By Matt Agorist
When all logic and reason is devoid of a decision — as in many decisions made by the State — authorities often turn to their only option, threats of extortion backed with force. The bureaucratic iron fist of Miami-Dade county is under fire this week, after providing an example of these threats, for their decision to issue notices of violations to residents for damage on their hurricane-wrecked properties.
One resident, Celso Perez, decided to speak up about a warning he received for his downed fence, only hours after the storm.
The Monday after the storm, Perez was outside with his neighbors cleaning up the damage when a Miami-Dade County vehicle pulls up.
“And we thought he was here to help us or offer some type of assistance with the trees, maybe he was going to bring us ice or something,” said Perez. But there was no help to be given — only threats.
Instead of help, Perez said, “He said he would have to cite me for having my fence down.”
The code enforcer then brazenly walked over to the only part of the fence left standing and slapped a warning on it.
Perez explained to WSVN that he thought this had to be a joke. But it was not.
“I laughed. I thought he was kidding. ‘You are kidding right? We just had a hurricane six hours ago.’ ‘No, I’m not kidding. I have to cite you for this.’ I just laughed. OK, whatever; knock yourself out!”
To those who are thinking that this has to be an isolated incident, think again.
According to WSVN, after Irma, the county handed out 680 pool barrier safety notices and 177 electrical hazard safety notices to homeowners suffering damage from Irma.
Naturally, after this story began taking off in local and alternative media outlets, the Miami-Dade county attempted to clarify their ridiculous tactics by saying it was done for everyone’s safety and it was not a fine. However, residents — especially those who were issued warnings — aren’t buying it.
A building official wrote,
The safety notice is neither a notice of violation warning nor a citation. It is important that we reach residents in the immediate aftermath of the storm, because that is when conditions are most dangerous, and taking steps to protect life is a critical part of the recovery process.
In response to their reasoning, Perez had this to say.
“Give us a minute to breathe,” said Perez. “Let us get our power back on. And I wouldn’t mind if they told me that a few days down the line or due time but it bothers me that they came out here just a few hours after the storm had passed.”
Howard Finkelstein, WSVN legal expert also weighed in on the matter, saying, “This is outrageous. After Irma, people were stressed, they were worried and for a government official to slap a warning notice on them to add to their misery is insulting. Incredibly, it is legal but should Miami-Dade County be doing it? No. The timing was awful.”
Also, while there is no immediate fine imposed with these notices, make no mistake that officials will most assuredly escalate to this point for non-compliance.
This is what the State does.
As TFTP reported last year, residents in Louisiana who suffered catastrophic flooding, were told they had to pay the state for a permit before they could even begin repairing their homes. Seriously.
Considering the daunting expense of rebuilding in itself, those State permission slips make reconstruction cost-prohibitive for some, while others — given the strict regulations pertaining to the floodplain and more — were forced to face the fact that they may not be able to rebuild on their own property at all.
“We haven’t suspended any or our requirements for permitting,” Justin Dupuy, building official for Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge, told Reason last year in an interview. “Before they start making any repairs, they just need to call in and check with us to see what they need.”
Any homes that needed more extensive reconstruction than simply the removal of water-damaged drywall and carpeting — cases where waters reached the level of electrical sockets — needed a full construction permit from the parish government.
Was the city providing a service by going around issuing warnings for code violations only hours after the hurricane? Or, were they carrying out an ill-thought out plan, which led to the unnecessary perceived harassment by residents, because they know no other way? Let us know in the comments below.
Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Facebook. This article first appeared at The Free Thought Project.
The maggots are feeding on the last bits of the USSA carcase.
U r so right!
Soooo, where is their much celebrated Governor Scott? I thought he didn’t allow stuff like this to happen. . . yeah, right. This is just the beginning of what the *arrogant police state* will look like. It’s also what purely evil insanity looks like.
Well, since he made his fortune by defrauding Medicaid (or was it Medicare, both are shams anyway so the difference is nada to me), I’m sure he was hard at work looking for ways to personally profit from it. Oh wait, he was! FPL has him in their back pocket! Probably counting all the money they paid him for the contract to repair all the powerline damage. Damage that wouldn’t have happened if Floridians were allowed to have self-sustaining energy.
I believe what happen there at Miami-Dade county is just the beginning of things to come. Let us keep in mind that, in my opinion, this is being done to add to the frustration level many people are coping with after the storm. Why? These government agencies with their heartless employees are simply following orders from their boss. That boss is following orders from his boss and so on and so forth. Ultimately you have one person who designed this response and he does not care for the welfare of the people. The frustration level leads to stress which can lead to depression and so on. Stress kills and this preciously what government wants, that is, to cull the population.
Max Igan is some that mentioned governments are racketeering. Search him on the net and listen to his videos. You be surprise with the info he shares. Government is not for the people but instead we are viewed as slaves/property to the elitists. To everyone, keep fighting and hang in there. Do not let government oppress us to the point we give in/up. Good day.
