sad situation

What is truly sad is the hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars disappearing without any apologies, accountability, or improvement in performance. It isnt sad for the contractors because they will do VERY WELL with the very expensive cost overruns and change orders. Only they will have any money to deposit anyway. Is there anybody who doesnt believe that MS, Fla, and the nation are in serious economic trouble? If so, I would like to know on what basis they could come to their rosy assessment- the same apparent unbelievable assessment the Council has.

Council is an embarrassment

A Rolls Royce would improve my quality of life, for a while anyway, until I went bankrupt trying to pay for it. So I drive what I can afford instead, because I dont have the option to raise more money anytime I have charged too much and my bank account reads zero, like the Council. Those who are waiting with bated breath for the new gym are the contractors, who will get RICH, at the residents expense. As they have done in the past, the constant change orders and cost overruns will TRIPLE the proposed costs of 6.8 million, at least, and will take FIVE years to complete this robbery. Bankrupting the City will not enhance anybodys quality of life except the contractors and whatever Councilmembers who are on the take. This Council's legacy will be the ones who allowed this disaster to happen- A Council of Colossal Calamity, so to speak. Greed, corruption, and blind ambition have brought down WaMu and several other large enterprises from Wall Street to Main Street. This is just a small slice of that, but one that is personal and hurtful because its our little hometown thats affected. Wall Street is far away and we cant fix them, but we CAN fix this little piece of the pie. Keep Dotson and dump the rest!

WaMu failure

Washington Mutual is the BIGGEST bank failure in HISTORY !! As many as 4 MORE big banks will fail on this coming Monday. Is it possible that the whole country is in BIG trouble financially, but Miami Springs will somehow be be untouched and unaffected by this resession? If you watch the Council's actions lately you might get that impression. MS can somehow invest in multiple expensive projects that will benefit the contractors GREATLY, and perhaps a few bucks might even sift down to the little people? That is a Republican philosophy that hasnt worked for anybody I know, what would make anybody think it might work now? We are being hosed again by a Council that either doesnt know, doesnt care, or is being paid off to ignore, that we are in a recession and people are suffering. Remember this in April.

comments

How is the quality of the average resident raised if they are taxed beyond their abilities to pay? Most residents would like to have a few bucks left after the City taxes everything possible to pay their mortgage, put gas in their car, and eat. Residents have resorted to multiple garage sales to make ends meet. The Mayor and Council are aware of it, yet continue to merrily spend money we dont have on projects that arent essential needs now. If they continue to disappear enough tax monies we will wind up bankrupt. That will not raise the quality of ANY residents life. Perhaps those who live on Hunting Lodge Drive arent aware of our precarious national, state, and local economic situation, but the average blue-collar resident IS.

butt covering

Raising the childcare costs are just another way to cover their butts for multiple mindless City fiscal fiascos in the past. It was predicted in the past and came to pass. The Mayor and Council throw away our money by the truckloads and then just raises OUR fees and taxes when its time to pay the bills. They will continue to do it until WE stop this insanity/stupidity/corruption. The only ones who want this new, incredibly expensive gym we cant afford are the ones who have their own agendas and will benefit-contractors who will benefit from the constant expensive cost overruns and change orders, and the politicians who are looking to push their political agendas, at the people's expense. Child care is just one of the several fee increases that have been put into place to make up for them having NO fiscal restraint or common sense. Only those special interest groups are interested in a new gym at ANY cost, which will eventually result in us going bankrupt of course. Residents are hurting. How many more fee increases and tax hikes can we pay for until they bleed us dry? Remember in April.

pool info needed

Question

Before things get nasty again about this issue, Could the following question please be answered once and for all: Is the team that swims in our pool from the Springs? Is there a record of the how many children are on that team that actually live here? If not, why would they be listened to during our budget meetings? Could someone please clarify if this is a City sponsored team or one from Doral or a privately owned business? It keeps getting posted that they pay no fees, that they are from outside and that we are footing the bills for them. If they are a City sponsored Springs entity, then maybe the expenses can be justified. Is there any official information on this? I am not adverse to supporting programs in our city, but in these days of limited available funds, I would like to take care of those with the biggest impact on our residents before those from the outside. Excellent questions all. What are the answers? Has the City EVER sponsored the swim team OFFICIALLY ? Not that I remember, but we HAVE been subsidizing them for yesrs by letting them use the pool for free. We would save a LOT of money if we closed the pool down and carried the swimmers over to Hialeah in that jitney that nobody uses. Building endurance and discipline can be done just as easily in Hialeah, and at a LOT lower cost to us. Who DOES have these answers? FOI might be helpful.

Linear Park

It is interesting to note that Phase I of the Linear Park will only cost us 30k of the total of 538k. Does anybody know how much Phases II and III will cost us? If a large majority of the remaining 1.07 will be paid from CITT funds it could be a good thing to have a fishing pier, boat ramp, and picnic area. All nice things to have, but certainly NOT necessities at this difficult point in time. Does a matching grant mean we will have to match the half miilion to make up the enire million-plus? Predictably, the Gazette headline was misleading in that it focused on the tax bill drop and gave short shrift to the fact that the Council raised our fees significantly AND our millage rate. The increase in fees and millage rates was prdicted long ago, and it has come to pass. What are the chances of continuous and considerable cost overruns and change orders on THIS project? Council has never run into a project they couldnt mismanage and misapproriate up to AT LEAST triple the usual and customary costs!!!!!

