Miami Springs 2007_Elections
 

Post your comments to this forum now! contract So schultz had a 200K contract? For what? (sorry) Hundreds MRCLEAN Only in America !!!! In no other country in this world can one person sign into law a law which sets this country back hunderds of years, with out violence...I don-t agree with the law, however I will express myself in a civilize matter.This law will be,overturned by the COURTS...This is what makes America a great country....MRCLEAN forum click on forums on the upper right corner...site changed Hello Is anybody out there ??? Steve Carlisle Seasick? Steve Carlisle What? Miami Condos Miami has many different atmospheres from tropical to the wilderness. You can visit one of the city’s many parks to get a feel of the tropics, from pineapples to parrots you won-t believe how close it all is to your Miami condo. If you feel like seeing something truly unique you can head out to the Everglades national park. There you will see some of the most amazing natural wonders you never knew existed.  a  ="http:  miami-condos.newcondosonline.com miami-condos " Miami Condos  a  re commentary What basketball are you watching inside the rec center.....My child played this season and it was outside at the middle school!!! forum uh...click on the FORUMS link on the upper right nav...as you can see...the site has changed a little... commentary Who cares if all we show residents p ing by on Westward Drive the backside of the building? There was a VERY good reason why city planners did it that way. It was so that this basketball season for the kids could be held indoors rather than be put outside! So take THAT naysayers! See, sometimes the plans of city planners work out perfectly! Feel free to drop in anytime and watch all the indoor basketball being played you want by our very own kids as it has been all of this season. Otherwise, the kids basketball season would have had to have been put outside, or outsourced! Thanks to our city planners THAT didnt happen! I am SURE that somewhere, in some part of our great country, there is at least one more new gym facing backwards! Or perhaps we are the ONLY one! What a feather THAT would be in our cap! A tribute to the city planners! Take a bow, gentlemen! comment OK, we have a new community center. It IS new, and has a running track and a theater. It also comes with $10,000+ a month ac bills and a 200k price tag for the next 20 years. So if the red shirts are symbolic of the money we will be bleeding for the next 20 years, by all means wear red to let everyone know. The City has not been able to build a BATHROOM for less than triple the usual and customary costs, why would anyone believe that this new community center is not just another example of their "COSTS ARE IRRELVENT AND IMMATERIAL" style of mismanagement? The same people who were responsible for the overpriced CC addition, the missing bathroom hookups, the elevations, and the overall expensive projects are still the same and show NO SIGNS of getting any more responsible or transparent with our tax monies. Red will be symbol of the river of red we will be bleeding to pay for this, and every other construction project they undertake. Missing Posts Am sure site manager will say upgrade or reset. That-s probable. But a whole lot of information critical of management and city hall to include financial facts has been deleted? This is not a suggestion of conspiracy or friendship with city manager. Just a question. If stuff was dumped because of personal insults unrelated to job performance or position... ok. How about restoring the site to include the posts? I would like answers to the basin questions, the foi information etc. And would like to know contract info for dept. heads and revenues paid by swim business. RED SHIRTS TO SUPPORT THE NEW CENTER OK, now I got it, everyone in favor of a NEW COMMMUNITY CENTER is to wear a RED shirt to show their support!! See you there..... No Excuse No excuse for laziness when it comes to search for new mgt. or department heads. Same old bs when only the incompetent are hired so that the mgt looks competent in comparison. But if facts matter.... nobody in their right mind would give a vote of confidence to the B & G show. nothing but interest By the way, your Mr Dotson has consistently voted yes on the city managers vote of confidence. This makes 3 years in a row that he has done so, I guess the Manager must be doing a great job according to your Mr. Dotson!!!! nothing but interest To bring the lawyers mother into this forum on mothers day only shows the hatred and stupidity, of the naysers that post on this site. nothing but interest The mayor only cares about his name on the building, Shulz only cares about his 200K contract, Garcia about his friends getting their contracts which fund his elections, Borgmann cares about his resume which he will need to move out of here, Gorland just wants to Manager, The lawyer, well what can be said when he sold us out to the adult motel project. He would sell his mother for cash, Youngs is still sitting on the fence after 8 years, and Best is just happy to get print time on the Gazette. This leaves Mr. Dotson as the only official of the people, for the people. misleading mayor How can the mayor even PRETEND he is doing due diligence if he doesnt include the Pistorino option as a viable alternative? What he means is that he has examined all the option HE WANTS, not an option the people may want. It is misleading, at the very least, for the mayor to suggest that they are doing due diligence WITHOUT the Pistorino option on the table and dicussed in detail. He must really think we are stupid and wont notice an option is missing, or something. To NOT do due diligence, which means examine ALL the possible options, is to abdicate his responsibilities as a civil servant and elected representative in charge of