Today's Outrage
After months of lecturing the public about the
importance of the fiduciary responsibility of spending 2004 Street
Bond money, Citizens' Streets Advisory Commission Chairman Dallas
Hawkins asked CSAC to approve an "early completion incentive" of up
to $50,000 for the contractor on the 29th Avenue project. This, according
to the CSAC's February meeting minutes, is due to a concern about
having to detour traffic for an extended period during construction.
The contractor will be awarded $5,000 per day for every day the project
comes in under schedule, up to a cap of $50,000.
What does our $50,000 buy us? Ten days of not having to make detours
around 29th Avenue construction!
Chairman Hawkins keeps telling us that there is no money in the 2004
Street Bond fund to obey the law and abide by Comprehensive Plan policy
that mandates pedestrian safety, traffic calming and street trees.
But money to purchase ten less constructions days? Sure!!!
What would $50,000 buy in street trees? According to the city's urban
forester, new street trees cost approximately $300 each. That comes
to 166 trees. Figuring those trees would be worth just the average
value of all those sick, diseased and dying trees on Bernard ($7609)
in 30 years, the value of those trees would grow to $1,263,044.
Ten extra days of hassle free travel on 29th Avenue next summer or
166 street trees worth over a million dollars for the next generation.
What choice would you make?
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