expanded on June 27, 2014
How it happened
1 – Government of the people, by the people and for the people, hereinafter referred to as “Government”, decides that "We the People" need a new transit center.
2 – Government is owner, financier (using We the People’s $) and self-appointed design and construction manager for the new transit center. Government is solely responsible for managing all aspects connected with planning (location, size, cost, etc.), design, financing and construction of the new transit center.
3 – As owner and design manager, Government selects an engineer to design the new transit center. Rather than selecting the engineer using the open, competitive selection process that has been used for decades for public works projects, Government selects the engineer sole source. Public-private partnerships, a.k.a. crony capitalism, a relatively recent invention of Government, are allowed, because Government makes all the rules. Government likes public-private partnerships for obvious reasons--Government can reward their cronies for their $upport..
Design for the new transit center proceeds.
4 – As owner and construction manager, Government selects a builder and a concrete inspector/tester for the new transit center. Rather than bidding the new transit center for construction, the decades-old, tried-and-true, competitive process for building public works projects, Government selects the builder and the concrete inspector/tester sole source--crony capitali$m.
Construction for the new transit center proceeds.
5 – As owner and financier, Government arranges the financing for the new transit center. NO PROBLEM! Government has unlimited $, using We the People's $.
6 – OOOPS! There’s a problem(s)… BIG problems! As owner and design and construction manager, Government selects another engineer (see #3, #4 & #5) to look into the problem(s). The second engineer blames the BIG problems on “errors and omissions” by the transit center’s builder, (original) engineer and concrete inspector/tester.
Who’s at fault?
Clearly the builder, the (original) engineer and the concrete inspector/tester are at fault.
But, what about Government?
- Owner AND design and construction manager, solely responsible for managing all aspects connected with planning, design, financing and construction for the new transit center.
- Government, which selected the builder, the engineer and the concrete inspector/tester for the new transit center, who made the BIG “errors and omissions”.
- Government, which didn’t use the normal competitive processes for selecting a builder, an engineer and a concrete inspector/tester for a public works project.
Of course Government is responsible too!
Who pays?
Who pays for the lemon transit center with all of its BIG problems? the supposed-to-be brand new, flawless transit center?
Why, We the People, do!
Of course!
What do you have to say for yourselves, Montgomery County, Maryland Transit Administration and Federal Transit Administration? Why do you continue to make repairs, wasting We the People's $, because the repairs that you're making don't address the source(s) of the problem(s) (in particular, the SSTC's complete lack of expansion/contraction joints)? What do you have to say, Government of the People, by the People and for the People, about your failure to hold public meetings to brief We the People on what you're doing (making expensive repairs to a supposed-to-be brand new SSTC) and why you're doing them (because they don't address the sources of the problems)? What do you have to say about your failure to give We the People the opportunity to ask our questions and to make our comments on the public record? What do you have to say about Government's responsibility to be good stewards of We the People's $?
What do you have to say for yourselves, news media (print, TV, radio, internet)? Why have you failed, in more than a year reporting this story, with hundreds of stories that contain Montgomery County press releases and public statements from Montgomery County officials, but haven't reported "in-depth" or asked "probing questions", that you so highly tout? Your silence in June (NO new news through June 27) is deafening. Your failure to report the SSTC story-behind-the-story "in-depth" and to ask Montgomery County "probing questions", along with Montgomery County's failure to explain to the public why they selected the builder, the engineer and the concrete inspector/tester without using the normal competitive process for public works projects, is shameful.
On a personal note, it's been frustrating to read and listen to all the "experts" make public statements regarding the safety of the SSTC, and other matters, while lacking basic technical knowledge on the subject--"talking through their hats". Public officials making public statements, especially regarding the safety of the SSTC, should KNOW that their public statements are technically accurate BEFORE they make them. If public officials lack the technical knowledge in construction and engineering to know that the public statements that they make are accurate, then IMHO they shouldn't make them.
The news media have reported numerous times that David Dise, Director of the Montgomery County Department of General Services, says: “The SSTC will absolutely be safe”. HOGWASH! Dise can't guarantee that the SSTC will be safe, any more than ANYONE can predict the future. Dise may THINK that the SSTC will be absolutely safe; but, he doesn’t KNOW that the SSTC will be absolutely safe. It’s Dise’s OPINION that the SSTC will be safe. And, we all know what they say about opinions—they all stink. Stick to the FACTS, Mr. Dise. If you choose to make your OPINIONS public, then be clear to the public that it's your OPINION, NOT A FACT.
