boundaries

VG is supporting MS if we want Area 9, which they dont want and have no prudent claim on anyway. In return for their support for a property they dont want and cant get? all they want is BOTH sides of 36th street? If VG has done their due diligence then why are they pushing MS to move BEFORE we have done ours? has VG considered the mitigation fees? possible pollution? zoning concerns? at last count 9 commissioners arent in favor of annexation? I havent heard ANY of these issues mentioned by the VG people. In return for the valuable (?)support for Area 9 we should support them developing the old Cisco area along 36th street. It makes just as much sense and is just as valuable. In return for OUR valuable support of the Ciscos area all we want is both sides of 36th street. Boundaries are just one of the major issues.

due diligence denied?

Is VG applying to annex Area 9? If so, on what basis? Are they saying they have ANY contiguity? If so, where? MS has the ONLY contiguity with Area 9 of all the cities looking to annex. For VG to support our possible interest in area 9 in exchange for our support of their getting ALL of 36 st is ridiculous! There is no doubt as to who has contiguity with Area 9. MS does. VG doesnt. End of story. Has VG done their DUE DILIGENCE regarding possible pollution? mitigation fees? zoning? boundaries?

MS certainly hasnt. Is the Mayor, in his infinire wisdom, going to dismiss all of those concerns AGAIN as being irrelevant? like he did the Pistorino report during the gym debate? Is DUE DILIGENCE really going to be done this time, for a change? Are we going to allow VG, a village of 2358 residents, call the shots and push us (13,000+) into an ill-advised decision, AGAIN without doing our DUE DILIGENCE?

thinking positive

In the spirit of complimenting those who are serving us well, I would like to compliment Paul Dotson as a beacon of light and common sense in a cesspool of small town politics, pettiness, and blind ambition. He is frequently the only voice of reason in a chorus of fiscal insanity. "Its hard to soar like an eagle when you are surrounded by turkeys" - anonymous

birds of a feather...

It seems that arrogance and spendthrifty ways come with the City Manager position. The Coral Gables City Manager, David Brown, was reported to have charged up 22k to his city credit card for expensive lunches, travel, and conferences since 2005. When exposed he admitted in court he had backdated checks to make it appear that he had paid for some of it himself, and was ordered to pay a $500 fine and investigation expenses. The City Manager later had the guy who exposed him arested for harrassment of his secretary. Petty, small town politics at its worst. City officials are NOT above retaliating in a similar vein here. While it has not been suggested at this point that Mr Borgeman has abused his credit card privileges, paying four, six, and eight times the going rates for construction projects certainly puts him at the front of the spendthrift class. He would NEVER consider paying those outrageous sums for his personal purchases, but has no hesitation when its OUR tax monies. The over/under on the bathrooms is 500k.

comments

Those who want to find out EXACTLY what mayor Deno said should refer to the audiotape and video of what he said at the last Council meeting. There is no doubt that MS has BIG problems with mismanagement, much like the School Board does. The School Board mismanagement involves hundreds of MILLIONS of tax dollars while MS ONLY involves hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars wasted, so far. The new gym project will move us up into the TENS of MILLIONS of dollars wasted category. BOTH adminstrations need to be replaced and taxpaying residents of both disasters should revolt! This forum is an exercise in democracy at its best with a wide range of views and cultures represented and expressed in a respectful manner, most of the time. As in any family the will be squabbles and disagreements from time to time, for varying reasons. Lets not lose sight of the fact that we live here to make our little oasis the very best it can be and, if necessary, agree to disagree. There are plenty of facts and issues to be discussed and debated. Let the facts speak for themselves. Let us compliment those whose job performance deserves it and criticize those whose performance doesnt warrant praise, based on the facts, not the personalities. Its our right and the American Way! I invite your comments.

