HARTFORD'S LARGEST NON PRODUCING ASSET,BESIDE CITY HALL (but for how much longer?)
As we have a ballpark sitting empty with a price tag that ,when all is added up, will probably be well over $100 million dollars in actual and so far hidden costs. (land acquisition, legal fees, the City's hired Construction rep, infrastructure and street repairs, etc,etc)
It is time we start focusing on the facts and get this project back on track, and quickly. The childish petulent responses from City Hall are doing nothing to resolve a bad situation, in fact they are probably only making it worse.
Below is a fact sheet put out to the public today by Centerplan and DONO, LLC, the developers of the project thrown off site by Luke Bronin.
No one has been perfect in this mess, but it is time to start talking and acting like adults and come to a reasonable resolution instead of trying to move closer to bankruptcy for our City.
As Ballpark Fact Sheet 7.6.16 on Scribd
Hey Bronin now you know how Hartford Fire Local 760 feels when trying to negotiate unreasonable expectations and requests while sitting across the table with you.Karma is a bitch pal.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I'm sticking with Luke on this one. I will not believe those who partook in exploiting the citizens of Hartford.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget that Bronin negotiated a stupid deal back in January with Centerplan's Robert Landino and team owner Josh Solomon when they were short ten million bucks . He only had a few weeks on the job and now we're on the hook for all that money too because of his incompetence. So please don't give Bronin a free pass cause he wasn't there from the beginning ,this boondoggle allows anybody to be part of the exploitation at anytime along the way.
ReplyDelete@8:13 PM: Then you must not believe Bronin, because he partook in exploiting the citizens of Hartford. His entire election campaign was about exploiting the citizens of Hartford--particularly those in the north end. Hie empty political rhetoric, his vague campaign "promises", his BS talk about how much he and his family loved the city and its people, his total lack of any real potential solutions to Hartford's problems. My favorite was how he pimped out his military service as a reservist in Afghanistan, as part of an anti-corruption unit. His administration has corruption aplenty, to which he turns a blind eye. He used the people, told them what they wanted to hear, spent a million dollars to win the election. He bought the votes, and then rewarded some of those who helped him get those votes with high-paying jobs. To the rest, it was "So long, suckers!" And in his wake, he's left a lot of disillusioned and angry Hartford people who believed what he spouted. If that's not exploitation, what is?
ReplyDelete@8:13 PM: Then you must not believe Bronin, because he partook in exploiting the citizens of Hartford. His entire election campaign was about exploiting the citizens of Hartford--particularly those in the north end. His empty political rhetoric, his vague campaign "promises", his BS talk about how much he and his family loved the city and its people, his total lack of any real potential solutions to Hartford's problems. My favorite was how he pimped out his military service as a reservist in Afghanistan, as part of an anti-corruption unit. His administration has corruption aplenty, to which he turns a blind eye. He used the people, told them what they wanted to hear, spent a million dollars to win the election. He bought the votes, and then rewarded some of those who helped him get those votes with high-paying jobs. To the rest, it was "So long, suckers!" And in his wake, he's left a lot of disillusioned and angry Hartford people who believed what he spouted. If that's not exploitation, what is?
ReplyDeleteDo No What did you expect?
ReplyDeleteBronin is against all binding arbitration unless he can serve as his own arbitrator in order to properly protect his own interests
Didn't you go to the Capitol for his bill proposal. He as much as said so further proving he is cukoo for coco puffs.
Anonymous 8:13. No one is exploiting Hartford more then SaraLuke.
ReplyDeleteThe arrogance of these hucksters kniwn as DoNo and Centerbrook knows no boundaries. They are inexperienced and have yet to make a deadline. The city ain't that bright either but they've been burned by these clowns so many times they'd be stupud to do it again. The supposed deal this group offered was so laughable as to be PT Barnum worth and only use for it would be toilet paper.
ReplyDelete8:13PM
ReplyDeletelike the title says "Just the facts please", so give me some facts, how has Centerplan "exploited" the people of Hartford and how does the City escape guilt-free in your scenario?
I'm with Bronin on this one as well. Centerplan/DoNo, which are the same, lied over and over again in the past. Landino and friends cannot be trusted. They don't have the money to compkete the work and they have no experience in a project like this.. It's that simple.
ReplyDelete1:08PM
ReplyDeleteagain, reposting your comment doesn't ad any more credibility. What are your arguments and why do you support Bronin's decisions over Centerplan? What am I missing?
Kevin, not only are you mistaking me for someone else (there are more than one of us who support Bronin), you didn't even post my answer to your question. You're slowing down, kiddo. I won't repeat myself but only say that Centerplan and Co waged a. Lobby battle to get council to vote to fund the stadium build. Everyone went along for the ride. The biggest snake in this pit is Josh Solomon, who successfully played a foolish ex-mayor against the one in Springfield.
ReplyDeleteNot to oversimplify the matter, but is it fair to say that:
ReplyDeleteIf the city continues to follow the path outlined by the performance bond, then - although there is potential that certain change orders will not be honored/delivered - the city would receive a completed stadium without additional costs and/or associated litigation.
If the city were to accept the DoNo proposal, then city would receive a completed stadium, but would also be subject to cost recovery litigation associated with overruns after the fact.
I'm just wondering if the intent behind avoiding further involvement with DoNo is to prevent the taxpayer bill (liabilities) from increasing any further.
Bill Katz,
ReplyDeleteThat is called American business. It is the elected officials that let us down, and continue to let us down, including Mayor Bronin with his latest efforts
Anonymous 12:51
ReplyDeleteNone of the changes in the CCDS from march to april are covered under the bond if it was not in the original scope of construction, so the city may have a complete stadium but not with the 11th hour changes they wanted.
Centerplan may not have been the best contractor for the job and early in this saga but with the facts coming out it looks like the city was setting them up to fail with last minute major changes and maintaining the responsibility for the design of the stadium.
It's all quite a cluster f_ _ _k. Isn't it. I'm seeing a movie in the works. Should some of us begin writing the screen play?
ReplyDelete5:57
ReplyDeleteI beg to differ. Mayor Bronin made a strategic error by not first pay homage to the unions. But is doesn't matter anyway since I believe that the state will need to assume control of Hartford in the very near future. Abd the stadium? You want Bronin to crawl back to Centerplan? Oh really?
@ 2:56
ReplyDeleteAgree with your sentiment that the 11th hour changes will not be covered by the performance bond, and I am wondering if that is one of the factors for the City to decline to take up the offer by DoNo/Centerplan to finish the work...
In theory, if Centerplan were to finish the work under their proposed plan, they would complete all work (including 11th hour changes) on their own dime "in the interest of expediency" - and then could (would) sue the City for all of the additional time / expense spent over and above what had originally been "approved" (the 53 + 10 mill)...
This is all speculation - I'm just trying to reconcile the actions being taken to some kind of sound reasoning (a fool's errand perhaps...).