Cleaning House

Looks like Miami-Dade mayor Carlos Alvarez is using the brand new broom voters gave him back in January.

Alvarez Fires Three County Department Heads.

The outrage over the dismissals the Herald describes is coming from the usual suspects: County Commissioners and those who think that the firings are racially motivated.

My reaction to this: outstanding (to the firings, not the commissioners' reaction).

We voted Alvarez into office on a promise that an honest man would do his best to get rid of the incompetence and corruption in the county. We voted for the strong mayor proposal for those same reasons. Alvarez is beginning to fulfill the promises he made.

Obviously, he's as fed up with the bureaucracy as the citizens are. A bureaucracy in which poor work is rewarded with raises and new office furniture.

Of course, certain county commissioners don't share our feelings:

'I guess the bloodletting has started,'' said County Commissioner Dennis Moss, most certainly disturbed that the days of cronyism and incompetence are coming to an end.

Some commissioners are upset that Alvarez didn't notify them beforehand of his plans to fire the three individuals, as a courtesy. Perhaps they have a beef here.

In my opinion, the commissioners haven't exactly earned the right to be afforded that "courtesy". As a body (with the exception of about half of the commissioners), they are the embodiment of Miami-Dade County government: bloated, incompetent and occasionally corrupt. We didn't vote for the Alvarez strong-mayor proposal so that he could play footsie with the commissioners.

Good thing for some commissioners that Alvarez doesn't have firing power over them. Otherwise, their days would be numbered as well.