Delusional Deno

Is there ANYBODY who really believes that Dade County commissioners (population over a million)are waiting with bated breath for the go-ahead on annexation from VG Mayor Deno (population 2 thousand)? How do you spell delusions of grandeur? Deno says we do little for his village because they sometimes pay VG rates to use our facilities, when they DO pay at all. He says they shop at our stores and eat at our establishments, like we DONT utilize their businesses. It could easily be suggested that our MUCH bigger population does MUCH more business with them than their small population does from us. They are doing us a FAVOR by frequenting our businesses?? Incredible. Absurd. Let them take their business elsewhere ! Most of the Springs businesses wouldnt even notice the difference. Talk about ingratitude! We should just stop allowing them to use our facilities, period. Its not like they regularly pay anyway.

no free passes

I dont see where all of this redneck vs cuban talk is particularly helpful in solving the important issues facing our community. All of the taxpaying residents of Miami Springs should be concerned with how the City is being managed, or mismanaged, because its our tax money that's involved here. We work hard for our money and expect city officials to be good stewards of our taxes and build reasonable, necessary structures at reasonable prices. When that doesnt happen we could, should, and probably would object as a part of our First Amendment rights. Occasionally however, it can get tiresome rehashing the same management screwups and other expensive fiascos that have been regularly occurring and, as such, I thought the k-8 poster was trying to find domething, ANYTHING, that is positive or has the potential to be positive for the residents and the kids. The responsibility for performance, or lack of same, STILL stops at the top, no doubt about that, as it should be.

budget Jekyl and Hyde

The Council last nite reported that the golf course will lose 100-125k this year. The outsourcing of the greens hasnt been the money-saver they thought it would be. A new irrigation system at 1.5 mil is being discussed along with a slew of other nice, but not necessary, projects like the skateboard park, new jogging paths, etc.. On one hand Council says things are tough and we have to cut where we can, and on the other hand they propose another 5 million bucks in new capital projects to enhance their legacies. Sometimes we hear Dr Jekyl, and other times Mr Hyde. For every 162k they cut from the budget they will only add 150k in new payroll to balance it, a net of 12k in reductions. The added 3.5 million in debt to begin a new gym that we dont need and cant afford is just an added bonus, to the dozen or so contractors, at the residents expense. Again. Still. The Council clowns have us on the road to bankruptcy and its downhill from here as the economy slides deeper and deeper into recession and our Council slides deeper into their oblivious coma, content that their legacies are intact; unconcerned about the people whose burden it will be to pay for their egotistical and self-centered ambitions for decades. Remember next April.

runoff ruse

Miami Springs has had a campaign runoff system since 1973. It has endured 35 years because it works. If there were 3 people running and one got 36%, one 35%, and one 34% of the vote, the 365 would win without a majority of voters even voting for him! They SAY they are trying to save 30k, even while they are wasting HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of our tax dollars!! They have wasted TEN TIMES the proposed 30k on the bathrooms alone! Where is their concern about that???? For them to say that being an incumbent is of no advantage is total BS!!! and to NOT have to get at least a majority of the vote to be elected is a blatant power grab, under the disguise of being fiscally responsible. If they had been fiscally responsible before, when it meant HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of dollars on the bathrooms or CC, we might be able to believe them. As it is, no way.

maurauding garage salers

Council decided to nip these multimillion dollar garage sales conglomerates in the bud!! They reduced the paltry increase to almost invisible, from 6 per year to 4. It was 3 per year before. Residents MAY be eligible for one more IF they can certify that they are unemployed currently and have been for several months. A foreclosure notice from your bank may also qualify for an extra garage sale, but NOT before legal proceeding have begun. Still another hardship sale may be had IF you can prove you haven't eaten for a minimum of three days, your lights have been turned off,or you are accepted at Hospice. Council is VERY aware that residents can be VERY sneaky when it comes to their survival, so let it be known throughout the city that those of us who insist on trying to pay our bills in spite of the recession, unemployment, and colossal stupidities by our elected representatives, enforcement will be very stringent and zero tolerance will be the policy. Once this distracting and rampant menace of marauding garage salers has passed, Council will return to its usual focus of throwing our tax monies away by the truckloads.

Santana defender

First, we paid well over 400k for an addition to the CC so Mr Santana could have the rest of the place for his private business, that we gave him. Second, it is not at all clear how you could know that the grease in those traps was from the Rhodes Brothers, and not from the almost three years Mr Santana has been running it. Granted, the CC was horribly mismanaged, and that includes the RB time there. It has been totally mismanaged all the while by the City Manager- the addition at $600 a square foot, the CC construction contract with no deadlines, quality controls, or penalties, Santana's contract, AND the bathrooms to which you referred. One fiasco after another, each one worse than the one before- and the taxpayers foot the bill for this incompetence. The few bucks Mr. Santana may have invested pales in comparison to the monies WE have invested, not to mention the monies he is currently making from our improvements. In addition, the electric bills are OVER one HUNDRED thousand bucks, so far, not chump change, and money we could use, in this time of recession, to pay down this years deficit, for instance.

