I wonder if the electrocution of an eleven year old girl is just the tip in Florida.

[Baitball Blogger]

I don't have any kind things to say about my local government's building inspections because I've seen too much that went wrong that shouldn't have happened during construction periods. From my observation, when local government gets too involved with economic development programs it undermines itself when it comes to regulation. The whole purpose of economic development programs is to make it easier for local business owners to make money. If that means a local group of connected people get involved in constructing a subdivision within the city limits, what happens when they start to cut corners? The answer is simple: Future homeowners will not only get screwed, but they will experience oppression at the hands of their neighbors who have dirty secrets to keep.

Now, I KNOW that this situation exists in Florida, I just don't know how rampant it is. Until I began to read the reader forum in this article. I'm listing three paragraphs of the article and the remark from a reader:

Girl who died playing mini golf was electrocuted

An 11-year-old girl who died while playing mini golf at a southwest Orange County time share was electrocuted, the Orange-Osceola Medical Examiner ruled Thursday.

The autopsy determined that Ashton Jojo, of Latham, N.Y., was accidentally electrocuted Wednesday after she reached into a small pond to retrieve her golf ball at the Orange Lake Resort on Irlo Bronson Highway.

snip

Inspectors found that it appears that electrical breakers were improperly replaced.

Reader's comment:

timonaaa at 2:10 PM June 28, 2012
I am an electrician in NJ. I have been renting vacation homes in Florida 2-3 times a year with in ground pools. I have yet to see a gfi breaker in any of the panels. It appears that electrical inspectors are incompetent and/or corrupt

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-06-28/news/os-girl-dies-orlando-time-share-20120628_1_miniature-golf-mini-golf-orange-lake-resort

[1monster]

1. I don't know about current inspectors, but I know that my house, built in 1978, could

never have passed a true inspection. In March of 1993, The Storm of the Century, as it was called, tore all the shingles off two of the roofs (our house has three different leveled roofs). When the roofers got into the job, they found that every other rafter had not been tied down. If there had been eaves on the roof for the wind to catch under, it is likely my roof would have blown away.

Over the years, as we have made necessary repair and replacements, we have found some really incredible things. Just two weeks ago, we replaced the air conditioning system (the indoor unit was 33 years old and still working fine, but the out door unit at 22 years was shot and we decided to bring the whole system into the 21st century).

The AC installer found a huge wire (I'm no electrician, but it looks like a 220 v line) running from the circuit breaker box into an a/c drainage pipe. Fortunately, the wire isn't live ... but still!

I would like to believe that things are run more tightly now, but with with PUD and even NewTown developments put up in Florida at alarming rates in the 90s and early 2000s, I'm not going to bet the farm on it.

[Baitball Blogger]

2. You're right about not betting the farm on it.

When slopes on retention ponds begin to degrade and drainage pipes collapse within a few years of installation--and you can show collusion occurred between city officials and the developer--you know something very scary is going on. Especially when the State Attorney refuses to investigate. (Same State Attorney Office involved with the Trayvon Martin situation.)

I hope that family of that girl makes a huge stink out of it because they should research the history of the developer and the subcontractors. If there are locals involved, campaign donations to politicians should be researched. This is the tip of the iceberg.

[Scootaloo]

3. But just think!

If we held business to regulations, her parents might have had to pay another dollar for entry! How terrible! We CANNOT increase costs just for some vague feel-good notion of "safety" or "standards," it would hurt business and it would hurt the consumer!

[Baitball Blogger]

4. Developers are shameless.

Tired of hearing how they would have to tack on an extra $500 to the sale of a house or "We have to pass on the cost to the homeowner." When the homeowner will find himself spending that annually to keep up with maintenance problems in the entire community from the shit the City approves.

Many of these developers are anarchist/Libertarian types who question every regulation that comes out of local, state or federal government. Publicly they do popular things which people support. Privately they're breaking Sunshine Laws to cut corners on their developments.