THE GUARDIAN did an earlier post regarding the waste and spend "drone" deal costing taxpayers a mere $35,000 for a drone vehicle with a 500 gram payload. Also in the deal was the cost to send four people to Canada for "training" on this new toy. All this foolishness was done with "HOMELAND SECURITY MONEY" and no thought given to alternatives to this expensive toy.
Today, THE GUARDIAN read with interest an article in the Wall Street Journal about a whole series of remote control fliers with a costs as low as $45-$300! It begs the question: What were the local HOME LAND SECURITY wonks thinking when they shelled out all that money on their toy drone.
The AR. DRONE 2.0 costs a mere $300 and is equipped with an on board high-def camera that will beam video back to a smart phone. The footage can be saved and put into video format if necessary. All of this just goes to show the most costly option is not always in the best interests of the taxpayers.
But the real question here is why would local officials buy something with taxpayer money they would never buy out of their own pocket. It would be intersting to note just how many times the "drone" has actually been put into service and for what reason.
Here's a link for more cheap drone info: http://ardrone2.parrot.com/
and here is a video of this cheap drone in action: http://ardrone.parrot.com/best-of-user-videos/2012/06/25/fire-coming/
All of this nonsense is just one more example that it takes no particular talent to spend other people's money by governmental agencies.
I think it is the officials who need watching. Perhaps we could have one to watch where our Mayors go and with whom. One of the tv stations should try it out
ReplyDeleteThe winners on this deal are the companies and salesmen that received $35,000.00 of taxpayer $$$$$$$$$. The taxpayer is the loser. I wonder how long it will be before the drone is lost on a mission to spy on the taxpayers, or shoved into a closet in the cop station and forgot about. Just one more city drone to pay for.
ReplyDeleteThe voters need to replace the drones that bought the drone.
It is unknown how much it cost to send the four "pilots" to Canada for their "pilots license" to fly the city drone. Whereas a civilian with a smart phone and $300 bucks can fly this one alone.
DeleteIt is stories like this that infuriate taxpayers just like the toilet seats and hammers of the 70's era. I forget what they cost but it was way out of line with reality.
Mayor Nancolas is flitting all over the place on taxpayers dime. It is no secret he is on what he proudly proclaims the boards and commissions of 35-38 different entities. We can only wonder how many of them have anything to do with running the city of Caldwell. In this category Nancoals is one of the best traveled mayors in Idaho. He needs to joing Mr. McGee in the TIME-OUT BOX.
ReplyDeleteJust another case of our politions spending our money with no regard for what it takes to earn it. If one was of a suspicious nature you might wonder whose bank account some of this money might end up in.
ReplyDeleteI am really getting fed up with all the waste. I was driving home from work tonight and here comes the Paramedic Ambuland with lights and siren flashing and not two minutes later here comes the firemen with sirens screaming and lights flashing headed toward the same call for help.
ReplyDeleteI would like to have someone explain to me why it takes two government entities to respond to a single call. Firemen can't transport anyone and in this instance they were Johnny come lately's. It just seems wasteful and redundant.
1) How do you know they were not needed? Just curious.
Delete2) Was it an auto accident? Did they need specialized tools for entry or extrication? Again just curious.
3) Should we send all available help and not want for something, and canceling them if we don't need the resource or send ahead a scout car to determine what is needed adding on precious minutes to a potentially life or death call when minutes count?
Judging from your tone I get the impression you think firefighters drive their really big flashy trucks because they think it's fun to waste tax dollars. I hope the next life or death call they respond to is for someone you know or care about. It might just give you a dose of reality and then you might just understand why.
I will turn this around ..just how many times out of a hundred were two responders needed? And if they were needed that could have been determined by dispatch when the call was made for help.
DeleteTaxpayers are not a bottomless pit of money and some justification for all this as well as tranparency would be nice to know.
Fair enough, but here is a tidbit you may not be aware of. Many times when calls come in to a dispatch center, callers sometimes get overly excited and exaggerate the circumstances. I don't believe it is out of any malicious intent, and it is probably because they aren't used to seeing it so in their eyes this is the biggest thing to happen in the past decade. Usually what will happen is the dispatcher will call out the resources and send them based upon the information given by the caller(s). As the first responders arrive on scene they quickly assess the situation and if need be, cancel unneeded resources.
DeleteDo you honestly think emergency services workers are going out of their way to drive costs up in a time where they are being told to cut expenses everywhere they can? For what purpose? Overspending leads to more layoffs. You can accuse the service agencies of inflating numbers all you want. The bottom line is there is no more money. At my agency we have seen cuts to our budget every single year since 2007 and the number of employees has been reduced by 25% all while calls for service have been steadily increasing. Our call volume could increase by another 50% and it would make no difference. Make do with what you got is the current mantra and that is exactly what is being done.
Here is a question you might think about. Lets say you get three different callers on the same traffic accident incident. Two callers say it's a minor fender bender with no injuries, and the third caller says you need extrication equipment and life flight. Who should you listen to? What if the third caller is right and you don't send the resources you should have and someone dies? Would you then blame the dispatcher for not sending the resource? Walk a mile in their shoes is all I'm saying. There are reasons for everything. Contrary to popular belief, these decisions are not made in a vacuum. It's easy to be overly critical when you don't have a clue or all the facts.
The short answer is they can pump up the number of calls they make in a year and then can justify inflateing their budget for the next year. It seems that 2 paramedics in a mini van or one ton truck could handle most aid calls untill an ambulance arrives. But for some reason things that have worked for years in many other areas can't possibly work here.
ReplyDeleteI see some of our local fire fighters have entered the discussion. That is a good thing as they have information that the average person doesn't. That said the police and fire budgets are about 95% of the total budget for Nampa. Most every business has seen a significant drop in income in the last few years , but our cost of doing business in Nampa continues to increase. Our property taxes are 50% or more higher than they would be if our property was located in Ada county 10 miles down the freeway. It seems that the various goverment agencies and their employees feel they should be immune to reality and continue to spend money like we still have it. I can assure you that is not the case.
ReplyDeleteYes Bob,
DeleteBecause the commenter above said they have cut back 25% of their workforce and are still seeing more cuts. That proves it is all the firemen's and policemen's fault right? Enough haven't lost their jobs to satisfy you yet? We are all suffering and so are they as a result. You seem to be implying they are riding high on our taxes while only business owners are feeling the pinch. I agree Nampa city taxes are high, but 95% going to the coppers and firefighters is a huge exaggeration. The cop I know who works at the jail makes $36k a year. That doesn't seem like he's riding high on the hog to me. I wouldn't do his job for that and I don't think you would either.
As always any employee of a goverment agency that feels they are under paid or otherwise mistreated has the god given right to seek employment in the real world. I think in most cases they would find that they are better of where they are than people with their skill level in privite business
ReplyDeleteDon't worry Bob. We will just increase the sewer, water and garbage rates and transfer the extra money to the general fund. No one will know the difference and it won't be called a tax. I wonder how many of the city employees actually live in the city and even care how much the taxes are. I know the city attorney lives in the county
ReplyDelete