bathroom and recession rumors

There is a rumor that the new gym will have three bathrooms. What are the chances it will take a YEAR to build each one, like it has the current new Stafford and Dove Ave bathrooms? At 250k each, those will cost 750k just for the bathrooms!!! For those waiting for an official determination that we ARE in a recession, PLUS inflation, layoffs and unemployment are way up, along with gas and foreclosures, and the stock market and several HUGE multinational companies have gone under or tanked- what does it take for you to see the writing on the wall? Of course the local contractors are doing WELL, really WELL, feeding at the municipal trough the Council has provided, at the taxpayers expense. THEY are probably NOT suffering at all, but their neighbors ARE.

pool issues

Its good to see residents actively involved in the affairs of their city government. Most of them are making valid points. I havent heard anybody suggesting to cut police and public works essential services. Is there ANY poster suggesting that the pool is an essential service? It was a valid and pertinent question about the facts and figures regarding the number of Springs kids on the swim team; the number of residents using the pool during the Winter and what the resultant revenues from them are, no? An honest, outside audit of pool finances would solve those questions quickly, no? The swim team builds character and discipline, both good things, but is there anyone who is suggesting that the swim is- # 1, a necessity, or # 2, that they cant find another close place to practice? I dont believe anybody is saying the swim team isnt a good thing- they are simply saying having them practice here year-round is a luxury we cant afford now. Correct me if Im wrong, but that was my take on the discussion so far. The 14,000 residents of MS can no longer afford to support with their taxes the half dozen admirable-but-very-expensive Springs kids who use it year-round. It might be a different question if there WERE no other close facilities, but there ARE. Its just a luxury we cannot currently afford.

more money magically disappears

The bathrooms are finished, except for a review of the drawings. It will be interesting to see if the final tally is under 500k OR over 500k ! I dont see any water fountains or mop sinks- isnt that required by Dade County code for places that serve food? As expected, the Council raised our tax millage tonight from 6.3 to 6.4 to raise additional revenue for the deficits they caused. So NOW we know why they werent worried about how much they spent because they can always come back to the residents for more, pleading ignorance, stupidity, and/or corruption, any or all of which are probably true. Never at a loss for projects to disappear money with, they are now planning to finish the dugout project and start on concrete sidewalks around Stafford Park. Cant wait to see the numbers on THAT project! By the way, the city of Doral has agreed to pay us 15k for use of our swimming pool for a year. That will just about pay for the gas to heat the pool during the Winter so they will be guaranteed use of the pool year-round. Its a drop in the bucket compared to the 300k we are losing every year but better than nothing, I guess. Somehow a 3.6 million dollar deficit has magically disappeared and they are claiming a balanced budget for next year. Watch Comcast to see the illusions.

lest we forget

Do not forget that the City Manager is also the guy who initially told us a new gym could be built for 1.6 million- the latest figures on that project are 6.8 million- a 400%+ increase. This is BEFORE anything has been started! We already have some of the most expensive bathrooms in the state of Fla, will we also have the most expensive gym in all of Fla ? banks are failing, government is bailing them out, unemployment and foreclosures are up, and our Council goes merrily on their way, spending without a care in the world, like it wasnt really happening! they have not only lost contact withe people, they have lost all contact with reality! Thats the definition of INSANITY! Perhaps they arent concerned because they are just planning to raise our taxes when they have wasted all of our tax monies ? Or perhaps they are hoping that their Hail Mary, annexation, will provide enough new money to pay off all the debts they are incurring? Can it be that they dont want to look at annexation too closely because it may very well not be the panacea they are selling? snake oil and used car salesmen have more credibility. We are being hosed again.

fools gold

The editor of the Gazette has once again lost any credibility he may have had with his latest editorial. As he frequently does, he uses his position and platform as a bully pulpit to disparage those who don't agree with him. He fairly frequently comes to conclusions that have NO basis in fact. One example might be his defense of Garcia's pulling up opponents signs during a campaign. That flimsy and transparent attempt to defend those actions were laughable. In the latest installment he admits that he is a lazy journalist at times. It is also easy to see one who is very biased and not interested in fairness or a balance approach to reporting. He suggests that annexation is a done deal but, at last count, 9 of the County commissioners were NOT in favor of allowing ANY annexation. IF the Council was doing there job and had done ANYTHING close to due diligence about annexation this petition would NOT be necessary. Like they did with the new gym project, they looked at a few numbers and ruled out any other possible alternatives before deciding. In the case of annexation they looked at some implausible numbers at best, and decided that the zoning, pollution, mitigation fees, and boundary concerns were not important issues to be discussed or debated. The numbers they quote are from the City Manager- the same guy who told us the CC addition was going to cost 150k (and would up costing 500k); he also told us the bathrooms would cost 200k (even tho they can be built for 140k easily). That bathroom's costs are now close to 500k. WHO would trust his numbers to be anywhere close in THIS instance, when they weren't anywhere close before? That would be ridiculous, right? show us where and how you came up with those numbers so we can investigate them for ourselves. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me..

magical Council disappears our money, LOTS of it

The City doubles the fees for childcare for residents but allows the pool to be used for the benefit of nonresidents for free, and totals up a 300k deficit for taxpayers to pay? Are they NUTS? The only reason the budget in the past 3 years has looked better was due to the increasing property tax revenues, a windfall happening, not due to any sense fiscal responsibility on the Council's part. The increasing property taxes have reversed themselves of course, due to the recession that we are in, resulting in growing deficits as the Council spends like its 1999. It could easily be said that the budget looked better during those years IN SPITE of the Councils reckless and irresponsible spending on the CC addition and the bathrooms. The fiscal insanity continues with the proposed spending on the new gym project. If we had the 750k that disappeared on the CC and bathroom projects we would be in a a MUCH better position financially. Think about that- 750k of our hard-earned tax dollars just disappeared into thin air! They have learned NOTHING from those two construction projects and I predict the new gym will cost 20 million to complete and take FIVE years, if the previous projects are any guide. The residents MUST protest!