con job

Not only does the Silver Spring Transit Center go down as the worst public construction job in Montgomery County history, but also the SSTC may go down as the greatest con job in the County's history.


"It's all the private companies' fault." Don't believe it! The Silver Spring Transit Center is Montgomery County's project! 

• Montgomery County conceived the project!
• Montgomery County noncompetitively selected the private companies to design, build and inspect it!
• Montgomery County is owner of record!
• Montgomery County is project manager!
• Montgomery County issued the construction permits!
• As with all other construction projects in the County, Montgomery County has the responsibility to review, to issue permits, to inspect and to approve all construction within its boundaries.
• Further, Montgomery County was construction manager for the Silver Spring Transit Center with County employees on site full time during construction!

Report: Problems with Silver Spring Transit Center may have been known years ago | WJLA.com

https://www.ignet.gov/sites/default/files/files/FAEC-Presentation-Project-Management-Deficiencies-in-Constructing-the-SSTC.pdf

• Montgomery County's IG knows that it's Montgomery County's project!

The Silver Spring Transit Center is Montgomery County's project. The County's (David Dise, Isiah Leggett, Roger Berliner, et al) failure to take responsibility for its own project is a con job.


www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DGS-BDC/Resources/Files/SS/509974/SSTC-Report-March-15-2013.pdf

"It's safe." That's what we've been hearing for more than two years from Montgomery County and their paid and unpaid consultants. David Dise, Director of Montgomery County's Department of General Services, has gone so far as to say on numerous occasions that "The SSTC absolutely will be safe". Is Dise a seer? Can he predict the future? Does he have x-ray vision? Can he look inside the SSTC's hardened concrete frame and assure us that there are no as-of-yet undetected defects? Preposterous!

Are unfounded and irresponsible claims about the SSTC's safety part of the con job?

Let's hope not.

Finally, why did Montgomery County non-competitively choose private companies Foulger Pratt, Parsons Brinkerhoff & Balter Co. to provide their services for the "monumental debacle", boondoggle, grossly over budget, grossly overdue, severely flawed, SSTC? Taxpayers have had enough already!

SSTC: Never have so many failed to understand what so few understand.

‘Spring’ likely to become summer before Transit Center fixes completed - The Washington Post 

According to councilman Phil Andrews, the “monumental debacle” SSTC is the worst public works construction project in the county’s history. That’s true. It may also be the biggest con job in the county’s history.

How can David Dise have any credibility with all of his “it’ll be done by” dates that have come and gone? How can anyone believe his “the SSTC will absolutely be safe” public statements that he (and other Montgomery County officials and paid and unpaid consultants) have made on numerous occasions? Are they seers? Can they look into the future? Do they have x-ray vision, like Superman, where they can see inside the SSTC’s hardened concrete frame and assure the public that there are no more, as-of-yet undetected, fatal flaws? 

You can also put the numerous “the public won’t pay for repairs” public statements into the “are they seers?” category. Then there are statements by Dise et al that the county bears no responsibility for this fiasco, despite the fact that it’s the county’s project. Not only does the county have responsibility to review, issue permits, inspect and approve all construction, both public and private, within its boundaries, but also the county was construction manager for the SSTC with a team of full time county employees on site during construction. And BTW, the county itself noncompetitively chose the private companies that it says bears 100% of the responsibility for the “monumental debacle” SSTC. 

The SSTC is not only the worst public works construction job in Montgomery County history; but also the rubbish being spread by Dise and others at the county is the biggest con job in the county’s history.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Crews-Responding-to-Watergate-for-Report-of-Collapse-302150191.html

To those who take the Silver Spring Transit Center lightly, I call your attention to the Watergate garage. The circumstances are different. Watergate garage: water main break, heavy saturated soil, 50 year old structure, last inspected?, maintenance?... SSTC: design, construction & inspection flaws, understrength & overstressed concrete, under reinforced, ... One only needs to look at the videos/photos of Watergate to understand the consequences when parking garages collapse.

"News" that isn't new

Do a Google search for "news" for the Silver Spring Transit Center, and what do you find? Nothing new.

