Turns out, I nailed it. Here is the Mt. Lebanon Flood Zone map, directly from the municipal website. Middle and Wildcat Fields are located in Panel 0456. Any panel highlighted in pink contains a flood zone. The blue areas are the flood zones according to FEMA.
Gateway Engineers swears that the fields have never flooded. We know better than that, right?
So, the project continues...
Design Development –Pending Commission
Approval February/March 2014
Construction Documents and Specifications
April/May 2014
Advertise for bids May 15, 2014
Open Bids June 4, 2014
Award Bids June 10th or 23rd
Issue Notice to proceed and begin construction
July 15, 2014
Final Completion October 21, 2014
We now know that May 15, 2014 was JT Sauer's deadline to submit to Gateway. The following information was pulled from the
"Pittsburgh Builders Exchange," which requires a paid subscription.
TURF RFP
This would be considered as a Request for Proposal (RFP). There are "bid documents" or "plans" associated with the RFP. These often include specifications, drawings, contract language, etc. Some times, the documents are provided at no costs in electronic format. Other times, such as this instance, there is a fee associated with them. For this project, the "plans" are to be obtained directly from the engineer and include a $75.00 non-refundable fee.
This would be considered as a Request for Proposal (RFP). There are "bid documents" or "plans" associated with the RFP. These often include specifications, drawings, contract language, etc. Some times, the documents are provided at no costs in electronic format. Other times, such as this instance, there is a fee associated with them. For this project, the "plans" are to be obtained directly from the engineer and include a $75.00 non-refundable fee.
I guess this would be the time to announce the important LeboALERT I received on May 21, 2014.
This is an important notice from LeboALERT. Middle/Wildcat Fields improvement update meeting is Thurs., June 12, from 7 to 8:30 at Mellon Auditorium.Pretty big venue for such a tiny "vocal minority." This meeting will also include Dr. Andrew McNitt, from the Penn State/FieldTurf Partnership, who will give us an "unbiased" opinion concerning the safety of artificial turf.
I hope that the Turf Project Task Force can get an "unbiased" opinion from financial advisors who have partnerships with FieldTurf who will tell us that we are making a sound investment.
Perhaps there is a FEMA/FieldTurf Partnership who will assure us that flooding is not an issue.
Finally, I am looking forward to hearing from the ESB/FieldTurf Partnership expert since June 12 is the next Mt. Lebanon Environmental Sustainability Board meeting. Gee, I wonder why that happened.
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| Middle/Wildcat Fields 05.24.14 |
Please sign this petition if you want to halt public funds for use of artificial turf at Wildcat and Middle Fields.
Update May 25, 2014 6:15 PM Requests to see the draft were ignored. Dan Deiseroth email to Kelly Fraasch.
Of course this means that the Mt. Lebanon Treasurer has a check in hand for $250,000 from "private" sources as the municipal code requires.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, why would you put out a request for bids on a project you weren't sure was going to happen?
Oh, but of course.
ReplyDeleteElaine
So, Gateway makes another $75/bid per bid on top of the money they make for attending turf meetings.
ReplyDeleteQuite a racket, wouldn't you say?
Well, Brumfield parts the waters! News of biblical proportion. A self portrait no doubt, photoshopped for favorable effect. He accepts as a given the Gore view of global warming, but somehow misses the evidence of field flooding in Lebo. Dave is truly a prophet in the wilderness. Thanks, Dave (I will contribute to your litigation defense fund when Lebo is sued "for the [injured] children" later.
ReplyDeleteIs there a clause in our contracts with consultants that we can terminate for failure to perform, as in failure to account for the clear material facts? I wonder what non-written instructions have been given to Gateway in the vein of the elusive instructions given to the tax appeals contractor. Does anyone see a pattern here?
ReplyDeleteDid you all get this?
ReplyDeleteLeboALERT: Lebo Football Ass.
Is this about He Who Shall Not Be Named?
Elaine
So have to pay $75 to get a copy of plans that were completed using public money?
ReplyDeleteI want to know if the township will be following the requirements for the bid process. It has to go to the lowest bidder. Remember the pool bid was messed up as the lowest bidder was an African-American and he was discriminated from recieve info the lowest bid. Someone needs to be on top of this!
ReplyDeleteSorry, receiving the lowest bid. The contractor did excellent work!
ReplyDeleteWhat is an "ESB/FieldTurf Partnership expert"?
ReplyDeleteTwo more anti-turf yard signs were stolen on Mt. Lebanon Blvd.
