Pedestrian Bridge Collapse, FIU, S Florida

[Okeefenokee]

One might say it’s almost an economic inefficiency to hire based on demographics or corruption/nepotism.

Which means HM is probably decidedly for it, as there’s nothing that puts a smile on his face like inefficient economics.

I'll do you one better.

I'd rather unprofitable public works were designed and constructed by unprofitable public employees.

That being said, I hold the people who fucked up this project accountable for their fuck ups, not minorities or women, or even the gub'ment in general.

I know, it is a super hot take 'round these parts.

Contractors Behind Collapsed FIU Bridge Are Major Miami Political Players

The Munilla firm is owned by a large family including Pedro, Jorge, Juan, Pedro Jr., Raul, Fernando, and others. And as their business grew, so did their reputation as rainmakers for local politicos.

In 2008, New Times noted the extended clan had dropped $34,000 to help reelect then-Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez and virtually the entire commission. There was good reason to donate all of that cash:

• Now why would a local family-owned business feel the urge to splurge so much cash on politicians? Well, MCM Corp. is one of the most proactive construction firms competing for county contracts. This past February, the county commission rejected the lowest bidder and awarded MCM a $125 million contract to do improvements to the Miami International Airport's north terminal. In 2006, the company won a $4.8 million settlement from the county to drop its claim for $14.8 million in unpaid work at the North Terminal. The Munilla enterprise also has a history of piling on more charges. After being awarded a $25 million contract to build the extension of Metrorail from Okeechobee Road to the Palmetto Expressway, MCM charged Miami-Dade Transit an additional $3 million to finish the job.

Sometimes their patronage was a little too obvious, even in Miami-Dade. In 2011, the county's ethics director forced Gimenez to recuse himself from a $50 million contract vote that went to Munilla because the firm employed one of his sons, Julio, and paid another son, Carlos Jr., as its lobbyist.

The next year, the company's clubby political ties landed another patron in hot water. County Commissioner Bruno Barreiro — who is running for the GOP nomination for retiring Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's seat — voted to award Munilla a $25 million deal to build a test track for Metrorail cars.

The problem? Barreiro not only received max donations from four Munilla family members in the last election but also rented office space from the family and acknowledged he was "close friends" with them. But all of that didn't stop him from voting for the Metrorail deal, not to mention two earlier multimillion-dollar deals, according to the Herald.
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/munil ... s-10176950

[DBTrek]

One might say it’s almost an economic inefficiency to hire based on demographics or corruption/nepotism.

Which means HM is probably decidedly for it, as there’s nothing that puts a smile on his face like inefficient economics.

I'll do you one better.

I'd rather unprofitable public works were designed and constructed by unprofitable public employees.

That being said, I hold the people who fucked up this project accountable for their fuck ups, not minorities or women, or even the gub'ment in general.

I know, it is a super hot take 'round these parts.

As long as the public workers building the public bridge aren’t unionized, I’m in.


Not blaming women or minorities, simply stating facts about how government (FAA in particular) values the race/gender of company owners more than their track record or performance. Even when the government decides to go with a “private sector” solution, they still manage to fuck it up by skewing their decision making process away from raw performance.

Same for corruption/nepotism. Government is the embodiment of anti-meritocracy, and their results show it time and time again.

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

One might say it’s almost an economic inefficiency to hire based on demographics or corruption/nepotism.

Which means HM is probably decidedly for it, as there’s nothing that puts a smile on his face like inefficient economics.

I'll do you one better.

I'd rather unprofitable public works were designed and constructed by unprofitable public employees.

That being said, I hold the people who fucked up this project accountable for their fuck ups, not minorities or women, or even the gub'ment in general.

I know, it is a super hot take 'round these parts.

Contractors Behind Collapsed FIU Bridge Are Major Miami Political Players

The Munilla firm is owned by a large family including Pedro, Jorge, Juan, Pedro Jr., Raul, Fernando, and others. And as their business grew, so did their reputation as rainmakers for local politicos.

