Suit: City owes Amtrak, Union Station more than $500,000 for viaduct repairs

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Chicago Sun Times

The City of Chicago welshed on its obligation to maintain the Canal Street Viaduct near Union Station, costing the commuting hub and Amtrak more than $500,000 to inspect the area and remove broken concrete, a new lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court by the parent companies of Amtrak and Union Station and alleges that the city assumed responsibility for maintaining the viaduct in 1980.

“The city has failed to properly maintain the Canal Street Viaduct, leading to spalling concrete on its undersurfaces,” the suit stated.

Union Station was responsible for the upkeep from 1914 until 1980, when the train station and the city entered into a new agreement that shifted responsibility to the city, the suit stated.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://chicago.suntimes.com/news-chicago/7/71/597642/suit-city-owes-amtrak-union-station-500000-viaduct-repairs

[DRoseDARs]

1. I'm curious why the Chicago Sun Times decided to use a racist slur.

Welshed? What, was using "jewed" or "gyped" too passé?

[Ken Burch]

2. They were mad because it takes up too many column inches to publish names like this:

[Travelman]

3. LMAO!

I love Wales. Beautiful country, friendly people. But the language IS utterly unpronounceable.

[Ken Burch]

5. I think they created those spellings

as a form of resistance against the English.

[alcina]

6. I wondered about that as well

When I was working as an editor, that was definitely on the list of prohibited words. But perhaps they've done away with editors and style guides. Quite a lot of people have no idea about the origins of these terms.

[Travelman]

4. Should be fairly straightforward

Either the contract says that the city is responsible for it or it doesn't.

That having been said, half a mil for inspection and (apparently relatively moderate) repair of a major viaduct that presumably hasn't been touched for thirty-five years ( )is pretty darn cheap in the grand scheme of things. $14,685 per year for inspections and upkeep by ASE engineers and (presumably) high-quality union workers is a drop in the bucket of a budget for Chicago.