When will the "repairs" be finished? What will the "repairs" have cost the public when they're done? Will WMATA approve the "repaired" SSTC? If so, when will the SSTC finally be open to the public?
How will the lawsuits be resolved? How much will the SSTC ultimately cost taxpayers? It's unlikely that we'll ever know the real cost for the Silver Spring Transit Center, given the unaccounted time that government employees have spent and will spend on the SSTC and its legal aftermath.
A March 2013 structural evaluation report documents the SSTC's widespread concrete cracking and other design, construction and inspection flaws. The report blames the SSTC's many flaws on "errors and omissions" committed by the SSTC's private builder Foulger Pratt, private engineer Parsons Brinkerhoff and private inspection/testing firm Balter Co.
www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DGS-BDC/Resources/Files/SS/509974/SSTC-Report-March-15-2013.pdf
Montgomery County executive Isiah Leggett, Montgomery County council president George Leventhal, Montgomery County councilman and transportation committee chairman Roger Berliner, Montgomery County director of the Department of General Services David Dise, other public officials and public employees and paid experts say that "repairing" the SSTC is "the right thing to do". Montgomery County recently approved an additional $16+ million in general obligation bonds (and $5 million "borrowed" from other well-designed and well-constructed public works projects) to pay for "repairs" to the SSTC. Another $21M approved for Silver Spring Transit Center
Montgomery County councilman Phil Andrews called the SSTC "a monumental debacle". Former council member Valerie Ervin says that "it was a mistake for the county executive to tell taxpayers that the SSTC won't cost them another dime--it's going to cost taxpayers a LOT of money before it's resolved" and "people have MANY reasons NOT to believe what they've been told".
Valerie Ervin on Silver Spring Transit Center (Video) | Montgomery Community Media
The facts are that the Silver Spring Transit Center is a severely flawed, costly, LEMON; and, that ALL of us (local, state and federal tax and user fee payers) have been and are being fleeced.
It's worth noting that we, the paying public, don't know why Montgomery County non-competitvely selected private builder Foulger Pratt, private engineer Parsons Brinkerhoff and private inspector Balter Co. to build, design and inspect the SSTC, when private companies are selected competitively for most public works projects. We don't know because Montgomery County hasn't told us why; and, the news media (print, TV, radio, internet) haven't bothered to ask.
Which brings us to the Purple Line. We've been ripped off once by the public-private partnership Silver Spring Transit Center. Why on earth would we ever allow ourselves to be ripped off again by the public-private partnership Purple Line?
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| The Great American Ripoff |
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| Silver Spring Transit Center Botched Jobs Hall of Shame Lemon Award |
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