Quincy Quarry Weekly Fish Wrap: Oh what a week this past week was!

– News and commentary from Quincy Quarry News. 

Bad political kabuki?
An Andrew Savulich/NY Daily News file photo

Quincy Quarry Weekly Fish Wrap:  Oh what a week this past week was! 

Where oh where does one begin?

Nationally, if not also internationally, President Donald Trump signed an executive order approving the potential for him to impose economic sanctions upon foreign interests for endeavoring to meddle in American elections.

Actually doing so, remains to be seen – much less if he cleared things with Vlad.

2017 Treadmark fire in Ashmont
A cbsboston.com image

And regionally, residential housing prices continue to show signs of softening just as Quincy continues to roll out plans to build well over a thousand new units of mostly cheap and fire-prone podium and stick residential units on top of over two thousand units of podium and stick units already recently built or under construction in the Q.

After all, long-established basic maxims of economics have long been ignored by the long wildly profligate Koch Maladministration.

Impending Brockton municipal garage
Image via the Brockon Enterprise

Similarly disconcerting, the City of Brockton announced a 40% increase in the cost of its impending municipal parking garage – and which is slated for groundbreaking ceremonies this week – for reasons mostly tied to a currently busy construction market and skyrocketing materials prices.

Will the City of Quincy’s also impending municipal garage in Quincy Center face similar construction cost increases?

Needless to say, count on Quincy Quarry to continue to follow the money.

Following the money
An oxycom.com image

Keeping on top of tagging?
A Quincy Quarry News file photo

On a bright note, the Hancock/Adams Common – but better known by Quincy Quarry readers as Kim Jong Koch Plaza – opened to the public after over five years of construction disruption in and around Quincy Square.

On the other hand, at what price? 

The South Shore Broadsheet has only reported the Phase 2 costs of $15.7 million on a currently planned to be three-phase project. 

Apparently, it forgot about the Phase 1 construction costs.

The Boston Broadsheet, however, has reported a cost of $26 million and WBZ Channel 4 noted $35 million.

Burning through tens of millions with impunity?
A CheetSheet.com image

The better number per the number crunchers at the Quarry is $27 million – plus only expected Phase 2 cost overruns and several to a handful of millions more when Phase 3 work planned for even more landscaping work to be done next to the Quincy Center MBTA station once funding to redo the station is actually cobbled together.

For starters, unlike WBZ, Quarry Quarry isn’t counting the cost of Hancock Street Misalignment project as well as that the Quarry knows all about what the Boston Broadsheet missed.

Demolishing but not replacing needed parking
A Quincy Quarry News file photo

Small problem as regards Phase 3, however: the T has no funding to do so and is on record as saying it will not be providing any more funding for Braintree Red Line station renovation work than what has already been announced and a new Quincy Center station is not on the T’s to-do list.

And on an artistic note, it is only fair to note that the new statues of Hancock and Adams are all but fraternal, if not identical twins of each other even if portraits of both men clearly show otherwise.

Try to match the images of the new statues to historical portraits painted during their lifetimes.
Conjoined Quincy Quarry images and iconic masterwork paintings

Apparently, half a million does not go that far anymore when it comes to statuary.

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