In 2008, New Times noted the extended clan had dropped $34,000 to help reelect then-Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez and virtually the entire commission. There was good reason to donate all of that cash:

• Now why would a local family-owned business feel the urge to splurge so much cash on politicians? Well, MCM Corp. is one of the most proactive construction firms competing for county contracts. This past February, the county commission rejected the lowest bidder and awarded MCM a $125 million contract to do improvements to the Miami International Airport's north terminal. In 2006, the company won a $4.8 million settlement from the county to drop its claim for $14.8 million in unpaid work at the North Terminal. The Munilla enterprise also has a history of piling on more charges. After being awarded a $25 million contract to build the extension of Metrorail from Okeechobee Road to the Palmetto Expressway, MCM charged Miami-Dade Transit an additional $3 million to finish the job.

Sometimes their patronage was a little too obvious, even in Miami-Dade. In 2011, the county's ethics director forced Gimenez to recuse himself from a $50 million contract vote that went to Munilla because the firm employed one of his sons, Julio, and paid another son, Carlos Jr., as its lobbyist.

The next year, the company's clubby political ties landed another patron in hot water. County Commissioner Bruno Barreiro — who is running for the GOP nomination for retiring Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's seat — voted to award Munilla a $25 million deal to build a test track for Metrorail cars.

The problem? Barreiro not only received max donations from four Munilla family members in the last election but also rented office space from the family and acknowledged he was "close friends" with them. But all of that didn't stop him from voting for the Metrorail deal, not to mention two earlier multimillion-dollar deals, according to the Herald.
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/munil ... s-10176950

Seems like this private firm was corrupt, and manipulated and betrayed the people of Florida.

We've got campaign finance problems here, nepotism, and corruption. I am not seeing a lot of affirmative action, or minorities-and-women-can't-engineer-good problems.

Like I said, I would rather public works were the remit of public employees.

[Okeefenokee]

2 firms involved in building bridge that fell, killing 6, had past accusations

At least two firms involved in the construction of a pedestrian bridge that collapsed at Florida International University, killing 6 people, have previously been accused of unsafe practices that resulted in people being injured, documents show.

Figg Bridge Engineers, the firm that designed the FIU-Sweetwater UniversityCity Bridge in Miami, was also involved in the construction of a bridge in Virginia of which a 90-ton section collapsed in 2012 while it was under construction, according to the Virginian Pilot. The bridge, which was being built over a river between Chesapeake and Portsmouth, Virginia, collapsed onto railroad tracks below, causing minor injuries to workers, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry confirmed to ABC News.
http://6abc.com/2-firms-involved-in-bui ... s/3224326/

[Okeefenokee]

I'll do you one better.

I'd rather unprofitable public works were designed and constructed by unprofitable public employees.

That being said, I hold the people who fucked up this project accountable for their fuck ups, not minorities or women, or even the gub'ment in general.

I know, it is a super hot take 'round these parts.

Contractors Behind Collapsed FIU Bridge Are Major Miami Political Players

The Munilla firm is owned by a large family including Pedro, Jorge, Juan, Pedro Jr., Raul, Fernando, and others. And as their business grew, so did their reputation as rainmakers for local politicos.

In 2008, New Times noted the extended clan had dropped $34,000 to help reelect then-Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez and virtually the entire commission. There was good reason to donate all of that cash:

• Now why would a local family-owned business feel the urge to splurge so much cash on politicians? Well, MCM Corp. is one of the most proactive construction firms competing for county contracts. This past February, the county commission rejected the lowest bidder and awarded MCM a $125 million contract to do improvements to the Miami International Airport's north terminal. In 2006, the company won a $4.8 million settlement from the county to drop its claim for $14.8 million in unpaid work at the North Terminal. The Munilla enterprise also has a history of piling on more charges. After being awarded a $25 million contract to build the extension of Metrorail from Okeechobee Road to the Palmetto Expressway, MCM charged Miami-Dade Transit an additional $3 million to finish the job.