looking out for THE PEOPLEs interest, not his own. due diligence? It is apparent that the Council gives at least lip service to the value of having workshops to scrutinize projects closely. they did it with the Recreation survey and a couple days ago with those preliminary bids. The last guy was very clear in that he said he had so little detail to go from that the real and final costs will NOT BE KNOWN until AFTER the are awarded. By then, of course, it will be too late to change and wwe will be shafted, AGAIN.If they believe these workshops are of value why arent they having a workshop for the Pistorino alternative? They are afraid to look at it indetail because it makes too much sense and is affordable. There is little, if any, money in it for them when they can "misappropriate" MILLIONS with the new gymnasium. And they WILL, if we give them a chance to do it, like they did with the CC and the bathrooms. It is the defintion of insanity for us to expect anything different from them since nothing has changed. the pattern is the same: use a lowball offer to get in the door and then pad the bill to triple the costs, at least, with change orders. The pattern has not changed, and wont, because it has been successful in the past. When, if ever, will we learn? The nebulous "RFPs" are vague and lacking detail for a reason, so they can use dozens of expensive change orders to pad the bill to the max. false statements Shulz lied his head off when he said he had no interest in the Rec. Center when in fact he is one of the contractors with a bid of over 220,000 for windows. He has been lying about what the candidiates really said and now it-s clear he was only interested in himself. Apparently his concern for the community is a cover up for his real interest MONEY. No wonder he and Garcia get along so well. their cute Borgy and Gordy knows where the money goes, and they aint gonna tell ya . Thats their own little secret. The two of them sure look sweet sitting so close together at the council meetings is there something going on here? vitos vito from vito-s bakery for mayor mmm food put a mcdonalds on the circle, we need burgers. help us ronald. we could also use a dunkin doughnuts so we dont have to cross the bridge to cuba, a.k.a. hialeah community center. where are the kids suppose to go in the new plans for a community center. think of the kids, there our future. add a computer lab. the pool rocks, horay viva la pool. bring in a lunch truck blue collar town Miami Springs, is, and always been a place for blue-collar workers to live and raise their families. We DO have a few more upscale areas by the golf course and the Bird section but the large majority of Miami Springs is middle cl . with all the problems with annexation of those polluted areas and the lack of control of the zoning, I dont see how it makes sense for us. Perhaps once those areas have been cleaned up and we have been given control of zoning it will make sense, but not now, under THOSE conditions. The post about the missing property tax money is right on target. Part of the money went to generous raises we gave city employees whenever and wherever possible, including the City Manager and his Assistants. Its nice to give raises to your employees, if you can afford it longterm, and breaks an axiom of personnel Management that has worked for years- ten thousand attaboys before you get a raise. We have given all these raises that are locked in and now we cant afford them, due to the tax rollbacks and the recession. Bonuses are a MUCH better means of rewarding your employees because they can be reduced or retracted during off years. Human Resources 101. no annexation I might support annexation IF I was sure that the City put in enough controls to insure that NO RESIDENTIAL development would ever occur. Today that can not happen, Dade County p ed a law stating that the COUNTY will control all zoning.Because of that I will not support Miami Springs annexing any lands outside our boundaries ! Besides the majority of the DADE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS don- want to give any land away now! Please put this issue to rest for good . where did it go For the past 4 or 5 years Miami Springs has been collecting a windfall of taxes due to the sudden rise in property values . What did the city do with that money? Where did it go? The City should have something to show for it . Where is it? Truth be told nobody knows ! I see a few added perks (security at City Hall, new dump truck, a few lawm mowers, ETC ETC) but nothing that amounts to the million that were collected. The bottom line is that the money was wasted. Instead of collecting for services rendered , we gave everything away ,(club house, pool, tennis courts ) it all adds up but the tally is still short!!! ANNEXATION Annexation will lower our taxes. We all want that. The guy who thinks it-s okay to pay $20k in taxes annually is probably right. Heck it should probably be even higher, but only if you live on the golf course or have a lake. We do have many modest homes in the Springs. We also have many longtime residents that are being taxed to death. I for one would like to see our property values going up with our tax rates going down. If you want to make our community more exclusive, do it by making the area more desirable. Lowering taxes, makes our area more desirable. Annexing and lowering our tax rates allows the city to beautify our neighborhoods without additional taxes on us. That will raise my property value, increase the equity in my home without me paying more taxes. That makes sense to me. Annexation will not increase traffic. Let me repeat. Annexation will not increase traffic. Annexation will lower taxes. Annexation can (if properly managed) pay for the gym, capital improvements and city beautification projects. NO RAISE FOR THE CITY CLERK No raise for the City