Bait and switch?
To the editor:
What we saw at Monday’s council meeting was a classic case of bait and switch. It appeared that Mr. Day was convinced after talking to city staff that MWH was not going to manage the project to lay the lines north of Pine Island Road. It seems there was an agreement that MWH would do SW-6 & SW-7 and that city workers would be trained. In fact, in previous meetings, it appeared that there was a consensus that city workers were going to install the water lines in order to save the residents some money. So much for the well-laid plans of mice and men. This should have been no surprise to anyone. Mr. Mason was fast to inform Councilman Day what we must get the lines laid as soon as possible. If not, the construction costs could go higher and the properties would have to be reassessed. He said they had determined that the price would remain steady for the next three years.
Councilman Day was also told that we needed to have MWH run this project because they can get it done in the shortest time frame. Does this sound familiar? We need to do it now. There was no talk of the construction costs going lower. That kind of intimidation will continue to be used as long as the current establishment remains in power.
It’s the same old game and council will fall for it again and again just as sure as it will snow in Chicago next winter. This has the same finger prints on it as Ordinance 55-08. You remember that right? The staff told the council that $134 million dollars was going into reserves. That never happened. The following week Mr. Mason apologized for not being clear but it sounded pretty clear to Mr. Burch on the night that 55-08 was voted on. In fact he looked pretty perturbed when he found out that was not the case. He looked about as frustrated and puzzled as Councilman Day looked last night. Just another meeting at city council.
John Sullivan
Cape Coral Minutemen