Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Marc, you aren’t building a school. And those aren’t three proposals for a project.
1) A structural engineer handpicked by Marc Capizzi estimated that it would cost $7,087,500 to demolish and build a NEW SCHOOL on Hunter Street. Lodi does not need a school. It needs office space for “approximately 24 employees.”
2) Marc Capizzi said that he and his evaluating team (Frank Quatrone & TJ Luna) reviewed three proposals and chose the one most advantageous to Lodi. The BOE’s Resolution listed price as one of the factors. None of the proposals listed a price. None of the proposals were specific to Lodi (no architect rendering). The three architects sent Marc Capizzi a background of their companies and provided pictures of schools they built for other districts. Here is a link to the three proposals referenced above:
3) Marc Capizzi sent the request for proposals to three architects of his choosing. He never used a public notice. And Marc Capizzi went with the one his father used for 20 years. Joe Capizzi "entrusted" them with over $17,000,000 in projects.
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
What are the Capizzis’ true motives? There is no urgency or necessity for a demolition.
Capizzi and his father made up their minds years ago that they wanted it demolished and replaced.
The first line of that structural engineer’s Executive Summary begins: “The building is generally sound and in good structural condition, but requires critical repairs of limited and specific structural deficiencies.” The first part of the sentence says a lot because Capizzi sought out and paid an engineer (with Lodi tax dollars) hoping that he would deliver the worst possible news. Capizzi and Licata still speak as though the building is not structurally sound.
If you read the whole report and all the recommendations, you can see that there is no urgency to act. The engineer had to list recommendations to justify his pay and to please Capizzi. But many of his observations contained the words, “generally fair to good condition”, and the recommendations lack urgency or necessity.
You can see from Joe Licata’s emails that the BOE
members were not familiar with the assessment over a month after it was
issued. That further shows the lack of
urgency or necessity.
I do not want to take anything out of context. Please read the structural engineer’s report
for yourself. Look at each
recommendation and ask yourself, would anyone even be discussing this if Marc
Capizzi didn’t pay someone to say it? Notice
how Capizzi’s numbers in this week’s article don’t even match those in the report. He isn’t even on the same page with himself. The link below contains the whole report:
Furthermore, the current assessment of the building and property combined is only $2,010,700.
It is just
crazy talk by Marc Capizzi to say it requires $5.8 million in repairs or $7.5
million to replace.
If Capizzi wants out the the building so badly, there are more than enough alternative options that would cost a fraction of what he is proposing.
If Capizzi wants out the the building so badly, there are more than enough alternative options that would cost a fraction of what he is proposing.
Sunday, December 6, 2015
Lincoln project was based on lies and budget inconsistencies. Your taxes will be raised.
An entire surplus will be completely wiped out and taxes
will be raised for a completely unnecessary project.
The entire project will be funded with Lodi tax dollars. The BOE claims it is using Lodi’s surplus (already collected tax dollars), but their current budget information (posted on the BOE website) doesn’t even show 7.5 Million in capital reserves.
And where did that big spike in the capital reserves come from (2013 to 2014)? It came from the big tax increase written about here:
Please read the article carefully. Quatrone said the increase was for special-education costs, transportation, and healthcare. Capizzi talked about bathroom renovations and floors at Wilson, boilers at the High School and a rooftop heating unit at Roosevelt.
At the time,
both were well aware that they were delivering a huge tax increase so they can
sock aware millions that would be later used on themselves and not the children. They were dishonest and not forthcoming.
Marc Capizzi delivered that tax increase during his first year on the job.
Regardless of whether or not a
referendum is required, a nonbinding referendum should be placed on the ballot
this November. Let the people learn the facts and let their
voices be heard.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
$7,500,000!
$400,000 for architectural fees. No SDA grants. All local funds(Lodi tax dollars). No
referendum vote.
Please read pages 7 to 11 of the link below:
This was never disclosed to those in attendance at the November meeting. There needs to be an investigation!
How are things like this taking place in the year 2015?
