Men at Work
The temperature is in the mid-80s, it’s not raining, so one might think today would be a good day for construction companies to ramp up work on Project 180 streets downtown, right?
Sadly, those who own businesses or have to get around downtown know that it’s rare that one sees more than a couple of guys working on a street at any given time. After hearing continued complaints about the lack of “seriousness” taken by contractors in finishing work on downtown’s streets, I took a drive and took my own survey.
On one job site I saw more than 40 guys busy at work, completing a plaza area. Oh wait. That was on the Devon Energy Center/Colcord Hotel plaza and those crews were hired by Devon, not by the city.
Hudson Avenue, Main Street, Walker Avenue, Colcord Drive, Sheridan Avenue and Broadway are all torn up. I counted 16 guys – total – spread out among these different job sites. On Broadway I saw just two guys “on the job” in front of the Cox Convention Center. For 10 minutes I watched a guy on a backhoe talking to a guy in a ditch. They talked. And talked. And they didn’t seem to be doing anything else.
Consider that only a couple of guys were to be seen working on Main Street at Walker Avenue, which was supposed to be done in autumn of 2011. They’re still not done, even though the reasoning for the delays – a basement problem at 420 W Main – was supposedly addressed and fixed months ago.
I suppose City Hall has an answer for all of this. And I seriously doubt the fed up merchants – and those who have already lost their businesses due to Project 180 – are in the mood for any more excuses.
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Comments
If I had a day off when they work, I’d go down there in the worst of my worst clothes and ask if there’s anything I can do to speed them up. If they replied “no”, then I’d start unpacking my tent and set it up so I can camp like them.
Or as I stated on okctalk.com, and improving upon it, I’m going to start a business renting out 2×10″ 20′ planks of wood to downtown employees so they can walk safely through these zones without fear of being hit by a car or injuring themselves walking through clumps of dirt.
No comments or explanation from city staff? This is inexcusable unless there is some reason that is not obvious.
Until the voters wake up and kill the cash cow that is MAPS and resoundingly tell the city no more and kill MAPS4 this nonsense will continue.
The only thing that gets a politicians attention is when the taxpayers slam their pocketbook SHUT.
Project 180 and MAPS are not the same. And the thing that needs to be done is more of these posts holding people accountable (although, this seems to be the same thing that happens with any road project anywhere in the country, why is that?). I do not want projects to stop…I want them to get finished so I can enjoy them.
I suggest we eliminate the fine for speeding in a road construction zone. Might get those guys working a little quicker.
On Main Street the crews only do actual work one day a week, if it’s a busy week. For the most part they stand around smoking cigarettes, blocking sidewalks, blocking detours, and the like.
Somebody needs to be fired. A lot more construction workers need to be hired. Is this city doing this with its own crews or something? That would be the first mistake.
Nick a whole lot of folks need to be fired. Starting with the infestation around the City Council horseshoe. Brent I know they are not actually realted but both get their money from the same source, taxpayers.
Unless and until the current dolts on the CC are voted into unemployment and the money tap is TURNED OFF the chicanery will continue.
I just read last night that the farcical convention center will have to be built in stages since the money currently planned may not be not enough??? WHAT?????
Beginning with Ron Norick, city leaders proved themselves worthy of public trust and treasure. No longer.
MikeN: the Convention Center has always been talked about as being built in phases due to the cost (Phase 1 with MAPS 3 & 2 somewhere down the line) are you talking about even more phases than that?
“I just read last night that the farcical convention center will have to be built in stages since the money currently planned may not be not enough??? WHAT?????”
where did you see that?
Steve this came from the Gazette. If it is some kind of copyright/trademakr violation then delete or alter as needed.
Convention center subcommittee members were frustrated last year when told that of the $280 million in MAPS 3 funds set aside for the convention center, $30 million of it would pay for relocating an OGE substation near a proposed site for the facility.
Some city officials caution that the MAPS 3 convention center may need to be built with expansion in mind.
BY CLIFTON ADCOCK
Members of a group overseeing progress of the future MAPS 3 convention center have expressed concern that budget constraints could cause the city to miss the mark on a key goal for the facility.
The proposed $252 million convention center was to elevate Oklahoma City from a lower Tier 3 convention site to a higher Tier 2 site, said Roy Williams, Greater Oklahoma City Chamber CEO and MAPS 3 convention center subcommittee board member.
However, funding from the MAPS 3 sales tax may not be enough to pay for a convention center that would bump the city up to Tier 2 status, said Mike Carrier, president of the Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau and a subcommittee member.
Convention center subcommittee members were frustrated last year when told that of the $280 million in MAPS 3 funds set aside for the convention center, $30 million of it would pay for relocating an OGE substation near a proposed site for the facility.
The subcommittee recommended a different location, and the question of what to do with the $30 million intended for the OGE substation removal went to the City Council. Council members voted to put the money in an infrastructure/contingency fund, leaving around $250 million for the convention center.
At the convention center subcommittee’s June 26 meeting, Williams said the original study identifying what it would take to elevate OKC to a Tier 2 site, would be at least 200,000 square feet of exhibit space and 35,000 square feet of ballroom space, as well as more meeting spaces.
above The center’s planned site
This budget probably will not get us where we would like.
—Mike Carrier
Carrier suggested that list of recommendations for a future consultant be amended to characterize the recommendations as guidelines, not requirements, and to give the consultant room to design the building to allow for future expansions.
“[This budget] probably will not get us where we would like to be,” he told the subcommittee. “I think that’s the reason we expressed concern in the way [the recommendations were] written to make sure [consultants] have the flexibility to maximize space and get as much as possible — square-foot-wise — at a level to compete with Tier 2 cities.”
Even if the square footage does not meet the study’s recommendations, said Carrier, it still will draw bigger conventions.
“It’s a big step in the right direction,” he said.
I doubt the city is using its own crews, they aren’t just filling potholes. Regardless, they need to put it in drive and get it done. What percentage of work did they actually achieve compared to the original P180 scope? That is the most troublesome…
This is a huge problem in America. A frightening proportion of Americans are willfully lazy and will take any and every opportunity to not work. It’s why so many Mexicans are hired for this kind of work, these delays are a direct effect of tightening immigration laws and failing public schools. Thanks Republicans, good job stopping us from being able to do ANYTHING. It’s not just the city contractors, I guarantee you of those 60 guys you saw on the Devon project, 50 of them spent about 1 hour out of the 8 hour day actually working, my boyfriend is working there right now.
“I suppose City Hall has an answer for all of this. And I seriously doubt the fed up merchants – and those who have already lost their businesses due to Project 180 – are in the mood for any more excuses.”
BINGO