ReplyDeleteElaine
Elaine, hopefully not the ones that were being displayed by the intersection of Washington and Mt. Lebanon Blvd. who had them taken once before.
ReplyDeleteNick M.
Well, what is good for the goose is good for the gander.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the anti-turfers should start stealing field signs.
Oh wait, there's only one... no one will notice!!!! Hahahahahahaha
There's a new poll over at Lebomag.com soliciting input on the new budget. The first and only vote so far is for recreation (turf???).
ReplyDeleteThis should be interesting to watch as the last poll closed I believe with a total of 12 votes. Zero of which were for making the Home Rule Charter gender neutral.
Perhaps this latest poll will be more popular now that it has been mentioned on Elaine's blog.
Did Morgan's really call her husband an ass on Fakelebo? :-)
Oh my! Susan Morgans wrote that LeboALERT. She did call her husband an ass! I thought it was about He Who Shall Not Be Named.
ReplyDeleteElaine
Obviously, Morgans was making a funny about the glitch in the Lebo Alert playing off "football ass".
ReplyDeleteI'd imagine she was thinking along the lines of being a 'football widow' or some such nonsense, but disdain for people -not exactly like her- seems to be her highness' nature.
If you go to Lebomag.com there is a story under the "lebo latest" tab entitled "setting budget priorities." Near the bottom of that story is the video of the infamous Budget Session, with the caption "Watch the entire session." Only you don't get the entire session. It runs exactly 5:20 and then abruptly stops. At first I thought this was a problem on my end, so I ran it again along side the video I downloaded off the municipality's website (which I had the presence of mind to do on the day it was posted). I synchronized them to run concurrently, and once again the magazine's video stopped at the same place.
ReplyDeleteIf you watch it on the magazine website and it runs through to the end then obviously someone has fixed the problem since I wrote this little missive.
Morgans jokes and analyst of Grocery Shoppers, Brumfield's Corbett comment, "what the Kluck", "Son, Don't fill landfills, but go ahead play On Discarded Tires and Plastic Grass, certain kitchen remodels, the Outreach Ball photos -- all remind me of The Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan blog commentary: "Our Decadent Elites." http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/BL-233B-165?ref=/blogs/peggynoonan
ReplyDeleteShe writes: "We're at a funny point in our political culture. To have judgement is to be an elitist. To have dignity is to be yesterday. [the following IMO high lights the Lebo problem] To have standards is to be a hypocrite— you won't always meet standards even when they are your own, so why have them?"
I guess on this Memorial Day, we should especially remember the words of our ex-Secretary of State— "What does it matter!"
There's also a feature on "organic lawn care". (Psst--grass is organic. Just sayin').
ReplyDeleteWatch Brumfield and the other bozos instruct their friends to spend all their time on the website clicking "Turf is a budget priority", and then using it as evidence there is widespread support in the community. Oh, wait, unless someone like me starts digging for the URLs that visit the site...Hmm...
So which is is it Mt. Lebanon Democrats? Are you going to save the planet or are you going to build your water polluting, lighted plastic grass field with accompanying oil based asphalt parking lot heat island?
ReplyDeleteThe manufacture of plastic, like the tons of it in artificial turf, requires oil and energy. Both of which we are told contribute to global warming.
You can't have it both ways! Either you're going to do your little part to save the environment or you're going to pursue an artifical world of environmental pollution.
It's time to stand up and be counted. On one hand you have a candidate running for governor that wants to save the environment while your local democrats want to do their part to destroy it.
"Climate change activist to boost Wolf's bid for governor"
"Among politicians whom liberal billionaire Tom Steyer will aim to unseat in November is Gov. Tom Corbett, whose Democratic challenger will get a boost from the San Francisco environmental activist because of Pennsylvania's shale gas industry.
Steyer, 56, intends to spend up to $100 million through his NextGen Climate Action super-PAC to convince voters that climate change is the most important issue in the fall elections. In addition to Corbett, Steyer has set his sights on two other Republican governors and four U.S. Senate races."
http://triblive.com/mobile/6159353-96/climate-wolf-corbett
The Democrat artificial turf loving Commissioners are just a bunch of hypocrites. They stand for nothing except which way the wind blows.
ReplyDeleteYes they are hypocrites.
ReplyDeleteThey'll increase taxes in the name of being fair, but obviously being fair doesn't apply to their property taxes.
