$2,480 for less than two hours of work to cover each damaged roof in NOLA

[Marleyb]

Knight Ridder has found that a lack of oversight, generous contracting deals and poor planning mean that government agencies are shelling out as much as 10 times what the temporary fix would normally cost.

The government is paying contractors an average of $2,480 for less than two hours of work to cover each damaged roof - even though it’s also giving them endless supplies of blue sheeting for free.

"This is absolute highway robbery and it really does show that the agency doesn’t have a clue in getting real value of contracts," said Keith Ashdown, vice president for Taxpayers for Common Sense, noting that he recently paid $3,500 for a new permanent roof. "I’ve done the math in my head 100 times and I don’t know how they computed this cost."...

The amount the government is paying to tack down blue tarps, which are designed to last three months, raises major questions about how little taxpayers may be getting for their money as contractors line up at the government trough for billions of dollars in repair and reconstruction contracts.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0930-01.htm

[CottonBear]

1. Good god. You could put a galvanized roof on a small house for that

much money. :grr:

[Dark]

2. Godammit! Why the fuck do I even pay taxes? I should just walk to

the nearest bridge and just throw my money off of it.

[rkc3]

3. Just be careful the railing doesn't give way.

Unless you wait to throw it off the new golden bridge in Alaska.

[Dark]

6. And it probably would, knowing Cincinnati. We just paid 42 million $

to move a fountain forty feet.

[rkc3]

11. Cincinnati is a fairly conservative town to boot.

They don't even reprimand police officers for shooting blacks - why would they spend taxpayer money for such a frivolous thing?

[Barkley]

28. Cincinnati taxpayers paid $458 million for Paul Brown Stadium

Cincinnati Commissioners are suing the Bengals and the National Football League, accusing them of using their professional football monopoly to extract from taxpayers money to build the team a new stadium and its accompanying increased revenue. Without the Bengals threat to move the team to another city, that suit contends, taxpayers never would have approved a half-cent sales tax to pay for the $458 million stadium. “Bengals sue county for $30 million” Cincinnati Post, July 27, 2004

[Barkley]

29. Cincinnati built Kroger a $12 million parking garage

Kroger (not a monopoly) has said construction planned by Cincinnati Public Schools in and around Over-the-Rhine will eliminate three surface parking lots used by its workers, causing a parking crunch. Unless the city agreed to build a garage for the company, Kroger said it would move its corporate headquarters outside the city. In 2003, the Cincinnati City Council approved $12 million to build a parking garage that will keep Kroger's corporate headquarters downtown.
The garage's revenues will only generate about $635,000 each year, meaning city leaders will have to find $485,000 from other sources

[Pretty_in_CodePink]

16. Really???? Which fountain? Where? n/t

[Benhurst]

7. No! No! No!

:spank: You owe your money to the Bush Crime Family, and don't you forget it. Do you want your legs broken or something?

[WCGreen]

4. YEa, and they pay the workers .58 an hour now that they

don;t have to pay prevailig wages....

[deek]

5. meanwhile...

the cruise ships sit there, unused, at the cost of $248 million?

[samdogmom]

8. Simply irresponsible. People should go to jail for this.

Taking advantage of a situation when the chips are down is despicable. Where are the ethical businessmen (is this an oxymoron?) that want to provide a good product/service at a fair price?

[SoCalDem]

12. That should be their new theme song..to the tune of "Simply Irresistable"

They are tuly irresponsible:puke:

[classysassy]

9. GREED

I bet my last peso,the contractors are giving kickbacks to the party of GREED.

[pitohui]

10. i think knight ridder doesn't have a clue of the real costs

when my roof had to be blue tarped in 2003 then the cost to me was $1,600 for the temporary fix, if this price be excessive, then i wonder why my insurer agreed to completely cover the cost w.out argument

the cost of materials and labor has been incredibly high since the beginning of the war on iraq, which caused a huge inc. in the price of OSB and plywood among other materials

there is no damn way that keith ashdown paid any damn $3,500 for a new permanent roof unless it was on his doghouse, he is lying or he doesn't pay his own bills & is completely misinformed abt the economic realities of running a household

sorry, been there, done that, & i have a small home, abt 1,800 square feet

no one asked for a storm of this size, but it costs what it costs, because there is so much destruction of inventory and so much demand, the cost of materials and labor is (can't resist this pun) through the roof

there's plenty to be pissed-off abt

this isn't it

[Marleyb]

13. The materials ie blue tarps are provided free

and the labor seems a little excessive to me...a few guys, a ladder and a hammer tacker...

You really paid $1600 for someone to put a blue tarp on your roof? For a temporary fix for three months?

[WCGreen]

14. But they can pay the labor anything now......

They took out the prevailing wage......

[pitohui]

20. they can't even GET any labor much less pay them ANYTHING

you come down here & try to get labor for a bargain price or even for the same price you would have paid on aug. 27

come sit where i'm sitting & tell me straight to my face that i can pay labor "anything"

show me this discount roofer i can get, i know a great many ppl in need right now who could sure use his help

don't make me laugh, it hurts too much right now

[WCGreen]

15. But they can pay the labor anything now......

They took out the prevailing wage......

