The best part about having county budget hearings is that it is always the best show in town. This year‘s budget hearing was no exception and did not disappoint viewers. The budget hearing is a process like none other in the county governance calendar. The Stephen P. Clark Center comes alive with very animated people all with very colorful stories or weird tales and in some cases, some poignant tragedies in their personal histories.Thursday evening’s meeting took on an underlying tone of anger and bitterness directed towards the county elected officials and more directly, Mayor Alvarez. Even with the hundreds of people who spoke ,there was an ear-catching phrase heard more than once as speakers greeted the dais:
“Good Evening, Mr. Mayor, wherever you are…” (hit read more)
From the TV viewer’s perspective, the Mayor’s seat on the dais was not visible. But, one could tell as the speaker’s eyes searched the dais for Mayor Alvarez that he had abandoned premises for somewhere more Mayor friendly and tush comfortable. The abandonment was obvious to the people who had stood in line for as long as eight hours for their only opportunity to personally address the man they had put into office. He was gone.
If the Mayor wasn’t around, one cannot help but wonder if he ran off to the safety of his 29th floor fiefdom to watch TV and eat in comfort. Meanwhile those regular folks (you) were allowed to stand for eight hours without resting, to go without dinner (and almost breakfast!) all so you could personally greet his empty chair with the words,
“Good Evening, Mr. Mayor, wherever you are…”
Dearest meeting-going constituents: Thank you for pointing out to the rest of us what we had merely suspected: that Mayor Alvarez was gone.
But to you loyal folks in our wonderful confused South Florida, I would like to point out one thing: as Mayor, Mr. Alvarez is not gone. Indeed, he has never been here or fully committed to the general community. He has not been with us, not now or ever. So I more accurately say:
Good Bye, Mr. Alvarez, wherever you are.
13 comments:
I heard the "Wherever you are..." and thought it was a poignant gesture by the speakers.
Yah, it was poignant...they were longing for the good days when you knew the person you elected.
Penelas was the good old days? Clarke? Scary names indeed.
hmmm. Actually, I was thinking about the good old days when your town had about 15,000 people, your kids misbehavior was ratted out by the neighbors, you left your house unlocked, and you grew your own tomatas.
The guys you mentioned may have been scary, but Penelas was not strong mayor and Clark was full of hops and needed a police driver, for sure.
Alvarez and his massively overpaid staff are stealing from the taxpayers.
not all of carlos staff is over paid. the coffee lady does not make as much as denis.
The coffee lady is not on the Mayor's staff.
Oh? Whose staff then? Goodwill staff was contracted to provide coffee for a long time and it seems that at one point the coffee lady got a county job.
Why should the 29th floor or the commissioners have "coffee" people, at all? A quick lesson in this is a coffee maker should suffice for the staff to be able to make their own coffee. The rest of us in the county deal with making our own coffee.
I guess we need to do a public records request to see how much the coffee lady makes. They have a "Living Wage" thing at the county so it must be $10 an hour -- or $8 don't know what the lving wage is but it IS NOT the minimum wage.
i bet has she gotten lost off the payroll. i saw a coffee lady at the hearing on the dais. they didn't share with us though.
FYI, The coffee lady works for the janitorial staff and does a hell of a lot more than just make coffee. However you'd think that with such personnel available to the mayor he would have no reason to leave his seat for more than a bathroom break
Well, I hope she washes her hands before she passes out that coffee!!
that lady spent an awful lot of time gossiping on the 29th floor leaning on the front counter when she wasn't making cafe cubano... the cleaning of the bathroom/offices was done after hours... i would be surprised if she was the one doing it.
what you are saying is that her salary was hidden another department's budget, but she served the mayor and county manager?
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