metro settles silver spring transit center lawsuit???

"Metro, which now operates the center after the county turned it over to the transit agency, was originally part of the case, but settled just before the trial, according to 'The Daily Record'." Really??? Where are all of the reporters who were reporting every statement that David Dise made for years, after the cracks became public, but before the SSTC was opened to the public? Isn't WMATA settling the case news? how much was the settlement? who paid whom? what are the details? are there conditions? the public has a right to know.

http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Beat/2017/Trial-Begins-in-Silver-Spring-Transit-Center-Lawsuit/

judge warns lawyers not to discuss the case

thank you, News4, for being the only nonsubscription news source to report on the opening day of the court case for this "monumental debacle" public works project that was reported on exhaustively for years. The most telling item in your report is that the judge warned the lawyers not to discuss the case publicly for fear that a juror may hear. Does that mean that we will have to wait until the end of the trial for a juror to write a book before we learn what went on? I should live that long.

Opening Statements in Civil Suit Over Silver Spring Transit Center Delays | NBC4 Washington

how to ruin a first class subway system in less than four decades

"The first portion of the Metrorail system opened March 27, 1976, connecting Farragut North to Rhode Island Avenue on the Red Line. The 103 miles (166 km) of the original 83-station system was completed on January 13, 2001, with the opening of Green Line's segment from Anacostia to Branch Avenue."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Metropolitan_Area_Transit_Authority

It's taken less than four decades to ruin Washington DC's first class subway system. 

How? 

• incompetent management
• incompetent board of directors
• interference from politicians
• operation and maintenance (or lack thereof) policies, procedures and practices that result from incompetent management, incompetent oversight and interference from politicians

Potential Federal Policies for Improving WMATA - AAF completely misses the point. 

Fixing METRO requires:

• capable management 
• capable oversight free from politics and politicians

What are the chances of this happening?

• slim and none 

Metro mess

Metro Daily Fail: Amazing Pictures of WMATA in Action (April 28-30) - Washington DC, DC Patch

amazing! first weekend for this "new daily feature". 4 on Friday. 3 on Saturday. 0 on Sunday. (maybe there weren't any riders or trains on Sunday) it just goes to show that the public knows--and, tells it like it is.

no takers, no surprise for silver spring md. public-private project

"perhaps developers, after seeing what happened with the transit center public-private partnership, are waiting to see how the lawsuit plays out before doing business with the county."
No Takers for Silver Spring Arena Project, County Says | Montgomery Community Media

Buses Entering the Transit Center | Dan Reed | Flickr

obfuscating the truth

County Preparing To Allocate $4.2 Million for Silver Spring Transit Center Lawsuit Costs - Bethesda Beat - Bethesda, MD

"How far can 10+ million pages go in obfuscating the truth, particularly to the public? probably pretty far. The simple truth can be found in the report that the county commissioned from independent structural engineering firm KCE and the county's own inspector general report. 1. The county took on the role of construction manager itself. 2. a county building inspector identified concerns about the design during permit stage, before construction began; but, these concerns were unheeded. 3. cracks were identified early on during construction; but, these, and other problems, were not fully vetted until the KCE investigation and report, when construction was almost complete." 

like, Judah Lifschitz


In 2014 Montgomery County councilman Phil Andrews called the Silver Spring Transit Center a "monumental debacle". Silver Spring Transit Center to cost taxpayers even more money | WJLA

He was right on the money! The Paul S. Sarbanes Silver Spring Transit Center is a "monumental debacle". 

Montgomery County and WMATA are just as responsible for the Silver Spring Transit Center "monumental debacle", perhaps even more so, as Parsons Brinckerhoff, Foulger Pratt and its subcontractors, and the Balter Company. 

Trump isn't the only one making BIG claims

"In an interview this week, County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), a former professor and assistant dean at Howard University Law School, said the upfront costs are an inevitable part of such litigation. He repeated his vow to recover “every penny” of expense to the county, including legal fees."

Legal costs mounting in Silver Spring Transit Center litigation - The Washington Post

"Montgomery can use its capital construction budget to pay for the transit-center lawsuit, which seeks damages against designer Parsons Brinckerhoff, general contractor Foulger-Pratt and the Robert B. Balter inspection company for negligence and breach of contract."