sweetheart deals for everyone, except the taxpayers

ANOTHER sweetheart deal at the pool! Santana gets a sweetheart deal, pool guys get a sweetheart deal, VG gets a sweetheart deal by using our facilities for free, contractors CERTAINLY get a sweetheart deal- everybody gets a sweetheart deal at the taxpayers expense! All on the City Managers watch and apparently with his approval. The pigs are feeding at the taxpayers trough! Again! Still!!??
The City Manager HAS to go! We are operating at a deficit and cannot afford to pay for everybody else too. We simply cant afford Gym. We need somebody to look out for and protect the interests of the residents- NOT special interests.

writing on the wall

Home sales were 13.2 percent lower than a year ago and prices were down dramatically. The median price for a home sold in July dropped to $212,000, down by 7.1 percent a year ago.

Despite the third monthly sales jump this year, the number of unsold single-family homes and condominiums rose to 4.67 million, the highest number since 1968, when the Realtors group started tracking the data.

That represented a 11.2 month supply at the July sales pace, matching the all-time high set in April.

Sales up all places but the South
Sales were up in all regions of the country except the South, which posted a 0.5 percent decline. Sales rose by 5.9 percent in the Northeast, 0.9 percent in the Midwest and 9.7 percent in the West.

Analysts say that until the inventory level is reduced to more normal levels, the housing slump is likely to persist. The inventory level is being driven higher by a massive wave of mortgage foreclosures.

Despite the rise in sales, Lawrence Yun, the Realtors’ chief economist, was reluctant to conclude that the U.S. housing market has hit bottom.

While buyers are pouncing on lower prices — especially in places like California, Florida and Nevada — sales are sluggish in formerly stable states like Texas.

“People are responding to lower prices,” Yun said, but there is “too much uncertainty” about the housing market’s future to mark a definite bottom.

One key unknown is the ability of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to supply money for loans. The two government-sponsored companies have cut back the availability of mortgages significantly as they cope with mounting losses from foreclosures and officials ponder whether to shore up the two struggling companies.

President Bush last month signed sweeping housing legislation that aims to prevent foreclosures by allowing an estimated 400,000 homeowners to swap their mortgages for more affordable loans, but only if their lender agrees to take a loss on the initial loan.

Even with government help, nearly 2.8 million U.S. households will either face foreclosure, turn over their homes to their lender or sell the properties for less than their mortgage’s value by the end of next year, predicts Moody’s Economy.com.
Foreclosures are up 55% and repossessions are up 184%.

Some people have started buying deeply discounted proerties but we have an 11-month supply of houses to sell off before the bottom will be reached. Warren Buffett said that we are in for a rough 2-3 years as prices bottom. Everybody ELSE knows its time to tighten our belt buckles, why doesnt our City officials know it?

writing on the wall

Home sales were 13.2 percent lower than a year ago and prices were down dramatically. The median price for a home sold in July dropped to $212,000, down by 7.1 percent a year ago.

Despite the third monthly sales jump this year, the number of unsold single-family homes and condominiums rose to 4.67 million, the highest number since 1968, when the Realtors group started tracking the data.

That represented a 11.2 month supply at the July sales pace, matching the all-time high set in April.

Sales up all places but the South
Sales were up in all regions of the country except the South, which posted a 0.5 percent decline. Sales rose by 5.9 percent in the Northeast, 0.9 percent in the Midwest and 9.7 percent in the West.

Analysts say that until the inventory level is reduced to more normal levels, the housing slump is likely to persist. The inventory level is being driven higher by a massive wave of mortgage foreclosures.

Despite the rise in sales, Lawrence Yun, the Realtors’ chief economist, was reluctant to conclude that the U.S. housing market has hit bottom.

While buyers are pouncing on lower prices — especially in places like California, Florida and Nevada — sales are sluggish in formerly stable states like Texas.

“People are responding to lower prices,” Yun said, but there is “too much uncertainty” about the housing market’s future to mark a definite bottom.

One key unknown is the ability of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to supply money for loans. The two government-sponsored companies have cut back the availability of mortgages significantly as they cope with mounting losses from foreclosures and officials ponder whether to shore up the two struggling companies.

