IRBust - Part 9

WHEN IN IRB DO AS THE ROMANS

July 18th marks the anniversary of the Great Fire of Rome. This is the infamous inferno in the year 64 when Nero allegedly “fiddled” while Rome burned. Well, at Tuesday, July 8th’s, Regular Commission Meeting, commissioners were seen “tuning up their fiddles.”

While Commissioner Wollin characterized IRB’s financial position as some of “our darkest days,” the group discussed the City’s possible purchase of a parcel of land on Hamlin Blvd.

The tract, currently owned by Pinellas County, is directly behind 688 Liquors in Largo. IRB’s interest in it is for the possible relocation of the City’s Solid Waste Facility from its current location in the Business Triangle, near the Holiday Inn.

Under normal circumstances, this move would make total sense; although, by charter, it requires a referendum vote of our residents. Freeing up a great piece of Business Triangle property, now used for garbage equipment, so it could be used for something more “glamorous” is a great idea—but WE’RE BROKE—yet the commission just keeps on fiddling.

The dire financial straits were evidently apparent to most of the commission earlier this year yet money continues to be spent on things like “Protect the Sea Oat” Signs, a Budgeting 101 Workshop (as irony would have it!) and an estimated $45,000 in legal fees in the Grieshaber and Whitehurst cases--just since the beginning of the year!

Some historians say the Great Fire of Rome burned for six days and seven nights; others minimize it as barely mentionable. One theory is that Nero himself set the town ablaze. One minor flaw in the story though--Nero couldn’t have “fiddled” because the violin wasn’t invented until a thousand years later. (It was actually a lyre!)

Which parts of the IRB Financial Crisis story have flaws?