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Archive for the 'Public works' Category

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Great Park: Controversial firm gets $1.6 million no-bid contract

December 16th, 2009, 5:00 am by Sean Emery

aerial-planA consultant criticized for questionable oversight of millions of dollars spent on designing the Great Park has received a new $1.6 million, no-bid contract.

Gafcon, Inc. , the Great Park Design Studio’s former money manager will become construction manager of the park’s $65 million initial development plan.

The decision to keep Gafcon has angered park critics, who question why the firm originally in charge of overseeing the costly design process hasn’t been held accountable for a recent auditor’s determination that oversight of the early park contract was “not as tight as one would expect” for a project of the Great Park’s magnitude.

“They completely failed in their responsibilities. The firm of Gafcon has proven over and over to me that they are just inept,” said Irvine Councilwoman and Great Park board member Christina Shea. “To go from that to being a construction manager is almost laughable.”

Great Park officials defended Gafcon’s role with the Great Park, saying the change is simply part of a larger shakeup of park consultants meant to smooth the transition from three years of intensive design work to a $65 million construction plan aimed at bringing acres of agricultural land, sports fields, improved roadways and community gardens.

KEEPING THE PARK ON TRACK

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Posted in: Cities • Great Park • Public works | 38 Comments »

$200 million stimulus dollars languish as state dithers

December 3rd, 2009, 5:00 am by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer

state-energy-commissionThe suffering state of California was awarded $226 million in Recovery Act dollars to stimulate energy-related projects earlier this year.

But by mid-November, the state Energy Commission had entered into contracts worth just $40 million - and none of that money had actually been spent.

Well, there is one little exception: The Energy Commission took $71,000 from the stimulus pot to fund its own administrative costs.

A new report by the California State Auditor says the federal millions are at risk because state “has been slow in developing guidelines, issuing requests for proposals, and implementing the internal controls needed to administer the Energy Program.”

If the Energy Commission continues plodding at this pace, “the State is at risk of either having the funds redirected by the U.S. Department of Energy or awarding them in a compressed period of time without first establishing an adequate system of internal controls, which increases the risk that Recovery Funds will be misused,” the auditor says (in that delightful auditor-esque way).

The state is unlikely to actually start spending the money until next spring and summer, the auditor says. If  it isn’t spent by the end of September, it may disappear; the feds can take it back and give it to folks who will actually use it to create jobs. (California,  for the record, has the fourth-highest unemployement rate in America - 12.5 percent. So no rush or anything.)

MANNA FROM WASHINGTON

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Posted in: Electricity • Federal spending • Public works • State government • Uncategorized | 16 Comments »

Poseidon adventure: $350 million public subsidy for private desalination plant

November 13th, 2009, 5:00 am by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer

poseidon(Vote in our poll: Should Poseidon get the subsidy?)

The mighty Metropolitan Water District of Southern California agreed this week to pony up $14 million per year - or $350 million over the next 25 years, if you prefer to think of it that way - to pay for desalinated water in San Diego County.

That money will go to public entities - cities and water districts - to offset the cost of water they’ll buy from a private, yet-to-be-built, desalination plant in Carlsbad. That plant will be constructed and owned by Poseidon Resources LLC. 

If this Poseidon thing rings a bell, it’s not just because you remember Shelley Winters from the disaster movie. Poseidon is also working on a similar project in Huntington Beach. 

The San Diego project, however, is much farther along, and will be Southern California’s first major foray into ocean desalination. Construction of the $300 million-or-so plant should begin next year, and water is supposed to flow in 2012. It will provide enough water for about 300,000 residents, or  100,000 homes a year. (Over the quarter-century, that translates to some 1.4 million acre-feet of new water - nearly twice the capacity of Diamond Valley Lake, the region’s largest drinking water reservoir near Hemet, Met says. See Met report here: met-desal-report)

Poseidon hopes to issue more than $500 million in tax-free bonds to construct the Carlsbad facility.

The $350 million public dollars that will make their way to Poseidon’s pockets over the next quarter-century come from Met’s Local Resources Program, which aims to boost SoCal’s own water supplies, and reduce dependence on the imported stuff. It’s a controversial move:

  • Critics want Met to fund public projects, not private ones.
  • Environmentalists worry about the impact of highly salty brine, a byproduct of desalination, and want to pursue cheaper alternatives (conservation, recycling, recapturing stormwater and the like).
  • Others worry about Poseidon’s splotchy track record. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Cities • Consumer stuff • Public works • Special districts • Water | 22 Comments »

Vote! Should Poseidon get $350 million public subsidy for private desal plant?

November 13th, 2009, 4:59 am by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer

poseidon1(Read the main story here)

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California agreed this week to pony up $350 million over the next 25 years to pay for desalinated water in San Diego County.

That money will go to public entities - cities and water districts - to offset the cost of water they’ll buy from a private, yet-to-be-built, desalination plant in Carlsbad. It will be constructed and owned by Poseidon Resources LLC.

Some feel that Met should be funding public efforts to find new water, not private ones. Others worry about the project’s effect on the environment. And still others question Poseidon’s ability to get the job done.

