Homestead Spent Millions on a Worthless Sand Castle
City spend $8.5 million on a mound of dirt it can't use
pictures I got in an email.
Marcus Mueller
760 484 2498
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: swisszueri @dslextreme.com
Homestead officials must not be big on philosophy or literature because they apparently haven't heard the proverb that warns about building your dreams on foundations of sand.
That appears to be just what city officials did when they pumped millions of taxpayer dollars into a lawsuit to win a million cubic feet of landfill, only to still be stuck with the mountain of dirt today.
The construction landfill would be worth $19 million on the current market, the Miami Herald reported, but the problem is no one is building anything in South Florida these days.
The city recently put out a bid for proposals to buy the dirt and no one put in an offer. Apparently, the dirt is worth, well, dirt.
"I'm afraid the city won't be able to sell it anytime soon,'' said Al Zichella, vice president of the Florida Home Builders Association, to the Herald. "If they do, it would be at a deeply discounted price.''
The city attorney estimated Homestead spent about $5.5 million while suing a developer for the rights to the pile of crushed rocks and dirt and another $3 million to fix environmental problems caused by the dig.
We think that should put the landfill on the short list for most expensive dirt in the world.
Maybe Homestead could construct a community full of sand castles and give one to each resident, or they could just bury themselves in the sand.
Either way, the sand - like those ideas - is worthless.
Posted Wednesday, Jul 28, 2010 - 3:22 PM EST
