See You In September
At the Civic Association meeting last night, a representative from the mayor’s office presented news on the park contract.
Jacqui Glover notified the assembled residents that the budget for the park has been reduced from $1.7 million to $1.5 million. The city would adjust the design accordingly by eliminating the water feature, removing a picnic shelter, and by reducing the number of benches and light fixtures. Other than that, the design is supposed to remain the same.
The design modifications will be finalized by the beginning of April, after which the mayor’s office will solicit bids, and— this is new!— submit the winning contract to the City Council for review as required by law.
Though Ms. Glover is confident that the park will open in September, some in the audience were skeptical. Nonetheless, our fingers are crossed.
Read our previous posts on the park as the contracting saga unfolded.
why take out the water feature, lights, etc prior to bid? Since there will be competition this time around and the price cap is already set, presumably contractors may be willing to do all of this for 1.5 in order to win the contract. Just because Banneker wasn’t willing/able under a sole-sourced deal doesn’t mean some other firm wouldn’t.
i agree with 2nd street. have someone bid on the whole package. if they can’t come in under budget, then remove a few parts. don’t sell yourself short before things even start!
[…] As we reported last month, the deputy mayor’s office had reduced the budget for the park from $1.7 million to $1.5 million as the result of citywide belt-tightening. The remaining $200,000 will be restored legislatively to be paid in the coming fiscal year, which begins on October 1, 2010. Though the park is still set to open in September, Mr. Sousa said that the remaining $200,000 could be spent right away in October to close up loose ends on the project. […]