I am looking at Bradenton plumbing permit # PL.06.0605. I see the inspector’s initials — TJ 4-11-06 — for the sewer part of the permit, which means he was here on the 11th of April, 2006. He’d already failed the job twice, improperly. Now he says that his 4-11-2006 inspection was not complete, so the contractor needs to tear up our garage floor again. Arrgh!.

This is not our first problem with the City of Bradenton’s Department of Development Services. In fact, we’ve had so many problems with them that I hope they have it in for me personally. Otherwise, we’re dealing with corruption or incompetence that affects everyone who tries to build or improve anything here.

I mentioned other building permit problems in this article. And I had another, earlier situation where I was told I needed to get a permit to replace my garage doors and some windows by a given date, and that I would be fined if I didn’t.

I got the permit and was fined anyway. The fine was rescinded after I threatened to sue, but first I was forced to pay it in order to complete the work. Nasty!

The current job — moving my washing machine and laundry sink inside, plus adding a toilet and a floor drain — was started on February 21, 2006. I am writing this on May 5, 2006. Almost all of the delay has been caused by waiting for inspectors and bogus inspection failures. I have had my garage torn up and unusable since February, and now the city wants it to be torn up even longer. This is no longer a remodeling project. It’s a soap opera — starring the City of Bradenton as the villian.

Business Opening Delayed.

This garage is supposed to become Debbie’s Art Garage, a small, informal studio/gallery where my wife can show and sell her paintings and crafts, and possibly display work done by a few friends. Its opening has been set back by these permit delays. We have paid for the business license. We have partial inventory on hand. We have registered a domain name. But now we have missed another deadline for inclusion in the Village of the Arts listings and map. This is causing us financial loss — and since my wife is black, it’s also a case of the city preventing a minority business from opening.

I’ll bet racists down at city hall are high-fiving each other over this.

But I don’t think racism is the main cause of this problem.

Corruption or Incompetence?

At this point I’m leaning toward corruption. None of the people I’ve met who work for Bradenton’s Department Services department seem particularly incompetent (except perhaps for inspector “TJ”).

So I’ll be at the next City Council meeting with several handfuls of $20 bills, offering them personally as “campaign contributions” to the mayor, council members, and Tim Polk, the new building services honcho.

Courtesy failed. Hiring a licensed contractor instead of doing work myself has failed. So now I’ll try cash. After that, lawsuit.

I have not yet had one (1) satisfactory dealing with the building inspection people in Bradenton. I no longer expect to have any. I’ve given up on working with them the way you’d expect a normal citizen to be able to: pay your permit fee, do the work to code, get your inspection done within a reasonable time, and go on about your business.

Not possible with these folks. Sad. Changes needed badly.

Ending on a High Note

Bradenton’s solid waste (trash) and sewer maintenance people are marvelous. I went outside one day and found a Public Works supervisor personally checking the runoff drain in front of our house, making sure it was clear for the upcoming storm season. He and another guy were down there with shovels and other tools. They were jovial, hard-working, and thorough, and went all around the neighborhood checking things out. If police and other city departments paid this level of attention to their jobs (and to our neighborhood), Bradenton would be paradise..

The trash guys in our neighborhood are great, too. Clean, upbeat, on-time and helpful. I have never seen better trash pickup service anywhere — and I’ve told them so to their faces, which they seem to appreciate.

At one point I thought we were looking at a racial divide, since all the hard-working, concerned solid waste and sewer people we met were black, and all the do-nothing cops and obstructionist building services people we met were white, but now I’ve seen a couple of competent, happy, hard-working white men on trash trucks, so I guess it’s a department thing, not a racial thing.

John W. Cumming, director of public works, deserves kudos. So do the people who work under him. But, somehow, I suspect they don’t get nearly as much attention (or pay) as other city workers, despite their on-the-bounce performance and excellent attitudes toward the citizens they serve.

So take this as a shout-out, public works people. We notice you and love you, even if no one else does.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 6th, 2006 at 7:24 am and is filed under Bradenton/local. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.