Thursday, November 21, 2013

Why Does Sweetwater Have 2 Helicopters? By Geniusofdespair

Besides Former Mayor Manuel Marono being the BFF of Governor Scott, what reason is there for Sweetwater to have 2 helicopters?  Is this a scandal for Governor Scott? Who paid for them? Anyone have the scoop? Why on earth would they need two helicopters?

Could this haunt Rick Scott? I hope so. Manuel Marono was on his advisor panel when Scott was elected.

How many other cities have helicopters?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Like the dog and the horse. But who are the pilots and who has the maintenance contract for the copters?

Anonymous said...

How about why does Jenna Bell Mendez live in Homestead while the taxpayers of Sweetwater pay for her to drive the gas guzzling SUV 60 miles a day to and from work ? Well, the real issue is how did she advance so far so fast ? We know how, it is just a matter of proving it. She should be stripped of her badge.

Anonymous said...

Where do you see that they have two helicopters?

It is sickening to see the amount of money wasted by cities who access a multitude of grants to buy equipment and vehicles just because the government allows them to do so. Maybe they'll buy a million dollar police boat so can patrol the city when it floods.

Anonymous said...

Cars are overrated. When you need to talk to the Governor in an emergency you don't use Skype, you use an airplane or helicopter to take you to him directly.

Anonymous said...

It figures that Scott would lean on a moron.

Anonymous said...

Dolphin Mall and IKEA are the names of the helicopters.

Anonymous said...

Well, actually, the real story is not as juicy as G.O.D. and the readers here might hope. Here is the rest of the story:

They have one helicopter that was procured through the Federal Government, and 4 others that are going to be used for spare parts. This helicopter came from St. Louis, and the feds received it, and had it listed as surplus, so Sweetwater got it all at no cost to the taxpayer.. Sweetwater has two licensed helicopter pilots on the job. One of the council members is a certified mechanic (this may be an area that should be scrutinized further, was he being paid for mechanic work, under what contract, etc.?).

The expense for operation was heavy on the fuel side. The machine was certified by Federal helicopter mechanics before they released it, so, it should be in good shape. They have the other four non operable helicopters for parts that will be needed in the future.

Now, whether a City the size of Sweetwater needs a helicopter is another open issue. Right now, I think the County and the City of Miami are the only local police departments with helicopters. Probably made more sense for the feds to give the helicopters to departments with existing helicopter programs, but, they did not seek the helicopters, and Sweetwater did. One thing is for sure, there is no involvement with the State on this one.

Anonymous said...

Isn't Sweetwater very tiny in size, about a few blocks long? There is a lot of noise coming from them.

Anonymous said...

South Miami is contemplating the purchase of a helicopter too; an effective way to monitor it's 40 acres and a pool gift to the CRA during off-hours, and the monster population increase proposed by our Strong Mayor to increase density - lots of low income housing high rises.

Anonymous said...

Sweetwater has grown a bit; the area now covers the entire Dolphin Mall too.

Anonymous said...


I can't see why they need a helicopter when there is already one operated by the county. The city is also in the flight path for MIA.