You find old reports with the same tired, stale, regurgitated, "line"--"it's going to open soon", "it's not going to cost the public any more money", "it's the contractors' fault", "it's safe", etc.

Despite the fact that we've known about the SSTC's many design, construction, inspection and management flaws for more than two years, you won't find answers to these questions:

• Why doesn't the 315 ft. wide by 580 ft. long SSTC have any expansion joints? Check out parking garages--at shopping malls, at airports, any parking garage--and you'll find plenty of these: 
  
  but, not at the Silver Spring Transit Center! WMATA design and construction standards require expansion/contraction joints to be located no farther apart than every 100 ft.! The absence of any expansion/contraction joints in the 315 ft. wide by 580 ft. long Silver Spring Transit Center is an absolutely incredible design, construction, inspection and management oversight! Cracking in concrete decks, beams, girders and columns? Of course there's cracking! And, there will continue to be cracking because "repairs" don't address the 315 ft. wide by 580 ft. long SSTC's complete lack of expansion joints! DUH!

• Why did Montgomery County non-competitively select private builder Foulger Pratt, private engineer Parsons Brinkerhoff and private concrete inspector/tester Balter Co., when private companies are selected competitively for most public works projects?

• Why didn't Montgomery County, the Federal Transit Administration or the Maryland Transit Administration hold public hearings after release of the KCE report ( www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DGS-BDC/Resources/Files/SS/509974/SSTC-Report-March-15-2013 ), where taxpayers (county, state and federal) could ask their questions and provide their comments on the public record, before the County spent tens of millions additional public money on "repairs", and before the SSTC is opened to the public?

• Why have Montgomery County officials and their paid and unpaid consultants said repeatedly that the SSTC is (or will be) safe, given its numerous structural flaws--widespread cracking, no expansion joints, under-strength and over-stressed concrete, slabs more than an inch thinner than what they're supposed to be, missing reinforcement, exposed reinforcement, design errors, concrete test reports that show exactly the same test data for multiple samples, etc.? 

I find the latter to be particularly strange, because:

• many of the design, construction and inspection errors documented in KCE's report are not addressed by "repairs", e.g., the SSTC's complete lack of expansion joints, under-strength and over-stressed concrete and cracking in concrete girders and columns.
  

• the SSTC hasn't seen its first fully loaded bus

• In numerous news media reports Montgomery County officials and their paid and unpaid private consultants say that the SSTC is, or will be, safe. David Dise has been quoted numerous times as saying "The SSTC will absolutely be safe." Why are they so sure? Do they have x-ray vision that allows them to search for undetected structural flaws inside the SSTC's hardened concrete frame, e.g. missing reinforcement, reinforcement that is less than what is called for (diameter, length, grade, embedment length and details, insufficiently tied to other reinforcement, etc.)? Surely with the many structural flaws that KCE uncovered with their random tests, there must be additional flaws that are yet undetected. Are they seers? Can they foretell the future? 

"The SSTC will absolutely be safe."
Repairs On Long-Delayed Silver Spring Transit Center Could Be Done Next Year | WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio

• A severely flawed structure can result in failure and death.

In the hundreds of the news media reports over the past more than two years (print, TV, radio, internet) not a single reporter or news media outlet has asked these questions. Instead, we get the same old stuff (SOS)--tired, stale and regurgitated.

There are many unanswered questions
 with the Silver Spring Transit Center
Valerie Ervin on Silver Spring Transit Center and Election 2014 - YouTube

Councilman Phil Andrews says the SSTC is a "monumental debacle"
Silver Spring Transit Center to cost taxpayers even more money | WJLA.com

Silver Spring Transit Center
Botched Jobs Hall of Shame
Lemon Award

Full steam ahead with the public-private partnership Purple Line after the "monumental debacle", public-private partnership Silver Spring Transit Center? 

Yeah, that makes sense. 
DUH!

Don't you think that it's strange?

