Ongoing Calgarians complaining about pedestrian bridges thread

[ken0042]

Am I the only one who is shocked that the price tag has only gone up by $200,000?

That is less than 1%. How much does it cost to run a forensic audit?

[Sliver]

Yeah, $200K is nothing. That's like a salary for two or three guys. There have been a lot more working on this than a couple of guys, let alone the myriad of other costs. I would have guessed the overrun is in the millions, which may be why she's calling for this audit.

[Regular_John]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Am I the only one who is shocked that the price tag has only gone up by $200,000?

That is less than 1%. How much does it cost to run a forensic audit?

Honestly I was kinda surprised by that number as well. A two year delay and it's only over by 1%?

Forget the material cost, how many workers are on site every day for that two year period? Unless their making chicken scratch that number seems crazy low. I assume they've had more than 3 guys there making a lot more than $33/k a year.

[BlackArcher101]

Is $200k just the portion covered by the city, while a majority is being covered by Graham? (As the way it should be)

It's getting into beating a dead horse territory though. Wait until they see price increases on larger projects such as west LRT or airport tunnel..

[Bigtime]

DCU wants an audit but blindly gives the police all the money they want in their budget, got to love it.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

DCU wants an audit but blindly gives the police all the money they want in their budget, got to love it.

How exactly are wanting to make sure a controversal discretionary project is on budget as promised even remotely similar to wanting to make sure an essential service is properly funded?

[Bigtime]

Perhaps they are not related, but I find it funny how she has no problem blindly giving them 10M without due process (like all other departments had too) yet she is willing to blow more of our money on an audit for 200,000. She is one of the worst alderman we have, why did her constituents re-elect her?

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

How exactly are wanting to make sure a controversal discretionary project is on budget as promised even remotely similar to wanting to make sure an essential service is properly funded?

Because a department shouldn't be able to use the threat of public safety to spend whatever they want. In order to keep taxes down, the CPS were asked to find things they could trim, they said, no, so now our taxes go up, and we all blame this freaking bridge instead of the proper culprit. This is 1% over-run, and I realize that Graham is looking for the city to help pay the overages, but seriously.. We will audit this, but not the police? Come on.

[burn_this_city]

I don't care for DCU either, but I agree with her that this should be audited.

[SebC]

I thought we had $25M from the province to spend on this, no? So it's not over budget, it's just over the estimate.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Am I the only one who is shocked that the price tag has only gone up by $200,000?

That is less than 1%. How much does it cost to run a forensic audit?

Well, if I understand the article right, the only reason the overruns are so small is because they slashed as much as 2 million of landscaping from the project. If that's the case, then we're talking about 8% overruns in other aspects of the project, which, I have to admit, probably deserves an audit.

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

How exactly are wanting to make sure a controversal discretionary project is on budget as promised even remotely similar to wanting to make sure an essential service is properly funded?

While police is an essential service, its also a unionized bureaucracy that is not immune to misallocation of funds, bloated departments, and misguided fiscal priorities.

Audit both.

[RatherDashing]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Well, if I understand the article right, the only reason the overruns are so small is because they slashed as much as 2 million of landscaping from the project. If that's the case, then we're talking about 8% overruns in other aspects of the project, which, I have to admit, probably deserves an audit.

My understanding is that the $2 million for landscaping was taken out of the original design in order to keep the project under budget. So they toned down the original design in order to keep the cost under $25 million. Similar to their decision to use concrete for the deck material rather than granite (or whatever the original design called for).

I would guess that the additional $200,000 is for salaries and overhead for the project management team at the city, and not for construction costs. The construction costs are likely way over budget, but should be covered by Graham (they signed a lump sum contract with the city), at least in theory.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by RatherDashing

My understanding is that the $2 million for landscaping was taken out of the original design in order to keep the project under budget. So they toned down the original design in order to keep the cost under $25 million. Similar to their decision to use concrete for the deck material rather than granite (or whatever the original design called for).

I would guess that the additional $200,000 is for salaries and overhead for the project management team at the city, and not for construction costs. The construction costs are likely way over budget, but should be covered by Graham (they signed a lump sum contract with the city), at least in theory.

Okay, I can see that interpretation as well. I guess I was basing my understanding on Ray Jones wondering if landscaping was in the original contract. So that's just the speculation of one alderman who admits that he doesn't know what was in the original contract.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Am I the only one who is shocked that the price tag has only gone up by $200,000?

That is less than 1%. How much does it cost to run a forensic audit?

For something this high profile, and likely a long drawn out audit... I'd say $400,000-500,000 if you're getting an external firm to do it.

Or just put it in the queue for the City's IA team and expect something in 2 years time.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Okay, I can see that interpretation as well. I guess I was basing my understanding on Ray Jones wondering if landscaping was in the original contract. So that's just the speculation of one alderman who admits that he doesn't know what was in the original contract.

I wouldn't expect Alderpeople to know exactly what in the contract documents. That's not really what they deal with.

That being said, they should know the whole scope of work when they discuss projects in council, so He should have known it.

[Bigtime]

Peace bridge lovers (aka latte sipping elitists) can order this pretty nifty t-shirt in time for the opening:

https://fbcdn-photos-a.akamaihd.net/...266_n.jpg?dl=1

Just email your sizes and quantities to peacebridgeshirt@gmail.com

I have no idea how much they are, but just like the bridge I don't care

[Bownesian]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Peace bridge lovers (aka latte sipping elitists) can order this pretty nifty t-shirt in time for the opening:

https://fbcdn-photos-a.akamaihd.net/...266_n.jpg?dl=1

Just email your sizes and quantities to peacebridgeshirt@gmail.com

I have no idea how much they are, but just like the bridge I don't care

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[shermanator]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Peace bridge lovers (aka latte sipping elitists) can order this pretty nifty t-shirt in time for the opening:

https://fbcdn-photos-a.akamaihd.net/...266_n.jpg?dl=1

Just email your sizes and quantities to peacebridgeshirt@gmail.com

I have no idea how much they are, but just like the bridge I don't care

I found other T-shirts promoting the bridge

[topfiverecords]