Clerk , she is nothing but a puppet for Borgmann. She can not make any decisions on her own and she is making well over $100,000.00 with bennies , plus she has her daughter working there also . ENOUGH!!!!!!! FYI FYI is fine. Freaking out about a water project by your punctuation sounds like the sky is falling. Informing the community of an upcoming inconvenience is not. It sounded like you were freaking out based on the tone of your writing and punctuation. If it was just intended as informative, that-s fine. The Shame The shame of it is that with the exception of Bob Best, and we know what that-s about, the council must know just how bad Borgmann is and want to get rid of him. Dotson certainly does and I think Billy gets it. The problem is that they know just how tedious it is to find another city manager. Search, interview, vet, re=interview, select, pray. They are just too lazy to do it. Their shame is that they would rather just inflict Borgmann on the city. Elections in less than a year!!! progress I am for progress and I believe that a newly refurbished gym would be progress. Paying higher taxes so that the politicos can throw my money away is not progress. It is stupid.They cannot build a BATHROOM without paying TRIPLE the going rate so why would we want to allow them to build a 32,000 foot gym? MILLIONS of our tax dollars will disappear into SOMEBODY-s pocket because we know those arent the costs involved to build it. They ARE very consistent however, in that they hardly ever spend more than triple what it actually costs. If they could even bring the cost overruns down to DOUBLE I would have some hope that they are learning something and moving in a better direction, but that hasnt happened and never will happen. The Council doesnt care because its not THEIR money. Do you think that any of them would pay TRIPLE for an addition or a bathroom on THEIR house? Not a chance, because it s THEIR money. No problem if its OUR money. If the well runs low they will simply raise our taxes or fees again so they have more tax dollars to waste. There may be those in our community who look forward to a tax increase but I am not one of them, for the reasons I stated. I refuse to put more money into their Black Hole. Also, there are a lot of older residents who have been here a long time who are on a fixed retirement income and cant afford a tax increase. Great Now if we just had a upscale community. Look at the quality of city management, is that upscale? How about the rec center, upscale? The senior center? The Eldron Drive area? What is it exactly that you-re willing to pay for? raise my taxes $15,000.00 to $20,000.00 in yearly taxes is NOT asking too much to live in an upscale community Pelican Players That Guy Ralph smells, can some one please hand him a bar of soap and deoderant. STinky StInky Ralph Wakefield Pelican dorks want there 300 seat theater can some one please put some sence in that mans head his pelican playhouse  s nerds nerds nerds raise my taxes YOU ARE RIGHT!!! At every entrance to the City we have a sign saying WELCOME TO BEAUTIFUL MIAMI SPRINGS. Today that sign does not speak the truth, our city is UGLY!!!! No code enforcement, every garage is a rental unit, cars parking all over the front yards, paint peeling on many of the houses, blue roofs on every street. Businesses are boarded up ,the sewers are broken ,we are getting pot holes in the streets, back yards are turning into junk yards. The kids are running wild in the streets the old ladies are afraid to walk the streets Theater Doesn-t matter if its insane. Its only Bob Best-s vote that allows Jim to keep his overpaid job. What Bobby wants, Bobby gets, residents and cost be damned. high cl  society You people are missing the point! By the City of Miami Springs building a new gym it gives the council the right to raise our taxes. That option is needed today in order to keep the lower forms of life from moving here from across the river.The higher our taxes go the better quality of people will move here. Then it will be beautiful Miami Springs , BMW-S in every drive way, manicured lawns, the butlers doing the shopping at milams, servants all over the place, everybody having a 2nd home in Aspen or the Bahamas. What a great place it will be !!! BUILD THE NEW GYM NOW ,, PRICE IS UNLIMITED!! IDIOTS A 300 seat theater , that is insane!! Rec Center From a distant look at the plans since it is apparently impossible to actually get a copy (by design), it looks like a giant gym, a theater, and a few offices. Great if you play basketball or are a thespian. What percentage of the city does that 1%, 2%, 5%? Most of the basketball players come from Hialeah and other places outside the city. But where, for example, does jazzercise or other activities go, where do we vote, what about the kids in after-school and summer care, how about teens, seniors, etc. While I would like to see a new rec center, is this really the best design to meet the cities true needs or just what Jim and his gang want? What does the $22,000 survey say residents want? Has anybody looked at it? Does it say the residents want a double basketball palace and a 300 seat theater? I don-t think so!!! dead subject You are absolutly correct. Lets get our house in order first, that will be tough. Lets try to gather all the support we can to be at City Hall monday night(5 12 08), sign the petitions that are going around town supporting the option of refurbishing the old gym. Let our councilmen know we want an honest projection of all costs concerning the gym. Be it NEW and or REFURBISHED!!! WE WANT TO SEE ALL THE OPTIONS!!! AND HOW IT WILL BE PAID FOR !!!!! dead subject Since the county commissioners are not even interested at this time in giving away land for annexation, it would behoove us to expend the effort to straighten up city hall and set things in order for the future