President Bush last month signed sweeping housing legislation that aims to prevent foreclosures by allowing an estimated 400,000 homeowners to swap their mortgages for more affordable loans, but only if their lender agrees to take a loss on the initial loan.

Even with government help, nearly 2.8 million U.S. households will either face foreclosure, turn over their homes to their lender or sell the properties for less than their mortgage’s value by the end of next year, predicts Moody’s Economy.com.
Foreclosures are up 55% and repossessions are up 184%.

Some people have started buying deeply discounted proerties but we have an 11-month supply of houses to sell off before the bottom will be reached. Warren Buffett said that we are in for a rough 2-3 years as prices bottom. Everybody ELSE knows its time to tighten our belt buckles, why doesnt our City officials know it?

sweetheart deal gets sweeter

Isn't it enough that we pay the taxes for Mr. Santana to run the CC for HIS benefit? PLUS we give him free rent AND pay his electric bills? NOW we are even paying to clean out his grease traps? We paid $6250 to clean out HIS grease trap! Ask him and he will tell you it is HIS business, so when is he going to reimburse us for cleaning out HIS grease trap? A FOI request over three months ago about us paying his electricity has had ZERO response. ZERO. ZIP. NADA. A sweetheart deal gets sweeter, for him, at the taxpayers expense! Is it possible we are also buying him a new car every year? Letting him use a City credit card with unlimited spending? Perhaps a driver? Is there ANYTHING more we can give this guy, at taxpayers expense? This is all happening with the approval of the City Manager. Apparently it is Santana's business when there is a profit to be made, but when there are any expenses it reverts back to the City to pay, out of the residents pockets. These are the same residents who pay for the CC bond and numerous other expenses but get little or NO use from it. But we DO get ALL the bills.

swim meet freebies?

Where are the numbers on the swim meet that was held this weekend? does anybody have liability insurance for these meets? What were the revenues? the expenses? Was there a contract? If so, who signed it and where are the numbers? is it possible that we host these meets for free? and then wonder why we are losing 300k per year at the pool? How many meets have we hosted this year? What are our total revenues for these meets? Total expenses? Who is the sanctioning body? Who has accurate numbers? How long have we been hosting these free meets? Who authorized them? We need ANSWERS !

pay cuts?

We are in a recession-unemployment and foreclosures are up significantly, property values are down 20.9% form this time last year. We will have a deficit this year and a $1.5 million deficit next year, at least. Times are tough, and will probably get tougher. The Council's approach to these tough times is to take on 3.5 million in debt, to FURTHER burden residents struggling to pay their bills NOW. They cut 162k from the budget, and then proposed ADDING another 150k to add two new positions! Starting with the City Manager, and including all Dept heads, should immediately take a 20% pay cut! That would demonstrate belt-tightening by example and show some leadership and concern for the difficult times the residents are having.
Or dont they care?

Pickens Plan makes sense to me

America is addicted to foreign oil.

It's an addiction that threatens our economy, our environment and our national security. It touches every part of our daily lives and ties our hands as a nation and a people.

The addiction has worsened for decades and now it's reached a point of crisis.

In 1970, we imported 24% of our oil. Today it's nearly 70% and growing.
As imports grow and world prices rise, the amount of money we send to foreign nations every year is soaring. At current oil prices, we will send $700 billion dollars out of the country this year alone — that's four times the annual cost of the Iraq war.

Projected over the next 10 years the cost will be $10 trillion — it will be the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind.

America uses a lot of oil. Every day 85 million barrels of oil are produced around the world. And 21 million of those are used here in the United States.

That's 25% of the world's oil demand. Used by just 4% of the world's population.

Can't we just produce more oil?

World oil production peaked in 2005. Despite growing demand and an unprecedented increase in prices, oil production has fallen over the last three years. Oil is getting more expensive to produce, harder to find and there just isn't enough of it to keep up with demand.

The simple truth is that cheap and easy oil is gone.

What's the good news?

The United States is the Saudi Arabia of wind power.

Studies from around the world show that the Great Plains States are home to the greatest wind energy potential in the world — by far.

The Department of Energy reports that 20% of America's electricity can come from wind. North Dakota alone has the potential to provide power for more than a quarter of the country.

Today's wind turbines stand up to 410 feet tall, with blades that stretch 148 feet in length. The blades collect the wind's kinetic energy. In one year, a 3-megawatt wind turbine produces as much energy as 12,000 barrels of imported oil.

