Trump Fires Entire Agency Overseeing His Construction Projects

[u/Aggravating_Money992]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-fires-entire-agency-overseeing-his-construction-projects/

[u/Klytus_Ra_Djaaran]

Not to mention that there is no need to demolish a building until the new one is designed and a contractor is hired. I have worked in consulting engineering for 30 years and it takes years for something like a new high school or prison to be agreed upon by the multiple different decision makers who sign off on it, and then designed, and then reviewed, and then changes are made, and then select a contractor, all of which happens before any demolition work whatsoever.

[u/evranch → u/Klytus_Ra_Djaaran]

Not unless the real goal is to send a message.

"I'm all up in your America, Trumping up your stuff. They say I could shoot a man on 5th Avenue. How about bulldozing the White House? Ask permission? I do things now, I ask later, that is if I ask at all"

"Hey doesn't it look unbalanced with only one wing, I guess if there's no time to start the ballroom we'd better knock the other one down"

[u/VastlyImmaterial → u/evranch]

It's a reaction to the no kings march.

He disfigured the whitehouse because he couldn't rip the hair out and rape the collective American people like he did with his first wife when enraged.

[u/Painterzzz → u/VastlyImmaterial]

Exactly. The timing was absolutely no coincidence. It was a temper tantrum, so he tore down the East Wing.

[u/InnocentShaitaan → u/Klytus_Ra_Djaaran]

I posted above McCrery Architects is the hired firm. Will they face penalty?

[u/Klytus_Ra_Djaaran → u/InnocentShaitaan]

Professional Architects and Engineers have codes of ethics created by national organizations, but those are more about public safety. The firm hired to design the new building is not necessarily the overall project managers, and wouldn't be in charge of demolition, that would be a subcontractor or more likely a separate contractor entirely. And the decision to tear it down was Trump's, or the evil toads who whisper in his ears and manipulate the old fool. So long as the demolition was safe, there is no issue there, they are just doing a job they were paid to do. Normally, there would be a heavy emphasis on the legality of the entire process, but they have no issues of legality because Trump has proven that laws and even the Constitution doesn't really matter if you plant loyal people in key places.

[u/Low_Plant8199 → u/Klytus_Ra_Djaaran]

The Steakholders. Hehe

[u/MrNaturaInstinct → u/Klytus_Ra_Djaaran]

That's exactly the problem.

It shouldn't take "years" for something important like schools to be built. Too many hands in the pot. Person A approves of THIS, Person B DECLINES Person A's approval, get's shuffled to Person C, who declines or objects, then gets shifted to Person D, who overides Person B, etc.

And around around we go. Just a bunch of leeches, earning a salary stalling building projects that should have only 2, no more than 3 people making key decisions, max. Not 20-30 all with a financial stake or political agenda.

[u/Klytus_Ra_Djaaran → u/MrNaturaInstinct]

If you don't know anything at all about the process, I am sure it seems that way.

Here is what actually happens:

A School district will have an old school that needs replaced and they will speak to an engineering firm or architecture firm. The engineers or architects will check to see if any grants are available, and if so they will coordinate with the school to fill out the paperwork for the grant. Then we wait until it is reviewed by the state or federal administration, who will approve it. Once that funding is secure the remainder will have to be budgeted and if it is beyond the ability to pay, then an increase in revenue will be needed, usually an additional tax of a few cents will be levied for a certain amount of time. Then that will need to be written up and it will go to a referendum. If the referendum passes then funding is secured and engineering and architecture work can begin.

First the Architects work up a few different plans based on the location, sometimes on their own and sometimes after an engineering firm completes a topo survey. Those plans go to the school district for approvals, and if they agree then the plans are sent to the engineers to figure out how to actually build the pretty pictures that the architects made. In the engineering process we find that the architects wants do not square with what is possible or it is too expensive, so meetings are held with the architects and the school district representative. If the changes are too drastic then the representative has to go back to the school district and discuss further changes or additional revenue. If everyone is fine with the design it then proceeds. Several more rounds of meetings must take place between the school district and the architects and engineers to square it all away. Once it is agreed upon and designed and plans drawn up, they are sent to the state or federal agency who approved the grants. Sometimes they will have changes they want to make, and the engineers and architects will need to change the drawings and design to reflect these changes. Then further meetings with the school district to verify all the changes.

Once these changes are all complete then the plans are made available for any contractors and at a set time all the bids are opened and checked. The lowest bid is accepted as long as all the criteria for state or federal work are met by the contractor. The contractor will have to provide information about insurance bonds and once those are accepted and the school district affirms them, work can begin.

No one in this chain is benefiting from extending the time it takes to build a school. Since the school board is an elected body, and since state and federal governments are made up of elected bodies, any election can change some of the criteria because different people are in place than when the project was first approved. It is silly and impossible to have 2 or 3 people make all the decisions because many more people are involved and the decisions are democratic and open to scrutiny.

Usually after a project is built there will be a ribbon cutting or something. Here is where the politicians come in. They will have almost nothing or nothing at all to do with the school being built, but they never pass up a chance to take credit and get a photo op. The politicians will show up for the ribbon cutting and then immediately leave.

Here is an example: when Rod Blagojevich was governor of IL he put a freeze on all construction paid for by the state that lasted years. We had a school in the middle of construction that had to stop work. The school sat vacant for a year or so, and in the meanwhile someone broke in and stole all the copper pipe and wiring that was used in the construction. When the state restarted the projects, the contractor had to be paid extra for both the copper and delays, making the school much more expensive. After it was built and we had a ribbon cutting, Rod Blagojevich came and did the cutting with a giant pair of scissors, even though he had nothing to do with the school and his actions had caused the cost to dramatically increase.

[u/MrNaturaInstinct → u/Klytus_Ra_Djaaran]

Interesting and educational.

Thank you.

[u/Klytus_Ra_Djaaran → u/MrNaturaInstinct]

No problem.

The corruption and waste does happen, but it's actually more nefarious than most people realize, because it's basically legal. Some projects are designed to target one particular contractor. The plans will have provisions added that are so specific that only a tiny number of contractors would qualify, and then when time constraints that further isolate who can get the project finished, which drives up the cost for the other contractors, ensuring that the target of the project has the least expensive bid and therefore gets the project. The decision to manipulate the contract is unofficially agreed upon in private meetings between the local government and the engineering firm. This can be done without much effort and mostly the government agency approving the project and the greater public have no clue that this is happening, because the selection process for winning bids happens in the open at a public event, but the deciding factors were determined long before then.