possibility. Getting back to the mess of the proposed construction and financing done by the city should be the target of citizens attention. Simply the fact that there is no projected rendition of the facility is frightening. Add to that the potential for millions of dollars in overruns and you have a recipe for disaster for Springs. Renovation vs. Construction should be addressed with models for each to include costs--both long term and short. Financing should be addressed to include  ets designated for the facility, potential  essments and taxpayer funding and available grant federal aid. Finally, it would be very nice to see exactly how the facility will benefit specific groups within the Springs. A major selling point in any project is the widespread appeal to the majority. An example would be the idea of a teen center vs a theater...how many teens are in Springs vs how many theater supporters. forked tongue Talk about being negative , the SKY FALLING guy sure is !! Learning the FACTS is not negative !! Disregarding the facts is NEGATIVE!!! So There is all of this talk of annexation. But is the area really available for such? The county already stands to lose its court battle regarding mitigation fees charged to new cities etc. If the county is so willing to let this area go for nothing...just remember nothing is ever free. No matter what people say. dead subject At this time Annexation is not even being talked about at the BCC. There is not enough interest in giving land away by the other commissioners. water line JUST FYI---- is that a sky falling comment??? no problem RAISE MY TAXES, IT WILL KEEP THE LOW CLASS OUT OF HERE new water line So? What-s bad about that? We-ll be inconvenienced during construction. Then it will be complete and things are back to normal. Is the sky falling again? new water line Just as a reminder a 6 foot diamiater water pipe is coming to a street near you . It will be coming from the well fields, down NW 58 street, across the ludlun Canal,up either Dove or Quail Avenues to lenape Dr., then either going up Heron or Dove to N Royal Poinciana Blvd to about Albatross ,then across the river to the water plant . This is going to happen in the very near future!!! fear fear fear All you provide is sky is falling tactics. Fact is, our taxes are too high. That-s reality. Too much of our taxes is on the hands of our residents instead of commercial. That-s reality. Annexing Milam Dairy will reduce our taxes. That-s a reality. Why don-t you want to lower our taxes is because you hate and fear everthing or just can-t stand our administrators. Either way, all I see is that you are scared of progress. FEC access no doubt that we should control the access to our City but if the County retains the control over zoning we wouldnt have much say in the matter. And I agree a LOT more can be done to recycle our resources and make the best use possible from them. One recycled aluminum can saves enuf energy to run your TV for 3 hours. What is it about recycling, water conservation and being environmentally conscious and aware do city officials (mainly the Mayor) NOT get? His appointment to the Ecology Board hasnt been filled for TWO years, same as Youngs. What does THAT tell you about where the environment ranks on HIS list of priorities? Nonexistent. Not even on his radar screen. not now, and apparently, not ever. Same with Youngs- two years of vacancies and oppurtunities missed. no free ride There is over 100 million dollars in capital improvements needed in the area to be annexed. Sewer, water, flood drainage, ADA sidewalk, road work, canal clean up etc,etc, These cost will apply to whichever city annexes what area. The mitagation fees will also have to be negotiated between the city and the county. The county has levied fees in the million dollar range for recent cities such as Miami lakes and Pincrest. The FEC property is also on the derm list as a SUPER FUND site as a toxic waste site . The old Miami Drum business was there many years ago dumping chemicals into the ground at the entrance to the rail yard .The RR also has had a hand in polluting the area with fuel spills and chemical spills from the cargo cars that have been stored there. Responsibility for this clean up, will take decades and million if not billions of dollars. The MIA Airport also shares a hand in this clean up for allowing AERODEX CORP.(many years ago) to dump oil and fuel into the Ludlum Canal. Could that be one of the reasons that Dade County wants to control zoning in that area? Annexation like the new gym leave more questions to be asked than they answer. The sad part is that our City Staff and Council has no clue as to what is going on !!! TRAFFIC WILL INCREASE To all of you people who talk about traffic, I have one thing to say. Take you heads out from behind you. Traffic is every where. I know that some of you only live and shop in Miami Springs, but some of us have lives and see more then you. TRAFFIC IS EVERY WHERE. All around us and there is nothing you can do so lets stop al this talk about traffic and let worry abouy how to fill up your gas tank. THATS A REAL PROBLIM rain barrels The proposal was to possibly buy some used barrels to use as rain barrels for our residents and conserve drinking water for drinking, while utilizing the rain water for watering plants and gardens, washing the car, etc. It was a free suggestion from the Ecology Board and that may be why more support was not generated- it didnt cost enough. Water restrictions are a sign of the drought and not really a solution. I do agree that there is a LOT more that can be done to conserve energy, resources, etc and enhance our local environment but leadership begins at the top and it has been sorely lacking and or nonexistent for a long while now, here in Miami Springs. The Council should, dare I say this four-letter word, be proactive