I'm guessing you have never bought a pre-cast concrete concession stand, but just in case, here is a reminder: Before it arrives, you need to prepare the ground it will sit on. Then if you expect actually to use it, you need electrical, water and sewer connections. Pretty soon that cute little $71,000, 260-square-foot object of your desire will have you on the hook for nearly $200,000!
Or, as City Council President Adrian Mapp put it in talking about a real-life purchase of a pre-cast concrete concession stand, someone in the administration put taxpayers on the hook for the initial $71,000. And now the governing body is hearing the rest of the story.
The purchase, from a Spokane, Wash. company, was apparently made in January and former Chief Finance Officer Ron Zilinski's name, along with the initials "L.M.," was on the certification attesting that grant funds were available to pay for it. But on Monday the governing body was asked to consider using money from a bond ordinance to pay $30,000 for engineering costs, and a document in the packet spelled out the estimated total with contingencies and design costs - $193,952.
Councilman William Reid, in a second public instance of using barnyard imagery, called the engineering charges a case of "sucking too hard on the teat."
But the city engineers are only letting the governing body know what it might take to turn a concrete shell into a functioning concession stand that meets building codes.
Someone mentioned the Bryant Park restroom as a prior example of not taking all aspects of a project into account in a timely way. Looks like lessons were not learned.
--Bernice
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The 4" sanitary sewer connection that will be required to service the building will be DIFFICULT to install. The sewer is on the other side of the road, there is a force main in the way plus several other obstacles. This is common knowledge among those with any history with the town, but consultants always know better. Sign me Been There
ReplyDeleteYou know it wouldn't be so bad ( meaning we could roll our eyes and pretend it wasn't going on ) if we didn't have to see the dog and pony show of disgust from Bill Reid concerning the costs of anything this administration and it's stooges does. Any attempt to reign in stupidity has been met with Reid's ignorant protests.
ReplyDeleteSo what value does this purchase bring to the city of Plainfield? The $193, 152k price tag that keeps growing because there aren't processes to require all associated costs to be captured in these proposals. As well, I go back to value it brings to the city of Plainfield. I'm sure if prioritization was a practice in our spending we would have found more productive ways to allocate the almost 200k price tag.
ReplyDeleteWhen its not your money, people obviously dont care! How anyone can look at this and actually order it must be insane! Look at the numbers $71,000 for 260 sq ft = $273 per sq ft and thats just the building now finished cost is $193,952 for 260 sq ft = $745 per sq ft!!!!!
ReplyDeleteResearching average construction costs in NJ I came up with the following:
$100 - $400 per Square foot of living space (builder grade to luxury)
$40 garage per Square foot
$15 roof per Square foot
$60 Basement per Square foot
How can anyone possibly justify spending $745 per square ft! Where were the bids for this job? If someone made this decision in a private company they would be fired on the spot, but when its taxpayer money I guess that makes it ok. Someone needs to lose their job over this, if they can justify this cost who knows what else money is being wasted on and all at the expense of the taxpayers! No wonder our property taxes are so high, its spending like this that is out of control. And just think what your property taxes would be if we were not an abbott disctict, thats right none of your tax dollars go to the school system.
True that. Reid is the Moe to that group of Stooges.
ReplyDeleteThis is disgusting. How did this project ever get approved? If the need of a concession stand was approved in the first place was there a serious discussion on alternatives for kind of structures and bids from multiple vendors? A pre-fab structure would have met the business requirements for this project. The individual who did this would be terminated in any other job. Our tax payer dollars on this project will not improve safety, education, downtown economic development in any significant way.
ReplyDeleteDid anyone consider the utilization of a concession truck provided by an approved vendor. Am I missing something? Or are the persons in charge of this City just plain stupid.
ReplyDeleteObviously they are just plain stupid, but even worse is the fact we vote the people into office. People really need to wake up and think about who they are voting for.
DeletePut the structure in the mayor's parking space and let her figure it out.
ReplyDeleteShe can order her lunch from there instead of blackberries
DeleteWho needs a concession stand anyway? When I was growing up in the Bronx, Little League was played at either DeWitt Clinton HS or Bronx HS of Science- no concession stands at either location. When my son was of Little League age, he played at several locations in Westfield. Again, no concession stands. Is Plainfield some sort of gilded community? Certainly if the business is potentially good enough, some entrepreneurial truck vendor will show up to satisfy any demand.
ReplyDeleteThe Mayor and her cronies may conjure up foolish and costly ideas, but it's the City Council that approves them. Their approval comes cheap, unless of course Council President Adrian Mapp thinks he can make some political hay. He, she, them, and they, are all operating without any concern for this city.
Mapp should rent it out for his BBQ on Saturday if they Mayor isn't already using it as a candy dispensary.
This is the type of wasteful spending that keeps Plainfield from moving forward. I'm sure there's a lot more of this spending that has gone unnoticed, all at the expense of tax paying residents.
ReplyDeleteAnyone with any type of knowledge or know-how would have done their research and proposed a simple roll-out concession stand, like those used at major arenas and/or sporting venues -- which would have cost only few thousand dollars. Does the city really need this structure? There are so many other pressing issues in Plainfield that need attention.
(It's like buying a brand new Mercedes to park in front of your dilapidated house, when all you could really afford to buy is a 1985 Ford Escort so you have enough money to properly feed your children and maintain your home)
Priorities people, priorities!!!
