By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON February 11, 2012 – Whenever there is bad news about The Pier ears perk up and the Doom Sayers wonder why we just didn’t tear it down, take our losses. At times bad news about The Pier actually gets manufactured and results in front page stories.
The Pier has certainly had its share of problems and they aren’t all the fault of the people who were hired to design and build the thing. The city’s engineering department made its share of mistakes but the city is not at fault here.
Contractor gets a break with the unseasonable weather and is able to remove all the deficient steel. The trestle, needed for construction equipment lies to the right, the steel rails are to the left of the trestle. Fabricators begin work on the new beams.
As everyone knows – there are a couple of law-suits working their way through the legal process. In this country it seems to take forever to get a resolution to a dispute – but that too isn’t the fault of the city. The unseasonable weather has been great and allowed all the sub-standard steel that was put in place to be taken out. Note that the city didn’t buy the steel, nor did the city specify the steel that was used. It just paid the bills when they came in.
All the deficient steel was removed before Christmas - the lady is now naked - waiting for a new steel dressing come the Spring. The trestle is still in place but the steel rails have been removed. The windmill that will power the lights will be placed on the rails that stick out on the upper left. It is going to happen.
With all the steel taken out and stored in a yard in Hamilton – (unfortunately at the city’s expenses) because it might be needed when the case actually has a Court date. One could argue – does all the steel have to be kept? Good argument but you know that the lawyers on the other side will come back with a way to get out of being found responsible should the city dump anything – so at this point – every scrap of evidence is being kept. Expensive – yes; necessary, probably.
The contractor is now putting together the drawings that will get passed along to the people who are going to fabricate the steel – this is being done by a company in Kitchener. That work should be done by the time the winter that has just started comes to an end and crews can get out and beginning riveting the steel in place and then move on to the concrete pours.
It’s all happening on time and no snags or problems. The city’s engineering department is watching this one like a hawk with an eye on a snake that is trying to slither away.
Hi
The city is at fault. They put in process a system that did not separate engineering from material testing and from construction. If the steel was not up to spec it should have caught prior to fabrication let alone erection. I also suggest that the city will end up paying most of the legal costs including some penalties.