Wind power currently accounts for 48 billion kWh of electricity a year in the United States — enough to serve more than 4.5 million households. That is still only about 1% of current demand, but the potential of wind is much greater.

A 2005 Stanford University study found that there is enough wind power worldwide to satisfy global demand 7 times over — even if only 20% of wind power could be captured.

Building wind facilities in the corridor that stretches from the Texas panhandle to North Dakota could produce 20% of the electricity for the United States at a cost of $1 trillion. It would take another $200 billion to build the capacity to transmit that energy to cities and towns.

That's a lot of money, but it's a one-time cost. And compared to the $700 billion we spend on foreign oil every year, it's a bargain.

An economic revival for rural America.
Developing wind power is an investment in rural America.

To witness the economic promise of wind energy, look no further than Sweetwater, Texas.

Sweetwater was typical of many small towns in middle-America. With a shortage of good jobs, the youth of Sweetwater were leaving in search of greater opportunities. And the town's population dropped from 12,000 to under 10,000.

When a large wind power facility was built outside of town, Sweetwater experienced a revival. New economic opportunity brought the town back to life and the population has grown back up to 12,000.

In the Texas panhandle, just north of Sweetwater, is the town of Pampa, where T. Boone Pickens' Mesa Power is currently building the largest wind farm in the world.

In addition to creating new construction and maintenance jobs, thousands of Americans will be employed to manufacture the turbines and blades. These are high skill jobs that pay on a scale comparable to aerospace jobs.

Plus, wind turbines don't interfere with farming and grazing, so they don't threaten food production or existing local economies.

A cheap new replacement for foreign oil.

The Honda Civic GX Natural Gas Vehicle is the cleanest internal-combustion vehicle in the world according to the EPA. Natural gas and bio-fuels are the only domestic energy sources used for transportation.

Cleaner

Natural gas is the cleanest transportation fuel available today.

According to the California Energy Commission, critical greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas are 23% lower than diesel and 30% lower than gasoline.

Natural gas vehicles (NGV) are already available and combine top performance with low emissions. The natural gas Honda Civic GX is rated as the cleanest production vehicle in the world.

According to NGVAmerica, there are more than 7 million NGVs in use worldwide, but only 150,000 of those are in the United States.

The EPA estimates that vehicles on the road account for 60% of carbon monoxide pollution and around one-third of hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions in the United States. As federal and state emissions laws become more stringent, many requirements will be unattainable with conventionally fueled vehicles.

Since natural gas is significantly cleaner than petroleum, NGVs are increasing in popularity. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach recently announced that 16,800 old diesel trucks will be replaced, and half of the new vehicles will run on alternatives such as natural gas.

Cheaper

Natural gas is significantly less expensive than gasoline or diesel. In places like Utah and Oklahoma, prices are less than $1 a gallon. To see fueling stations and costs in your area, check out cngprices.com.

Domestic

Natural gas is our country's second largest energy resource and a vital component of our energy supply. 98% of the natural gas used in the United States is from North America. But 70% of our oil is purchased from foreign nations.

Natural gas is one of the cleanest, safest and most useful forms of energy — residentially, commercially and industrially. The natural gas industry has existed in the United States for over 100 years and continues to grow.

Domestic natural gas reserves are twice that of petroleum. And new discoveries of natural gas and ongoing development of renewable biogas are continually adding to existing reserves.

While it is a cheap, effective and versatile fuel, less than 1% of natural gas is currently used for transportation.

The Mechanics

We currently use natural gas to produce 22% of our electricity. Harnessing the power of wind to generate electricity will give us the flexibility to shift natural gas away from electricity generation and put it to use as a transportation fuel — reducing our dependence on foreign oil by more than one-third.

How do we get it done?
The Pickens Plan is a bridge to the future — a blueprint to reduce foreign oil dependence by harnessing domestic energy alternatives, and buy us time to develop even greater new technologies.

Building new wind generation facilities and better utilizing our natural gas resources can replace more than one-third of our foreign oil imports in 10 years. But it will take leadership.

On January 20th, 2009, a new President will take office.

We're organizing behind the Pickens Plan now to ensure our voices will be heard by the next administration.

Together we can raise a call for change and set a new course for America's energy future in the first hundred days of the new presidency — breaking the hammerlock of foreign oil and building a new domestic energy future for America with a focus on sustainability.

You can start changing America's future today by supporting the Pickens Plan. Join now.