and take a leadership role and the rest of the Council DID agree to "look into a grant " for the rain barrels. Unfortunately the grant writer says that this program doesnt meet the criteria for a So Fla Water Management grant, somehow. There may be other grants out there that we DO meet the criteria for, possibly. Rain barrels are a simple, proven, and cheap water conservation measure that we COULD act on NOW, if we could get some leadership and support. What are the chances of some leadership by City officials for a proven, cheap, and necessary action to help our drought situation? Lip service is my guess. FEC YARD FEC YARD is out of the question. But if we controlled it, we can control whether or not to allow a bridge. If the county controls it, they-ll do whatever they want with Miami Springs without our input. What would you prefer? City control over a bridge or county? Obviously, I prefer my access to the city over access to the county any day of the week... Unconscious You must be joking, right? What was your water conservation proposal? I didn-t see it or hear about it. Tell me it wasn-t another 22 thousand dollar survey! doubts EXACTLY environment Mayor Bain probably feels that adherence to the mandatory conservation restrictions put in place by the state and county are adequate for now. But water isn-t the only environmental issue in Springs. How about recycling all of thos plastic bottles at ALL of the rec facilities and fields? How about setting the ac in ALL public buildings and offices to 78 degrees? How about putting shut off valve on the showers at the pool so that they don-t run non stop? Every department could do a whole lot more. Tree City is a nice title but Green City is better..... Doubts I am very sorry to say this but I do not believe we are in any position to even consider annexation. Look at the current city situation: we do not release financial information in a timely manner, we fail to release public information as requested under the law, no project has yet to be approached in a fiscally responsible manner, only one council member appears to research and ask pointed questions, we are without someone well versed in city management pertaining to annexation and development issues And we can-t seem to build a bathroom that meets code without cost overruns that are three times the original projection. How in the world does anyone think that we are in a position to handle the intricacies of annexation and future protection for the Springs? So while annexation really would go far to increasing our tax base and possibly improving quality of life, it is absurd to pursue it with the current management still in place. Sorry. lack of environmental concern by the Mayor Mayor Bain was recently the only one to vote against a motion to look into water conservation, saying that it is an individual concern and not something that the government should be involved in. This position is in direct opposition to county,state, regional, national and international realities. Mayor Bain, we are in a 2 year long drought situation here in the 5 SE states! Charlie Crist last month proclaimed a statewide Water Conservation Month! Governors of Fla, Georgia, and Tenn are squabbling over access to water for their residents, as are Governors out West. There is a ten-year drought in Australia and strict water conservation mmeasures are in place there. There are drought conditions in large parts of China and Europe. titans of industry are adjusting their business models as a result of this environmental sensitivity and consciousness. And we have a Mayor who is environmentally unconscious, at best. How can this be? Global warming is an international problem that is NOT going to be solved by any individual. Governments need to be involved and really should take a leadership position! Instead we have a Mayor who is so out of touch with the reality of the county, state, national, and international environmental situation that he seems to be oblivious, ignorant, or just uncaring. He seems to be dangerously disconnected to the wants and needs of the people he serves, in more ways than one. Ok Lets annex. At least for now we will be able to pay for all of Borgys pork fat... annexation questions If we annex the FEC yards, is it not possible, or even probable, that bridges will be built across the canal to enhance access to Mia Spgs from that area? THAT would increase traffic to our area significantly. questions If we were to annex the FEC yards what guarantees would we have that the County wouldnt decide to put low-income housing there? If we have no control over zoning we couldnt stop them, could we? The County-s agenda could be VERY different than ours and we would have NO say in the zoning. We would be responsible for infrastructure, police, etc but have no real control over that area. What if those responsible for polluting cant, or wont clean it up? Who will pay for it to be cleaned up? Us? As long as we have no control over zoning, that is a deal-breaker to me, and I see nothing on the horizon that would indicate that will change anytime soon. Annexation Rumors We have to pay to clean up pollution? FALSE - Whomever polluted needs to clean up. City is not responsible. TRAFFIC WILL INCREASE? FALSE - The traffic on Milam Dairy doesn-t flow into Miami Springs. Existing traffic patterns is what it is. It-s not changing anytime soon. Annexation Again, here are the benefits: Increased tax base for the city...Shift of taxes from residential to commercial...Lower taxes for the residents...A broader revenue base to fund projects like the gym, pool, beautification, etc. The city can move public works to Milam Dairy. The police station can move to the Public Works area on Royal Poinciana. City administration can expand at City Hall. FOLKS, there are lots of good things and no bad things. Annexation ZONING The entire