The Pier, The LENS — What You are Saying

I get a lot of e-mails, and let me thank each one of you who takes the opportunity to send me an e-mail. They cover a wide variety of topics but most of them relate to the Pier. They offer  wide insight to a lot of issues and often set me off looking for more information.

I will never post one of your e-mails without your permission.

Jeannie Cline sent me the e-mail below and I thought it raises some interesting questions so I asked her permission to Post it.

Hi Doc (again!!!)

As of last evening, our colleagues have met with the bridge engineer who uncovered the plan of the City to store the debris from the pier implosion at the airport......to be used to shore up the land there lost to erosion. As stated before, this was tacitly rejected by the mayor when it was suggested that this same debris be used to build out the lands' end part of the pier (which would make the approach shorter and increase parking)...win, win, win.....and save costs, big time. 

The question posed to Karl Nurse about the discrepancy between $15-20 million that the independent engineers cited for restoration versus the $83 million from the City.....remains unanswered by Mr. Nurse. He did respond to an email and he did not address this.

We suspect that the whole council was part of a strategy to gentrify the whole waterfront, justifying their spending of public money on one project to benefit the arts-only, high rise snowbird crowd. This is an economic strategy that even Rick Mussett has stated at one point.

Another lingering question is what Mr Gonzmart of the Columbia restaurant had said in public a couple of weeks ago that "there is only $35 million of the original $50 million of TIF money left" He was offering this as a reason that people should support his group's plan to buy the Pier and turn it into an exclusive, Conde-Nast type boutique hotel.

At least Mr Gonzmart is open and truthful about it, as opposed to the lack of transparency with the local government reps. I will keep you informed of what the third engineer says about the discrepancy of $63 million to replace a bridge that is 1/5 of a mile long and for renovation of the structure that has many, many decades of life left in it. Have a great weekend.

 Sincerely, Jeannie Cline

The questions continue to come, the public outcry has not diminished. Politicians often just wait out the constituency and their concern about an issue usually goes away. That's not happening with the LENS. The administration needs to listen up.

e-mail Doc at: dr.webb@verizon.net, or send me a Facebook Friend request.

Have your say.  Be sure to get a petition for the Pier Referendum and complete it properly. Information and schedule of events at Stop The Lens.