So. Should Met - whose money comes from the 19 million Southern Californians who pay for water through their cities and water districts - cough up the $350 million?
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Posted in: Cities • Consumer stuff • Polls • Public works • Special districts • Water | 8 Comments »

Will SR-91 stimulus project create 493 jobs — or 60?

October 13th, 2009, 5:00 am by Jessica Terrell

For months, Orange County Transportation Authority officials have boasted that projects funded by federal stimulus money could create as many as 3,781 local jobs.

But a close examination of employment estimates shows that formulas for estimating job creation vary wildly and actual payroll numbers are likely to be much, much lower.

Orange County’s largest stimulus project, an extension of the SR-91, was projected by OCTA to create as many as 1,332 jobs. According to the transportation agency’s formula, 493 of those jobs should have been direct full time construction work lasting a year.

But the company that won the contract estimates the project will take 100,000 manhours – the equivalent of less than 60 full time jobs lasting the length of the 10-month project.
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Posted in: Federal spending • Financial meltdown • Public works • Transportation | 9 Comments »

Despite scathing report and vows to change, county planning still gouges residents

October 9th, 2009, 5:39 am by Jennifer Muir

build-your-own-solar-panel-main_fullIf there’s anything you can count on in government, it’s that change doesn’t happen fast.

That’s why the Watchdog wasn’t exactly surprised to get a letter this week from Santa Ana resident and retired Redondo Beach motorcycle cop Mark Rodina, complaining the county’s planning department overcharged him for a permit to upgrade the aging electrical panel on his house. Rodina wants to install solar panels, and fixing up the 1960s-era wiring is the first step.

So in September, Rodina headed down to the county’s planning department to pay for a permit that his electrician friend said would cost about $50 bucks. (The Watchdog double checked this estimate in Fountain Valley, and was told a similar permit would cost a flat fee of about $48.)

Imagine his surprise when the clerk at OC Planning told him he’d have to open an account and put down a $400 deposit.

Rodina was told that whenever a county employee — from an inspector to a clerk — worked on his request, they’d charge the time they spent against that deposit. The county would refund anything left over in the account when the job was done.

The practice is called charging for Time and Materials, and it was one of the main problems called out in July in a  scathing audit of the county’s planning department, which described customer service as “mediocre at best.” Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Bureaucratic bungles • County government • Public works | 33 Comments »

California asks Uncle Sam for $4.6 billion for high-speed trains

September 25th, 2009, 2:33 pm by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer

high-speed-railImagine whizzing from Anaheim to San Francisco in just two hours and 57 minutes on a high-speed train, to enjoy dim sum in Chinatown.

For $40 billion or so, it might just come to pass!

On Thursday, the California High-Speed Rail Authority decided to apply for $4.57 billion in Federal High-Speed Rail Stimulus Funding  for 10 projects throughout the state. That includes:

  • $2 billion for the Los Angeles to Anaheim segment,
  • $1.28 billion for the San Francisco to San Jose segment,
  • $819 million for the Fresno to Bakersfield segment, and
  • $466 million for the Merced to Fresno segment.

California would use state bond funds - from the recent passage of Proposition 1A, the High-Speed Rail Act,  to match federal money dollar for dollar. The money would pay for preliminary engineering, project-level environmental work, mitigation, final design and construction.

Each of these segments is supposed to come online by Sept. 30, 2017.

This doesn’t mean we have the money, of course, but we’re in a good position to get our eager little hands on at least some of it. Why? Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Federal government • Federal spending • Public works • State government • Transportation • • • | 31 Comments »

Great Park must pay for failed attempt to keep info secret from its own board members

September 22nd, 2009, 5:00 am by Sean Emery

great-parkThe full price tag for a controversial Great Park lawsuit has finally been revealed - with park leaders spending more than $200,000 in a failed attempt to block several of its own board members from accessing resumes tied to a contentious CEO search.

In a response to public information requests by the Register, the city has acknowledged spending $126,472 on legal fees defending itself against the lawsuit filed by council members Christina Shea and Steven Choi.

Attorney Ben Pugh, who represented Shea and Choi, reported last month that the city paid another $75,000 to cover his clients’ legal fees.

The bulk of the legal fees, $120,982, went to Nossaman LLP, the Great Park’s contracted legal firm. The remaining $5,490went to Rutan & Tucker, who handle city attorney services for Irvine.

A ROCKY CEO SEARCH

The effort to end a revolving door of Great Park CEOs turned into one of the more contentious chapters in the Great Park’s history, with allegations of backdoor deals and political posturing thromarty-bryantwn by both sides.

After going through four chief executives during the first four years of Great Park development - including one, Marty Bryant (right), who was later revealed to have pleaded guilty years earlier to embezzling funds from San Juan Capistrano to buy cocaine - the city embarked on what staffers described as the most ambitious recruitment effort in Irvine’s history.

Shea and Choi cried foul, however, when two men with close ties to Irvine politics were named the finalists among 150 candidates. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Cities • Great Park • Public works • • • | 46 Comments »

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