AGAIN? METRO HAS A LONG HISTORY OF MISMANAGING AND UNDERESTIMATING PROJECTS

Metro loves telling everyone how smart they are, and how great they are at planning and managing their money.  But it is all a big fat lie:

"Costs on rise for Metro's North County Transit Center"- from St. Louis Post Dispatch 

http://www.stltoday.com/news/traffic/along-for-the-ride/b9d5cc90-3ac9-5f2c-ac99-8da7d863beb8.html

From the article:

The price tag for Metro’s North County Transit Center on Pershall Road has shot up, leaving a funding shortfall of $1.4 million on the first phase of work.
The center is expected to be a hub of bus operations when it opens sometime before August 2015, officials said.
...
Metro staff said the 2010 estimate was based “upon a basic passenger waiting station and a bus transfer loop with little to no amenities.” Since then, there have been “unforeseen” code requirements and additional items that were not part of the original plan.

First of all, ANOTHER bus center?  And with NO "Amenities" (that means bathrooms).

I REALLY HOPE those unforeseen code requirements are TOILETS! 

AND: Is this money Metro could have spent on a train?

Second, the things they list are all the same things that happened back in 2003-2005 that resulted in this lawsuit and countersuit.  A suit that ending up costing Metro 40 million dollars in fees, court costs and the resulting payment.

http://www.dowdbennett.com/news/jury-orders-transit-agency-to-pay-the-firms-it-sued/ 


Well, I know where they could get that 1.5 Million.  Fire John Nations and six other Metro executives!