Comments on: Library Architect Fined By State

By: Frank

Frank — Fri, 26 Apr 2019 22:55:46 +0000

It is unfortunate. We the people will pay the fine? Our elected public servants just came up with $9.2 Million!?
Is anyone opposing Dave Bieter in the election this fall?

By: Doggone It

Doggone It — Wed, 24 Apr 2019 16:22:57 +0000

A long time ago I worked for the City of Boise and it was not uncommon for staff to skip the verification of the required licenses. The Purchasing Department staff often double-checked this requirement for this very reason, and issued clear direction to City departments on the universal requirement for proper licenses at the time of submission. It should have been top of the list for an RFQ. An out-of-state contractor would have raised this question immediately for any competent staff person, both at the awarding department and at Purchasing. Verification is a small, easily accomplished, and strongly emphasized task in a long list of tasks for staff when evaluating and recommending a contract award. This oversight is a possibly the tip of the iceberg with this contract. Much like the first-class travel, the non-ownership of plans paid for by the taxpayer, the claimed inability of the City to cancel the contract (a Termination Clause is standard on every contract.) It seems that all the protection of public dollars were stripped from this contract. There is more to this contract that we know, beyond the crap that we do know.

By: Benjamin S Schroeter

Benjamin S Schroeter — Wed, 24 Apr 2019 07:54:07 +0000

Boise probably would have demanded a license from Frank Lloyd Wright too. What an idiot town and state we live in, they should be thankful they were able to get Safdie to do it!

https://www.safdiearchitects.com/

By: Sloppy Work?

Sloppy Work? — Wed, 24 Apr 2019 02:55:55 +0000

The City must have assumed that by including CSHQA in this process, that their Idaho architect licenses would cover whoever they brought in for this piece of work?

We all know what assume means?

RFQ18-031 for the original concept design does not appear to have any specific line item addressing the question of requirement to hold an Idaho State license.

RFQ18-031 / RES-61-18
Feb 7, 2018
$495,000

By: western guy

western guy — Tue, 23 Apr 2019 23:39:00 +0000

RE: The Mouthpiece’s comments (see last EDITOR NOTE). The mark of a decent PR Flack is to not answer a question directly but inject some related positive spin into the quote.

Frenchie must be at least decent, then.

By: Clancy

Clancy — Tue, 23 Apr 2019 21:51:43 +0000

Besides the one listed above, CCDC has this requirement on a current RFQ and CCDC is mostly made up of past and present city councilors. Hopefully the city has upgraded their standard RFQ.
https://ccdcboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/RFQ-Design-Professional-2019_FINAL.pdf

There is no excuse for claiming ignorance, especially when previous library RFP or RFQ’s have used out of state architects that held Idaho architecture licenses. The Bown library used FFA and the main Libary used Architecture Nexus for consulting.

By: western guy

western guy — Tue, 23 Apr 2019 19:41:19 +0000

Rabula: I never suggested a crime was occurring. Only more of the same Team Dave bureaucratic incest.

Has there been anything on this from The Mouthpiece at City Hall?

EDITOR NOTE–Margaret Carmel of IDAHO PRESS quoted The Mouthpiece Tuesday. https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/safdie-architects-paid-fines-for-not-being-licensed-in-idaho/article_16465c1b-f239-5e18-a01b-11e54e632a9f.html

By: rabula

rabula — Mon, 22 Apr 2019 04:51:27 +0000

W. Guy: Dana Zuckerman chairs the CCDC board. She got her bachelors degree at McGill, as did Safdie principal David Brooks—interesting, but probably not a crime. They both have very impressive résumés.

By: western guy

western guy — Sun, 21 Apr 2019 21:22:27 +0000

RE: rabula. This information is simply outrageous, how Team Dave manipulated his City department staff to put Safdie in first.

Recall a previous poster, a principal at Safdie went to college with local Team Dave operative, Dana Zuckerman (CCDC board member?).

When will all incestuous mischief making stop? The citizens can not afford it.

By: rabula

rabula — Sun, 21 Apr 2019 19:26:33 +0000

Actually, before mayor and council weighed in, the review team from public works, arts & history, and planning and development staff and library board and staff score was:
LMN Architects – Cole: 605
CTA Architects – Lake Flato: 605
Safdie Architects – CHSQA: 603
Architectural Nexus – Hummel: 577
HGA-LCA Architects: 576

Safdie WOWed ’em but raised prescient concerns: “if we can afford it (and if we can control the design to meet budget),” about function and durability and whether the new partnership between Safdie and CHSQA would function together.

The $104-million price tag for the Safdie design apparently raised some eyebrows. What was earlier a $40-million to $50-million library-expansion project had grown to $65 million when the RFPs went out. Now their trying to pare the Safdie design down to $80 million to $85 million.

Methinks somebody’s eyes are bigger than the city’s stomach.