Posted on 09/18/2007 7:39:12 AM PDT by george76
City engineer warns of dismantling cranes.
Construction and business leaders are up in arms over an e-mail from a Denver city engineer warning there could be a moratorium on construction in downtown Denver a month before the Democratic National Convention next year.
The issues raised in the e-mail sent by city engineer Joe Saejiw this summer also warned that tower cranes may have to be disassembled, a move that could cost millions of dollars.
The scenarios outlined in the e-mail could wreak havoc on the $160 million economic windfall that officials predict the 35,000-person convention will bring to the city next August.
In addition to the construction moratorium and disassembly of the cranes, the e-mail also states that permits will be issued until July 31, streets must be open and all covered walkways must be removed.
Saejiw, in an interview late Monday, said he just wanted to lay out the worst-case scenario for contractors, not set off a firestorm of controversy.
"Having said that, if they go the extreme and demobilize cranes and stop work 30 days prior to the convention, the whole good for the economy just goes out the window," Haselden said. "But let's use a little common sense. These things are absurd."
Phil Tallman of Morrow Equipment, which rents many of the giant cranes downtown, said it typically takes three to five days to dismantle a crane, and easily can cost $500,000.
"A tower crane is at the heart of every construction site," Tallman said. "Shutting them down would be astronomically expensive. Contractors have schedules to meet, and this would mean they are 30 days behind schedule."
(Excerpt) Read more at rockymountainnews.com ...
That's over $4500 per person at the convention. That's a hell of a hotel-food-hooker bill. Even counting the presstitutes showing up with expense accounts, that is still a lot of money. And much of that will be needed for security and steam cleaning the city after they leave.
Democrats are always helping out the economy, aren’t they??
LOL
Better ask her highness permission about this. Pissing off Queen Hillary or her consort, William of Rodman, can get you Vince Fostered PDQ.
Bill Vidal, Denver Public Works manager, said the Secret Service had indicated it might not want to see people on top of cranes during certain hours but never raised the issue of dismantling them.
I wonder if St. Paul has some of the same issues for the Republican Convention.
Denver Public Works is jumping the gun on their own; apparently they released this notice without a heads up to their boss ( the mayor ) nor to the secret service.
He said he was told by his bosses to “produce some kind of notice” to contractors to give them an idea of what they might expect until the city has more definitive instructions from the Secret Service, which has the final say on security measures.
The Secret Service, under federal law, makes the final decision on what security measures must be in place, said Ronald Perea, the Secret Service special agent in charge of Denver.
“At this point, we are in the preliminary stages,” Perea said. “I really cannot comment on any particulars on security.”
I was not aware that the Democrats controlled the Secret Service.
From the article:
The Secret Service, under federal law, makes the final decision on what security measures must be in place, said Ronald Perea, the Secret Service special agent in charge of Denver.
Wouldn’t it be a lot cheaper and more functional to just put a Secret Service agent in each of the cranes? Then they would have security and the best view.
Yes.
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