Back to Square 1 on Laurelhurst Park duck pond
The City of Portland has announced that it's cancelling the cleanout of the foul pond in Laurelhurst Park, because it way underestimated the cost. No word on what the bureaucrats will do next, but they're not ready to plunk down $1.5 million or more to get the job done.
It would be interesting to know how much the city has already spent on this project. We sent away for the full bid documents on the deal, and they were quite extensive.
| Posted at 3:49 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (7)
"all offers exceeded the project estimate by more than 80%."
So either the city couldn't prepare a realistic estimate despite all the planners and contract managers they have on staff, or they were trying to squeeze the bidders and get the work done on the cheap. I'm not sure which is more appalling to contemplate.
Yeah, I guess the bidders could have been trying to milk the city, but given how desperate they are for work these days I'm sure they were low-balling their bids.
Posted by Eric | March 30, 2010 4:18 PM
It seems like a fairly easy task: drain the water, bring in a couple of front-end loaders and some dump trucks, scrape up and haul away most of the muck (likely great compost for community gardens, by the way). Use a couple of fire-hoses to blast away remaining debris (good training for wannabe firefighters), then refill the pond. Only bureaucrats can take an easy job and turn it into a "project".
Posted by Max | March 30, 2010 4:30 PM
They learned from what happened to BES - if you estimate high, Creepy will take any savings for his pet projects.
Posted by umpire | March 30, 2010 4:35 PM
Just charge the cost overruns to the Green Streets project.
If you can't afford, friggin' steal it from another bureau. It's the Portland Way.
Posted by Mister Tee | March 30, 2010 5:57 PM
Thing is.... the pond has been messed up and off limits for a couple of years so why the hurry now?
Posted by LucsAdvo | March 30, 2010 6:53 PM
LucsAdvo
Fish + Parks Commissioner + Uncertain May Election = Urgency
Posted by james | March 30, 2010 7:55 PM
Things are simply too whacked out.
Even if the community around the park wanter to band together and git rer done.
The city would prohibit any approach but the most costly.
If they wanted to some volunteeers and hire some excavators and manage the project no way.
It would all have to be according to the costly template thathas grwon from interests disconnected from the public's interests.
Posted by Ben | March 30, 2010 9:21 PM