Citizens of Montgomery County, Maryland and the U.S., 
There is no "free parking" when a public works project, paid for by local, state and federal funds and users' fees, is botched. 
YOU PAY THE FREIGHT!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/86530412@N02/8266556840
www.ccPix.com

For Montgomery County citizens in particular, 
Robbing Peter (capital construction budget) to pay for Paul (Silver Spring Transit Center cost overruns, including legal costs) results in less countywide public works improvements.

blame

WMATA says that the track inspectors are to blame. The union says that WMATA management is to blame. 

Whatever the case, the public, who uses and pays for unsafe METRO, aren't to blame. 

WMATA track inspector fired 'for being a whistleblower' | WUSA9.com

File:WMATA third rail at West Falls Church.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

"... trial to begin in early 2017..."?

"The county doesn’t expect a trial to begin until early 2017, and estimates it could last a year to 18 months. Appeals could take two years.

Montgomery requires parties in the suit to enter “alternative dispute resolution,” or mediation, a process that could lead to an out-of-court settlement. But such a settlement makes it likely that Montgomery County would fall short of the 2013 reelection campaign promise by County Executive Isiah Leggett (D): that every taxpayer dollar spent fixing the transit center’s defects would be recovered.

“It’ll be a challenge,” said Matthew J. Pavlides, an attorney for the firm Miles and Stockbridge who specializes in construction litigation."

Silver Spring Transit Center lawsuit tests ties between Metro, contractor - The Washington Post

I predict that this lawsuit will be settled out-of-court--too embarrassing for the principals, particularly Montgomery County and its politicians, and WMATA (albeit it's difficult to imagine WMATA, with their record, capable of being more embarrassed than they already should be).

PS Montgomery County and WMATA suing the contractor for negligence is TWO pots calling the kettle black! Montgomery County is construction manager of record for the Paul S. Sarbanes Silver Spring Transit Center; and, WMATA, besides being the county's "partner" in the project, was paid by the county to provide construction document and construction review. And, WMATA is..., ... with WMATA's record..., well..., it's WMATA!

fixing WMATA

"The tension between growth and maintenance, of course, is not new. It has been a recurring issue at Metro for decades. Metro’s safety record -- which has long been criticized by safety inspectors -- came under especially heavy scrutiny after two of its trains collided in June 2009, killing nine people, including one of the operators. In its investigation of the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board determined that the immediate cause of the accident was a faulty circuit in the system that controls the trains. But a contributing factor, the investigators said, was the longtime “lack of a safety culture” at Metro. ... If six years of service disruptions failed to improve much at the agency, there’s real reason to question whether a year of safety surges and indefinite early closures will do the trick."
http://www.governing.com/topics/transportation-infrastructure/gov-wmata-transit-problems.html

WMATA

a very insightful comment to a very informative article:

Oh to be clear, there were no industry standards in America.

WMATA clearly had their own, internal standards. They just chose not to follow them! Fromthe NTSB report again, page 4:

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority was not following its tunnel-washing and insulator-cleaning procedure.

So in a sense, it's even worse than it seems! WMATA went through the trouble to develop its own policies and procedures that (for all we know at the moment) were totally sufficient and maybe even high-quality. Then, for unknown reasons, the Authority stopped following them. This contributed to a death. Then, the Authority promised to start following those procedures. Then, 16 months after that promise, it looks like that didn't happen!

Also, the references to stopping the washing for environmental reasons come from page 42 of the final NTSB report. The WMATA told the NTSB several things about the tunnel washing program and it's unclear (1) if it was actually stopped at any point and (2) if they stopped, why it was stopped. Overall, this isn't a favorable fact pattern for WMATA.

by WRD on Sep 28, 2016 2:32 pm

the entire article & all the comments: http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/33662/on-thursday-the-wmata-board-heard-about-why-metro-keeps-catching-on-fire-then-on-friday-metro-caught/

more WMATA mismanagement

WMATA wants a private company to run its parking facilities. That's a risky move. - Greater Greater Washington

another bad move by WMATA. 
Can WMATA manage anything well?

we can do better

The earthquake in Italy this week is a tragic reminder that we can do better. 

Earthquakes typically don't kill people; manmade structures falling on people typically kill people. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/08/28/pope-francis-pledges-visit-quake-devastation/89506686/

Close to home, the Paul S. Sarbanes (Silver Spring MD) Transit Center is a classic example of failures in new construction. The report commissioned by Montgomery County MD documents this:  https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DGS-BDC/Resources/Files/SS/509974/SSTC-Report-March-15-2013.pdf .

