Ram A. Schratter, a former County supervisor with 20 years’ experience in the Internal Services Department’s (ISD’s) former Alarm Unit, was charged today with one count of First Degree Organized Scheme to Defraud and surrendered in Circuit Court. The charges stem from a joint investigation conducted by the Miami-Dade Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office (SAO). The investigation uncovered that Schratter was purchasing security alarm system equipment intended for use in County facilities and diverting the equipment to his private security alarm business, Moon Security Systems, Inc.Now why was he allowed to have a private business if he was working full-time for the county? Part of his punishment: He can't work with the county for 5 years? OMG they would hire him again?
Schratter was immediately sentenced and will serve six months in jail followed by six months of house arrest (technically, a total of 12 months of community control), followed by two years of probation. As part of an agreement with the State Attorney’s Office, Schratter was required to pay $200,000 in restitution to the County and costs of investigation to the OIG. Schratter will also forfeit his 20 year County pension and any leave he had accumulated prior to his resignation. In addition, Schratter will be debarred from contracting with the County for a period of 5 years, have to perform 75 hours of community service and cannot hold any public employment until the expiration of his probationary period.
Fire Boats:
Miami Dade County moved the Fire Boat serving the North End of the Community South. Commissioner Sally Heyman was not happy as she is Commissioner of all the high-rise communities to the Broward line. She said to the Miami Herald:
“It’s a shame,” said Sally Heyman, a Miami-Dade commissioner whose district includes some of the causeway as well as waterfront cities like North Bay Village and Sunny Isles Beach.
Heyman has been pushing for a fire boat to be deployed even farther north, near the Haulover Inlet, and says the ritzy high-rise canyons and waterfront mansions in her jurisdiction pay enough property taxes to merit a boat nearby.
Heyman called her district a "donor" community. That means they give more than they take from the county. If one of her waterfront high-rises had a fire on a high floor it would be in deep shit and she would unfairly shoulder the blame and she knows it. She has the area from Aventura to parts of Miami Beach. Gimenez complained the fire boats were not being used. So what? They have to be there as a precaution. Now we have two fire boats almost in sight of each other. That makes no sense. This is the wrong way to run a government. Not everything is there to make money. You need services sometimes that don't make any money.
Tropical Park:
This was on Rebeca Sosa's Facebook Page...
Put the Youth Fair at the North Campus. There is plenty of room there. On the vote, were people made aware that they would be losing green space and that a lake would be filled in? Here is the ballot language you dumb clucks that voted for it:
Charter Amendment Exempting from Article 7 Florida International University’s Expansion onto Youth Fair Site. The Dade County Youth Fair site at Tamiami Park is exempt from the public park purposes use restrictions and construction limitations in Article 7 of the Charter. Shall the Charter be amended to:
•Extend this exemption to Florida International University (FIU) for its expansion onto up to 64 acres of such site upon relocation of the Youth Fair; and
•Provide that no County funds be used for FIU’s expansion and the Youth Fair’s required relocation?
This was terribly worded and had three issues in it. Norman Braman and Raquel Regalado...how about a lawsuit on this one too? Let's throw them all out.
Lester Sola:
Currently tapped to head the Water and Sewer Department with a raise, I found him to be a sub-standard Elections Department head. I think Penelope Townsley is 10 times better at the post. He would send me the stupidest emails that never solved anything.
Lastly, I found this blast from the past (2013) on a selection committee for a bid from AECOM and CH2M Hill on my computer that should interest someone (not me) Lester Sola was a CC on the memo:
10 comments:
Let's see what the horsey set has to say about Tropical Park being used for the Youth Fair. No doubt, the prospect of the unwashed masses desecrating their sacred grounds will motivate them to tell their buddy Carlos to go somewhere else. NIMBY.
Townsley and Sola are equally lost in running elections and insuring fairness.
The county should be eliminated from any government supervisory role. Nothing functions properly. Buses are unsafe, cops are corrupt, fireman abuse OT, airport is a bank for developers, the Hospital is a wasteland of waste. Courts are a joke. Port of Miami we will never know what goes on there. WASD/DERM are tools of revenge with tools in charge
Think about it what is something that runs well?
Can't wait to see this prosperity committee the Monestime Cava Jordan group puts together. Just get a jump on it and start throwing money down the toilet because that is where that is headed.
Great scam pulled by Carlos Gimenez! He has his buddy Al Lorenzo given a top job to lobby for FIU. He got his other buddy Rafael Garcia Toledo added to The Youth Fair, Inc. to prevent any opposition to the Youth Fair moving out and had his main buddy Jorge Luis Lopez lobby for the votes. Now MCM Construction will get to the contract to build all kinds of structures at FIU and make millions. Meanwhile we will have to pay The Youth Fair, Inc. for the forced move. Now he wants to stick the fair at Tropical Park and of course give more contracts to MCM for filling the lake and building more structures! Brilliant Carlitos! Thank all the idiots who gave you their votes!
Today, a gorgeous Sunday with temperatures in the mid70's, I attended at picnic at Tropical Park. My group had 200 attendees. All of the rental enclosures were in use. There were roller bladers, bicyclists, kite fliers. There were food trucks, bounce houses, a motorcycle get-together. I saw FHP and County police. When I left the park at 2pm there was no parking in the lot I was leaving. There was a long string of vehicles coming in that extended from Bird Road extending throughout most of the park.
To anyone want to add a soccer stadium, a Youth Fair, or anything else to this piece of land -wake up!
Go check out how over used it has become.
Screw the fire boats. Why should I give a damn if some one percenter's yacht is burning?
Let those rich assholes pay for their own yacht protection service that 99% of us don't need.
And... Nasty person I deleted, you would need wheels on a fireboat to get to my house and it is irrelevant where a reporter lives, do you know where Doug Hanks lives? Dumb logic.
Let's keep the fire boats in tropical Park.
Add stadiums, add Fair Grounds. Reduce the available land in Tropical Park used by millions of residents.
And, since our priorities are straight, don't touch Commissioner Souto's "free" Annual Ag and Cattle Show in Tropical Park, of which the Commission has requested state funding. The cows need rest stops on their travel to and from the show, as per the request.
The same traffic snarls seen on Biscayne Blvd are found in Tropical Park on weekends.
Add more to the congested mix, further cut into the Park decimated budget and staffing, and wait for Channel 7 to report on the eventual "Tragedy happening in the park."
I say eliminate all the
carnival rides and crappy food vendors and focus on what fairs were originally.
Far less space needed. Indeed, it could be hosted in 2-3 different locations perhaops weeks apart to let attendees focus on their special interests.
Steve Hagen
The same law firm that filed the Skyrise suit on behalf of Norman Braman and Raquel Regalado represents Bruce Matheson in a lawsuit challenging the Youth Fair/FIU referendum. It was filed back in December:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article4373782.html
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