A classic government bungle in Salem
The newspaper in our state's capital went front page yesterday with a scathing account of how the county and city blew $34 million constructing an unsafe and totally unusable public building complex and transit mall that would now take another $40 million or more to fix. And guess what: No one in government is accepting any responsibility. They put all the blame on a structural engineer, who's now conveniently deceased.
But there were warnings given during construction -- warnings that the politicians and bureaucrats ignored. The taxpayers down that way -- and the occupants of the complex whose lives were endangered -- deserve an apology from somebody. [Via Hines.]
| Posted at 7:46 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (4)
I hope it was LEED Silver Certified. That would be comedy GOLD.
Posted by Mister Tee | August 15, 2011 7:59 AM
Local architect and contractor accept no responsibility, either. And both firms are still doing lots of public work around there.
Posted by dg | August 15, 2011 10:00 AM
According to this article, it was LEED certified, but I don't know to what level.
http://www.matternetwork.com/2010/8/does-salems-building-disaster-give.cfm
Posted by Jon | August 15, 2011 10:14 AM
"...Problems with the building's design were compounded by revisions made during its construction. Many of the changes "appear to constitute completing the design during construction," according to Golder's report."
Ya' mean, like building the new MAX bridge before it is fully designed? Not as much "Fast-tracked" as it is "Half-fast."
Posted by Old Zeb | August 15, 2011 10:57 AM