I’ve got an advantage over you. I can read Saturday’s Opinion 2 page in the Tribune and you have to wait until… Saturday.
But let me tease you some more.
Gilbert Mayor Steve Berman gets to take his shot…at us.
He sent us a column and because we wave the First Amendment flag quite a bit, we’re going to let him take his shot.
In the column he says the Tribune wrote a story that basically accused him of cooking up a “back-door” deal with the company that did the feasibility study and now manages the big League Dreams park complex.
None of our stories said that but setting up a straw man is a standard though slippery political debate technique, and we hope you won’t fall on it or for it.
But what really got my attention is when he says “Big League Dreams estimated we could build the Big League Dreams Park for $22.5 million. They were wrong.”
Yes, “they” were wrong all right as the park complex ended up costing $40 million.
But “they” didn’t pay the freight for being wrong. You did, if you are a taxpayer in Gilbert. The taxpayers and new home buyers paid the $40 million.
And who made the decision to plow ahead and spend the money? Well, “they” didn’t make that decision. And it wasn’t the taxpayers who made the decision. So who does that leave? Hmmm.
Surely Berman’s column tells us where the buck stops. I’m sure I just need to clean my glasses. Read the column on Saturday and let me know if you can figure out who takes responsibility in Gilbert.
Why not wait until the letter is published? Why do you editorialize it before it’s published. Just print it and we will all make our own minds up. The public is very aware of the media side these days. You don’t need to seal the deal.
Jim- Your lack of objectivity is becoming more obvious all the time. You really need to stop writing about the Mayor. You are so commtted to trying to “get him” you are straying from the truth and your journalistic objectivity. The Repulic has been a lot more objecive on this and todays article by Don Skousen drives the point that despite what you have tried to imply, Big League Dreams didn’t build the park and can’t be held accountable for the costs. As for who made the decison to spend the higher amout for the park (hint, hint his name starts with mayor) you made that point last Saturday when you blasted Berman on the state of the town address. You remember don’t you “the mayor is only one of seven council members” and “he can’t even force the town manager to stop speaking at private fundraisers”. I obviously haven’t seen your next attack piece on the mayor but something tells me he you are about to promote the Mayor from some one who has only one vote on the council and can’t control the town manager on trivial matters to the Sole and Single Person Responsible for what ever went wrong, and there is no evidence anything did, at Big League Dreams. The worst thing the mayor has done is move Jim Ripley from a fairly respected editor of a good sized newspaper into what appears to be a vindictive little hack, more interested in making a point than using our precious first amendment rights for what they were intended for. Its time to retire Ripley while you still have even a shred of credibility left
Having worked with Mayor Steve Berman I feel that he did not “knowingly” do anything wrong. But he is not smart enough to explain that. He’s the kind of guy who falls down and then angrily asks “What do you mean I fell down? Are you saying I fell down? Is that what you are saying? Well just come right out and say I fell down. I did not fall down.” The fact is the town council and the mayor approved the whole thing. And knowing Gilbert it will all just blow over.
Gilbert had a chance to replace the Council with more honest and conservative Councilmen last year. Norton, Taylor, Farnsworth made the case, but Gilbert’s 10% voter turnout decided they wanted more of the same old politics. The Tribune showed about as much interest in this election as Gilbert voters. Gilbert can do much better than our current Council offers, but will need more educated and motivated voters. Anyone interested in running for Mayor? Never been a better time.
Was there ever a $22.7 M contract to build Big League Dreams. I have reviewed Town Council minutes looking for it. Construction bids as noted in the minutes are close to what Berman cites in his editorial. A number of $22.7 M from a feasibility study was a first baseline. Overruns and change orders are based on what the original contract called for. Where changes were required, each of these should be evaluated based on why and should it have been in the original RFP for construction. If the RFP did not include items that reasonably should have been included, then there is an issue of accountability on the RFP writer. However, on a unique project such as this, I would find it hard to be closer than about $5M.
Remember folks, Big League Dreams was selected over two other bidders because they were supposed to be far more experienced and “experts” in the field (no pun intended).
So if their study projected a cost of $22.5 million (and the council capped the cost at $25 million), this thing should not have $15 to $17 million in extra change orders - period.
Now the Gilbert taxpayers are stuck with a greatly overpriced park for years to come and many other deserving projects will have to be delayed or cancelled outright because of it.
The buck (in Gilbert) stops in the Mayor’s office, and if it’s too hot for him to handle he should step down.
I understand that Engineer estimates based on an RFP or feasibility study are not always accurate when Design Documents are not completed. This makes it tough to accurately GUESS a budget. However it was in the best interest of BLD to not scare the daylights out of the Council with a number 18 mil higher. That may have squashed the whole thing!!!
It does sound like some of the C/O’s were clearly out of the original scope of work but who left that out of the RFP?? The Town Employee who may or (may not) be qualified to write an RFP. Why not hire a Professional outside Firm??? I think some questions should be answered.