Cracking courts
I know we assume Public Works is absolutely crazy busy with all the “shovel ready” jobs we are paying for with our escalating water bills but sadly they aren’t.
The 4 Million dollar jobs are turning into 9 million dollar jobs and our money is funding outside experts to keep extending the timeline on those not ready for prime time disaster shows.
But Public Works does have time to Bigfoot work by other departments like Parks and Recreation. In this case they have taken over the routine resurfacing of courts at the Tennis Center and gone outside of our normal and trusted contractors to engage one at 3 x the normal rate. If that isn’t bad enough the work on the courts began cracking within days and is getting worse. The contractor told me to my face he explained to our officials the courts would immediately crack and we have no recourse.
The City Council when approving this all had a conflicting understanding of what was actually being done … many heard grinding the courts down and completely re surfacing them with 5 new layers. Public Works speaking at the last council meeting said she knew it was a band-aid fix of cracks only. I asked why then pay $20,000+ a court more than necessary?
Our ever vigilant City Attorney spoke up saying we have a 1 year guarantee. I’d like to call BS on him. That is my default position with everything he says after he kept hidden from the council last summer, before the rate increase vote, he knew the bids were already far from accurate.
I’d love him to prove me wrong but I’m not holding my breath. The fact he admitted he reviewed the contract after complaints of substandard work speaks to the reactive rather than proactive effort we receive from our “City Attorney”
James Jensen
Seal Beach
