Do the math

Do the math!!!

The very first resolution of year 2011 is not what it appears to be!!!

It appears to simply be an appropriation to fund the remediation of a brownfield site for economic development in the downtown area--something which we should all support--correct???

Well, do the math!!!

$2,002,817 for the implementation of this project was appropriated in 2010. The ATC Associates, Inc. contract ($118,582.50) and the Evans Landscaping, Inc. contract ($609,550) total $728,132. If one deducts this total from last year’s appropriation that leaves $1,274,685.

Now, if the “Wellfield Protection Fund” was the correct fund for this work, and there are more contracts to be let to complete this work, why isn’t the “Wellfield Protection Fund” the correct place for these funds to remain???

Perhaps there is a clue in the last line of Section One of this Resolution R2011-01:

“TOTAL EMPLOYEE BENEFIT FUND                 $1,274,685.00”

But WHY would City Hall’s employee benefit fund possibly need over $1.27 MILLION to complete the remediation of this FIVE acre plot???

Also, according to the “Conformity to City Policy” portion of the staff report:

This project is consistent with the City’s 2005 Master Plan and falls under Objective ED2:

“Establish an economic development entity with the authority and accountability to effectively attract and retain jobs and businesses”.

Well, here is my view: This piece of ground is far too near to the sacred land of Sorg Mansion and the gateway to the Holy Land of South Main Street for Kohler, Mulligan and company to EVER allow ANY sort of industrial or commercial development (other than “olde tyme” stuff) see the light of day!!! And I am willing to back up my stance with a substantial wager.

SWOhio:

I couldn’t sleep for thinking about this!!!

You believe that there are existing lagoons that have been used for the discharge of industrial waste???

And that this is a type of waste that needs to be remediated to “protect well fields”???

And that, at some point, the former lagoons area (or are you saying the lagoons themselves?) will be capped with clay???

These scenarios cry for relief on so many levels!!!

First, “capping a lagoon” defies logic. Capping a contaminated lagoon doubly defies logic (and this is certainly a case where two “wrongs” do NOT make a “right”). Capping a contaminated lagoon over a well field??? STRIKE THREE!!!

Think about a few things:

1. Before you could “cap” the lagoon, you would have to drain it.

2. You would NOT want to “cap” the contaminated soils at the bottom of lagoon with clay (or with anything else) because this would simply SEAL the contaminants under the cap!!! (The contaminants would be on the “WRONG” side of the “cap”, forcing them to eventually leach right into our DRINKING WATER AQUIFER!!! Clue: This would be a BAD thing!!!)

3. Even if you first REMOVE the contaminants (you would have to pay to haul them to a pit, sort of like a dry lagoon, that someone else had first excavated and LINED with clay) and then sealed the lagoon with clay, you would end up with a DEEPER LAGOON.

4. Even if, after draining the lagoon and removing all contaminated soils (which would then leave no reason for a clay “cap” unless you wanted a clay “liner” for the new, deeper lagoon, you felt the need to fill the entire excavated area/former lagoon, doing so with clay, or a clay/soil mixture, would only ruin the site for future commercial development, except for something like, oh, say a BARK PARK!!! Clay and clayey soils swell/shrink with moisture content and demand expensive remediation to be made suitable for commercial building.

So, the more that I think about it, that is probably EXACTLY what those scoundrels at City Hall have in mind: RUINING the site for future commercial development.

But wasn’t that what I said in my very first post on this subject???