Marcus Aurelius

Can't rule from the bench if you ain't got a bench.

Maybe they can borrow some from a local park or something.


They could stop at Home Depot for some supplies and day labor.

Does this courthouse replace an old courthouse? So move some stuff from the old courthouse over till you can restock the coffers and buy some new tables and chairs or whatever.

Move furniture from old location? That's what the rest of us do.

Wait, we aren't judges, are we?

cgraves67: Does this courthouse replace an old courthouse? So move some stuff from the old courthouse over till you can restock the coffers and buy some new tables and chairs or whatever.

That old crap? You don't expect them to actually be sensible about money, are you?

"Hey guys, we'll need a few cases of metallic spray paint for the supply closet!"

Having worked in Purchasing, I can tell what happened here:

Five weeks ago - Purchasing: "Give me the order with quantity and specification today, there's a three-week lead time for furniture deliveries"
Four weeks ago - ditto
Three weeks ago - ditto
Two weeks ago - Purchasing: "Just so you know, we missed the lead time so if we order now the furniture will arrive one week late"
One week ago - ditto

Today - Boss: "Where the hell is our furniture???" Purchasing "(Facedesk)"

No one forgot to buy anything. 250k has been approved, construction wont be done for a month... the problem is another 400k in furniture is needed and 200k in computers is needed... that has not been approved... and, BTW, 1.4 million that could have gone to those things was vetoed. So the building will be unused not because of the 250k, but in spite of it.

Kind of like so many of the McMansions around here: 26 rooms, but only five with furniture.

As a Real Estate/Facilities Management Project Manager, I cannot fathom how this happened. How do you "forget" this? Who was in charge?

DNRTFA

TFA says the governor approved $250K, after vetoing a previous budget of $1.4 million. Maybe she was actually trying to save the taxpayers some money. If she was, good for her.

What will New Mexicans think of next? The Pueblo Indians were too stupid to invent doorways, so they get in and out of their houses with ladders.

Overfiend: As a Real Estate/Facilities Management Project Manager, I cannot fathom how this happened. How do you "forget" this? Who was in charge?

DNRTFA

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that the project management was outsourced and that furnishings were in the project budget. However, like so many locally managed projects, oversight SUCKS and the money disappeared into "cost overruns," which can also be described with the single word "embezzlement." We probably won't hear about the upcoming audit and investigation.

ZAZ: Some of the furniture for the new school I mentioned was supposed to come from the old school. It's illegal to move old furniture from an old school to a new school because old furniture doesn't meet new building fire safety codes.


Even if the equipment is perfectly alright?

$250k, that's like two desks, right? Surely they could open the building two desks short.

Cost more than Hoover Dam... hope visitor days aren't that busy for this wonder of the modern world.

Overfiend: As a Real Estate/Facilities Management Project Manager, I cannot fathom how this happened. How do you "forget" this? Who was in charge?

DNRTFA

A porject manger. Oh well, guess I won't be able to re-read this e-mail at work.

*thread, not e-mail. Sorry, Freudian all-project-managers-are-intrinsically-incompetent-sorry-I-meant-slip.

JackieRabbit: Overfiend: As a Real Estate/Facilities Management Project Manager, I cannot fathom how this happened. How do you "forget" this? Who was in charge?

DNRTFA

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that the project management was outsourced and that furnishings were in the project budget. However, like so many locally managed projects, oversight SUCKS and the money disappeared into "cost overruns," which can also be described with the single word "embezzlement." We probably won't hear about the upcoming audit and investigation.

This sounds completely reasonable.

Thanks!

MBooda: What will New Mexicans think of next? The Pueblo Indians were too stupid to invent doorways, so they get in and out of their houses with ladders.
[mw2.google.com image 500x324]

Yet your photo clearly shows a door to the left of the ladder.

$60 million? Pssssh. How about $350 million for a County courthouse?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duval_County_Courthouse

I poach their WiFi from the building next door :p

Dr Dreidel: Overfiend: As a Real Estate/Facilities Management Project Manager, I cannot fathom how this happened. How do you "forget" this? Who was in charge?

DNRTFA

I used to work for an A&E firm that did lots of space planning for the government - including things like pulling permits for new office space, site visits to audit how well space is being used by the various offices (and if they're up to standards), things like that.

When it came time for them to move offices, we had to delay the move - twice, for a total of 6 weeks - because the Owner/President dicked around for a month on the permits and inspections. If I was a client of hers, that's all the info I'd need to decide not to go into business with them. It's a core business line, and they couldn't do it right even for themselves.

// though it appears her "clientele" knows exactly why kind of businesswoman she is - she's shuttering her businesses for lack of new clients
// yes, she split that first company into 3 or 4 parts, and now each of them is going (or has gone) out of business

Working on Government projects must have been interesting. I am working on a project in DC now (not government) and the GC told me they avoid government work unless absolutely necessary.

Dr Dreidel: Overfiend: Dr Dreidel: Overfiend: As a Real Estate/Facilities Management Project Manager, I cannot fathom how this happened. How do you "forget" this? Who was in charge?

DNRTFA

I used to work for an A&E firm that did lots of space planning for the government - including things like pulling permits for new office space, site visits to audit how well space is being used by the various offices (and if they're up to standards), things like that.

When it came time for them to move offices, we had to delay the move - twice, for a total of 6 weeks - because the Owner/President dicked around for a month on the permits and inspections. If I was a client of hers, that's all the info I'd need to decide not to go into business with them. It's a core business line, and they couldn't do it right even for themselves.

// though it appears her "clientele" knows exactly why kind of businesswoman she is - she's shuttering her businesses for lack of new clients
// yes, she split that first company into 3 or 4 parts, and now each of them is going (or has gone) out of business

Working on Government projects must have been interesting. I am working on a project in DC now (not government) and the GC told me they avoid government work unless absolutely necessary.

That firm was specifically government A&E. There are others that are a mixture, and others (like the GC you spoke with) that won't touch gubbermynt work with a 10-foot teabag. Is not being allowed to have alcohol on premises THAT onerous a rule? *shrug*

Having lived in MD for 20 years (now in DC for 6 whole months!), I'm not new to government contracting. In fact, all my jobs have had government paying their bills in some way or another (either they're direct contractors, or they got funding from the Feds) with the exception of retail and when I worked at the hospital (though one could certainly make an argument that government was paying many of them to be there).

The project I'm working on now was created and is funded di ...

This GC said that instead of one "boss" (i.e. customer contact) they deal with twenty "bosses" on government jobs. They just didn't like or work well under that type of system.

I am sure there are benefits and pitfalls - like any particular project - in working with the government.

Going to Congress would have been neat to be sure! Maybe if you come in under budget/ahead of time... :)

Happens all the time, I know of city offices, in multiple cites, that are still unoccupied after a fairly extended period of time (8+ months) because they, General Services, couldn't get their act together to finish the low voltage wiring or confirm furniture ordering. The cities are just renting empty office space.

Overfiend: Dr Dreidel: Overfiend: Dr Dreidel: Overfiend: As a Real Estate/Facilities Management Project Manager, I cannot fathom how this happened. How do you "forget" this? Who was in charge?

DNRTFA

I used to work for an A&E firm that did lots of space planning for the government - including things like pulling permits for new office space, site visits to audit how well space is being used by the various offices (and if they're up to standards), things like that.

When it came time for them to move offices, we had to delay the move - twice, for a total of 6 weeks - because the Owner/President dicked around for a month on the permits and inspections. If I was a client of hers, that's all the info I'd need to decide not to go into business with them. It's a core business line, and they couldn't do it right even for themselves.

// though it appears her "clientele" knows exactly why kind of businesswoman she is - she's shuttering her businesses for lack of new clients
// yes, she split that first company into 3 or 4 parts, and now each of them is going (or has gone) out of business

Working on Government projects must have been interesting. I am working on a project in DC now (not government) and the GC told me they avoid government work unless absolutely necessary.

That firm was specifically government A&E. There are others that are a mixture, and others (like the GC you spoke with) that won't touch gubbermynt work with a 10-foot teabag. Is not being allowed to have alcohol on premises THAT onerous a rule? *shrug*

Having lived in MD for 20 years (now in DC for 6 whole months!), I'm not new to government contracting. In fact, all my jobs have had government paying their bills in some way or another (either they're direct contractors, or they got funding from the Feds) with the exception of retail and when I worked at the hospital (though one could certainly make an argument that government was paying many of them to be there).

The project I'm working on now was created and is funded di ...

This GC said that instead of one "boss" (i.e. customer contact) they deal with twenty "bosses" on government jobs. They just didn't like or work well under that type of system.

I am sure there are benefits and pitfalls - like any particular project - in working with the government.

Going to Congress would have been neat to be sure! Maybe if you come in under budget/ahead of time... :)

I've worked on lots of government and private industry design and construction jobs. Government entities are no more incompetent/bureaucratic than corporations, with the later often being way better at wasting time and money.

ZAZ: crabsno termites: Move furniture from old location? That's what the rest of us do.

Some of the furniture for the new school I mentioned was supposed to come from the old school. It's illegal to move old furniture from an old school to a new school because old furniture doesn't meet new building fire safety codes. Some of it could be moved to old schools (where kids' lives aren't as important?), some had to be disposed of as surplus.

Possibly the courthouse has the same problem. Possibly judges didn't want to take their operation down for a week just to have the same old creaky chairs in the new place.

I don't want the old chair I moved here from Colorado, but I still have it. At some point, these folks have to learn the difference between wants and needs, especially when we have to pay to satisfy their wants.

Forgot to mention: I have some difficulty believing that a goddam chair violates a fire code unless it's even older than me.

I would like to call order in the court but the new gavels have not arrived.

max_pooper: "I've worked on lots of government and private industry design and construction jobs. Government entities are no more incompetent/bureaucratic than corporations, with the later often being way better at wasting time and money."

Not having ever worked on a government job, I can't disagree with you.

I can confirm it is far easier working for one client contact than mulitple contacts.

Also surprised your experience with corporations who were so good at wasting money. I get raked over the coals about costs constantly...

Good. Way to fail, Santa Fe County. Makes me happy.

That courthouse has been a major money pit from Day One. The county condemned an entire city block -- in the downtown area, a major tourism district with already-existing parking problems -- to build that POS. In the process, they drove a very good friend of mine out of business. She and her husband spent a lot of cash getting a building on that particular block up to code and making it into a useful, tax-paying business. After condemning the refurbished and perfectly functional building (and all the other surrounding buildings and businesses) through eminent domain, the county promised money to help her pay off her loans and to help her re-establish the business somewhere else in Santa Fe. Then they failed to come through on the funding. She had to declare bankruptcy, her marriage fell apart, and she had to leave the state and live with family until she could get back on her financial feet again.

Screw Santa Fe County. They're just getting what they've got coming. Karma's a biatch, dudes -- and that makes me gloriously happy on my friend's behalf.

Reminds me of a local bar that opened years ago.

We went there on opening night on our walk home from the train. We walked up to the bar and realized they had no barstools. The bartender explained they forgot to order them.

I wasn't surprised when they went out of business.

Meh. New Mexico politics.

Business as usual.

/nm resident

PsyLord: Was expecting the 'Taj Mahal' 1st District Court of Appeal in FL. Guess extravagant spending on courthouses occur in other states too.

[media.naplesnews.com image 607x394]

Looks much nicer than any courthouse I've ever been in. Most are more utilitarian looking - and probably a lot more reasonably priced. Given the state of the economy I don't understand why we need to spend $60 million on a courthouse.

And the courthouses I've been in were in much bigger cities than Santa Fe (or Naples) too. The last courthouse was federal and it looks like an office building, just glass and steel.

MBooda: What will New Mexicans think of next? The Pueblo Indians were too stupid to invent doorways, so they get in and out of their houses with ladders.
[mw2.google.com image 500x324]

Pretty sure they built them like that as they weren't particularly peaceful people/having a ladder you can pull up is a good way of keeping people out.

crabsno termites: Move furniture from old location? That's what the rest of us do.

Wait, we aren't judges, are we?

I live in Santa Fe, and admit that doesn't really make me any kind of expert on the situation with that court house. My impression:

I don't believe it's exactly replacing an old courthouse in the sense that the old one's going to get torn down. I think maybe the old one will get turned into another kind of government building, or at least that that was the plan; in which case they might still need most of the furnishings in the other building.

Sobekneferu: crabsno termites: Move furniture from old location? That's what the rest of us do.

Wait, we aren't judges, are we?

I live in Santa Fe, and admit that doesn't really make me any kind of expert on the situation with that court house. My impression:

I don't believe it's exactly replacing an old courthouse in the sense that the old one's going to get torn down. I think maybe the old one will get turned into another kind of government building, or at least that that was the plan; in which case they might still need most of the furnishings in the other building.

Why you here? That sounds like a reasonable take on it. Bad for the image and all that.