While the report provides many reasons for the construction failures, perhaps the main reason is that the construction manager of record, Montgomery County, failed to adequately monitor the poor construction as it occurred. As a result, the finished construction contains numerous known flaws (besides many that likely remain hidden), the majority of which are uncorrectable, short of demolition. 

FUBAR

one really screwed up organization:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-wmata-board-should-just-get-out-of-the-way/2016/08/17/5495c1e6-600c-11e6-84c1-6d27287896b5_story.html

After series of close calls, Metro ordered to make urgent fixes | WTOP

Is the Metro Mess Partly the Fault of Workers, or Just WMATA Leadership? - Washington DC, DC Patch

http://www.alexandrianews.org/2016/08/fta-releases-wmata-track-integrity-investigation-report-issues-safety-directive-to-correct-systemic-track-safety-problems/

http://patch.com/district-columbia/washingtondc/wmata-metro-employees-stop-making-excuses

http://www.progressiverailroading.com/safety/news/FTA-WMATA-crews-broke-safety-rules-during-SafeTrack-work--48801

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/08/03/reports-washington-metro-cop-accused-aiding-terror-group/87995908/

WMATA mess

Arlington Sun Gazette editorial: Can WMATA really cut 500 jobs? - INSIDENOVA.COM: Editorials

"And of course, the billion-dollar question is why neither previous general managers nor members of the WMATA board of directors (like veteran Fairfax representative Catherine Hudgins or hapless, stuck-in-a-1982-mentality D.C. City Council member Jack Evans) didn’t think such a culling of the herd could, or should, be undertaken earlier."

2015 WMATA board chairman Mortimer Downey

SSTC, Rio style

Rio's Olympic Park venues 'a mess,' may even be unsafe experts warn | Fox News Latino

"Pedro Celestino, of the Rio’s Engineering Club, echoed the organizers about the buildings, but is critical of the way they carried out the works, by cutting corners and disrespecting protocols, he told FNL, "established worldwide."

Speeding up the pace of construction, he said, was their goal. "So it will be ready, but the quality of the work may be compromised. In many projects the company responsible for the design was also responsible for the construction and also supervision – when there should be three different companies, each performing one of those roles.”

Celestino concluded, “Yes, there may be incidents, since an important protocol was ignored. But they will be ready."

The emblematic case is the Tim Maia bike path alongside Niemeyer Avenue, which is not an official Olympic project but is being carried out by one of the firms that carried out work for the Games. Two people died when a part of the elevated lane simply collapsed.

"The company that built it was the same one that inspected it,” Celestino pointed out. “How can we trust this process?"

There is also precious little margin for error, since the budget of the city has already been stretched to its limit, and the state of Rio de Janeiro – which is footing the bill for security during the Games – recently declared an emergency in an attempt to get the federal government to issue funds that would allow the state to honor its commitments."

photo: a ramp built for competitors' boats to reach the water hangs after collapsing at the Marina da Gloria sailing venue just days before the start of the Olympic Games. Photo: Reuters

Buckle up. It could be interesting.

WMATA

WMATA and WUSA9 form unique partnership | WUSA9.com

"... a new partnership that is focused on finding solutions to the problems facing Metro, and helping restore the system to its former status as one of America's best public transportation systems." 

sounds good--I'll believe it when I see it. 

(No thanks to the employees, managers and politicians who messed up "one of America's best public transportation systems" in less than 40 years.)

"METRO has a severe learning disability"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/ntsb-report-on-fatal-2015-metro-smoke-incident-is-said-to-criticize-metro-first-responders-and-others/2016/05/02/a414f3d2-107e-11e6-8967-7ac733c56f12_story.html 

And, WMATA is suing Parsons Brinkerhoff for negligence in failing to oversee design and construction of the Silver Spring Paul S. Sarbanes Transit Center (despite the fact that Montgomery County MD was the construction manager of record for the SSTC)! This is the same METRO that was paid a million dollars to review the plans and the construction; and, didn't discover that there are no expansion joints despite a METRO requirement that expansion joints be located no farther apart than every 100 feet! 