area is zoned for commercial use, not residential. The county has the area zoned as commercial, not residential. If we take over, there-s a moratorium on zoning changes, before Miami Springs takes over zoning control. TGK No. TGK is not included in the proposed annexation. Squash that rumor now. The inmates can-t vote in Miami Springs elections. Annexation We aren-t paying mitigation fees when we Annexed the Abraham tract. annexation somebody also told me that if we annex Turner-Knight those inmates can all vote in our elections and they wouldnt pay ANY taxes. Does anybody know if this is correct? annexation Annexation COULD be a good thing, IF we can maintain control over the zoning. if we cant we are at the mercy of the County and they could decide to build a lot of low-income housing there. Two thousand units or so is a lot of low-income families and they could easily have a LOT of sway over what we do on this side. for instance, they could get together and decide that we should raise the limits on our housing to ten stories, like theirs. We would be responsible for that area but have no control over zoning, which is potentially disasterous for us. if we can keep control over the zoning there it could be a good thing, because we DO need to expand our tax base, but there are other pollution and cleanup liability issues still remaining. Question The county doesn-t just let go of tax revenue when a new city forms or areas are annexed. Aren-t there some type of mitigation fees involved in annexation? Annexation Lower taxes...Better Service. Annexation equals WIN WIN WIN. Annexation I don-t care how much you hate Borgmann. Criticize as you wish. But annexation is absolutely a great thing for the tax payer. Shifting the tax burden from residents to business is good for us. The amount of tax revenue the county gets that will shift to our city will help us finance the gym, pool, additional police force, etc. I would add that the annexation should occur with a merger with VG. Merge the police forces, administration, etc. Use any excess staff from the merger to manage the new Milam Dairy area. Annexation is good for those of us who want to be in Miami Springs beyond the next 10 years. No Annexation Our people don-t know how to run the small city we have now. Say good bye ROB , move along, get out of here, you blew away $300,000.00 on annexation no more,, hear us !!!!!! gym annexation If you think the gym fiasco is bad wait until annexation takes place if it goes borgmans way. The increased cost of the larger police department alone will off set any gains in revenue which borgman is already crusading for in the Gazette. It will be even worse if youngs has any input like he has in the past years being the laison between Miami Springs and the county. good job thats right ,, we got exactly what be paid for ,,4 turds and 2 pooper scoppers in city hall we will be dead 6 months to build a bathroom and it aint done yet,,,, I will be dead before a new gym is built good job $400,000.00+ for Borgy-s port -0- lets,,,, we got what we paid for At least At least King J won-t take up residence there. He already has two different thrones (Peavey) at a cost of 421,000 dollars and counting! Waste Won-t do any good. King Jim and his jesters have decreed it and it shall be so. protest Maybe all the residents that are opposed to building a new gym should form a protest at next monday-s council meeting. Wear a red shirt to the council meeting that night. talk to you neighbors , family and friends ,show up , be there!!! computer lab They won-t let you get onto this website. Too much truth apparently hurts. Worry I have no question that a community center would be of value to the city. This one, I don-t know. Letting Borgy and the bandits build it....financial disaster. Look at the recod. fate? You may be right about Borgmann, Bain, and Garcia pushing this thru regardless of the wants and needs of the residents. He did it with the Cc and the bathrooms that came with HUGE cost overruns that will continues with this new gym project. The residents will not protest and will just pay the ridiculous tax increases without a whimper or fight. That IS the History of Jim in this town so far. I love the Springs and hate to think of it this way but perhaps the residents deserve to be robbed, raped, and plundered this way by these guys for their indifferece and apathy. The only locals who care about his new gym fiasco are the ones who are bidding on it and stand to make a LOT of money on it, or are city workers who are probably afraid for their jobs. The residents seem resigned to their fate, or just completely and totally ignorant to whats going on here. Can this be possible? Reaction Time Even if you have remained silent on things until this point, you must take stock of the situation and speak up. Allowing things to proceed in this manner will not result in higher property values in the future. The legacy of this management will be one of inherited debt, binding contracts that fail to benefit the city and a future of failure. Pelicans 30 or 40 times a year? How about 2-3 times a year. refurbish I believe that, with the money that we have in the bank now, we can refurbish the gym completely, fix the pool, and make a place for the skateboarders too. My main concern about the skateboarders is the liability issue. last night 95% of the substantive and pertinent questions were asked by Paul Dotson. The others appeared to be bored disinterested (which could be if its just for show and their minds are already made up) or unprepared, or both! Coucilman Dotson is the only one who seems to care enough about the interests of the people to be prepared and ask the tough questions that need to be asked to insure the City gets the optimal benefit. We need more Dotsons- representing us!!! No Matter Borgmann is going to make this thing happen just