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In reply to the discussion: Please stop about the pedestrian bridge collapse [View all]Xipe Totec
(44,210 posts)According to a special state commission set up later to investigate corruption and shoddy workmanship associated with that project (UMass Boston underground Garage) and others, the selection of MBM was made directly by Administration and Finance Commissioner Donald R. Dwight an appointee of then-governor Francis W. Sargent. In a scathing report that fills nine volumes and was issued Dec. 31, 1980, the special commission, headed by Amherst College president John Ward, found that bribery, extortion, and political favoritism were a normal part of doing business in Massachusetts, under both Democrats and Republicans.
Two state senators were convicted and jailed for accepting cash payoffs connected to the UMass Boston project. And, in the aftermath of scandal, the state contracting system was reformed. But no one in the executive branch which was responsible for selecting the UMass Boston project manager was ever held accountable for any corruption that happened on their watch. Dwight refused to testify before the Ward Commission and even fled the state to avoid it. Sargent said he couldnt remember any discussions involving MBM.
This would be ancient Massachusetts history except for the costly reminder that links the past to the present: the crumbling parking garage that still sprawls beneath the campus at UMass Boston. Over decades, the low quality cement used to build it disintegrated, exposing steel rods to salty ocean air and further weakening the structure. For safety reasons, the garage was shut down in 2006. No one fixed it because no one wanted to pay for it. The cost of demolishing the garage, along with several attached buildings, is now expected to reach at least $150 million, according to a report by the Globes Laura Krantz.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2017/04/27/scandal-haunts-efforts-fix-umass-garage/XI1nKMdoIDIRHElkx25aIO/story.html
So, yea, somebody fucked this one up too.
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