You are 100% correct! It sounds like you have been through a disaster. I am a Sandy survivor and what I have experienced no one should have to. The real storm was NOT Sandy, it was FEMA! The new rules and regulations are impossible to deal with. The code enforcers are unrelenting! They won’t stop until they have taken everything you own and then you have to give them your first born! This is all part of the plan to make people dependent on the government. This is the NWO in full force!
Thank you Sandy. I am so glad you are a survivor and willing to tell your story/experiences with US disaster relief/response (i.e fema). I truly hope more people read your comment so they can become aware. Good day. 🙂
The person you mention in your comment who is the one who makes the rules is Craig Fugate. He heads FEMA. I went to DC with my group called StopFEMANow. We met Fugate and had a discussion with him, Menendez, Schumer, Booker and Kilibrand. Fugate decided he was bored, so he folded his hands on his fat stomach and went to sleep right in front of us! That should tell you everything you need to know. That was so disrespectful and made it perfectly clear that nothing we were there to talk about was worth his time or effort and that we were wasting our time. And as it turns out, it was a huge waste of time. Even though our group proved fraud due to engineering reports being altered by the insurance companies, and even though the report was on 60 minutes three times, nothing has been done. FEMA is still screwing people. There is no accountability. No one cares….
Is there anyone left out there that believes this is our “government” (at any level)? The political machine running the USSA is most assuredly *not* our government.
What do you call an organization that false-flags its citizens (killing 3000 in one go), installs undocumented workers in the White House and drowns a populist president in the swamp? Handing out code violations immediately after a hurricane is just a warn-n-fuzzy reminder that you are only renting your property temporarily from them.
Governent by the people for the people (but what people ? they forgot to tell. LOL).
.
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So so true…;(
I have never seen a situation arise, no matter how horrific, that the government couldn’t worsen. Government is the enemy of freedom. Anyone that works for government is an enemy of the people. Just my opinion, but it’s based upon 57 years of observing these morons.
I totally agree with you and people want government sponsored health care??? Are they out of they minds?? It’s a death sentence!
Agree, I’ve had over 40 years of keeping up, now the Equifax hack and all four agencies are suspect now. Politician scum are self serving SOB’s to the max. Insider trading by top exec’s yet there no arrests gov. doesn’t pass laws against hacking. I could go on about many things past gov. screwed up lie firing Gen MacArthur and losing the Korean war, Gen Wetmoreland who allowed V.Nam war to be lost, planning 9/11 to get us into war, etc.
YUP! This is what FEMA does, they kick you when you are down right in the face! They add salt to your wounds! FEMA will drain you dry, They will make sure you are no longer solvent. They will take your retirement funds, your kids college funds, your savings; all so you can abide by the rules they impose on you after a flooding incident. Sure, they will offer you an SBA loan, and the interest rate will be higher than any bank will charge! Flooding is an opportunity for FEMA to make a ton of money. After you fix your house, if you are even able to, then they will make you buy a flood policy and they will continually jack up the rates on you! You will be financially beholding to them if you take any grant from them, IF you are even able to get one! FEMA is so incredibly corrupt and even though this has been on 60 minutes and other news programs, and even though everyone knows they are corrupt, nothing what so ever is being done about it. It continues unabated! There is no accountability what so ever! FEMA plain and simply sucks!
If the various State government are not a part of the solution then they are a part of the problem!
We’re talking Florida here. There’s no problem on earth that Florida state-gov could not make worse. This is how they roll.
We need to get on their flanks and roll them up.
Unfreakingbelievable.
Wouldn’t it be nice if those well-paid government servants with pensions were HELPING clean up the hurricane damage instead??
hey, in a month’s time, the government “finds” the carbon copy of the ticket.
someone follows up, the fine is worth $500
you can’t pay, too bad, they just repossess (and then they will share the proceeds with the banks – don’t forget, they technically still own, until final payment) and you end up homeless
What’s really pathetic is that Florida claims homeless people migrate to Florida for the weather. Simply not true. Homeless people generally have to walk to go somewhere. What happens is that people go homeless IN Florida, and then Florida makes sure they persecute them enough so that they are never able to leave the streets. Florida would be a lot nicer place if the mafia (gov) would just disappear. That’s the biggest disaster in Florida. Irma (or any, and even all hurricanes put together) pales in comparison to the damages wrought by the criminal conspiracy known as government.
This underscores that once government’s foot is in the door then it’s all over. What is needed now is the people (and I mean numerous people so that there is nothing government can do about it) refuse to buy permission slips but to go ahead and affect the repairs without the permits, to ignore codes and refuse to pay fines for work on their own property, then fight in court. Go fund me could bring in money for that. Additionally, “No Trespassing” signs can be erected (I am not sure that will help at all to keep government snoops away).