the way wants come Hell or high water. Why, because he can and the council and the residents can-t stop him. Pretty amazing. theater I agree that the theater is jims reward to Bob Best for his vote. I have been to Pelican Playhouse productions and enjoyed them but have never ben there with more than 50 people. I also agree that they could just as easily make an agreement with the high school to use their auditorium for their productions. Spending all that money for a theater that will be used for less than 30 or 40 times a year makes NO sense. We cant afford it and dont really need it. what we DO need is a like-new gym that we can afford, use and be proud of for the next 50 years. How can the Council even SUGGEST to us that they have done their due diligence when they havent had a workshop or meeting like last night with Mr Pistorino to discuss his findings? Due diligence apparently means to them a process where they look at the options they want, no matter what the people want or can afford. it is simple to them- they will just up our taxes to pay for it. WHATS FAIR Let the PELICAN PLAYHOUSE PLAYERS rent the CIRCLE THEATER from Mr. Santana.I-m sure he would let them have it for free !!!! We gave Santana the CLUB HOUSE FOR FREE!!! 4 ring circus The presentation by the 4 bidders last night at the workshop was a smoke and mirrors show . Now lets get down to business and get bids to refurbish the existing facility. with the money we have in the bank. PLAY TIME IS OVER Thank you Mr. Dotson At last nights workshop ONLY Mr. Dotson had the gut to ask the hard questions the rest of the council and staff just sat there like bobble heads . And at the end when the mayor asked for any comments ONLY MR. DOTSON RESPONDED THAT HE NEEDED TO STUDY what had just been presented. Rent Free Only if they are Jim-s friends or there-s something in it for him. Haven-t you been paying attention? Are Are city residents going to have full access to the gym? Or are parts going to be given out to special interest businesses rent free? I Get It Get rid of Jim. He is not the voice of Springs. Clean sweep of all departments....Now! Get It! Understand...it doesn-t matter what we want or what makes sense or what the community needs. ITS WHAT JIM WANTS!!!!!!!! Once he gets it in his mind, it is over, he shall have it. There will be no input, no objections, no comments. That the building doesn-t make sense and is totally dysfunctional doesn-t matter. It is going to happen the way he wants and the council just sits there with a glazed look on their faces. Best wants a theater, Zaviar wants to claim the glory, Youngs just wants it to be over, and Bain wants it named after him. Welcome to Miami Springs. We will soon have to figure out how to pay back $6, 8, 10, 12 million dollars. Who really knows how much? computer lab and teen center Best idea yet! And the grant writer could actually apply for a computer grant and the rec woman can actually do teen rec programming. Stuff the theater...we want a teen center and computer homework lab. Do the Residents do we have any say in this lunacy? do we get to vote on the funding, plans, particulars? Anything? Instead of the theater, why not a computer lab homework center for kids? Why not a teen club? Why not a library? Why not ALL 3? A theater? Now that benefits the majority....yep...all 15 of Borgmann-s supporters. idiocy Unbelievable. Just fricking unbelievable. No wonder no one can see the plans. They only exist in the good ol boys mind. Theater A 300 seat theater? What for? The high school has a theater that can be used for pelican playhouse plays. A 300 seat theater? What, does Borgmann need a place for his workshops? Or should I say Royal audiences? This is a crock! Pull out the 22 thousand dollar survey Jim and justify this one. You are such a b!@ hit artist! How can you sleep at night! Rec Center It is basically a huge gym that about 5% of the residents will use and a huge theater that even less will use. Nothing for the seniors, no place for young kids. But, Bob Best is a Pelican supporter and Jim know he may the swing vote on his job. Anything, anything, anything to keep his job. A 300 seat theater for a group that maybe drew 50 total people for its last month long event. But, a third vote is a third vote. Renovation Borgmann never intended to consider doing a renovation. He simply lied to the council about it and went about doing exactly what he wanted to do. That-s the way he operates and council lets him. It doesn-t matter what the residents might want, what is good for the city, what we can afford, or what the council-s wishes may or may not be, he will say or do anything to get what he wants. He has no moral comp  and the council lets him lead them around by the nose. Election in less than 1 year! plans is this a three story 2 elevator building with lots of office space for staff? is it a prefab steel building? where again are the funds coming from? what impact on current employees and current programs? time frame? future financial impact from all of above? Guess Again I guess I am still stymied by the way we do business. What exactly were the bids submitted for? I mean, were bids submitted for both renovation AND new construction? Seems rather interesting that correct bids could have been properly prepared given that it was only a few weeks ago if that that council addressed the build vs renovate issue. Any Are there any spec on the building? Artists renderings? Projected usage? Or is the council just going to rubberstamp mgt. vision again? Why doesn-t the city put the plans on the website or publish in paper? That is the standard method by most reputable municipalities to keep residents informed of projects. More civil I agree. The exchange of ideas has become more civil lately. Keep bringing ideas, facts, and suggestions. This is good. miscellaneous some excellent and thoughtful questions posted here, mostly without the name-calling and BS there had been in the past... meeting tonite was a yawner, mainly for the Council. there is a rumor that the fix is in and the low bidder will take it- and us with their expensive change orders. They hedged their bets tonite by saying there would be additional expenses, etc. cost of concrete going up, etc and some of that may be true but not TRIPLE, like the CC club and the bathrooms. The bathrooms sit at $421,500 so far, and are not finished to Dade Co code. One hundred fifty thousand is about right for the 1116 sq ft of both bathrooms, 125 bucks a square foot, and that includes a HEALTHY 25 % profit margin for the contractor. One hundred percent cost overrun would put it at 300k. Add the 33k for hooking up the sewers (WHO would build a bathroom without sewer hookups?