Cuyahoga County to fine the City of Lakewood $100,000

[Bill Call]

Cuyahoga County wants the City of Lakewood to pay $100,000 to replace faulty concrete on 117th Street. The street is studded with pot holes, hairline cracks and uneven pavement.

http://www.cleveland.com/lakewood/index ... way_f.html

West 117th Street is not in bad condition because of the weather. A lot of older streets had little damage. The type of weathering and hairline cracks that exist are the result of shoddy workmanship and bad concrete mix. The street is not that old. If you put in a new driveway 5 years ago would you quietly accept the bill to repair cracks, holes and pitting just because the contractor says "It was a bad winter"?

The County should pay for the entire $400,000 cost and not just $300,000.

If the County doesn't want to go after the contractor then the County can take the money out of the cost overrun account for the new admin building, or the subsidy account for the Ameritrust deal or the "extra" money left over from the convention center, or the subsidy account for the downtown ( insert project here).

The City should refuse to cave into the demands of Cuyahoga County.

Is this how regionalism is going to work? They make the mistake and we pay the bill?

Will anyone in City Council weigh in on this?

[Bill Burnett]

I sent an Email to the County Engineer back in Feb wondering if there was any recourse for the county to go after the contractor. Part of his reply was:

"The County administered the West 117th Street Project in 2000. During the time we recognized deficiencies with the concrete. The County held retaining from the Contractor for substandard materials."

Whatever that means is beyond me. I agree that Lakewood should not be on the hook for this.

Btw the contractor was Anthony Allega which, coincidentally, was also the contractor on Riverside/Rocky River Drive just in case anybody is thinking about getting a new driveway.

[Bill Call]

I sent an Email to the County Engineer back in Feb wondering if there was any recourse for the county to go after the contractor. Part of his reply was:

"The County administered the West 117th Street Project in 2000. During the time we recognized deficiencies with the concrete. The County held retaining from the Contractor for substandard materials."

Whatever that means is beyond me. I agree that Lakewood should not be on the hook for this.

Btw the contractor was Anthony Allega which, coincidentally, was also the contractor on Riverside/Rocky River Drive just in case anybody is thinking about getting a new driveway.

Nice catch.

Mayor Summers and Council do a fine job but they get along a little too well. There should be at least one person on council who can stand up now and then and say "I disagree!" Or in this case: "This is crazy! Corrupt County officials accept a substandard job and they want us to pay for it?"

I'd like to see someone on Council publically oppose this $100,000 expenditure.

The County knew before the job was complete that the work was substandard and the material was mix wrong. Withholding 10% retainage wasn't enough. The County should have withheld ANY payments until the work was done right.

Lakewood shouldn't have to pay for the incompetence of our regional institutions.

Are there any lawyers out there willing to seek an injuction to halt the project until the County agrees to pay the price for its own incompetence and corruption?

If we changed the name of The City of Lakewood to The City Downtown Cleveland we wouldn't have this problem.


viewtopic.php?f=7&t=12619

[marklingm]

They took our land and now they want us to pay to improve/repair it!

Wake Up Lakewood!

Read the thread entitled, "Cleveland Annexed Part Of Lakewood?" at http://lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3300&hilit.

As Steve Davis wrote:

Even Google knows Lakewood history better than most of our residents. Zoom in on Google Maps to find Highland Avenue.

http://lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3300&start=90

[Bill Call]

They took our land and now they want us to pay to improve/repair it!

Wake Up Lakewood!

$100,000 here and $100,000 there and pretty soon you are talking about real money.

[Bill Burnett]

I wonder if Lakewood has looked into trying to get the original contractor to pay the $100k.

Mr Butler?