First let it be said, we never found the siding on the Events Center to be unsound structurally. What we did say was the siding job was “stupid looking†or “goofy†or “ugly†or “comical“ or “unprofessional†but never unsound. Until the soffit blew off the north side on Christmas 2016, we only dreamed it could be caught by the wind and blow off. The Vikings playground in Minneapolis had many panels blow off the same day, who would have thunk?
Remember when the City Council recently decided to pay for a consultant to look at the Events Center siding? The way the administration was handling the siding problems (among other things) was creating a lack of trust with their secrecy. So a Chicago vendor was hired after another secret RFP process was put together to make the wounded citizens and Council feel better. We wonder if da mayor understood the optics of another secret RFP / RFQ? Probably not.
This led to the urgently called mayoral presser called on January 5, 2017 at the Events Center to take credit for things having nothing to do with the moisture issues we have been concerned about. He decided to remind us how we bought a building with many flaws we aren’t supposed to know about. We have witnessed issues over the past few years but he does not care. He brought along Mark Cotter to make it look legit. As Mark finished his review of the City Council’s report, the mayor decided to take a turn using his spin machine. What a waste of time. For 16 minutes we were reminded of his greatest success as mayor, spending $180 million in infrastructure money to satisfy his ego (A $10 million dollar mortgage, per year, that comes directly out of our roads fund, the 2nd penny).
The press was then able to ask questions and get less than satisfactory answers for another 30 minutes. Cameraman Bruce was there to pick up a report and attempt to ask a question
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DqubO0Lfbg&feature=youtu.be&t=25m9s
Da mayor brought back his “you’re not media crap again†when Bruce was speaking. KELO Radio’s Todd Epp decided Bruce’s question deserved an answer so he repeated it to get the speakers to answer it.
As you view the video playback, remember how little this mayor cares about the truth. Consider these questions:
• The walls have had water inside them, the rust proves it.
• There are gaps all over the building needing to be fixed, to slow down the water flow into the walls. When will these be fixed?
• The poorly designed flashing has rivets popping. How did they manage this? The expansion and contraction of the 16 foot long panels will continue to rip the rivets out, how do we stop it?
• Why didn’t we hear about reverse flashing issues which let water into the walls and around windows?
• We did not find out about heat buildup issues caused by the poor ventilation. Oh yes, it’s Winter in South Dakota so no hot temperature to measure.
• We did find out the siding needs to be looked at every ten years but how bad will it be by then?
• We did find out the Imetco siding used cheaper butyl (oil based) caulking which melts in hot weather causing it to leak down the walls and collect dirt. Do we have a big enough pressure washer to clean it off every year?
• There is more we did not hear about because the consultants would have had to pay to remove siding to look at the Tyvek air filtration barrier being used as a water barrier. But they could have went from the backside.
• No mention was made of the lack of a water barrier like the Vikings playhouse has. As the siding moves and Tyvek breaks down, how do we know when to rip off all the siding and replace all of it?
• We did find out the siding was placed on the building according to the engineers and architects plans. This just proved MJ Dalsin did what they were instructed to do. There were no problems with their work, only with the way the Construction Manager at Risk cheapened the Events Center project with the mayor’s likely blessing? A question he has refused to answer for several years and again refused to answer yesterday.
BTW, when we will we ever see the $5,000 Judd Allen report?
The Denny could be sided in titanium and hermetically sealed and you would rag on it because it’s attached to the Mayor. That much is clear.
Recognized TV media is unprofessional. They’re National not local and unprofessional. In Trumps words ‘Fake News’. Were it not for the Argus lawsuit and the council study, the poor siding construction would not have been known. It’s to late to hide this matter but the mayor continues to lie. What’s criminal is money for this disaster came from infrastructure and federal levee budget. It’s sad that it takes another 10 million to fix this. Thanks Bruce. Without your uncompensated investigation, this would have gone unnoticed.
What I have learned is that this monstrosity is so shoddy we’ll probably have to rebuild it in less than 20 years. Meanwhile, the building it replaced is still standing 50 years after it was built.
Isn’t the fact that it really looks bad enough to justify replacement?
Regardless if the panels are doing their job, how many of you would buy a new or late model car with severe hail damage on it?…… I wouldn’t, and I definitely would not show it off to friends and family, if I naively did buy one….
Sandman, he has made it about himself all on his own. Why won’t he answer the question? “Who authorized the flat panel installation?”
I heard the “Flat Panel Society” will be debating the local atheist group here in town on the 21st. The discussion will “evolve around,”… ‘Materialism: Can aestheticism always be found in harmony with mistaken frugalness?’