Posted on 02/26/2011 7:48:13 AM PST by Second Amendment First
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In 2001, leaders of the Los Angeles Community College District decided to take action. With support from construction companies and labor unions, they persuaded voters to pass a series of bond measures over the next seven years that raised $5.7 billion to rebuild every campus.
The money would ease classroom crowding. It would make college buildings safer. New technology would enhance learning. And financial oversight would be stringent.
That is what was promised to Los Angeles voters.
The reality? Tens of millions of dollars have gone to waste because of poor planning, frivolous spending and shoddy workmanship, a Times investigation found.
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At East Los Angeles College, construction of a grand entry plaza with a clock tower degenerated into a comedy of errors. Heating and cooling units were installed upside down, inspectors found. Concrete steps were uneven. Cracked and wet lumber had to be torn out. A ramp for the disabled was too steep for wheelchairs, and the landmark clock tower listed to one side.
Fixing the problems helped drive construction costs from $28 million to $43 million.
A new health and science center at Valley College was marred by defective plumbing, cracked floors, leaky windows and loosely attached ceiling panels that threatened to crash down in an earthquake.
The district paid a contractor $48 million to build the complex, but had to hire others to correct the problems and finish the project — for an additional $3.5 million.
At least those buildings were finished, eventually. At West Los Angeles College, officials spent $39 million to design and begin construction of four major buildings, only to discover that they didn't have the money to complete them.
Just as crews were starting work last summer, the projects, including a $92-million athletics center, were abandoned.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Look for the union label....
And they wonder where the money went.
This kind of immoral BS goe3s on throughout government at all levels. Starve the beast! Minimize purchases. Minimize your exposure to taxes. Vote the LIB/DIM/RINOs out! These fraudulent freaks need outed and charged.
“they persuaded voters to pass a series of bond measures over the next seven years that raised $5.7 billion to rebuild every campus.”
Gosh, what could have gone wrong with that? Thanks Second Amendment First.
Unions throws wrench into Los Angeles community colleges' massive project
Contractors put up nearly two-thirds of the $1.9 million raised for the ballot campaign. Measure J passed with 70% of the vote, more than doubling the size of the construction program.
Taxpayers will be repaying the debt until at least the 2050s. With interest, the bill is likely to exceed $11 billion.
Hey, what's the problem, they have forty years to pay it back. It's not like they need the money for anything else before then.
At Southwest College, the district spent $2 million on a parking lot shaded by solar panels. With the work half-finished, the project was abandoned, leaving rows of steel poles protruding from the fresh blacktop.
Why? The college president, Jack E. Daniels III, had decided that a performing arts center should be built there instead.
Daniels said his decision reflected the college community's preference for a signature arts and humanities building at the main entrance to the campus, rather than an array of solar panels.
"It was never the intent to waste dollars," he said, "and we monitor all costs closely."
Sure sounds to me like Jack Daniels speaking.
Oh it's a LOT deeper than that.
Think about how hard it would be to install an air conditioning unit upside down. You'd have to flip it over after it arrived on the pallet. There are no lifting eyes on that side. So you'd have to make a special frame just to get it off the ground with a crane. Run all the conduit, gas piping, get inspections...
Think how many people would be laughing up their sleeves. You KNOW this would be criminal fraud unless they KNEW they were covered. So...
If A/C units were going in upside down you can bet your last doughnut the drawings were wrong. You absolutely have to know that the contractor knew it because he had to look at the drawings to order the parts to fit. The contractor probably underbid that job in order to make money on change orders, more than likely with the full knowledge of the college district officials who needed to low-ball the project in order to sell it.
That implies that the architect was in cahoots with the college district, the contractor, AND the union. The unit gets installed per the drawing, the contractor gets the fat change order, the architect gets a kickback, and everybody is happy. Remember all those AIA ads showing how much better children learn in expensive classrooms? Look at that half BILLION dollar high school they just built in LA. This is all about taking taxpayers for a ride, with interest. It is all about a society that is corrupt from top to bottom.
If the JCs were so dilapidated, why did they need a clock tower anyway? This is nothing more than empire building. That means the cheeses were lying to the public in the first place. No, this is a lot deeper than a union. This is a block party on the public dole.
You’ve presented a pretty thorough outline of what, and who, all was involved. It was a big pie and everyone had to have their sliver.
California is the world capital of nitwitery. [Present company excluded, JimRob] When we lived there, I voted no on bond issue after bond issue, but the stinkin’ things usually passed. People think bonds are free money and have no idea that they have to be paid back with interest.
Some lying ‘Rat says, “This bond issue will cost the state nothing,” (mentally reserving the words, “the first year,”) and the dim bulbs vote for it every time. And if they don’t, the dead people and illegal aliens put it over the top.
The Third World and its allies have taken over. They are taking the wealth acumulated during the period 1940 to 1970 and putting it in THEIR pockets. “Our Diversity Is Our Strength.”
Sacramento should have its name changed to Nitwitery, nice coinage btw.
I’d like to take credit, but “nitwitery” is modern slang and in common use.
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