The news media have been reporting the "monumental debacle" Silver Spring Transit Center for more than two years. KCE's structural evaluation report for the SSTC was made public in March 2013.
www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DGS-BDC/Resources/Files/SS/509974/SSTC-Report-March-15-2013.pdf

Don't you think that it's strange that in the past two plus years that news media: 

• haven't reported why the 315 ft. wide by 580 ft. long SSTC doesn't have any expansion joints, when WMATA design and construction standards require expansion joints to be placed no farther apart than every 100 ft.?

• haven't reported why Montgomery County non-competitively selected private builder Foulger Pratt, private engineer Parsons Brinkerhoff and private concrete inspector/tester Balter Co., when private companies are selected competitively for most public works projects?

• haven't asked Montgomery County, the Federal Transit Administration or the Maryland Transit Administration why public hearings weren't held after release of the KCE report, where taxpayers (county, state and federal) could ask their questions and provide their comments on the public record, before spending additional tens of millions on "repairs", and before the SSTC is opened to the public?

• haven't asked Montgomery County officials and their paid and unpaid consultants why they say that the SSTC is (or will be) safe, given the numerous structural flaws documented in KCE's report e.g., widespread cracking, no expansion joints, under-strength and over-stressed concrete, slabs more than an inch thinner than what they're supposed to be, missing reinforcement, exposed reinforcement, design errors, concrete test reports that show exactly the same test data for multiple samples, etc.?

I find the latter to be particularly strange, because:

• many of the design, construction and inspection errors documented in KCE's report are not addressed by "repairs", e.g., the SSTC's complete lack of expansion joints, under-strength and over-stressed concrete and cracking in concrete girders and columns. 

• the SSTC hasn't seen its first fully loaded bus.

• In numerous news media reports Montgomery County officials and their paid and unpaid private consultants say that the SSTC is, or will be, safe. David Dise has been quoted numerous times as saying "The SSTC will absolutely be safe." Why are they so sure? Do they have x-ray vision that allows them to search for undetected structural flaws inside the SSTC's hardened concrete frame, e.g. missing reinforcement, reinforcement that is less than what is called for (diameter, length, grade, embedment length and details, insufficiently tied to other reinforcement, etc.)? Surely with the many structural flaws that KCE uncovered with their random tests, there must be additional flaws that are yet undetected. Are they seers? Can they foretell the future?

• A severely flawed structure can result in failure and death.

In all of the news media reports over the past more than two years (print, TV, radio, internet) not a single reporter or news media outlet has asked these questions. Strange.

There are many unanswered questions
 with the Silver Spring Transit Center
Valerie Ervin on Silver Spring Transit Center and Election 2014 - YouTube

Silver Spring Transit Center
Botched Jobs Hall of Shame
Lemon Award

Why the truth matters

The truth is important because the lack of truth can kill you. 

Montgomery County officials Leggett, Leventhal, Berliner, Dise, etc., and the County's paid consultants, have said repeatedly (and news media have reported repeatedly--in news; NOT as op-ed) that the Silver Spring Transit Center is safe. 

Are Leggett, Leventhal and Berliner construction experts? Hardly. Take what they say about the SSTC's construction with a BIG grain of salt. 

Are Leggett, Leventhal, Berliner, Dise, et al seers?

If so, then news media should report that it's because they believe that they can foretell the future that they believe that the SSTC is safe.

Is it a fact that the SSTC is safe? NO! It is NOT a fact that "the SSTC is safe". The truth is that nobody knows if the SSTC is safe. Why? Because nobody can look inside the SSTC's hardened concrete frame and see what reinforcing is missing, is not the right size (diameter), length or grade of steel, is not properly tied, etc. Nobody knows how under-strength and over-stressed concrete will perform under actual, dynamic loading (fully loaded buses) in the short term or in the long term. Nobody knows how the 315 ft. wide by 580 ft. long SSTC with NO expansion joints (even though WMATA requires them to be spaced no more than 100 ft. apart), and with questionable concrete and steel reinforcement, will react when subjected to actual, dynamic loading. Nobody! 