- a 5k job. Then add 38,500 for building the bathrooms up 8 inches on one and 14 inches on the other (which they KNEW was gonna be needed before the project started). An experienced local contractor has examined the job and says he can do BOTH bathrooms in one day with one guy for 5k or less. Where did that additional money go for the sewer hookup and elevations?? not to mention the 100% cost overruns for the project in the first place? We are getting hosed. AGAIN. And will be fleeced further if the new gym project goes thru...triple 6 mil is....? can we afford it? do we need it? will we allow it to happen again? how many times is enuf? Could not see So what happened at the workshop? I couldn-t watch the cable broadcast At work. costs you would still be short. bathrooms Speaking of sewage, does anyone know the final cost of the two bathrooms that should be named after the city management? I lost track of the dollar amount when the sewage hook up issue arose. Seems like a microcosm of what is to come with the new gym. I will take the original cost projection for the bathrooms and figure out the percentage of overrun. Then will apply that to whatever cost is put out there for the gym. Gorland Time to call for his job, the man has to go!!!! One Solution Vote Chirinos 2009 for Mayor! You know the name! Now lets get it out! Chirinos Changes 2009. Out with the old in with the new!!! dont let age be a factor. Wisdom, integrity, respect is what Omar is about. Leadership, Experience, no ties to politicians. All about the people. If you want change (out with Borgman and Gorland) Vote Chirinos! I am Omar Chirinos and I approve this message!! Omar Chirinos Changes are coming: Chirinos for Mayor 2009 Its time to let your voices heard Vote Chirinos!!!!! Poor Steve I loved scuba Steve at the pool. Why did that ogre Gorland Fire him. Is Noel making a comeback o the pool? Dam Gorland he is Evil !!!! Evil !!!!! wish he would go back to Phillip Morris dictating the cancer corporation. Evil Gorland. We should have a protest in fron of city hall to call for Gorland-s Job Better Yet Let Marquez simply charge all their bills on credit cards and then not pay them off. Today today is the first day of the rest of your life Santana? Lets send Dan Bradley over there to show them how to REALLY lose money wish we could do it to Santana While members of the Country Club of Coral Gables rally to reorganize in the wake of the facility-s closing last week, the city -- which owns the property and leased it to an operator after the 2001 restoration -- has started to look closer at the books to see why operators were not able to succeed on an average annual budget of $3.8 million. Granada LLC -- which is in the midst of a legal battle with the city over $600,000 in missed lease payments -- abandoned operation of the club last week. City officials, who also triumphed in eviction proceedings against the country club board on Friday, changed the locks Saturday, according to City Manager David Brown, who also said he had ordered an audit of the club-s books by an external auditor. The club at 997 North Greenway Drive remained shut Tuesday -- police --Do Not Cross-- tape and a --Do Not Enter-- sign keeping anyone from even entering the parking lot. But members want to reopen the club, or parts of it, until a new company is found to run it. --Even though the doors are still closed . . . this is actually good, as it allows the true reorganization to start,-- Dennis Daley, a leader in the effort told members in an e-mail after more than 100 of them met April 30 to address the situation You still miss it! The City of Doral has nothing to do with the private team that gets our pool for free. Most of the swimmers on that private team pay nearly 100 dollars a month to the owners of the team. Its Borgmann and the owners that have the deal not Doral. But it would be great to fill the pool and make a skate park! Gorland and Noel Steve was fired as pool supervisor with no notice then allowed to stay as a head guard. But that is the real story. Gorland and Noel have put it out that he resigned but will remain through the summer. Hope he tells them to stuff it and goes for unemployment insurance. We owe him for all of the bull crud that mgt. has pulled, all the garbage he has been blamed for by the private team and for the city-s failure to give him the power of the position along with the job responsibility. He was doomed from the start. Know what I mean, Noel? Are you still coddling the guards when they are told to do their jobs? dump and skate that makes the most sense yet. DO IT new dump and skate park When they remodel the gym throw all the trash and garbage into the pool and cover it up with concrete and make it a skateboarding park! that would save the city a lot of money and give the kids a new sport facility.Let Doral build their own pool, and we can use theirs for free! what happened so what happened to steve? the pool? another hush up? Post your comments to this forum now! View other Miami Springs Forums.