This fractal is called Ultimate Star. Again, it has little to do with the following text but I picked it because stars shed light and I hoped to shed light on a truly outrageous situation. Ah well, now lets move on to today's rant . . .
When anyone I know signs a contract they’ are expected to live up to the agreed-upon terms: failure to do so results in whatever penalties the contract specifies. Such, it seems, is not the case when Big Business works for Big Government,
Anyone who lives here in the OC is aware of the ongoing reconstruction of the Garden Grove (22) Freeway (and woe to anyone who‘s been driving the thing for the past eighteen months!) Granite-Meyers-Rados was awarded the contract and agreed to a completion date at the end of November 2006: the contract also included a $50,000 per day penalty should they fail to fail to complete the job on schedule. As all of us locals know (to our never-ending sorrow) the date came and went and the job wasn’t finished.
Who besides me knew G-M-R would find a way to weasel out of paying pay up? (Raise your hands high so everyone can see you: we need to know who is that gullible . . .)
Granite-Meyers-Rados complained they couldn’t finish the job because of “bad weather”, a bridge re-design (requested by the Orange County Traffic Authority) and the failure of construction materials to arrive in a timely fashion. (Wah, wah, wah! Aw poor babies! If G-M-R didn‘t like the contract why did they sign it in the first place?) Now the OCTA is in negotiations with G-M-R. over said penalties. (If my calculations are correct that’s almost four million dollars as of today 02-16-07,)
OCTA Chief Executive Officer Art Leahy described the negotiations with G-M-R as “very tough.” (Can someone please explain to me why there were any negotiations??? Hel-lo! Signed contract here!!!) So now Granite-Meyers-Rados has agreed to pay the fines for any work not completely by April 30. The one bright spot in this mess is that construction continued during the negotiations so I guess that’s a good thing (and the 22 really is a nice ride--for the time being at least).
Now lets have a show of hands for anyone who believes that G-M-R will ever pay a dime in “liquidated damage” should the project fail to be completed. (Anyone who does please see me: I can make you a nice deal on the Brooklyn Bridge and I’m sure we can negotiate ownership of the Golden Gate as well.)
You know, I always thought I was a fairly bright, fairly reasonable individual but stories like these just leave me completely baffled: there must be something I’m missing ’cause it really seems quite straightforward to me. Ah well, when you drive the 22 Freeway think about your tax dollars at work . . .
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