Good luck with your lawsuit, WMATA!

court casino

Montgomery Co. seeks $1.6M to cover Silver Spring Transit Center suit fees - WTOP

welcome to court casino. If reports are correct, then taxpayers are down $50 M and the Montgomery County MD executive is seeking another $1.6 M hoping to get a $77 M prize. A good bet? ... It would have been so much easier to "mind the store" in the first place.

from the comments to the WTOP report:

" 'it' covers a LOT of stuff over a LONG time. MoCo reviewed the plans and issued the permits--where are the expansion joints that WMATA requires every 100 feet? cracks appeared EARLY during construction--why wasn't something done then? pour strips in elevated closure slabs--how many people saw that there were NO rebars in the formed slabs before they were poured? watered down concrete--how does one(s) miss concrete that pours more like a liquid than a stiff mix. Who in construction doesn't know that in cold weather heat must be applied to curing concrete? and on and on..."

Silver Spring Transit Center 
Paul S. Sarbanes Transit Center 
Montgomery County MD 

news media: what's happening with the lawsuit?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/montgomery-wmata-sue-firms-for-160m-over-troubled-transit-center/2015/08/28/c685a6b8-4dc5-11e5-84df-923b3ef1a64b_story.html

http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/local/silver-spring-transit-center-lawsuit/1809/

$166 million--it'll be interesting to see how much, if any, eventually gets returned to public coffers. My guess is that it won't be enough to cover attorneys' fees and time spent by county and WMATA employees prepping for court, much less "repair" costs, delay costs, extra operations and maintenance costs caused by the cracking and other associated cost overruns.


from the complaint filed with the court:

• pg. 2--Montgomery County and WMATA are seeking compensatory damages from PB, FPC and Balter; and, Montgomery County is seeking punitive damages from PB (only).
• pg. 3--construction began in the fall of 2008 with a Sept. 9, 2010 anticipated completion date. "Almost immediately, however, defects in PB's design delayed the project for almost 14 months and cost the County millions of dollars to remedy. ... PB refused to correct the critical design defects..."
• pg. 4--"For WMATA, several issues remain. ... WMATA has also expended over $864,521.00 in additional costs as a result of Defendants' failure to perform their obligations on the SSTC project."
• pg. 5--"WMATA seeks no less than $25,864,521.00 in damages from PB, FPC and Balter for the additional monitoring, inspection, repair and maintenance costs it will incur over the life of the SSTC as a result of the defective design and construction of the facility, as well as for the additional coordination costs incurred."                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                               comments from Washington Post article                                                                                                                                                                                                     
• pg. 7--WMATA and the County agreed that "the County would take the lead in facilitating the design and construction of the facility". (Roger Berliner take note.) 
• pg. 9--"... the costs for planning, developing, designing, constructing and finally completing the Transit Center will be paid for by the County. ... In addition, the County agrees to reimburse WMATA staff's costs for document and plan review, project administration and inspection costs associated solely with the Transit Center in an amount not to exceed $942,000. ... WMATA agreed to assign a full time, on site staff person to the Transit Center project."   (Note: WMATA is seeking $25,864,521.00 in damages for "additional monitoring, inspection, repair and maintenance costs". Is this in addition to the maximum $942,000 allotted to WMATA for "plan review, project administration and inspection costs"? Wow! One would think for that kind of money, plus a full time, on site staff person assigned to the project, that WMATA would have discovered, over the course of many years while the SSTC was being designed and built, that the 315 ft. wide by 580 ft. long SSTC violates WMATA's own design and construction standards by not having expansion joints located every 100 feet or less. But then, this is WMATA--with its lousy inspection and safety record.) 
  
• pg. 11--PB's contract is $8,506,283.38. At "substantial completion" PB had been paid $8,278,128.23.
• pgs. 12-17 contain details of and excerpts from PB's design contract.
• pgs. 17-18 contain details of and excerpts from the on-site project engineer agreement between the County and PB. "Under the terms of the PB Construction Oversight Contract, PB was to bill the County on an hourly basis in an amount not to exceed $465,150.00. PB and the County subsequently amended this contract to increase the not to exceed amount to $1,170,855.00. For the work that it represented that it performed under the PB Construction Oversight Contract, PB has been paid $1,170,825.00." 
• pgs. 18-22 contain details of and excerpts from the General Construction Contract between the County and FPC. "The fixed price for construction is $65,841,294.00." Construction must conform to WMATA, Federal Transit Administration and Montgomery County requirements. "Liquidated damages" clauses ($8,900.00/day) are included.
• pgs. 22-25 contain details of and excerpts from the County's agreements with Balter to inspect work on the SSTC. 
• pgs. 26 and 27 present problems in design and construction of the SSTC. "Both before and after construction began, WMATA and the County expressed concern to PB about over-restraint in the design of the concrete slabs and questioned whether such a condition would create a problem." (Note: "Over-restraint" is what you get in a 315 ft. wide by 580 ft. long concrete building that doesn't have any expansion joints (despite the fact that WMATA design and construction standards require that expansion joints be placed at least every 100 ft.) The "over-restraint" isn't restricted to just slabs; but, beams, girders and columns are "over-restrained" too. One would think that with all of the people looking at plans over the course of the many years during which design, permitting, construction and (supposedly) inspection took place, that someone would have realized that a 315 ft. wide by 580 ft. long concrete building without expansion joints is "over-restrained". Structures 101. DUH!) 
  