They make you PAYT so we don't pollute and fill landfills, but they'll look forward to sending more plastic to a landfill in 8 years than residents ever will generate.
8:26- they can have it both ways (or even three or more)! Everyone, why get frustrated thinking you can hold community leadership to moral standards? You folks are old enough to know little will change until the majority vote for change. Maybe there is a chance they might throw out a couple of bones to help calm the crowd: None with meat though. Enjoy
ReplyDelete2:27 PM, have you signed the anti-turf petition? Are you planning to go to the commission meeting tomorrow night? Have you emailed the commissioners lately? Did you go to the school board meeting when they voted to approve the.54 mill increase? Do you have a yard sign? Are you planning to go to the June 12 $11,000 dog and pony show where we will learn to love artificial turf?
ReplyDeleteHow much longer until the next election? Do we sit on our hands until then? Should I shut down the blog until the next election?
Elaine
2:27-- quite the defeatist attitude to display on Memorial Day!
ReplyDeleteWhere are the permits for this construction?
ReplyDeleteWe need to put a moratorium on PAYT based on the principle that turf is in direct conflict with pro-environmental initiatives. Period. They can't have it both ways.They are either pro-environment or "I don't give a shit about the environment" . Which is it you Democrats? Take a stand because we don't understand what you stand for.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't understand, then start going to the Commission meetings and asking them. The only way things will change is keeping those nitwits accountable and making them answer, or at least get them to visibly refuse to address the issues. Either way, they're wrong.
ReplyDeleteToday would have been Rachel Carson's 107th birthday.
ReplyDeleteBorn only 22 miles from Middle/Wildcat fields, Rachel Carson was a tremendously influential pioneer of the environmental movement and her book, "Silent Spring" described the harmful effects of pesticides on the environment. She died of cancer one year after "Silent Spring" was published. Her views on the environment were influenced by growing up next to the Allegheny River and witnessing the impact of water pollution and the destruction of the natural setting surrounding her home.
If you don't want to read the articles below, just go to google and check out today's google doodle in her honor.
What would Rachel Carson say about Middle/Wildcat fields?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/05/140527-rachel-carson-google-doodle-environment-silent-spring-science/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2014/05/27/rachel-louise-carson-google-lets-fly-a-doodle-true-to-environmental-writers-nature/
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2014/05/25/Rachel-Carson-author-helps-mark-special-day/stories/201405240159
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/magazine/how-silent-spring-ignited-the-environmental-movement.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Do you wonder if President Linfante can intellectually make the connection of what it takes to make artificial turf first, the environmental hazards of crumb tire rubber, the heat island impact of turf and how it is directly opposite to the green agenda she seems to support?
ReplyDelete2:00 I am not sure the President can do that right now. I don't think she is thinking clearly.
ReplyDeleteGenerally, here is how synthetic turf (at least some types) is made:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b91cXZ1l2uQ
Problem with that youtube video is it doesn't show the barrels of oil needed to create the plastic beads at the beginning or the power lant that provides the energy to put all the turf materials together. The plastic beads comes come from somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the president not thinking clearly. When she started her Realebo blog she and her partner touted it as their way to build a community. In my opinion, all her efforts to date have done nothing more than divide what was a great community.
During her time here and her time as commissioner, what are Linfante's crowing achievements?
ReplyDelete• She supported building a completely new $150 million high school!
• She was part of the group attempting to create a new community dialogue- "what the Kluck."
• renovated the community pool - way over original estimates- right?
• passed ordinance to sell sign space on public fences with the money being assigned to private entities
• spent a large sum on deer surveys (which has no votes as being a pressing matter on the Lebomag poll so far)
• pushing for a $1,000,000 turfing of MWC
My opinion, an impressive list of achievements... NOT! Can anyone add any others?
2:37 - they're from California and are far left, artsy-fartsy, liberal progressives ! What else could you possibly expect ?
ReplyDeleteCorrections @3:20.
ReplyDeleteCrowning not crowing and she was part of a group attrmpting to disrupt the town hall, she never far as I can tell ever attempted to create one. Even on her blog she didn't take too kindly to dissenting opinions.
It'll be interesting to see if after today's rain we have days of game and practice cancellations on our current grass fields.
ReplyDeleteIf it's sunny tomorrow and games go on that'll further debunk the 60% myth of additional play time from turfed fields.
Hope someone takes photos of the flooded Dixon parking lot, the corner of Greenhurst and Cedar and overflowing streams in the flood plains along Cedar to Painters Run, and posts them on this blog !
