What a fiasco. This story just keeps getting bigger and bigger. So many lessons to be learned about a flawed bidding and construction process.
And from what I see, it's immune to politics. No party can take the higher ground. Public sector graft and private sector lying, cheating and thieving, both need to be stopped and big, small government, or running government like a business doesn't seem to help.
Instead, working towards an ethical and just society with clear and equitable consequences for all does seem to help.
So in this case, follow the money, retrieve all that was gotten through ill gotten gains, and hand out jail sentences.
As for the rest of us, we still have a bridge to deal with.
Troubled welds on the Bay Bridge
21–30 of 126 posts
Re: Troubled welds on the Bay Bridge
#22i see same thing from my company outsourcing lead development to an indian company
Re: Troubled welds on the Bay Bridge
#23about California's 40% of population have East Asian race affiliation and current voting system unfairly favors such non-uniform population distribution. Immigrants arn't merely confined to ironing your shirts and preparing dim sums, but they're taking over 'important' positions like elected officials. most of such third-world nations don't have a grasp on essentials ideas for functioning, sustainable society (like t…
I don't know if you're aware of this, but your comment seems laden with anti-Chinese sentiment ("Chinese-ridden") that doesn't seem justifiable by facts nor by modern standards of treating other people. First, the demographics of California are not what you state. People of Asian descent comprise ~15% of the population of California, not 40%. Second, is there evidence that the rationale for the selection of the inexp…
of course he knew he is being racist.
racism against asians and whites is almost completely ignored, even tacitly encouraged in most places. fairly sure the author deleted his post only because he was down voted and called out, not because of any kind of change of heart.
Re: Troubled welds on the Bay Bridge
#24I feel that the title is misleading. Caltrans faulted by practicing terrible project management. If someone underbids the next contractor by $250 million on a job they've never done before, you're supposed to politely laugh them out of the room. Edit: for the benefit of those now arriving, the title and link have been changed.
caltrans and california gov ... just way too corrupted
Re: Troubled welds on the Bay Bridge
#25It seems like the author is trying to make the assertion that all sorts of poor decisions were made - it'd be helpful to have a comparison to other similar projects, in order to make that determination. Otherwise, these could be completely routine issues for all I know (as a layperson). If you took any software engineering project, and described it by detailing all the mistakes in isolation, it would look like a comp…
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Re: Troubled welds on the Bay Bridge
#26Seems the fact that the company was Chinese is pretty irrelevant - and yet it's repeated over an over. China is the new bogeyman.
Not at all. You apparently didn't read the article. "Caltrans employees and U.S. contractors who supervised the job lived fulltime in Shanghai, and top officials flew there often. Tony Anziano, toll bridge program manager, alone spent more than $300,000 on travel. "Part of that cost was for Anziano’s room at the five-star JW Marriott Shanghai Tomorrow Square for up to $470 per night, according to his expense reports.…
Do you think the citizens of countries such as Japan, Canada, and Turkey should be offended that their governments are paying hundreds of millions of dollars to 'foreign' companies in the U.S. for (e.g.) the F-35 fighter?
Re: Troubled welds on the Bay Bridge
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not at all. You apparently didn't read the article. "Caltrans employees and U.S. contractors who supervised the job lived fulltime in Shanghai, and top officials flew there often. Tony Anziano, toll bridge program manager, alone spent more than $300,000 on travel. "Part of that cost was for Anziano’s room at the five-star JW Marriott Shanghai Tomorrow Square for up to $470 per night, according to his expense reports.…
I don't actually find the hotel price to be necessarily offensive in the absence of any other information... in foreign countries, you often have to pay a premium to get American-standard lodging (if it's even available).
The idea of requiring (and then paying for) "American-standard" lodging seems ridiculous when we outsource it for developing country prices.
Re: Troubled welds on the Bay Bridge
#28It seems like the author is trying to make the assertion that all sorts of poor decisions were made - it'd be helpful to have a comparison to other similar projects, in order to make that determination. Otherwise, these could be completely routine issues for all I know (as a layperson). If you took any software engineering project, and described it by detailing all the mistakes in isolation, it would look like a comp…
The weld is really the key difference here. For welds to be structurally sound, and for them to work in the calculations that have been performed for the structural integrity of the structure, they have to meet a certain standard. These welds didn't. The company said that they themselves would state whether those standards were met. So this would be more akin to a computer chip manufacturer, where every Nth chip is faulty, and then still inserting them into a computer. This isn't about detailing mistakes in isolation. Nor is this about a software program where good enough is sufficient. This is more like the NASA launch controls where it has to be perfect (or however close NASA claims it needs to get to clear a launch program.)
Though I'm not sure that answers your question. Since I'm not showing similar projects.
Re: Troubled welds on the Bay Bridge
#29Having studied in China, and worked in construction, all I can say is that this smells, far and wide, like there was some kickback somewhere in this process. I'm guessing on the Chinese soil end of things. From first hand experience, I know it happens on American soil all the time as well, but, from what little I saw in 1999 the Chinese culture of kickback in China takes it to a whole new level. Also, can somebody ex…
I just searched on Delta.com. If you book a week ahead, the price for a round trip ticket in First/business class ranges from $6,000 to $11,000, so spending 10k in a month is "normal".
Why would you need to book a week ahead? And why would you go first/business class?
It's a huge project, there's got to be scheduled client side meetings, and those should be scheduled months in advance.
Re: Troubled welds on the Bay Bridge
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nationality, not race. The People's Republic of China is a country of many races. The one race that most people in the US think of when they hear "Chinese" is more specifically known as Han Chinese ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Chinese ). This piece is more nationalistic/jingoistic in spirit than racist. Furthermore, countries (and their people) do typically exhibit identifiable differences relative to other cou…
Parent was replying to a comment by a now-banned account, not to the article.
Cool. Missed that comment. Nonetheless, my comment is valid for the original Sacbee article.