[pitohui]

19. the tarp is free, the plywood isn't

yes, my insurer really did pay $1,600 for a tarp job, but it was a GOOD tarp job, it was hurricane season & it needed to stand up to the storms, the cheap-ass tarp job done by the tree removal co. did not last thru a single rainstorm w.out allowing more water thru the house & causing more damage


obviously you have not had severe roof damage in this climate during hurricane season & you don't know the reality of what needs to be done & what it costs, fine, i get it, neither does knight ridder, they're prob. based in manhattan or something

i am getting VERY cynical abt all these media reports that are hell-bent on denying us any help whatsoever in our time of need, the Red Cross is bad, the Army Corps of Engineers "blue tarps" program is bad, blah blah blah, it's all bad, god forbid anyone get any help

[stickdog]

36. Your insurer wasted a little money, but the government is wasting billions

You must be fucking kidding to defend sticking the taxpayer with such an outreageous bill. This is not a single home tarped perfectly with plywood and plastic to the owner's specifications. This is a huge contract. Any contractor in his right mind would gladly take on as much of this work as he could at half the price.

[lark]

17. Disagree

I disagree. Savafian gave out tons of no-bid contracts to government favs such as Halliburton for the Gulf Coast reconstruction before he was indicted. Given their track record, why would you doubt that we're (the tax payers) getting screwed again?? When I was in Marathon near the start of the Afghanistan war, there was a top civilian official who was stationed in Miami, but stayed at a luxury resort on the island. Every day a helicopter picked him up and took him to and from Miami. The cost for his suite was $4,000/wk - paid by you and I.

lark

[pitohui]

22. disagree away, i'm sitting here in the middle of this mess

show me these mythical roofers who will work for halliburton or for anyone at less than the prevailing wage when the sky is the limit w. desperate home-owners bidding against ea. other for their work

fuck it ppl, i was in a damned tropical storm two yrs ago, & another home-owner came and bought the roofers right off my roof -- TWICE in three weeks -- because my insurance company was trying to keep cost down and wouldn't pay extortionate rates

a dear friend of mine waited an entire fucking yr to get his roof repaired after hurricane lili -- so don't tell me the tarp only has to last 3 little old months

this storm is so huge that it makes andrew look like piss in a pot, there are NO roofers to be had, at ANY price that most of us can pay at this time

these tarps will be on some roofs for months, even years, the job done needs to be a good one to secure the homes against further damage

but you are going to sit here somewhere in a house with no blue tarp on it & tell me the realities of the situation

i don't think so

look, you are v. fortunate that this all sounds incredible and outrageous, how do you think i feel?

[Gormy Cuss]

24. I appreciate your personal anecdotes but did you notice in the article

that these tarp jobs are intended for very short term use (three months?)Is that the sort of warranty you received for your good tarp job, or is a 3 month tarp job inferior?

You've raised excellent points about quality, availability of roofers, etc that affect the cost. The article does quote one of the contractors as attributing some of the high cost to the support of the crews (lodging, meals, transportation) because unlike a regular roofing job, these crews aren't going home at night. That alone would drive up the cost over a 'normal' tarp job.

[stickdog]

37. Why don't people just put the tarps up themselves?

It's just not that difficult. What kind of house do you live in that a roofing crew couldn't finish the job in a day's time?

[arikara]

26. Then the price has gone way up in the past 2 years

We had our 2000 sq.ft. roof replaced 2 years ago for 1,400 Canadian which at that time was worth about $1000 US. We tarped it ourselves as we had to wait a month for the contractor to come and that cost $50 or $60 for the blue tarps plus a couple that we already had. I can't believe that someone would charge in the thousands to tarp a roof.

[stickdog]

34. So $1000 an hour for labor doesn't seem excessive to you?

Do you need any more work on your house done? Because at that rate, I'm always available at a moment's notice.

[Robert Oak]

18. meanwhile for workers

They had the prevailing wage destroyed, they had any requirement for
proof of legal resident by-passed, they stopped the EEOC (equal opportunity) rules...

then magically all of the poor blacks are bussed out and the illegal aliens are bussed in.

[AZBlue]

21. Who's doing it??? Halliburton Roofing? (n/t)

[pitohui]

23. the army corp of engineers

see my previous posts, these tarps will be in place for years in some cases, the cost is not outrageous to secure the homes against further damage

[stickdog]

38. DISINFORMATION ALERT.

"The amount the government is paying to tack down blue tarps, which are designed to last three months,
raises major questions about how little taxpayers may be getting for their money as contractors line up at the government trough for billions of dollars in repair and reconstruction contracts."

And they aren't being put up by the Army Corp of Engineers, either. Try reading the linked articles before posting.

[elehhhhna]

25. 150 per load to haul debris--discounted gas for your truck (like a dollar

per gallon--maybe less) and NO dumping fees (plus the stuff's already bundled on the curb or in piles, ready to load, no collection involved). It gets dumped at an army base or facility. That's the word here in TX.

[whatelseisnew]

30. I just met a driver the other night

who was talking about going to New Orleans. He "specializes" in disaster/hurricane clean up. All he does is drive the truck. He rakes in several thousand in one week (sorry, can't remember the exact amount). He commented, with a greedy laught, on government waste spending.

[tom_paine]

27. Standard Bushevik and Mafia kickback procedures

I wonder how many "no work" and "no show" jobs are attached to these projects.

The sad truths is the Busheviks and the Mafia have far more in common than they have differences.

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[CAcyclist]

32. For blue tarps!?! I could do that myself nt

[stickdog]

33. That's what happens when you hire this guy to handle reconstruction.

[Blue_Tires]

35. EXACTLY WHAT I SAID WOULD HAPPEN

When a few weeks ago, the ENTIRE national media were wringing their hands over desperate starving people liberating $5.00 worth of soda and chips from the local wal-mart...let's see them cover this with the same zeal and indignation

[GetTheRightVote]

39. Why am I not surprised at this piece of information ....

:kick: