Education Department officials quizzed on construction math by City Council
By Meredith Kolodner
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
City Council members grilled Education Department officials yesterday on why the agency's new building plan costs almost twice as much per seat as the previous one.
The city plans to spend $3.8 billion between 2010 and 2014 for about 44 new school buildings, adding 25,000 seats.
Its previous five-year plan, however, allocated about $4.7 billion for 63,000 new seats. That means the cost per seat jumped to $152,000 from about $74,600.
Education Department officials claimed that the jump was related to increased construction costs, a decrease in projected class sizes and an 8% to 10% rise in costs because of green building.
They did not address how the environmental changes would translate into long-term cost savings.
Education Committee Chairman Robert Jackson (D-Manhattan) suggested that the department review its construction bids, given the drastically changed economic climate and real estate market.
3 comments:
D.O.E. 15 Billion per year buy s alot of pork.
My old elementary school P6M (b1953)went through a partial electrical modernization a few years ago. Among the "improvements: New Gym lighting. Original recessed incandescent replaced with new fluorescent instruments. The new units are much larger, required the entire hung ceiling replaced, use expensive bent tubes, ofcourse can no longer be relamped with the old pole-rubber cup..now a scaffold must be erected to reach the 20ft ceiling height. Due to the increased cost/effort group relamping must be done and only once a year. But....they saved approx 80 watts per fixture!!!!!!
They...WE, will never make the cost of that one back.
Exit lights were replaced too. The 230 volt lamps that operated on 120 volts and lasted some 20 years each now have compact fluorescent..which start failing at 5-7 months. But that saved a whole 6-7 watts per..
The only "green" in these boondoggles went under the table.
Not to mention all the bullshit roofing work that has sheds surrounding these schools every 5-7 years.
How is that a roof installed in the fifties lasted 35-40 years, yet today's efforts yield only a decade?
Next -big-scandal D.o.E. building inspectors in bed with contractors.
Bet on it.
In their new math calculations, how many dollars are allocated per student (per seat) for kickbacks?
Kickbacks are simply a second step use of tax money. No contractor or developer would ever give away any of his own money.
Boss Tweed rides again. For all history fans, the Tweed Courthouse, now home to Board of Ed (or is that Department of Ed, the shell game continues)cost more than England's House's of Parliment, built during the same time period to house the government of the greatest empire since the Roman.
Post a Comment