Strangler Strikes Again

Is this really happening again? Are we really reading David Martin's guesswork when he fails to get to the bottom of a story?

Back when the Wall Street Journal covered an aspect of the Minuteman story that Martin had missed, we were treated to Martin's speculation that the story was made up, even though Martin couldn't prove it. This time Martin was unable to find out who requested the opportunity to review applications, and we are treated to Martin's speculation again.

Where's the journalism here? We are assured twice that it was HNTB who requested the review, but nowhere does Martin explain what leads to that conclusion. Everyone who knows anything refuses comment.

Since speculation is part of the game in Martin's version of journalism, I suspect that someone told Martin off the record that it was HNTB. I suspect he failed to get anyone to go on record with it. I suspect he dislikes HNTB for historical grudges.

I suspect that David Martin was frustrated because he couldn't prove that HNTB had done something wrong. I suspect he was angry enough that he wrote a story calling the company names, but utterly failing to introduce proof.

I suspect other journalists would have stayed on the story and uncovered proof (he doesn't say whether he even filed a sunshine law request with the city, so I'll go ahead and "suspect" that he didn't - it's a good example of how guesswork can lead to unfairness).

'I suspect' Dan is an HNTB employee.

Butch -

You'd suspect wrong. I can't even think of anyone I know that works for HNTB off the top of my head. I'm just a blogger (gonemild.com) who thinks real journalists ought to do something more solid than guesswork.

But at least you didn't publish your speculation as fact, I'll give you that much!

I believe this article has served its intended purpose. Mr. Martin laid out the facts, to the best of his knowledge. He made it explicitly clear that portions of the article must be assumed. Repeated requests for verification and more information from various parties went unfulfilled. While he may not have had "all the facts", the core issue itself is troubling and I for one am glad he was able bring the matter to light.

Troubling that corporations seeking a million of our tax dollars shouldn't be able to keep their qualifications a secret? Really??

No.... troubling in regards to fair play. 1 million in tax dollars is not that much when you consider how many multi-million dollar proposals there are at any given time. The core issue of the article is what is troubling. Parties should not be given access to their competitors information or proposal. It is unethical and does not keep the playing field even. The other aspect of this issue is that the same company utilized for original design has been given 1 million dollars to fix its own mistakes. That is by far, the more troubling aspect.

Is there anything else in my previous/current comment you need clarification on?

'Fraid so. For the life of me, I can't see why the qualifications of a corporation seeking a million tax dollars should be kept secret. Can you help me out on that?

Good points, bad points, and missing (but not ugly) points. However, Martin has written better pieces and I’m disappointed with this.

The comment that HNTB made earlier “mistakes” is not valid. The City & MODOT make the decisions that involve how much money is spent and of course the city/state goes with cheapest option and almost always fail to take a long term view. This is not an HNTB issue. This is normal government at work. Sigh.

However, I also am stunned that the qualification packages were looked at by the competition. Whoever at the city made the classification that these were not part of the bid packages should be fired. This is industrial trade secret stuff and now we have a local valid vendor who could very well decide not to do business with the city again. As a taxpayer, and ignoring the normal govt. at work comment above, I would still want a few “competitive” bids on any project to at provide some assurance that my taxpayer money is well spent, sort of.

Last, decking over the trench and turning it into a tunnel. This is actually not a bad idea. New York and Chicago have various items of this nature. However, what’s missing is varioous options of what will actually go on top. Comments on a tree lined Truman, a nice thought, are not valid. Look at Allis Plaza. Some very small trees in big planters is pretty much all you can do when everythng underneath is cement. What would be interesting would be a suspended parking garage for the Arena and the other public facilities a couple blocks west. Just a deck or two of parking that runs four blocks would provide a couple thousand parking spaces actually owned by the city that could be allocated to weekday use of these facilities. Or, some could be used as the southern downtown loop for light rail. Or, the city/state could sell or rent air rights and have someone else pay for it instead of taxpayers. This idea simply needs a lot more work.

I really don't care who aborted the downtown loop fetus in the beginning. But let's at least have enough dignity to cut the alphabet noose off the neck of downtown. It defies all common sense and safety with its blind merges and erratic lane change requirements. HNTB, by virture of its location as pit boss for the loop, should know better. How can their workers, headed onto 670 from their headquarters survive long enough to fix the problem?

Take the 12th street ramp, enter I-35S, and merge across three lanes to hit 670. Then on 670, merge one lane to the right (since that lane ends) and weave to and fro as traffic from Truman and Grand swerve over trying, vainly and desperately, to make it to the I-29/35N on ramp. Now, you've changed lanes three times, avoided two accidents, and you've travelled all of half a mile.

Once you leave the loop, admire the stacks of automobiles queued up for miles across the overpasses, and change lanes once again or you'll wind up on Brooklyn.

Oh yes, it's an execution gone bad.