Today there was a minor crane accident on NE 79th street. The crane tipped, but no one was hurt. It was fitting as Miami-Dade's controversial crane ordinance was also tipped over this week in a federal court. The county passed the law in March of last year, the same month a much more serious crane accident claimed two lives. The measure had been on the table before that -- after a string of accidents in 2006 claimed 14 lives -- but had met with resistance from the construction industry. Th
Imagine you hire a contractor to build your house. And that contractor goes over budget, continually misses deadlines, and then tries to charge you more for it. Logic dictates you wouldn't hire that contractor again, unless you're a sucker. Well, Miami-Dade County government is the biggest sucker when it comes to hiring construction firms. Last month, the county commission awarded $360 million of our taxpayer money to a couple of companies with spotty records of delivering county projects late a
For more than 10 years, Brazilian-based construction firm Odebrecht has made tons of money from Miami-Dade County public works projects. If anything, the company is consistent...at completing jobs behind schedule and charging the county more money to finish. For example, Odebrecht accepted responsibility for having to repair 96 massive concrete beams that cracked
during construction of a parking garage in the late Nineties. The project came in $4 million over budget.In a joint venture with two
