DIARY OF A GOVERNMENT FIASCO!

I heard somebody mention a Government efficiency study the other day! There’s an oxymoron for ya. I noticed a puddle in the street in front of my theatre awhile back. By noon it had grown to a small stream, and by the time I got back from lunch it was
Niagara Falls, so what do I do?

 

DAY ONE:  Like a good citizen I call the city to come out and take a look. So they send out the street repair guys. They come, get out of their trucks (3 trucks, 3 guys, dump trucks mind you, well to be fair one was a pickup) and they stand around for about an hour talking about how they can’t fix it. So they call public safety.

 

Public safety sends out the boys in the orange vests, they come and knock on my door and say, did you know there’s a leak out here? Yeah, I called you guys to fix it. Well, surprise, surprise not their department either, so they do something really useful and set up orange cones so people will go around it. I ask why don’t they set up a road block and detour, they say that’s the street departments job, so they come back out.

 

Now they have been forecasting snow for the afternoon and about three thirty, here come the water dept guys. They can’t fix it either because an independent contractor will have to be called in to locate the line and cut the street. By this time there are no less than six pieces of heavy equipment onsite doing nothing. SO finally about four-fifteen the guys from the contractor make it there to cut the street. And at five PM they shut down their backhoe and leave…., for three days! While the snow melts!

 

DAY FOUR: When they finally do come out they  finish cutting the hole, using a backhoe to pulverize the bits of concrete and haul it away, and the hole sits, for three more days.

 

DAY SEVEN: Finally on the fourth day the water dept. comes back out and calls in another contractor to fit the pipe. They fit the pipe and leave.

 

DAY EIGHT:The next day a gravel truck comes and fills in the hole. A city truck filled with asphalt comes and covers it, using a shovel to pack it down, and there it sets for two weeks turning into a van eating pothole!

 

DAY TWENTY-THREE Then here comes the city again to look it over, time to put in the permanent fix they say, so out come the guys with the concrete saw again! This time their hammering with a backhoe cracks my front window, so I call to complain.

 

DAY TWENTY- FIVE: After two days I finally talk to someone who says she cares, takes all of my information and says what a shame, I hang up, she calls me back to say her dept can do nothing about it! Finally after begging, pleading, maybe a little cussing (mostly under my breath) I find the right guy. He says can I prove the window wasn’t broken before, like how, pictures. Oh yeah I saw you guys coming to fix the water leak and thought to myself, oh crap better hurry and snap a photo of my window so when they break it I’ll have proof!

 

DAY TWENTY-EIGHT: Anyway by this time three more days have passed, there is rebar in the hole but no concrete. Finally they put the concrete in and three days after that the city comes back to put in the black top, this time with a steam roller.

 

DAY THIRTY-ONE: So I ask the city supervisor if he would sign a letter saying that in his professional opinion my glass was cracked by their work , he takes a look and signs. I also ask why did you fix this twice instead of doing it right the first time, he says, no joke, we wanted to get the street back open as soon as possible! I would have laughed but I was too tired. THAT DEAR FRIENDS WAS THE THIRD TIME IN EIGHT MONTHS THAT I HAVE HAD FRONT ROW TICKETS TO THAT CIRCUS! What do I think is wrong with
America? Not enough people getting pissed off about waste like that!

 

All total in those thirty one days I counted: Nineteen city trucks, twenty-three city employees, seven contractors vehicles, twelve contractor’s, and a grand total of sixty hours of actual work onsite, that’s right folks less than two hours a day!

 

Getting the street fixed….PRICELESS! Literally they would need a team of appraisers working around the clock for another three weeks just to estimate the cost! (which, come to think of it, is probably how they do it!)

 

Jesus told a story about a master with three servants. The man got ready to go on a journey and he called his servants in. To the first he gave one years wages, to the second he gave two years wages, to the third he gave five years wages. When he returned he asked for an account. The man with five years wages said he had invested and now had ten, the man with two had made his into five, the man with one had buried his because he was afraid he would lose it and the master would be angry. The master took the one years wages and gave it to the man with ten and threw the lazy servant out into the cold.

 

I’ll give you three guesses which one
America is in my estimation and the first two don’t count. The only difference is we were given the ten and instead of burying it we spent it on booze and hookers and the boss is coming back soon! The people of this country need to remind the government what the declaration meant when it said Of the people, by the people and FOR THE PEOPLE! We need to hold them accountable more than every four years, this is our money folks, but more importantly its God’s money! I don’t know when the death of outrage took place but it needs to be resurrected! You’re gonna get mad anyway, so get mad for the right reason, and then go out and do something about it!

 

To join my cause send me an email with your story to: People Against Institutional Neglect or PAIN for those who don’t get it. It is time for the government and the corporations of this once great country to hear from us again!  That’s P.A.I.N. c/o Markrmorris2@sbcglobal.net