"Get your facts first, then you can distort
them as you please."          Mark Twain

KCE's report is FULL of facts about extensive concrete cracking, slabs that are more than an inch thinner than what they're supposed to be, missing reinforcement, understrength and overstressed concrete, the SSTC's complete lack of expansion joints, etc. If you want facts, then read KCE's report: www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DGS-BDC/Resources/Files/SS/509974/SSTC-Report-March-15-2013.pdf

Just because Leggett, Leventhal, Berliner, Dise, paid consultants and news media say that the SSTC is safe doesn't make it safe. Did any news medium clarify that the oft repeated public statements that "the SSTC is safe" are opinions of those who say so rather than fact? NO! 

Truth matters. If the SSTC isn't safe, then someone(s) could get killed. 

Silver Spring Transit Center
Botched Jobs Hall of Shame
Lemon Award

where was this guy when we (taxpayers) needed him?

Where was this guy during the Silver Spring Transit Center "monumental debacle"?
Knowing Where To Tap... CiteHR

• pre-construction?
• construction?
• post construction?

Not on the "public" side of the Silver Spring Transit Center public-private partnership:

• Montgomery County: owner of record, project manager, construction manager, jurisdictional responsibility (documents review, permits, inspection, etc.), steward for local public funding (36%)
•  WMATA: pre-construction documents review and approval, construction review and approval, post construction operation and maintenance 
• Federal Transit Administration: pre-construction review and approval, construction review and approval, steward for federal funding (53%)
• Maryland Transit Administration: pre-construction review and approval, construction review and approval, steward for state funding (11%)

"Council members on Tuesday also discussed a recent report on the transit center issue by the county inspector general’s office. The report called for the county to develop procedures in which an independent peer reviewer should be hired to check the design of “unusual and challenging” construction projects, or a construction manager should be employed to manage the project."  Official ‘optimistic’ that Silver Spring Transit Center work will be done this year -- Gazette.Net

"unusual and challenging"? Are you kidding me?!? a 2-story, glorified parking garage is "unusual and challenging"?!? This must make all of the people who live and/or work in high-rise buildings in Silver Spring, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Rockville, etc., that Montgomery County inspected and issued occupancy permits for, feel "warm & fuzzy"! NOT!!!

Apparently, the "private" side of the Silver Spring Transit Center public-private partnership also lacks a 2-story-glorified-parking-garage construction "expert":

• builder Foulger Pratt
• engineer Parsons Brinkerhoff
• concrete inspector/tester Balter Co.
• www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DGS-BDC/Resources/Files/SS/509974/SSTC-Report-March-15-2013.pdf

You know where that leaves us taxpayers!

Fleeced!!!

aka Paul S. Sarbanes Transit Center

Just remember, folks, that just because some Montgomery County official makes a public statement, and the news media report it, that doesn't make the public official's statement a fact. Public officials "spin" (deceive), and news media report it as facts. They're not. Are Leggett, Leventhal, Berliner, et al construction experts? Hardly. Take what they say about the SSTC's construction with a BIG grain of salt. 

I happen to agree with former councilwoman Valerie Ervin--the truth will come out eventually--perhaps not until the legal suits work their way through court. Stay tuned.
Valerie Ervin on Silver Spring Transit Center and Election 2014 - YouTube

Finally, here's why the truth is important. (Listen up, Sentinel editor.) The truth is important because the lack of truth can kill you. 

Montgomery County officials and their paid consultants have said repeatedly, and news media have reported repeatedly (in news; NOT as op-ed) that the SSTC is safe. Is it a fact that the SSTC is safe? NO! It is NOT a fact that "the SSTC is safe". 

The fact is that nobody knows if the SSTC is safe. Why? Because nobody can look inside the SSTC's hardened concrete frame and see what reinforcing is missing, is not the right size (diameter), length or grade of steel, is not properly tied, etc. Nobody! 

Just because Leggett, Leventhal, Berliner, paid consultants, etc. say that the SSTC is safe doesn't make it safe. Did the Sentinel, or any other news medium, clarify that the oft repeated public statements that "the SSTC is safe" are the opinions of those who say so rather than fact? NO! 

The truth matters. If the SSTC isn't safe, then someone(s) could get killed. 

Silver Spring Transit Center
Botched Jobs Hall of Shame
Lemon Award