"At the end of the day, we're on the hook for the cost increase," explained Mitch Weiss, interim executive director of the commission. "We're not in a strong negotiating position."
"In a sense we are always going to probably see some pilings break," said City Manager Jamie Goldstein. "But the goal here now is that we have more redundancy – it's stronger – and then if they do break we don't have to be under the gun to get it done as quickly and we can maybe bundle the projects and do them more cost effectively."
"I think it would be a good idea to work at the speed of safety instead of the speed of government and doing something like (this) is positive," said Councilmember Joe Clarke at the Dec. 14 meeting. Clarke is also a member of the ad hoc subcommittee steering the improvement effort. "As long as we can incorporate it with our overall plan, I think it's a great idea."
More than three dozen community members gathered Wednesday night to discuss dangerous local traffic conditions in the wake of the unsolved hit-and-run death of Debra Towne.