Top 10 Miami Dade County Boondoggles (in no particular order) that wastes money or betrays our trust:
1. House of Lies (affordable housing scandal)
2. Wackenhut over-billing of millions yet, staff wanted to award them an additional multi-million dollar contract.
3. Voting to divert $345 Million earmarked for NEW transit to replace old rail cars never maintained.
4. New County Airport terminal has a puch list of 20,000 items including a one million tile job that caused three million in damages.
5. The 630 piece art collection owned by the county has been neglected, and many pieces are damaged.
6. Buying/paying for buildings that are unoccupied ($23.1 million Swerdlow deal) or over overpriced (BAC Funding).
7. Giving Billionaire Jorge Perez’s company $1 million of our tax money for “Loft One” so they could offer some lower priced units (with no qualifications put on the buyers).
8. The Carrie Meek/Dorrin Rolle/Stackhouse “Poinciana Bio Park” debacle – developer made millions of county dollars including a $3,000,000 interest fee county loan.
9. $200 million dollar Opa Locka airport development deal pushed by Commissioner Barbara Jordan to Carrie Meek’s firm.
10. $217,000,000 cost overruns at the Performing Arts Center.
Commissioner Sally Heyman summed the County up best at a County Commission Meeting:
''We're past the point of bruising. We're bleeding. We've lost credibility.''
Opps! I already had a list I compiled January 13th (Memory ain’t what it was, there are some different ones here):
• The multiple Affordable Housing scandals
• The buy your contractor license illegally from the county
• The theft of jet fuel from the airport
• The poisoning of our wells with benzene
• Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department can't tell when firefighters are paid twice for the same work
• Natacha Seijas pleading ignorance (and tight lipped for once) to water shortages (when she was warned by activists and water and sewer for over a year of the problems - She is the Chair overseeing Water and Sewer)
• The Performing Arts Center, over $67.7 million over budget and almost a year behind schedule
• Miami International Airport's $24.9 million control tower:18 months late and about $5 million over budget
• Opa-locka Airport's control tower: for 3 years will be a trailer perched atop cargo containers welded together. Controllers must climb a ladder to get inside. And the tower is only 33 feet off the ground, meaning controllers can't see the entire airfield.
• Souto - displacing trailer park residents -- with selective code enforcement -- when no affordable housing alternative is available to the residents.
• Campaign finance reform -- the gutting of it by the County Commission.
• County buying a train from Japan, for our airport, that it has no tracks for. The county has to pay the Japanese millions to keep the train "exercised" on tracks in Japan.
• Umoja Village is both the most heartbreaking and inspiring story of the human spirit here in Miami.
New from readers:
• Cell Phone scandal at Miami Dade Water and Sewer cost taxpayers millions.
• State Law Nepotism Violation: Director Robert Parker and an assistant director violated county policy when members of their families got hired at the Miami-Dade Police Department.
New from readers going back to the 90's:
1996 - A prominent South Dade farmer, paid millions by Metro to landscape county roadways, charged taxpayers for towering royal palms while planting shorter, cheaper trees, a survey by The Herald shows.
1998 - A Medley road contractor was charged Tuesday with fraud and theft by the Miami-Dade state attorney's office, accused of billing the county for 135 miles of roadway lane striping never done. The loss for taxpayers: $1.4 million. (Hey, the State Attorney did something in the 90's!)
13 comments:
Add to the list the cell phone and mail fraud committed by a clerk working at the Water & Sewer Dept. for a total of $1,000,000. Non-existent supervision in ALL county departments, which makes it easy for any crook to steal at their pleasure. AND THE STAFF KEEPS GROWING MORE EACH DAY, mostly relatives and political appointees.
By the way, have you checked the salaries paid to the 13 commissioners' staff? At least it amounts to $500,000/yr/commissioner. Not bad considering their bosses work part-time.
I added it in thanks!
It may not be in top 10 but remember this one! The Fed's had to sue us to fix the sewer system. Guess who paid the fine, it was not the people who missmanaged the system. Keep adding to the list, it will be a keeper.
DADE TO PAY FEDERAL FINE, FIX SEWERS
DEXTER FILKINS Herald Staff Writer
A big federal lawsuit aimed at preventing the collapse of Dade's sewer system ended Tuesday, when Metro commissioners agreed to spend more than $1 billion to upgrade the network. The county also agreed to pay a $2 million fine, the largest ever paid by a local government under the Clean Water Act. Metro also agreed to spend $5 million on local environmental programs.
The federal government sued Dade County two years ago, charging it with violations of the Clean Water Act....
Published on 1995-02-08, Page 1B, Miami Herald, The (FL)
Another one.
DADE CONTRACTOR CHARGED IN ROADWORK BILLING SCAM
TOM DUBOCQ Herald Staff Writer
A Medley road contractor was charged Tuesday with fraud and theft by the Miami-Dade state attorney's office, accused of billing the county for 135 miles of roadway lane striping never done. The loss for taxpayers: $1.4 million.
The charges against contractor Antonio J. Reyes were prompted by a Herald investigation last year that uncovered rampant overcharging for phantom roadwork done under a Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department contract. Reyes was expected to surrender to...
Published on 1998-06-10, Page 1A, Miami Herald, The (FL)
And one more.
Miami Herald - April 25, 1996 - 1A FRONT
SHORT CHANGED HOW A POLITICALLY CONNECTED FARMER OVERCHARGED DADE GOVERNMENT FOR THOUSANDS OF UNDERSIZED PALMS
THE STORY: After a major sprucing up of county highways for the Summit of the Americas, residents in Dade County suburbs began clamoring for their 'share' of stately palm trees. Pressed by politicians, Metro delivered the trees, but taxpayers came up . . . well, short. A prominent South Dade farmer, paid millions by Metro to landscape county roadways, charged taxpayers for towering royal palms while planting shorter, cheaper trees, a survey by The Herald shows. ...
The 90's???you want me to go back to the 90's???
Hey, any list that covers the biggies, 90's or not, would be good. It's my take that the home rule charter was a mistake. I have lived here all my life, 60 plus years, and year after year have seen blunders by our elected officials and time and time again we, the tax payers pay the bill.
I agree that the cell phone scandal is a top 5 boondoggle. it's a suspicious ommission.
Add the Miami-Dade Police Department "friends and family" nepotism scandal to your list. In March 2007, MDPD Director Parker was found in violation of the nepotism law by a county panel for hiring his son. Still waiting for Mayor Alvarez to discipline Parker (although I am not holding my breath). Also waiting for some brave soul to put his or her name on an open and shut complaint against Parker with the State Ethics Commission.
last anon---you must be an upset cop. There is bigger fish to fry than this.
Parker's son is gone from the dept. Natasha's daughter is at the airport, Jordan's sister lobbies, etc, etc,etc.
There are ten at least at the MIA, and what about the recycling contract, or the stupid bus contract or....
how about 1) the phoney contractor license scandal (i think one of the employee criminals is still at large) 2) the tuition scandal (ig said 1/3 defrauded the county but we never heard anything again) 3) water and sewer postage embezzlement of $1 million, and 4) the mayor and seaport director accepting free cruises
The writer who mentioned the MDPD friends and family scandal was so right. Parker's son was transfered to another department only after his father was charged with violating the nepotism law. Parker's son never went through a job interview in the new department as required by county rules. The problem in the training bureau is worse than ever now. When our police chief is corrupt it demoralizes the whole force.
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