Subject: Re: Bowermand Basin Boondoggle
Date: May 1 10:03:06 1995
From: Don Baccus - donb at Rational.COM


>Now, I don't think I'm out of line here, but isn't that an awful lot of
>money to be asking for a *boardwalk*? Think about it, they want 1
>*million* dollars. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for supporting our refuges
>and parks, but I think this sounds like precisely the type of financial
>boondoggle that conservatives are tired of paying for (and me).

Aren't you jumping to conclusions by calling it a "boondoggle", etc,
without knowing the details?

I'd like to know the details, of course. But, lumber ain't cheap
these days (personally, I doubt if you could buy properly treated
timber for the walk for the $50k you seem to think is reasonable) and
I suspect that the pilings are going to have to be driven pretty deep
in that muck to be stable over a long period of time. And that's
expensive. Ever rent a pile-driver for a month?

There may be other costs involved as well, as in real-estate, or perhaps
an easement agreement with the airport. Perhaps parking to handle
the crowds which now go there, etc.

It's possible it is a boondoggle, indeed. But I get tired of people
ranting and raving about costs when they have absolutely no data
which indicates they're out of line.

Get your data, and if you want to have a discussion about the
reasonableness of the estimate, let's talk then.

-Don Baccus-