Building group offers mixed reaction to Vallone school construction plan.The Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , the umbrella organization
An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions, who work together formally to coordinate activities or for 60 hard-hat unions and their 100,000 members in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. , responded with tempered enthusiasm to Council Speaker Peter Vallone's proposal to utilize private real estate developers to build public schools. "Speaker Vallone is absolutely correct when he says that if the school construction system replicated private sector practices used by the best real estate developers in New York City, teachers and children would be occupying first rate facilities instead of glorified glo·ri·fy tr.v. glo·ri·fied, glo·ri·fy·ing, glo·ri·fies 1. To give glory, honor, or high praise to; exalt. 2. broom closets Noun 1. broom closet - a small room for storing brooms and other cleaning equipment closet, cupboard - a small room (or recess) or cabinet used for storage space ," said Edward J. Malloy, president of the Building Trades. "Our unions and contractors perform all of the work done by top developers, so we would obviously be supportive of a proposal that allowed them to bring their professionalism to school construction. Unfortunately, the lone experience with turning to private developers for school construction has been the scandal-ridden leasing program, here the Board of Education scraped the bottom of the barrel and completely ignore reputable members of the development community," continued Malloy. "Far from addressing the major school construction problem of relying too often on irresponsible contractors hiring unskilled labor, it made matters even worse by relying entirely on irresponsi ble contractors hiring unskilled labor." Under the school leasing program, administered primarily by the Board of Education and not the School Construction Authority, leases have been entered into with private landlords to convert existing property into public schools, with 110 Livingston Street picking up the tab for the bulk of renovation costs. The leasing program was designed to circumvent several laws, including the requirement that prevailing wages be paid to workers on public projects, Malloy claimed. Among the embarrassments of the leasing program have been revelations that the Board of Education entered into agreements with individuals accused of involvement in arson and prostitution. The mont disgraceful dis·grace·ful adj. Bringing or warranting disgrace; shameful. dis·grace  ful·ly adv. episode occurred with the construction of a so-called
"toxic school" in Harlem that was uninhabitable by students
due to being located in a former dry-cleaning plant contaminated contaminated,v 1. made radioactive by the addition of small quantities of radioactive material. 2. made contaminated by adding infective or radiographic materials. 3. an infective surface or object. with the chemical PERC PERC See: Preferred equity redemption stock . "Labor and management in our industry have offered the most comprehensive package yet to reform school construction. It tightens bid standards and even proposes a special labor agreement that would save literally hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars while dramatically improving safety and quality," concluded Malloy. "To the extent the speaker's proposal is consistent with this package of reforms and assures that only the most reputable developers would be involved, we would be pleased to join him." |
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