as to have an idea what has been done in the past, what NEEDS to be done in the future to improve upon the process, and gain some perspective. What are the chances of an unbiased Board being selected to oversee and protect the interests of the residents? What are the chances of an unbiased consultant to review and report on the environmental aspects of pollution in the possible areas of annexation? We have paid several consultants to investigate many projects in the past, why not now? The gym project and annexation are BOTH multi-million dollar projects that will affect MS for DECADES into the future! They dont deserve the best, current, experienced, and unbiased thinking available? The RESIDENTS dont deserve it??? For once, we need the Council to think of the RESIDENTS, not their own political and personal agendas. Let the facts speak for themselves.

Oversight Board

Regarding the inevitable misappropriations, of what value would an Oversight Board have if it cant investigate and turn over to the State Attorney's office their findings? A Board with no teeth would be a sham and worse than useless, as it could portray a false sense of security. A real Board would have those experienced and respected contractors, engineers, and architects from the construction community that would be responsible for looking out for the RESIDENT's interests. Mr. Pistorino's name would be at the top of the list, along with others from the building community, not the cronies, flunkies, and home boys of the Council. It is painfully true that the Council has NO construction experience nor any interest in gaining any. Whatever Gym tells them is what they approve and pay. As far as that goes, Gym has NO apparent construction experience or background either, so what we have here is the seriously visually-impaired leading the blind, with the residents paying for their lack of vision-literally, figuratively, and financially.
The Pelican Players would probably NOT be on such a Board, although their ideas could be considered.

Festival needs volunteers

There is NO doubt that the Festival needs new blood. Where are our younger leaders? Its not hard to TALK about change, etc. But where are the ones to WALK that walk; help those changes happen? Talk is cheap. Action talks, BS walks. 5The Festival is a great oppurtunity for the community to get together and socialize once a year. It is a perpetual Reunion, with people coming in from out of town and out of state to attend and touch base with their MS friends and memories. It would be a shame to let it die. The Festival torch and tradition needs to be passed on to the next generation. I disagree about last years Festival as I thought it went as well as any other and better than most. I thoroughly enjoyed it as there are 6 or 7 people I get to see that I dont see at any other time of the year, so its a Rolling (Rock?) Reunion for me. Events on the water may interest the younger people and, if so, and the insurance could be reasonably found to cover it, it may be possible. But not without help.

legalities

When the City Attorney says that we are not pledging the taxing power of our municipality to pay for this new complex is he implying that there are any private individuals or commercial businesses that have the power to levy a sales tax? Of course not, only governments, like Miami Springs, have the power to levy sales taxes, which we did. And now we are pledging that taxing power only WE, as a City, have, to pay for this loan. We ARE pledging our sales tax revenues to pay this off, no?

buck stops where?

IF we do it right we need to use the community resources we have available as an Oversight Board with investigative and subpoena powers. We have several respectable construction professionals, architects, etc in this community who might be willing to help us with this project, as long as they are NOT involved in the project themselves OR their friends and business associates. To leave Gym in charge is like asking the fox to guard the henhouse. You have only to look at the CC fiasco, the ongoing bathroom disasters - elevations, no hookups for water, sewer, electricity provided for, YEARS behind schedule and at least TRIPLE the usual and customary costs- how much more proof is needed? City Hall projects are a fiasco, wrapped in a debacle, inside of a disaster. Incompetence on top of ineptitude, ever surrounded by highly questionable dealings. Where DOES the buck finally stop, Gym?

santana's free utilities

Can it be that we not only giving Mr. Santana free rent and taxes, but also paying his utilities since he took over? Over 90k in expenses so far, I have heard. Who is responsible for THAT fiasco? Gym? Again? ANOTHER expensive debacle that the residents have to pay for. Again. The pattern of ineptitude and incompetence continues.....

good questions

Will the bathrooms ever be completed ? Can we expect the same sloppy construction at the new gym? At Stafford field the soil is washing away from the slab, which is going to create problems down the road. To set the building on an island in a flood zone was stupid. Does anybody in the building dept know anything about erosion? How soon will it be before that slab starts to crack? Who made that mistake? Who made the mistake on the sewer hook ups? Who made the mistake of not designing the buildings to meet ADA requirements? These are ALL good questions that deserve an answer. Similar questions were asked over TWO MONTHS ago and no response so far, despite repeated followups. The bathrooms are ANOTHER example of the stumbling, fumbling, and bumbling going on in City Hall. The amazing thing is that apparently it is done by GHOSTS, as NOBODY takes any responsibility for these screwups! NOBODY is apparently in charge. The City Manager is paid a LOT of money, isnt he ultimately the one responsible for how the city functions, or DOESNT function, as in these cases? When will he take responsibility for these multiple and ongoing disasters? The buck certainly stops at his desk on paydays,why not any other days?

Podgor, an impartial consultant

I agree that Dotson was on target with his request for an impartial party to evaluate those areas in question. I have heard from a knowledgeable source that DERM has the best records of the dumps and their pollution BUT may not be completely unbiased on their reporting. We should have an independent evaluator who has NO contracts or other business with the County make this evaluation. Aerodex is gone, out of business. Who would pay for their property? IF the FEC property is among the worst polluted would the County make FEC clean it up? A comprehensive analysis could take over a year and cost a million or more, easily, according to a knowledgeable source. We need an unimpeachable and unbiased investigator to give us the truth about the pollution in those areas. Dotson mentioned Joe Podgor, as he is a local authority on environmental issues and has considerable knowledge about these issues from his time on the MS Ecology Board. I have heard he had a meeting back in 2003 with Bain and Richard Ventura and raised several pertinent questions at that time regarding the pollution issues at hand on these properties. Even though he was appointed by Billy to the Eco board and spent 25 years there, he is no longer Chairman of the Ecology Board and therefore has NO political axe to grind. AND he cares about Miami Springs, having grown up and lived here most of his life. He also has forty years of experience working as an Environmental spokesman in a number of different administrative and field capacities. We should ask him if he is interested in looking into this for us, as a consultant.

Podgor, an impartial consultant

I agree that Dotson was on target with his request for an impartial party to evaluate those areas in question. I have herad from a knowledgeable source that DERM has the best records of the dumps and their pollution BUT may not be completely unbiased on their reporting. We should have an independent evaluator who has NO contracts or other business with the County make this evaluation. Aerodex is gone, out of business. Who would pay for their property? IF the FEC property is among the worst polluted would the County make FEC clean it up? A comprehensive analysis could take over a year and cost a million or more, easily, according to a knowledgeable source. We need an unimpeachable and unbiased investigator to give us the truth about the pollution in those areas. Dotson mentioned Joe Podgor, as he is a local authority on environmental issues and has considerable knowledge about these issues from his time on the MS Ecology Board. I have heard he had a meeting back in 2003 with Bain and Richard Ventura and raised several pertinent questions at that time regarding the pollution issues at hand on these properties. Even though he was appointed by Billy to the Eco board and spent 25 years there, he is no longer Chairman of the Ecology Board and therefore has NO political axe to grind. AND he cares about Miami Springs, having grown up and lived here most of his life. He also has forty years of experience working as an Environmental spokesman in a number of different administrative and field capacities. We should ask him if he is interested in looking into this for us, as a consultant.

pollution

There are several old dumps in the areas being considered for annexation. Who will, or would, clean those up? I have heard that if no entity can be found to hold responsible the costs would be split 50/50 between the city and the county. Where are the maps that were in the City Hall lobby before? How accurate is this information? If its true, we could get stuck with BIG cleanups to pay for.