“His (Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett) spokesman, Patrick Lacefield, said in a statement: ’This is nothing more than the previous County Executive playing politics by seeking publicity for his campaign.’”
No, Mr. Lacefield, you’re wrong. It’s about a LOT more than politics. It’s about the $120+ million, over-budget, yet-to-be-opened, seriously flawed Silver Spring Transit Center, and how it got to be that way. It’s about lack of expansion joints and extensive concrete cracking. It’s about slabs that are more than an inch thinner than what’s called for in the plans. It’s about watered down concrete and multiple concrete test reports that show identical test results. It’s about 250 under-designed beams. It’s about how Montgomery County chose the contractor/builder, instead of bidding the project for construction, as has been standard practice for public works projects for decades. It's about how the County chose the engineer/designer and the concrete tester/inspector and Special Quality Inspector in a different way (public-private partnership) than is normally used in school and other public works projects. It's about why Montgomery County, with its full-time, on-site construction management team of County employees, and periodic visits by other County and WMATA personnel, didn't deal with the severe concrete cracking earlier, before construction was almost compete. It’s about spending the public's money, and Montgomery County not briefing the public about the tens of millions of dollars in repairs that are needed before the brand new Silver Spring Transit Center even opens. It’s about not facing the public and answering their questions about the SSTC’s safety and future maintenance costs, and taking the public's comments on the public record.
Nice try, Mr. Lacefield--no kewpie doll.
Yes, Mr. Duncan, it's time for answers.
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