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“It’s been four years since the city started making plans for a new animal shelter. Little progress has been made.” A Quincy Quarry News file photo.
– News covered by Quincy Quarry News with commentary added.
My bad
A YouTube video still image
The Koch Maladministration continues to screw the pooch.
Actually, more like screwed a whole litter of puppies as well as a clowder of kittens.
In what could turn out to be a part of the worst case of koching-up things — to date anyway, long ongoing hopes of local animal lovers to see the City of Quincy’s worn-out old dog pound and cat house replaced have instead all but been turned into roadkill.
The only good rat is a dead rat as well as the flatter the better
A Quincy Quarry News file photo
And in turn, we all know that roadkill only gets flatter.
In this instance, the whole sorry saga ultimately boils down to a classic case of koched-up mission creep meets maladministration.
For example, while plenty of city-owned land was already available to relocate the shelter and thus there was no need to undertake yet another expensive koched-up and thus unduly expensive eminent domain land taking.
Even better, the proposed site for a new animal shelter is in a relatively out-of-the-way place and thus should perhaps at least mitigate the potential ire of abutters.
Up in flames, burn rate – whatever.
A cheatsheet.com image
Obvious benefits notwithstanding, such obvious potential positives only as well as ironically instead fueled problems.
For starters, supporters of the shelter pushed for a well-over-the-top facility that sailed well past what the city is obligated to provide.
In turn, these hopes and dreams would have imposed an undue financial burden on local taxpayers to pay for all manner of extra bells and whistles sought that should only as well as properly provided via private funding.
“What a bunch of amateurs”
An old Bing Crosby Productions image
Concurrently, whoever among the City of Quincy hacktocracy who was tasked to oversee things failed to commission a proper site study. That and also did not secure right of way access in a timely manner even though the Koch Maladministration agreed to do so in response to a financially prudent as well as otherwise perfectly proper request by the City Council.
In short, a couple of what should have been easy peasies in the grand scheme of standard operating procedures.
Instead, by not doing so, it was later discerned that there were serious problems with the proposed site of a new animal shelter.
Heavy equipment building an expensive road
;A Quincy Quarry News file photo
Additionally, as the Koch Maladministration failed to duly secure right of way access even though the other party was said to be on board to reach such an agreement, the maladministration then instead opted to go to the surely upwards of upper six figures expense of building an alternative and many times longer access way through challenging former quarry land.
Further problematic, as the animal control building is slated to be demolished so as to accommodate the building of the also over the top plans for a police palace, it would appear likely that taxpayers will also be hit with the cost of developing a temporary animal control facility until such time as a permanent new facility might be built
It’s not like it’s my money
An Easy Money Associates/Orion Pictures
In turn, one cannot help but suspect that the total relocation costs to bridge things along until a new but likely much less well-featured animal control facility will still end up costing close to the gobsmacking $7 million dollar funding asked for by the Koch Maladministration – if not even more, even though the City Council found the original seven large ask outrageous and so cut in half the ask to a still excessive $3.5 million to build a new animal shelter as a perfectly proper facility could be built for less, if not much less, than three and a half large, including the cost of the wicked expensive access road already built.
And for a solid and more extensive recap, see the comments of a well-known as well as a knowledgeable local gadfly that were posted to the South Shore broadsheet’s coverage of the Koch Administration’s screwing of whole packs of pooches as well as even more fuzzy little kittens.
Source: ‘It’s complicated’: Little progress made on plans for new Quincy Animal Shelter
With all the properties and buildings (and whatever) that have been purchased by the city for who-knows-what-reason, surely there must be among them a place for a temporary shelter.
Of course, the term “temporary” takes on an entirely different meaning when the context is a project that’s been ill-conceived, mismanaged, and misdirected from the very start by the current regime.
Bow wow wow!
Temporary. Right.
In any case, this might be the time and the right reason for the city to divest itself of some of the strange land and building purchases it has squandered tax dollars on. Sell something and use the funds to build this animal shelter.
And knowing the Koch regime as we do, we shouldn’t be surprised if the “plan” includes attempting to divert Covid relief monies toward this project.
Asterisk,
Your recommendation and expectations are sound.
At the same time, do note that the likely ugly problem with the impending Plan B will still retain the likelihood of taxpayers having to cover additional future costs which taxpayers should not be obligated to cover.
Further, given the proposing of the original $7 million dollar plan instead of a perfectly viable plan for less than half as much money, not only does Quincy continue to not have a new animal control facility, care of COVID-19 fueling soaring construction costs, we are now all but assuredly looking at a new proposal featuring fewer features but still running close to the original $7 million ask — if not even more if “temporary” relocation costs are properly included in the mix.
After all, Mayor Koch tacitly confirmed as much in his weekly puff piece happy yak podcast — hear it at https://twitter.com/CityofQuincy/status/1450920654543495173
In short, our peerless mayor is bound and determined that the schedule for proving an over-the-top police place for one of his brothers-in-law stays the course even if just a bit of pause to let COVID-19 fueled construction costs abate would unarguably be in the best interests of local taxpayers and as Mayor Koch ALSO let it slip during his podcast that the cost of the palace looks to be running over, if not well over, the original expectations.
” . . . Plan B will still retain the likelihood of taxpayers having to cover additional future costs which taxpayers should not be obligated to cover.”
Absolutely. That’s an almost guaranteed outcome for any project undertaken by the current regime. An ongoing problem of getting less than we pay for — it seems that only the developers are getting OUR money’s worth.
I just listened to that podcast — I’d call it a rambling pimpcast.
Apparently, now, Koch is working for FoxRock.
Funny thing — when his speech was over, I couldn’t quite figure out what the mayor had been talking about. Too many vagaries, platitudes, too much kowtowing to FoxRock.
And there was much gushing about Rob Hale, a FoxRock principal. It was interesting to note that there was no mention whatsoever of FoxRock principal Jason Ward — who at some point had stated that medical offices would be the “anchor” for the future Ross Lot development.
That bears repeating:
FoxRock principal Jason Ward — has stated that medical offices would be the “anchor” for the future Ross Lot development.
Outside of a brief, passing mention of medical facilities, there was no significant reference to any medical facilities at the Ross garage site. If memory serves me correctly, Mayor Koch did say at some point in the not too distant past that bringing more medical facilities to Quincy was a major goal of his administration. I guess the goal posts have been moved. Or removed.
It’s funny that Koch — of all people — should intone the meme that one is not entitled to their own facts. It’s so funny, in fact, that I almost choked on my morning coffee.
And his pal — whoever was hosting the show — was sure to slip in the word “lies” It’s not hard to imagine that this duo has significantly more than a passing familiarity with that concept.
Dom,’
As you can readily imagine, Quincy Quarry has long found such displays of Projection, if not also base as well as bogus propaganda, darkly amusing endorsements of the Quarry’s long-ongoing valid criticisms of the Koch Maladministration.
Advocating for a private company from a City of Quincy platform?
Does that rise (or sink, as it were) to the level of conflict of interest?