ReplyDeleteWhy not take pictures of all the floods in Mt Lebanon due to these storms? We can learn more about Mt Lebanon priorities.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I'd run around touting Rachel Carson as hero. Her nonsensical book ultimately was responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people. She used anecdotes, shaky (putting it mildly) data and just plain old hysteria to create a problem where none existed. Like most left wing kooks, I'm sure she meant well. Kind of like someone tilting at windmills with a deer cull based on a "count" that turned out to be nonsense. Or behaving like a ruffian to disrupt a community dialogue and try to shut down opposing viewpoints. Seems to be a trend with a certain political party in this town and especially with the women in that party. They want to create problems where none exist. Did we "need" a brand new school? No. Are deer actually a problem? No. Are there really a lack of playing times and space? No. Certain people in this town insist on just throwing money down the drain and for what? It's solely an ego thing. Fools, every one of them.
ReplyDeleteTHIS IS FROM May 21 newspapers Classifieds (Bids and Proposals).
ReplyDeleteANYONE CAN BUY A COPY AND SHARE FOR BLOG POSTING ON LEBOCITIZENS.
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NOTICE TO BIDDERS
MUNICIPALITY OF MT. LEBANON OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Sealed Proposals will be received by the Municipality of Mt. Lebanon, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania for:
WILDCAT FIELD TURF INSTALLATION
This project base bid includes the installation of a synthetic turf surface on an existing grass and earthen field including demolition and removal of existing facilities, erosion and sedimentation controls, grading, preparation of the sub-grade, drainage installation, curb construction, turf material and rubber infill installation, and any restoration necessary.
Alternate bids are requested for installation of organic infill material as a substitute to rubber infill including the installation of an irrigation system and for a substitution of alternate turf material.
Add Alternate bids are requested for fencing along Cedar Boulevard, backstop installation, chain link fence fabric for backstop, plaza area including donor sign, water fountain, remove and replace existing fencing, storm filtration system, landscaping, and turf lettering.
A deduct bid is requested for a reduction in the turf area.
Qualified bidders must demonstrate having the minimum of five synthetic turf installations and field drainage base installations over the past five years.
Bidders must have third party warranty provisions for turf material and installation as well as being licensed and insured in Pennsylvania.
All Proposals must be in the hands of David Donnellan, Director of Recreation, Municipal Building, 710 Washington Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15228 before 11:00 a.m. prevailing time, June 17, 2014 and the same will be publicly opened and read at that time at the Municipal Building Commission Chambers located at 710 Washington Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15228. A mandatory pre-bid meeting is scheduled for June 6, 2014 at 10:00 AM, on the second floor of the Recreation Center located at 900 Cedar Boulevard, Pittsburgh PA 15228.
Proposals shall be delivered in a sealed envelope and clearly marked on the outside with the words "Wildcat Field Turf Installation".
Copies of Drawings, Specifications, Instructions to Bidders, General Conditions, Forms of Proposals and Agreements are on file and open to public inspection at the office of The Gateway Engineers, Inc., 400 Holiday Drive, Suite 300 Pittsburgh, PA 15220 where sets of said documents may be obtained on Tuesday, May 27, 2014, upon payment of $75.00 for the contract. A $25.00 fee is applied if specifications are to be mailed. No refunds will be made to documents purchased.
Prevailing wage rates will be required to be paid on this contract.
Performance and Labor and Material Payment Bonds, along with Public Liability and Property Damage Certificates of Insurance in the amounts specified, as well as Certificates of Workman's Compensation must be filed with the executed Agreement.
All bidders must submit the non-collusion affidavit with their bid or the bid will be considered void.
Proposals to receive consideration must be accompanied by a Certified Check or Bidder's Bond from a Surety Company authorized to do business in Pennsylvania, made to the order of the Municipality of Mt. Lebanon in an amount equal to ten percent (10%) of the total amount of the Proposal as a guarantee that, if the Proposal is accepted, the successful Bidder will enter into an Agreement within 15 days after Notice of the Award of the Contract.
The Proposals must be made to the Municipality of Mt. Lebanon and shall remain firm for a period of sixty (60) days. No Bidder may withdraw his Proposal during the sixty (60) day period without forfeiting his Bid guarantee.
The Owner reserves the right to reject any or all Proposals, or any part thereof, for any reason, and also reserves the right to waive any informality therein.
Stephen M. Feller
Municipal Manager
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