Controlling the Silver Spring Transit Center discussion

update, 9/3/14:
http://silverspringtransitcenter.blogspot.com/2014/09/stop-purple-lines-public-private.html
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Public information for the Silver Spring Transit Center debacle is tightly controlled by Montgomery County MD and the news media.

In March 2013 Montgomery County MD posted “Structural Evaluation of Superstructure” on its website. The multivolume report blames the SSTC’s serious design, construction and testing and inspection flaws on “errors and omissions” by the contractor/builder, Foulger Pratt, the design engineer, Parsons Brinkerhoff, and the concrete testing/inspection firm, and special quality inspector, Balter Company. 

Since March 2013 Montgomery County’s council, executive, staff, and paid and pro bono consultants have controlled information to the public through carefully crafted press releases and public statements that the news media (print, TV, radio, internet) have dutifully disseminated. What’s absent from the discussion is input from those other than Montgomery County politicians, bureaucrats and paid and unpaid consultants, and their minions, the news media.

Twice, on July 12, 2012 and again on January 9, 2013, Action Committee for Transit (ACT), a Montgomery County citizens' group advocating better transportation, asked Montgomery County's council to hold community meetings so that the public can learn the facts about the SSTC, and ask their questions, and provide their comments, on the public record; TWICE the County Council ignored these public requests.

http://www.actfortransit.org/purple_transit_center.html

Here are just some of the questions that the public wants answers for:

• Why did Montgomery County select Foulger Pratt to build the SSTC instead of bidding it for construction, like most large public works’ projects?
• Why did Montgomery County noncompetitively select Parsons Brinkerhoff to design the SSTC and Balter Co. to inspect and test concrete and serve as special quality inspector, rather than use the normal competitive process for selecting professional service firms for large public works' projects?
• Why is Montgomery County spending tens of million$ “repairing” the SSTC when the public has paid more than retail for a brand new, unflawed transit center?
• Why is Montgomery County spending tens of million$ “repairing” the SSTC when the “repairs” don’t address the source of the problem, that is, that the 315 ft. by 580 ft. SSTC has no expansion/contraction joints, despite the fact that standard construction practice, and WMATA design and construction standards, require structures that are exposed to temperature changes to have expansion/contraction joints. WMATA design and construction standards, to which the SSTC was supposed to have been designed and constructed, require expansion/contraction joints to be spaced no farther apart than every 100 feet. 
• Why has David Dise, Montgomery County’s director of the Department of General Services, said repeatedly in public that “the SSTC will absolutely be safe” when neither Mr. Dise, nor anyone else for that matter, can predict the future?
• Why hasn't the public, who are paying (53% federal funding, 11% state and 36% county) for the seriously flawed, yet-to-be-opened, $130+ million SSTC, been given the opportunity to ask their questions and to provide their comments on the public record?

Perhaps most galling of all is that news media that tout that they report “in depth” and “ask probing questions” have done neither with this major local story. News media have disseminated press releases and public statements from Montgomery County’s politicians and bureaucrats and their paid and unpaid consultants largely without question.

Here's a steaming pile: Silver Spring Transit Center

http://peretiredwhistleblower.blogspot.com/2014/07/silver-spring-transit-center-great.html
http://silverspringtransitcenter.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-untold-story-of-silver-spring.html
http://bscubed.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-bscubedmonkey-business-award-goes-to.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31bAYkx9eBY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyyVJQmMewo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82HhnCzC6IY

are American jihadists traitors?

stupid question--of course they are.

and, what do you do with traitors?

stupid question--of course you do.

паром куча ерунды

http://rt.com/news/183520-ukraine-russia-putin-militia/

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/duplicity

a steaming pile of bs:

паром куча ерунды

http://www.newsweek.com/putin-calls-talks-east-ukraine-statehood-not-independence-267778

Putin should follow his own advice for the US and keep his nose, his tanks, his troops and his other weapons OUT of Ukraine. 

What a steaming pile of crap!

Don't worry, the Silver Spring Transit Center is safe. ... Really!

The county broke ground on the transit center in 2008, but work stopped in 2011 after structural defects within the $119 million project were found.

A report by an advisory panel headed by former Lockheed Martin CEO Norm Augustine concluded that the remediation work on beams and girders to correct the design deficiencies could add $7 million to the center’s cost and might delay the opening into 2015. The panel, which included three construction and engineering experts, cited possible safety concerns as well as maintenance issues.

The panel did not see any evidence of a major structural failure, even with the facility in its present form. But it said it was “particularly important that remediations ... be implemented promptly in order to avoid lesser safety hazards.” Those hazards include concrete chunks falling on people in the center, the panel said.

“The likelihood of sudden failure which could impact safety to large numbers of persons is considered to be low provided proper long-term maintenance and regular biannual inspections are performed,” the report said.

http://www.gazette.net/article/20140806/NEWS/140809553/1081/silver-spring-transit-center-remediation-work-to-start-this-week


Don't worry!!!

The risk of "sudden failure" of the Silver Spring Transit Center is "low"...

... however, there are "lesser safety hazards" that need to be addressed, including "concrete chunks falling on people"

How reassuring!!!

... and to think that the people who are paying for this LEMON are the same ones who may have concrete chunks falling on their heads. 

Standard headgear for Silver Spring Transit Center patrons:

a steaming pile of...

http://silverspringtransitcenter.blogspot.com/

DUH!

