Today (Dec. 2) the new Capitol Visitors Center opened in Washington DC. The facility required the removal from the site of more than 60,000 truckloads of soil. The total cost is immense, as are the budget overruns, which put Barrie Tilghman to shame. The following commentary is from Marc Fisher's blog, "Raw Fisher".
Even before the huge cost overruns and mind-numbing construction delays, even before we learned that a giant holding pen for tourists was going to cost more than Washington's new baseball stadium, the idea of funneling visitors away from the glorious outdoor view of the Capitol and into a marble-clad tunnel only fed my cynicism about big federal projects.
Four years and a stunning $400 million in extra costs later, the center -- a vast underground network of tunnels, meeting rooms, exhibition halls, eateries and security barriers -- opens today.
As a public works project and an expenditure of the taxpayers' money, the Visitor Center is an obscenity. The watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste called it "among the most wasteful examples of botched construction projects ever promulgated by the federal government." The center is going to cost us more than $620 million.
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3 comments:
Blame it on the Bush-hog, not Barrack!
do some homework
ground was broken june of 2000,
design was from 1991 to 1999
and it was approved by a panel of congressional leaders
all the info you could want is here
http://www.aoc.gov/cvc/project_info/index.cfm
so ummm go talk to bill and the congressional democrats
Everything with you is dollar and cents – I want to know who elected you judge and jury of what is an appropriate amount of money to spend on one of the most important 52 acres this country has to offer. I was at the CVC Capital Visitor Center yesterday for the grand opening. I can tell you it is a wonderful work of art that allows everyone to experience the governmental process. Since I am sure you have not been there in person here is a quick summary. You walk down a beautiful entrance way to an underground area that has a skylight with a view of the capital. You get in line to watch a wonderful 13 minute film that must be seen because my description would not give it justice. Then you get a person tour by a guide into the rotunda and other halls. The guides are excellent and will take the time to answer all your questions. Of course there are wonderful gift shops offering a variety of merchandise and a restaurant is located on the premise. The entire process took over an hour and this didn’t include the self guided tour of the exhibits. I would say this is a great example of the government giving us our money’s worth.
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