Our Beautiful Roads

PAVING, -- THE RESPONSIBLE PARTIES, AND WHO SHOULD PAY.

I have read and heard a good deal about Century Village’s historic paving job.  One could certainly write a book about who did this or who did that and who did nothing.  Most of the CV residents and their representatives, the Delegates, may not really be aware of what this is all about.  They may have questions like, “So, what was done wrong?” or, “Didn’t they do the best that they were capable of doing?”

We, all of us, didn't spend $25,000 or $100,000 for a paving job.  We spent about $5,350,000.  In my professional opinion, the president of UCO and at least five of his closest associates should be held completely and wholly responsible.  I dare say, again, from my experience, “criminal” activity had to be prevalent in the course of this entire paving fiasco.  Talk to any law enforcement officer or the Attorney General, and you’ll see what the odds are that there was no criminal activity. 

Please allow me to clear up the “Who’s, Why’s, When’s and Where’s, so that you can better understand why you should want to see these responsible people punished or otherwise put down, so that we can return to being a community as a whole. 

But first, in order for me to make a number of statements, all readers should know my background and experience in the preparing of this analogy of a five million dollar project which was executed in an illegal, amateurish, unprofessional manner.  I have more than 50 years of experience in the Architectural Profession, with registrations and licenses to practice Architecture in six states, including the states of Florida, Massachusetts, New York, California, New Hampshire and Vermont, and a National Licensing Certification of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards; (all presently inactive – at my election as a retired registered architect); an expert witness in construction law; professional organizations:  The American Institute of Architects, Fellow of the Society of American Registered Architects, The Boston Society of Architects, Mass. State Association of Architects, Construction Specifications Institute, National Panel Member of the American Arbitration Association; and, a Massachusetts Licensed Construction Supervisor.    

In all of my experience, I have never seen a five million dollar Bituminous Concrete Paving Project consisting of four agreements, each having one page and perhaps an attached signature page.  Fully detailed paving contracts would normally be documents containing, but not limited to, General Conditions, Supplemental General Conditions, Special Conditions, Unit Prices, overall area Site Plans enlarged to clearly indicate the scope of work, and General Requirements. 

There were no detailed drawings of the multiple varying conditions above and below finished grade; no contract specifications detailing the scope of work; no alternates for optional design, no forms for partial payments and forms for partial or total completion, no detailed specifications of the bituminous products to be used and their various applications in accordance with government standards; no mention of change order work and how that work should be performed, no performance bonds, no Workman’s Compensation stipulations, no field order information or work orders; no shop drawings, no daily UCO representation by the on-site Property Manager, no detailed requirements by drawings and specifications to assure proper surface and sub-grade drainage, no samples of materials that are specified, no Clerk of the Works,  no competitive bids from at least three qualified paving contractors, no field reports from anyone, no progress reports, no traffic control requirements, no Architect and/or Engineer in the design and construction phases; no construction completion time indicated, no liquidated damages or bonus clauses, no allowances stated for specialty work, no weekly meetings of all involved concerned parties, no conditions set forth for public safety, no contact completion time, nobody checking quantities and acceptable work for partial payments, no requirements set forth for field preparation, and it goes on and on.  No methods, means and procedures are set forth relative as to how the entire work is to be executed.  NONE of the above functions were included, and much more. 

It has to be understood that there are tens of standards that are commonly known to professionals that need to be executed prior to, during the performance of the work, and at its conclusion.  Listed above are many of these standard procedures.  Of course you are going to get a poor job with one-page contracts.  You just can’t get any worse than that. 

It is incredible knowing the way David Israel secretly handled a paving job costing over five million dollars and he got away with it.  He has to be the most inept, irresponsible person in the State of Florida, or, he is someone who needs to be charged and brought before a judge.

What is the matter with the people?  There is a president, plus bloody stupid followers, who went along with spending well over five million of our dollars and we have received nothing for the money but headaches and problems and a lot more money is going to come out of our pockets for repaving.  Is it alright that road reserve monies are accumulated for the purpose of re-paving work that is needed now or in the not too distant future?  Never mind $10 or $20 thousand for an attorney, -- what about all of this new money for the repairs and replacement of faulty paving?  Who is supposed to pay for it? . . . The people who came up with all of the directives and decisions and the people who physically did the work.  You go after them whether they are all covered by insurance or not.

No sane person who understands now most all of the things that should have been done, would simply say “faget aboudit.”  David Israel keeps commenting on paying an attorney using “your” money. What, -- $10K, or $20K?  What about 5 mil plus of your money?  And, to fix what we now have is going to cost much more than you think because of the established finished grades.  Surfaces are going to need to be scarified, striated and re-graded to maintain and provide new finished elevations and drainage requirements. 

Let’s simply put it out straight: what David Israel, President of UCO, acting in and for Century Village did, was wrong, and most certainly, may be “criminal.”  What Mr. Black, as Treasurer, did in hiding the truth from all residents was unjust by statute standards; what Mr. Marshall did was blatantly stupid; what Rodger Carver did is a bunch of things that should require criminal investigation; what Mr. Guarnagia did was despicable and may be “criminal” as well; Mr. Cornish should have known better than to talk a lot about something he knows nothing about.

Further, what did the Executive Board do?  Nothing, absolutely nothing but go along with the illicit scheme.  And then, the Delegates, who knew nothing, but just wanted to vote so that they could feel important, were sold on “the sky is falling” and they believed it. 

They believed in Hitler, they believed in Mussolini, they believed in Tojo, they believed in Stalin, they believed in Mao, and they believed in Israel.  That seems to be the mind set of Century Village.  Israel can point you to the cattle cars . . . stay in line.

The very bottom line is that David Israel is responsible.  He is totally and absolutely responsible.  I don’t know about you, but I’m all for suing him, putting him in jail, or at the very least, -- getting him the hell out of office.  It is not a matter of who is going to take his place, -- it is, -- you MUST get him out of office . . . he is a plague.

EDWARD J. ROSS, AIA, FARA, ARCHITECT 

(STATE OF FLORIDA, ARCHITECT REGISTRATION

No. 6796 – STATUS: INACTIVE AT PRESENT TIME

AT REQUEST OF LICENSE HOLDER)