The funds used to purchase this structure and get it to be fully operational could be otherwise used for short and long term financial gains for the city, by investing the funds into a variety of economic development efforts, like hiring someone who actually knows how to attract new business to Plainfield through marketing, publicity; or even better, refrain from spending the money until there's a new administration that can hopefully bring about some real change.
Stop wasting our tax payer dollars on ridiculous purchases.
Yep, we are contemplating a major league concession stand costing "major league" money!
ReplyDeleteAny thoughts about how to stock and operate the stand after all of the engineering, consultant, installation costs?
I agree 100% with 10:29am especially the last statement!
This administration is out of control. Why would we need a new concession stand when only certain teams can use the field? and those are only the ones Mr. Wynn approves. Second why spend that kind of money on a stand when only one pool in the entire city is open with all these children w out of school for the summer, one would think you would spend the funds if available on getting the parks up and running for the youth. Especially when the Mayor stresses how much she loves them. We have nothing for the youth and you think spending any where from 71,000 - 200,000, on a concession stand is wise, You foolish, foolish people. go visit other towns or look into our city's archives and see what we used to have and what we could've have. I am so tired of this administration, I might just run for Mayor myself next year, because I do believe it's time for change and a mayor that really care about our community and show it. I know change isn't made over night, and yes we have seen change, but nothing to benefit us citizens unless you call higher taxes, boarded up houses, a bunch of spanish grocery stores and a down town that looks like a different country, a non-working shot spotter, and the list goes on and on. Time for a change. Plainfield was once a beautiful city!
ReplyDeleteBernice: I'm surprised that you published this comment considering its anti-latino sentiment ("a bunch of spanish grocery stores" and "a down town that looks like a different country").
DeleteTo whoever wrote this comment: perhaps you should consider that the Latino community has positively contributed to Plainfield in a very short time, many of whom have taken great pride in their homes by fixing them up and many others who have opened their own businesses, making them productive tax producing citizens; whether or not it serves your needs or you like it, is a completely different story.
Latinos did not cause the downfall of Plainfield.
You can blame demise of downtown and the blight that has developed over the past 40 years, primarily, on years of failed leadership and greedy, agenda-driven elected officials -- both black and white.
I respectfully suggest you give my comments some thought and I hope you seriously consider running for Mayor, or at the very least, encourage your friends and neighbors to make a change through voting for more capable candidates and not the usual Plainfield machine candidates.
I've got to agree with "KEEPING IT REAL" ---- WELL SAID!
Deletepm 1.41 sounds like the mayor and jerry green, both of them like nothing about the hispanics. remember wht brought the town down at the first place. I see history repeating itself.
DeletePlease explain to me why anyone would spend that kind of money on a &^$$#@$#% concession stand (when we have several truck vendors that pay over $200.00 a year for a vendor license in Plainfield and they also pay for a health license) that would be more than happy to come to the games or whatever event and provide whatever refreshments you need. This way you are helping the small business man make a living and saving the City money. Oops, my bad, I forgot Plainfield's administration & council are not interested in saving money, the more we can throw away the better.
ReplyDelete"Or, as City Council President Adrian Mapp put it in talking about a real-life purchase of a pre-cast concrete concession stand, someone in the administration put taxpayers on the hook for the initial $71,000. And now the governing body is hearing the rest of the story."
ReplyDeleteMore passing the buck from the king of passing the buck.
When this first came up in February it was withdrawn by the Administration. When it came up again in March it was approved unanimously by the City Council (McWilliams excluded because she was absent). A perusal of the Council packet documents makes clear that numerous other costs would be required. All three proposals keep the building itself separate from the site preparation and fully fitting out the structure as a food operation. So for someone to imply they are now surprised by extensive extra costs is baloney, at best.
The idea may have been foolish to begin with, but it is the Mapp-led City Council that put us on the hook. It is the Mapp-led City Council that voted its approval for a half or one third-baked plan.
Now perhaps they were misled by Dave Wynn's letter requesting the resolution in which he wrote "The total cost associated with the contract for purposes of facility upgrade/new concession stand will be $71,432.03". However, it's true in the narrow sense because the contract was only for a building with some fixtures, dropped off by a truck and crane. It should have been obvious there would be other costs.
R&V gets their money, but this shouldn't be a surprise seeing as how both Robinson-Briggs and Mapp both take campaign loot from these engineers/political contributors. Nor should it be a surprise that politics, not prudence or practicality, underscores the whole affair.
These two characters may be gunning for each other politically (a la WBLS), but we are the real victims of the wastefulness of time and money, and their mutual lack of ideas and ethics.
I say chop the building up into small pieces, give a few to each elected and non-elected public official in the city, and invite the mobile food vendors in to make a nominal profit if they can. Better yet people, bring your own healthy sandwich and drink if you've got to chow down at a game. Throw out the garbage when you're done, along with the know-nothing and could-care-less politicians gaming us in every imaginable way.
Drop the building on the ground where it belongs and Leave it. Do not spend any additional money to install this waste of money project. Let's cut our losses now and limit it to the $71,000 and that's it. Let them figure out what to do then or pay for it out of their own pocket and then let's see how great of a project this seems now
ReplyDeleteThe mayor and Wynn are the ones who need to lose their jobs. Remember to vote out this joke of a mayor in the next election. If she gets the Democratic nod to be on the ballot, I'm becoming a Republican!
ReplyDelete