June 27, 2014
We, the People, won't know "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" until:
- We the People KNOW why Montgomery County selected the SSTC's builder, engineer and concrete inspector/tester without using competitive processes that are normally used for public works projects. Why wasn't the SSTC bid for construction (normal for public works projects)? Why weren't the engineer and the concrete inspector/tester selected using the normal competitive process for obtaining professional services? Were political "contribution$" part of Montgomery County's selection process for the SSTC?
- We the People understand that "The SSTC will absolutely be safe" is NOT a statement of fact, but rather, an OPINION.
- We the People KNOW why repairs directed by Montgomery County, and endorsed by its experts, do NOT address perhaps the biggest of the SSTC's flaws--that the SSTC has NO expansion/contraction joints. The normal standard of care for construction of structures exposed to temperature changes requires expansion/contraction joints. WMATA design and construction standards, to which the SSTC was supposed to have been designed and constructed, require them to be spaced no more than 100 feet apart. The 315 ft. by 580 ft. SSTC has NONE. The lemon SSTC's severe cracking is likely the result of its complete lack of expansion/contraction joints, yet repairs (deck overlay and external steel bracing on beams) do not address the SSTC's TOTAL lack of expansion joints.
- We the People KNOW why Montgomery County, the Federal Transit Administration and the Maryland Transit Administration failed to hold public meetings where We the People could ask our questions and make our comments on the public record.
- There's an independent investigation into the whys and hows that the severely flawed, lemon Silver Spring Transit came to be, including why and how Government selected the builder, the engineer and the concrete inspector sole source (a.k.a. public-private partnership or crony capitlism) for this $100+ million (and rising), severely flawed public works project.
These are just for starters. There is MUCH more for We the People to learn before we'll KNOW "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth". Until we know "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth", We the People are being deceived by Government of the People, by the People, and for the People, with the help of lazy news media (print, TV, radio, internet) that have failed to report "in depth" and to ask "probing questions", that they so highly tout.
With respect to an independent investigation of the Silver Spring Transit Center debacle, needless to say, those connected with the lemon SSTC do not qualify as independent investigators. Also excluded from an independent investigation should be those connected with Montgomery County, Maryland Transit Administration, Federal Transit Administration, and anyone else who has done business, is doing business, or wants to do business with Montgomery County, MTA or FTA. This includes government and private business employees, including managers, and elected government overseers, including politicians running for office, who influence, or can influence, awards of public contracts.
Why is all of this important? Because, if We the People are getting hosed because of cozy deals (*) between Government of the People, by the People and for the People and their private business cronies, who provide them with sweet deals (*) at our expense, and even more importantly, if public safety is at risk because of these cozy deals (*), then We the People sure don't want to be allowing Government of the People, by the People and for the People to continue its crony capitalism, at We the People's expense, with another public-private partnership on the Purple Line.
* "You scratch my back ($ for my campaign), and I'll scratch yours (public works contract)."
"You scratch my back (public works contract), and I'll scratch yours (company job
after you retire from government)."
Shame on the news media (print, TV, radio, internet) for not reporting this story "in-depth" and for not asking "probing questions" that news media brag about.
With respect to an independent investigation of the Silver Spring Transit Center debacle, needless to say, those connected with the lemon SSTC do not qualify as independent investigators. Also excluded from an independent investigation should be those connected with Montgomery County, Maryland Transit Administration, Federal Transit Administration, and anyone else who has done business, is doing business, or wants to do business with Montgomery County, MTA or FTA. This includes government and private business employees, including managers, and elected government overseers, including politicians running for office, who influence, or can influence, awards of public contracts.
Why is all of this important? Because, if We the People are getting hosed because of cozy deals (*) between Government of the People, by the People and for the People and their private business cronies, who provide them with sweet deals (*) at our expense, and even more importantly, if public safety is at risk because of these cozy deals (*), then We the People sure don't want to be allowing Government of the People, by the People and for the People to continue its crony capitalism, at We the People's expense, with another public-private partnership on the Purple Line.
* "You scratch my back ($ for my campaign), and I'll scratch yours (public works contract)."
"You scratch my back (public works contract), and I'll scratch yours (company job
after you retire from government)."
Shame on the news media (print, TV, radio, internet) for not reporting this story "in-depth" and for not asking "probing questions" that news media brag about.
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing."
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
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