Sometimes their patronage was a little too obvious, even in Miami-Dade. In 2011, the county's ethics director forced Gimenez to recuse himself from a $50 million contract vote that went to Munilla because the firm employed one of his sons, Julio, and paid another son, Carlos Jr., as its lobbyist.

The next year, the company's clubby political ties landed another patron in hot water. County Commissioner Bruno Barreiro — who is running for the GOP nomination for retiring Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's seat — voted to award Munilla a $25 million deal to build a test track for Metrorail cars.

The problem? Barreiro not only received max donations from four Munilla family members in the last election but also rented office space from the family and acknowledged he was "close friends" with them. But all of that didn't stop him from voting for the Metrorail deal, not to mention two earlier multimillion-dollar deals, according to the Herald.
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/munil ... s-10176950

Seems like this private firm was corrupt, and manipulated and betrayed the people of Florida.

We've got campaign finance problems here, nepotism, and corruption. I am not seeing a lot of affirmative action, or minorities-and-women-can't-engineer-good problems.

Like I said, I would rather public works were the remit of public employees.

We are all aware that there isn't a problem in this whole wide world that you don't want to see taken on by more government.

Now, wouldn't that be just fucking dandy, not only could we get the same shitty outcomes that government schools get us, but they could also get untouchable public union status, so the taxpayers could do fuck all when their shitty outcomes kill people. THAT SOUNDS FUCKING GREAT!

[Ph64]

Even when the government decides to go with a “private sector” solution, they still manage to fuck it up by skewing their decision making process away from raw performance.

Same for corruption/nepotism. Government is the embodiment of anti-meritocracy, and their results show it time and time again.

Nonsense, they picked the company to build the bridge entirely on raw performance... Apparently their performance at lining politicians "campaign funds", kickbacks, etc.

...just not their actual performance on meeting construction goals for the given price, safely.

[Okeefenokee]

Hammurabi would have let the families of the victims kill the sons of the contractors.

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

One might say it’s almost an economic inefficiency to hire based on demographics or corruption/nepotism.

Which means HM is probably decidedly for it, as there’s nothing that puts a smile on his face like inefficient economics.

I'll do you one better.

I'd rather unprofitable public works were designed and constructed by unprofitable public employees.

That being said, I hold the people who fucked up this project accountable for their fuck ups, not minorities or women, or even the gub'ment in general.

I know, it is a super hot take 'round these parts.

As long as the public workers building the public bridge aren’t unionized, I’m in.


Not blaming women or minorities, simply stating facts about how government (FAA in particular) values the race/gender of company owners more than their track record or performance. Even when the government decides to go with a “private sector” solution, they still manage to fuck it up by skewing their decision making process away from raw performance.

Same for corruption/nepotism. Government is the embodiment of anti-meritocracy, and their results show it time and time again.

We've got a sort of information selection bias, since you'll never see the article "Public Works Project Continues to Function Satisfactorily for the Umpteenth Day in a Row."

Successes are always in the background, and easy to ignore. Failures are splashy.

[Okeefenokee]

So what if our bridge collapsed after five days? The pyramids are still standing, right?

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

Seems like this private firm was corrupt, and manipulated and betrayed the people of Florida.

We've got campaign finance problems here, nepotism, and corruption. I am not seeing a lot of affirmative action, or minorities-and-women-can't-engineer-good problems.

Like I said, I would rather public works were the remit of public employees.

We are all aware that there isn't a problem in this whole wide world that you don't want to see taken on by more government.

Now, wouldn't that be just fucking dandy, not only could we get the same shitty outcomes that government schools get us, but they could also get untouchable public union status, so the taxpayers could do fuck all when their shitty outcomes kill people. THAT SOUNDS FUCKING GREAT!

I do love me some government.