What struck me as strange was that I happened upon this City of Miami employee at 2:50 PM and like I said in northern Broward county of all places...
It's no secret that the overwhelming majority of the City of Miami fire fighters are well compensated (six figures plus) and that there's some that have take home cars. It's also a well known fact that there are many that live outside the city. I continued north on I-95 till I got to my exit (Hillsborough Blvd) which was the northernmost exit in Broward county, the city vehicle pictured above kept going, presumably into Palm Beach county.
So what was this City of Miami Fire department employee doing? On their way home perhaps? Maybe on the way to their second job? What really pissed me off about this incident wasn't the fact that a city employee was driving a city owned car two counties away or the fact that the city employee was two counties away during the mid afternoon, what pissed me off (especially after spending SEVENTY DOLLARS TO FILL UP MY CAR) was the fact that the city of Miami's taxpayers were paying for this guys gas!
Al Crespo, Investigation Miami and Take Back Miami have all done fantastic jobs illustrating the waste and outright graft that's occurring in the city on several other fronts. Look at the measures the city is taking to fill it's budget gaps (ad murals on city buildings, red light cameras, etc) while they're throwing away money paying for things like take home cars and fuel for non emergency fire department employees.
What really puts things in perspective though is the fact that the investigators that are building cases against some of the city employees with a penchant for criminal behavior make a fraction of what they do therefore giving them that extra bit of motivation when building a case. Stay tuned, there's another indictment just around the corner...
If you are going to talk about take home cars, then don't just single out the firefighters. Why not point out ALL the take home cars? Why not also point out WHY are there still car allowances for commissioners and other upper level politicians in the city of Miami? It's easy to attack just the firefighters since we seem to be public enemy number one right now. But what pisses me off is that I am not one of the over 100K earners and I don't have a take home car, or a cell phone allowance, or gas car. Let's get real. If the city is in such dire straights, then why the hell are there still any take home cars PERIOD??? Why the hell are commissioners still getting $800 or whatever ridiculous number, a month for a personal car, plus gas?
ReplyDeleteGreat points. I wrote about the FD because I happened upon the car.
ReplyDeleteDo you know why the car was traveling north? Could have been on business. Did you stop and verify this with the fire department. I am not affiliated with the city but before you pass judgment, you should gather all of your facts.
ReplyDeleteThe Straw Buyer,
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work. Regardless of any City of Miami Police Officer, Firefighter or Employee commenting herein, why not complain about all the wrongdoings going on at the City. We have gotten to this point because the employees have not only allowed it, but because they have contribute to the corruption.
Think about this number. There are more employees than managers, directors, and politicians. The misdeeds are done because the employees are carrying the water.
A lot of the wrong I see occuring in the city happens within the walls of city hall. North Observer, what do you mean there are more employees than managers? Would you rather have more managers than employees? I don't get it.
ReplyDeleteI think the North Observer has lost a screw.
ReplyDeleteIt has been well documented on these blogs that the City employees are just as fed up as the citizens.
We despise the corruption but how do you fight it when there is no where to go to report it?
KFR is useless,our new gov is a crook , so where do we go?
I can guarantee that if we could get the Feds in to investigate, there wouldn't be enough hours in the day to be able to take testimony from City workers with info on the corruption.