The only consultant they need to hire is one to negotiate a prepayment on the bonds/lease certs. It’s done all the time in Corp America. It’s not without a cost but would save a big chunk of $$ and take away a huge financial risk as no one knows the real cost of the project.
The only consultant they need to hire is one to negotiate a prepayment on the bonds/lease certs. It’s done all the time in Corp America. It’s not without a cost but would save a big chunk of $$ and take away a huge financial risk as no one knows the real cost of the project.
I disagreed with you for a long time on this but I don't think they have a choice now. If they're gonna bounce teacher checks by Jan 25, how the hell are they going to finish the school. The absolute worst case, even worse than not building something is leaving an unfinished building.
(In my defense, I thought they had $20 million more in the reserves, before the last month worth of revelations that the adminstration lied / nobody was looking at the numbers and its all gone now)
I know the Board's policy is not to respond directly to the public comment portion of meetings, but does that extend to Dr. Grossi? If someone explicitly asked if all avenues were explored for halting the Foster School project through a financial lens (why he's been brought in), is it unreasonable to think he'd address such a question/inquiry?
I think in some ways it's sort of an "oh shit, don't look at the finances, just have them start the project so we can't later be asked to stop it" approach because there's too much concern about the damage if they actually did halt/abandon the project. The really crazy thing is if we get to a point of "OK we *should* stop the project but we've now done too much demo/prep work to the site it would be unjust to leave a messy construction site for the fifth ward, so we must continue regardless of cost overruns."
Yeah, especially in a case where the District is taking out short term loans in order to meet payroll. The catch with the lease certificate is that the first $40 million is definitely going to get paid out of that, but once they go over, who knows where that money comes from. I wouldn't want to be a finishing contractor here
Also, all the polish pieces and finishing touches that make new schools gleam will likely get contractor-grade touches.
Did they actually toss the furniture the put in the shipping containers? They might need those desks for the new school. Or, maybe they will just ship things over shuttered Orrington.
The only consultant they need to hire is one to negotiate a prepayment on the bonds/lease certs. It’s done all the time in Corp America. It’s not without a cost but would save a big chunk of $$ and take away a huge financial risk as no one knows the real cost of the project.
I disagreed with you for a long time on this but I don't think they have a choice now. If they're gonna bounce teacher checks by Jan 25, how the hell are they going to finish the school. The absolute worst case, even worse than not building something is leaving an unfinished building.
(In my defense, I thought they had $20 million more in the reserves, before the last month worth of revelations that the adminstration lied / nobody was looking at the numbers and its all gone now)
I know the Board's policy is not to respond directly to the public comment portion of meetings, but does that extend to Dr. Grossi? If someone explicitly asked if all avenues were explored for halting the Foster School project through a financial lens (why he's been brought in), is it unreasonable to think he'd address such a question/inquiry?
I don't think he would and I think that's probably outside of his skillset
Are they digging the foundation?
Yeah, it's underway now.
I think in some ways it's sort of an "oh shit, don't look at the finances, just have them start the project so we can't later be asked to stop it" approach because there's too much concern about the damage if they actually did halt/abandon the project. The really crazy thing is if we get to a point of "OK we *should* stop the project but we've now done too much demo/prep work to the site it would be unjust to leave a messy construction site for the fifth ward, so we must continue regardless of cost overruns."
The worst case is if it reaches a point where the contractors fear they won't get paid so they stop work.
Which…. seems possible
Yeah, especially in a case where the District is taking out short term loans in order to meet payroll. The catch with the lease certificate is that the first $40 million is definitely going to get paid out of that, but once they go over, who knows where that money comes from. I wouldn't want to be a finishing contractor here
Also, all the polish pieces and finishing touches that make new schools gleam will likely get contractor-grade touches.
Did they actually toss the furniture the put in the shipping containers? They might need those desks for the new school. Or, maybe they will just ship things over shuttered Orrington.
That point was reached the day they borrowed the money without having plans or a budget for the building.