You don't have to be a Harvard Business School graduate to understand that businesses that rely on "Caveat emptor" to stay in business will never be truly successful, e.g. cell phone companies (e.g. T-Mobile), rental property management companies (from tenants' perspective), housebuilders (e.g. Pulte Homes), etc. Neither will be Republicans who want to govern the country based on what's best for business or Democrats who want government to run the country (e.g. ask a veteran who seeks medical treatment through the VA).

Thanks

a poster that I'm going to hang from the balcony of the place that we're renting in Ocean City MD:

No-fun parties

I’m not a party person. 
It’s not what you think.
I’m referring to political parties.
Democrat. Republican.
It makes no difference.
Both political parties produce leaders who do their best to muck things up--both foreign and domestic.

Question: How many wars have the US been involved in that were the result of US adventurism?
Answer: most of them.
We just can’t keep our noses out of other peoples’ business.
Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, Korea, Spanish American War, etc.

What is it about "defense" that our leaders fail to understand?
In the history of this country, how many times have we been attacked?
9/11 and Pearl Harbor.
That’s it.
Yet time after time we spend our blood and treasure fighting in wars where those who we are fighting can’t attack us even if they wanted to.
Dumb; and, a steaming pile of…

Domestically, government consistently screws things up.
Health care. Immigration. Consumer protection. Gun control. War on drugs/crime. ...
You name it.

In order to solve a problem, you need to look to the source.
The source of many of our problems in the US (besides greed, a.k.a. business-gone-wild, and public apathy) is government mucking around where government shouldn’t be mucking around.
Where do government leaders come from?
From our two party system.
Therein lies the problem.

Mind your own business, America

Iraq: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/12/world/middleeast/pentagon-says-airstrikes-have-slowed-but-not-stopped-sunni-militants.html

Israel/Gaza: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/12/us-mideast-gaza-idUSKBN0G907R20140812

Afghanistan?
Iran?
Syria?
Libya?
Korea?
Russia?
Ukraine?
China?
Africa?
Asia?
Central America?
South America?
Europe?
Name a place where the USA is making a positive difference.

You'd think that we'd learn to stay out of other people's business.
Defense is defense. 
If someone attacks the US, then go after them like there's no tomorrow--American or otherwise.
Otherwise, mind our own business, United States of America. 
This includes giving money to countries that criticize/oppose us.

Diplomacy?

Does this look like a tolerant person?

who is reasonable?

who believes in a loving God?

who respects the rights of others?

Or does this look like a terrorist? 

who hides his face.

who murders defenseless men, women and children in the name of religion.

a common criminal.

Wake up, America. 

Smell the coffee.

Kill or be killed.

A terrorist is a terrorist--American or otherwise.

News media and the Silver Spring Transit Center

In March 2013 a report was made public that documents serious design and construction flaws with the brand new, yet-to-be-opened, $130+ million Silver Spring Transit Center. The report reveals that:

• The SSTC’s two supported concrete decks are severely and extensively cracked
• in some areas deck slabs are more than an inch thinner than what they’re supposed to be
• exposed reinforcement
• missing reinforcement
• hundreds of concrete beams are under-designed
• in-situ tests reveal that nearly 40% more water than called for was added to concrete in some places
• requirements for cold weather concrete curing were not followed
• the 315 ft. by 580 ft. SSTC has no expansion joints, even though standard construction practice and WMATA design and construction standards require expansion joints for structures exposed to temperature changes (WMATA standards require that expansion joints be placed no farther than 100 ft. apart)
• etc.

The report blames the severe design and construction flaws on errors and omissions by the SSTC’s engineer/designer, contractor/builder, and concrete inspector/tester and special quality inspector.

Since March 2013 news media (print, TV, radio, internet) have reported hundreds of stories about the severely flawed SSTC. None of these stories report why and how Montgomery County, MD chose Parsons Brinkerhoff to design the SSTC, Foulger Pratt to build it and Balter Company to provide concrete inspection and testing services.

• Why wasn’t the SSTC bid for construction, which is standard practice for large public works projects?
• Why weren’t the engineer/designer and concrete inspector/tester selected using the normal competitive selection process used for most public works projects?
• Were political contribution$ involved?
• Is the SSTC's public-private partnership a glaring example of crony capitalism? at the public's expense?

Montgomery County is making repairs ($10+ million) to the severely flawed, yet-to-be-opened SSTC. 

• Why? The public was promised a brand new, unflawed transit center, not a flawed, repaired one.
• Why didn’t Montgomery County, the Federal Transit Administration (53% federal funding) and/or the Maryland Transit Administration (11% state funding) hold public meetings so that the public, who are paying for the SSTC, can ask their questions and provide their comments on the public record?

News media have failed to provide answers to these important questions. However, news media have reported all of Montgomery County’s outrageous press releases and public statements unchallenged, including “The SSTC will absolutely be safe.” The fact is that no one can guarantee that the SSTC will be absolutely safe any more than they can predict the future. And yet news media report Montgomery County’s outrageous claim without challenge.

• Why?
• Are news media lazy?
• Are news media conspiring with government to suppress the truth?
• Both?

Regardless of reasons why, news media have failed miserably to report this story "in-depth", or to ask "probing questions", as they claim that they do. 

What news media haven't reported is the rest of the iceberg.

Afghanistan: the quintessential steaming pile

http://abcnews.go.com/International/american-general-killed-shooting-afghan-military-academy/story?id=24843479

Afghanistan. Is there a bigger pile of steaming BS anywhere?