• pgs. 27 to 29 present a brief summary of the County retaining structural engineering firm KCE to investigate design, construction and inspection defects and to develop solutions. Page 29 states: "Balter, whom the County had retained as its watchdog ... and paid $1,124,399.57 for its services, ... (Balter) apparently never detected ... defects ..." 
• pgs. 29 to 31 present remedial actions taken in response to KCE's report. On page 30 it states: "the County asked PB on more than one occasion to provide its shear and torsion calculations... PB responded repeatedly that it had already provided those calculations... Ultimately, PB admitted that it had never performed the shear and torsion calculations... PB refused to participate in devising a solution." 
• pg. 31 states: "In addition to the $77,574,332.00 it had already been paid, FPC was paid millions of dollars for this remediation work, which would have been unnecessary if the job had been done correctly the first time." 
• pgs. 31 and 32 discuss transfer of the SSTC to WMATA.                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Montgomery County passing the severely flawed                                                  Silver Spring Transit Center to equally flawed WMATA                                                                                                                                   
• pgs. 32 to 57 describe each of the counts of the complaint, which are as follows:

• count 1--breach of PB's design contract 
• count 2--breach of PB construction oversight contract 
• count 3--breach of express warranty (PB) (Note: For those of us who aren't lawyers, "breach of express warranty" is like when a public official (e.g. David Dise, Isiah Leggett, George Leventhal, et al) make statements like "we're going to get all of the money back from those who are responsible"--a promise. When the promise isn't kept, e.g., the public doesn't get back all of the money from those who the promise-maker says are responsible, then that's breach (breaking) of express warranty (promise).
• count 4--professional negligence (PB design contract)
• count 5--professional negligence (PB construction oversight contract) 
• count 6--indemnification-hold harmless (PB) 
• count 7--intentional misrepresentation (PB) 
• count 8--negligent misrepresentation (PB) 
• count 9--gross negligence (PB) 
• count 10--breach of contract (FPC) 
• count 11--breach of express warranty (FPC) 
• count 12--negligence (FPC) 
• count 13--indemnification-hold harmless (FPC) 
• count 14--breach of contract (Balter) 
• count 15--professional negligence (Balter) 
• count 16--indemnification-hold harmless (Balter)  
• count 17--breach of PB design contract WRT WMATA 
• count 18--breach of express warranty (PB) WRT WMATA 
• count 19--professional negligence (PB) WRT WMATA 
• count 20--indemnification-hold harmless (PB design contract) WRT WMATA 
• count 21--breach of contract (FPC) WRT WMATA 
• count 22--breach of express warranty (FPC) WRT WMATA 
• count 23--negligence (FPC) WRT WMATA 
• count 24--indemnification-hold harmless (FPC) WRT WMATA 
• count 25--breach of contract (Balter) WRT WMATA  
• count 26--professional negligence (Balter) WRT WMATA   

One third of the total counts are Montgomery County's against Parsons Brinckerhoff. When WMATA's counts against PB are added, then one half of the total counts are against Parsons Brinckerhoff. Feel the love!

For the past two and one half years the news media (print, TV, radio, internet) have reported one side of the story--Montgomery County's--Isiah Leggett, George Leventhal, Roger Berliner, David Dise (ad nauseum), et al. The games have just begun. Let's hear what PB, FPC and Balter have to say. We're bound to learn some things different from what Montgomery County and the news media have been saying for the past two and a half years.

One thing for sure--we taxpayers, lose again!

Silver Spring Transit Center 
Paul S. Sarbanes Transit Center 
Montgomery County MD 
WMATA 
public-private partnership 
crony capitalism 
Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) 
Federal Transit Administration (FTA) 
Purple Line 
Gov. Hogan