At a time when South Floridians rocked by Hurricane Irma were still surveying the damage to their properties, the county of Miami-Dade apparently thought it appropriate to begin handing out safety notices.
Celso Perez told local WSVN-TV that he, his family, and his neighbors were starting to clear fallen trees from the streets after the storm passed through at nine in the morning on Monday. Hours later, in the afternoon, Perez got a visit from the county.
“And we thought he was here to help us or offer some type of assistance with the trees, maybe he was going to bring us ice or something,” Perez told WSVN. Instead, the official slapped a safety notice on the only part of Perez’s fence still standing.
“I laughed,” he said. “I thought he was kidding. ‘You are kidding right? We just had a hurricane six hours ago.’ ‘No, I’m not kidding. I have to cite you for this.’ I just laughed. OK, whatever; knock yourself out!”
But Perez stopped laughing when the official told him he would be writing up a report and would be back to check on the property. Perez told WSVN that the man said he’d “have to write me a fine” if the fence wasn’t up to code by then.
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“At the time this officer was out here, we didn’t have power, we didn’t have food, we didn’t have ice. He is crazy, ridiculous,” Perez said, adding that “it’s not like I can go to Home Depot” because all the stores were closed.
The South Floridian says he understands that there is a lot of work that needs to be done but that the county’s rush to issue warnings was inappropriate:
“Give us a minute to breathe. Let us get our power back on. And I wouldn’t mind if they told me that a few days down the line or due time but it bothers me that they came out here just a few hours after the storm had passed.”
On the issue of restoring power, Reason noted that at the time Miami-Dade was handing out citations — the WSVN investigation found Perez was far from alone; the county handed out 680 pool barrier and 177 electrical hazard notices in the hours after Irma — 16,510 homes and businesses were still without power.
When Reason tried to confirm with Miami-Dade if monetary fines would be attached to citations, the county responded with the following statement:
“We were looking to advise residents of the following hazards on their properties that they may not have been aware of, but that pose a life safety threat: damaged structures that rendered them unsafe, unsecured pools with no barriers, electrical hazards (down lines, damaged meters) and gas hazards (damaged meters).
If any of these hazards were found, our inspectors gave out a safety notice, which is neither a notice of violation warning nor a citation. That means there is no fine attached. The safety notices given to property owners identify the hazard, steps that should be taken to correct the hazard, and who to contact for additional information.”
Fine or no, WSVN’s legal expert and Broward County public defender, Howard Finkelstein, said the timing was “awful” for the people trying to recover:
“This is outrageous. After Irma, people were stressed, they were worried and for a government official to slap a warning notice on them to add to their misery is insulting.”
Glad that I don’t live in FL
And they wonder why we refuse to be disarmed…
It would be a shame if trees fell on all the code enforcement pricks and squashed them. A real shame.
Maybe two years ago – there was a football game at the University of Minnesota. People came here from out of state (Iowa I think) and people outside the Twin Cities. There was ‘a couple inches of snow on the ground’ from the night before, but nothing much to us. So people parked on the streets, adjacent to the area, all obeying the parking signs.
Well unbeknownst to them, Minneapolis enacted a snow emergency (for what reason is beyond me). Minneapolis ticked, and had all these cars towed – probably in the vicinity of $350 a car. People were pissed – many cars had 4 -6 people. They all went to the impound lot – raised holy hell.
Minneapolis – what a bunch of pricks – they knew those folks would be out after the game – a ticket would have be sufficient – but to tow them – pricks of the first order.
it’s not the city/town etc.
it’s the power hungry prick with the power to enforce BS rules.
Code enforcement is not allowed to go hunting for violations, they can only visit locations where complaints have been filed.
I know, because I beat one of these worms in court.
This guy is probably creating a list, that he will sell to insurance adjusters, so they can go an cancel policies, for home owners “slow or no response to official warnings”
I hope someone gets real angry and punches this asshole in the face.
they can look for violations here and when they have time they do so–
i recently had to make a cancer patient get rid of his truck that he did not have the $ to fix–
code enforcement is evil in about 90% of their cases but it’s what the people want–
That didn’t happen the way it’s being presented. No chance. Read the counties response above.
That’s sarcasm, right???
After you knick the Census man, shoot that County Code son of bitch. Jeebus H Krist…..has the whole world gone crazy?
Gov’t is force. Not reason.
During a time in our country’s history that we can actually be proud of, government officials like these would simply disappear in the night, never to be heard from again, or would be publicly tarred and feathered and rode out of town on a rail. We didn’t get to where we are be standing up for our freedoms and rights….that’s for sure.
Yeah, the Founding Fathers were an enlightened bunch, but who we really need to be thankful for is the group of hard ass, mean spirited, son of a bitches, that got dirty at Boston.
What do they call a 60 IQ dumbfuk pos worthless cocksucker who failed at everything in life?
A code enforcer.
Gotta love those blue counties
Code enforcers will take a payoff quicker than a Greyhound in the one hole..always have..
The police have to do something. They certainly don’t keep SJW from blocking public streets and access to tax paying businesses. That is what is happening in St. Charles, MO as I write. ( a suburb of St. Louis ) screw the police what good are they? I’ll protect myself.
Like Clinton’s in Haiti?Politicians move in quickly after disaster and stuff pockets.More articles homeless are disappearing now after disasters.I believe this 100% More organ harvesting?