Last Thursday afternoon, I attended a meeting at City Hall regarding Bids for the demolition of the Uptown Parking Garage. The three lowest bidders were invited to make a final presentation.Company owners David Kornel of KC Sunshine, Garry Arold of Arold Paving, and Joe Vendetti of RPC took turns in the hot seat before a room of City officials and Department heads.
Following a list of concerns for each owner, I was most impressed with Vendetti and his depth of knowledge regarding the type of pre-stressed concrete structure we are dealing with.
Joe offered everyone a bound Corporate Profile which brought to light a plethora of issues that hadn’t been discussed before as well
With an astounding record of demolition experience and a national rating of 25th biggest demolition company in the country, I would place my faith in Ritter & Paratore Company (RPC) to remove the Parking Garage safely and timely.
Mind you, there is the issue of RPC presenting a bid $40K higher than Arold, but since RPC is simply a Demolition Company and not a sub-set of a paving company, I’ll go with safety and experience.
However; I am not the Mayor and I am friends with noone.
And possibly fewer friends when Im done.
11 comments:
sounds like your a person of integrity.its comforing to know there are others working for the better good of Kingston,I applaud your efforts for my safty over my friendship.you wont lose support
mike, are you a member of the committee or did you go because you, as an Alderman, wanted to have an educated vote when the time comes?
Also, how many other Alderman [and for that matter who] have attended these meetings.
I applaud you for being going to the meeting and for announcing ahead of time your supporting company.
Please keep the news coming.
1. I am not a member of this committee. I went because I wanted to hear the case for either of these contractors personally.
2. I was the only Alderman there, It was at 2:30 on a Thursday. I happen to be free that day.
3. The world is run by those who show up. I attend as many meetings as I can to be informed and have a vote when the opportunity rises.
You say it like it is mike, and this is who we need on the council, people who are not afraid to speak the truth.
As a citizen, I applaud you for attending this meeting and it should have been done at a time when all of the alderpeople could have attended.
This should be voted on, not just given to Arold because of the local the local contribution before the electons, and what ever envelopes may be passed after this deal is completed.
They are a good company and do fine work, but if a specialist has concerns and Arold had no idea about them, imagine the overuns and costs for some on the job training, it might be more than the 40k higher bid.
Sometimes you get what you pay for.
Good work Mike, dont fall to the envelope pressure, we have enough politicians that sell thier integrity for alittle $$$.
Looks like things will never change in this town......The Mayor chose his friend Arold for the job.
Did we really expect different?
Nice try mike.
We need to impeach the Mayor.
You all must know how disappointed I am. Here was a chance for the Mayor to show everyone he could step out of the image he has painted for himself.
The subtitle of today's Freeman article should read "Lower bidders not qualified" (bidders).
I can only hope that noone gets hurt and the N Front St wall doesnt come down.
I was disappointed to read todays news about the garage. I too am hoping for no injuries and collapses. I want to be wrong about this.
Boooo on Jimmy Sottile.
I tend to agree its not about being the lowest sometimes and from what you mentioned, Mike, it seems that the #3 bidder was the most qualified.
Jimmy Sottile will spin it this way. We kept money local to the economy with local jobs.
With all the "training" aspects these days in the paper - I have to wonder how much prior training the real workers of Arold have on this sort of demolition. As you have said and what we have also heard on the radio and in the DF this is not your normal rip-down.
Sotile is a crook - Mike won't you run for mayor in the future - we need level headed people not life-long political parasites.
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