New Emergency Sirens Sat in Storage as Hurricane Dorian Skimmed Puerto Rico

Trump and the GOP have paid out so much welfare money to the rich no one wants to work any more. Time to impeach. Sad

Warning system equipment Sitting in storage ?? This is unpardonable. Waiting for the battle between the White House and Governor of Puerto Rico or the Mayor of San Juan !! Lights !! Camera!! Action !!

Love Puerto Rico but it is so corrupt that nothing governmental functions. If you do want to do something for it, visit it - outside the Hurricane Season - and spent money there . I recommend the South Coast, in particular Guanica. It has all - history, beaches, dry forests, islands. https://www.tripsavvy.com/reasons-to-visit-guanica-puerto-rico-1622161

obvious an entity that cannot manage its own affairs its part of the US,,,,, we need to bring its standard of living up to the standard that's expected for our country possibly in a non democratic fashion because its residents are suffering

Things are run differently down there. A year and a half before Hurricane Maria there was a NYT article titled, "How Free Electricity Helped Dig a 9 Billion Dollar Hole in Puerto Rico." The article noted, "...the free electricity is so tightly woven into the fabric of society that unwinding it would have vast ramifications...“If the towns don’t get free energy, they’re going to have to pay for it by increasing their property taxes or something, so the people will end up paying."

Take it easy on these poor people. Those with skills, leave. Same thing I saw in Haiti. We installed a small water treatment system and there's no local person to train on how to use it properly...

Puerto Rico bashing has become de rigueur of late thanks to Trump but Republican dominated states in the south are not exactly known for their excellent governance and amenities either. Puerto Rico has long-standing economic problems, including cumbersome trade and shipping restrictions imposed by the US federal government, but it is a mixed bag like anywhere in the US. I’d prefer to live in the better parts of San Juan than the poorer parts of Mississippi.

As the Puerto Ricans would say, "Que barbaridad, oye!". This is undeniably irresponsible behavior. However, as an American with Puerto Rican heritage, and having visited "the island" over 20 times, I can tell you that this is typical of Puerto Rican mannerisms. I've seen it many times, not only in those who govern the island, but also with police response to violence on the streets. I don't know if it's culture, or just laid back island life style, but change seems to happen verrrrryyyy slowly over there, even at the expense of their own people. A system of checks and balances needs to be put in place, stat. So sad, and embarrassing, to have to talk of my people this way.

Complete incompetence —the reason why taxpayers don’t trust government to spend their money wisely. Don’t spend my federal tax dollars bailing out this corrupt and dysfunctional government. The people of Puerto Rico deserve better.

Total incompetence. Trump is right. Puerto Rico cannot govern itself.

I find this level of incompetence incomprehensible. Is there a complete lack of ability? Or a complete lack of caring? Either way, it appears people of Puerto Rico are incapable of governing themselves.

Gross incompetence in a First World Economy leading to potential deaths and maiming of thousands of civilians. And I thought I don't perform well in my office. Shame.

When will Democrats finally realize that the Puerto Rico government has for decades been thoroughly corrupt as well as incompetent. For an indicator, just look at number of federal indictments of its politicians.

So get the company that made the new equipment, to train the people who are going to use the equipment. Pay both. It's a no-brainer. Oh, we are dealing with politicians. So, I get it. PR is part of the USA, after all.

I have lived in Puerto Rico and several states, and, contrary to all the hyperbolae, generalizations, and downright smears I read in these comments, government agency performance in Puerto Rico is not that far below that of other jurisdictions. Admittedly, permitting in PR is nightmarish and can stand improvement. Government there also needs to make more room for nonprofits and for profits take on a bigger role in public services (note the huge improvement in the San Juan airport). But the gratuitous bashing of Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans, starting with our bankrupt President, is a bit much.

As a Puerto Rican, I've never seen the bureaucracy actually work. It's so contradictory. The system is designed to fail and partly because there's no communication. I wouldn't say it's outright corruption and malice, but incompetence and ignorance. Still when I visit the island I get so upset when ambulance drivers or policemen have their sirens blaring and people don't get out of the way. It's disgusting and the height of disrespect. To me, if it was my family or my life on the line, I know the ambulance wouldn't get me to where I need to be, because of how unwilling my fellow Boricua are to following the rules of the road. I guess above all pet peeves, I also cant stand when people aren't arrested for having giant concert size stereos on the back of their trucks blasting music at all hours. How is anyone going to sleep? They could at least use those stereos to announce imminent disaster.

Unfortunately I am not at all surprised. I lived in the Caribbean for many years and the governments are just as inept and incompetent as many people, including the POTUS, say they are. It is a shame because the residents deserve so much better! I also wouldn't be surprised if an inventory found most of the equipment missing.

Sounds like people are still waiting for their bribes, but because of PR’s precarious financial conditions, scraping the cash together is taking a long time.

As a voter for Democrats for 60 years it pains me to say this, but the quote below from the article confirms beyond any doubt the corruption and incompetence of Puerto Rico’s government, which for decades has been run by Democrats: “But two years after Hurricane Maria forced the evacuation of the residents near the Guajataca Dam, the bulk of the $1.2 million in siren equipment is still sitting in storage on the island. The reason: The Puerto Rican government still has not granted itself the permits required to install all the alerts.” Unfortunately, Puerto Rico’s ongoing suffering is due in large part to its inept leadership.

I wonder who's actually using the siren equipment "in storage."

For decades the US has poured billions into PR. All for nothing. Even now building have no roofs, there is no real emergency planning. PR is known for sitting and watching someone else do the work. For decades the power grid rotted yet they did nothing. Emergency storm supplies went to warehouses and then to the black market or rotted and never got to the people. They do not want to be trained or to rebuild they want someone else to do it. PR gets hit every year by storms, nothing new, been going on since history records have been noted. Its time to stop dumping money into the corruption there and time for PR to start doing the work and become self sufficient.

I felt bad for what happened to Puerto Rico the last time around. And I believed that bad government had something to do with. It's my understanding that, since then, they've had some major turnover - including the Governor. Now this! There is no excuse for this. NONE. This is a potentially life saving system that is sitting in a warehouse because those at the top can't get their act together? Get it done!

Problems of not using sophisticated hardware and/or software because people on the ground are unsure of how to use it is not unique to Puerto Rico. I worked in a community-based agency where new systems, hardware, and software to improve performance were constantly shoved at us by higher agencies. After one or two training sessions, our staff was expected to operate it easily. But our staff did not come from the same middle-class, technical background where every new devise was available and seized eagerly by this group's peers. Our people became immobile whenever an error screen or message popped up. The idea of "hacking" a problem by using a series of function buttons, as many do, inculcated fear and so nothing was done. Using the Internet for research of a problem was out of the question. (I barely understand some of the stuff.) It took literally sitting by someone's side a couple of hours a day for a month before they were able to use whatever it was with confidence. Please consider this when looking for a solution.

Trump may say a lot of dumb comments regarding Puerto Rico, but regarding corruption, he is completely right. The situation mentioned in this story is not exactly corruption, but delaying something as important as this is truly appalling. I have lived here my whole life and I can tell you there are very few people in the government who actually care about the citizens. Removing the governor from power was only the first step, I hope we can do this too with the rest of them.

Sirens for a tornado that’s just around the corner? Yes. Sirens to warn of a hurricane that’s three days away? Probably not. Spend that much new for a new color tarp!