Subject: Re: Bowermand Basin Boondoggle
Date: May 2 08:31:46 1995
From: Eugene Hunn - hunn at u.washington.edu


The board walk at Foster Island cost several hundred thou... they had to
push piling down a long way through the peat for stability... the
previous trail washed out in a short time.

Gene Hunn.

On Mon, 1 May 1995, Don Baccus wrote:

> >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-
>
>
>