Tweet
No project in the City of Miami has been more controversial than the decision to build a new stadium for the Florida Marlins. Debated for more than a decade and the subject of numerous lawsuits, the Marlins finally won their fight in March when both the city and county approved plans for a 37,000 seat, retractable roof stadium.
It's being built on the site of the old Orange Bowl.
Total cost to taxpayers -- more than $350 million.
Given its history, and the lingering anger over the project, you might expect the Marlins would do everything possible during the construction of the stadium to avoid making mistakes.
Turns out, you'd be wrong.
As soon as construction began in August, a canal located just west of the proposed ballpark, became contaminated with runoff from the stadium site.
Because the canal -- known as the Lawrence Waterway -- flows directly into the Miami River, a cleanup effort was launched.
But in September it happened again.
For critics of the stadium, like longtime environmentalist Barbara Lange, the episode is just the beginning.
"It says to me they just don't care and they are trying to do everything as quickly and as on the cheap as possible," said Lange, who is with the Sierra Club. "My concern is that nothing is going to be done right and it's my taxpayer's money, it's the City of Miami's taxpayer's money, its Dade County taxpayer's money that's paying for it."
This was not the way construction was supposed to go.
At the groundbreaking ceremony earlier this year, Miami City Commissioner Joe Sanchez offered a prediction. "If you build it and if you build it right, which the Marlins are doing, and which the city is doing with the county, the fans will come."
But are the Marlins building it right?
The CBS4 I Team has reviewed dozens of emails between city engineers and the company building the stadium, Hunt-Moss.
The emails raise concerns that in a rush to meet their deadlines for the 2012 season, the Marlins are cutting corners and failing to live up to some of their promises.
The first sign of trouble came on August 12 when city engineers took pictures showing runoff from the site spilling into the street.
The attached email from Francis Mitchell, the city's assistant director for Public Works declared: "This silty water is ending up at our pump station and into the river."
The Marlins downplayed the incident, saying the problem was minor and would be immediately corrected.
Six days later, city engineers were horrified when they visited the Lawrence canal and saw the waterway fully contaminated with lime rock and other material which was washed into the storm water system from the stadium site.
The pictures prompted city engineer Elyrosa Estevez to write Marlin officials on August 18: "Today, I could not believe the pictures taken by our inspectors. Please stop your dewatering operation immediately and start cleaning the storm sewer system already contaminated with sediment since last week."
After shutting down the operation for a couple of days, they started up again. And a few days later, on August 25, city engineers took additional pictures of the canal showing further contamination.
Frustrated, Mitchell, the assistant director of Public Works wrote: "This is UNACCEPTABLE."
She also complained the city had to dispatch its own emergency crews to the site to contain the contamination. "Our department is not required to mobilize our crew and meager resources to do the contractor's protective measure work."
September 2 -- another incident -- as the city manager called them, documented once again by his staff.
Accompanying the photos, City engineer Elyrosa Estevez wrote matter-of-factly: "The dewatering that happened this afternoon caused this mess."
Environmentalist Barbara Lange said the fact that construction continued as they tried to figure out the cause is remarkable.
"They should have shut it down, the should have figured out what was going wrong, they should have stopped the contamination and they should have got somebody in here who knew what they were doing," she said.
Why would the contamination of the canal cause concerns?
Besides affecting plant and fish life, this canal is connected to the Miami River which just underwent a $90 million dredging operation to clean up the waterway
"It's sort of like you just finished vacuuming your living room floor and someone comes in with muddy feet," noted Eric Buermann is chairman of the Miami River Commission, which took the lead in helping clean up the river. "Everything is connected to everything else. It's a system and if you have damage in one part of the system, it can be a problem throughout."
Even if it is just limited to or isolated to the Lawrence canal?
"Well yes," Buermann said, "because those feed into the river so this is almost like a plumbing system. You don't want those pollutants to get out into the main body of the river and then flow out into Biscayne Bay and beyond."
Despite the frustration and anger expressed in emails by his staff, Miami City Manager Pete Hernandez defended the Marlins.
"Obviously when you first look at it and you see the milky water coming out of the outfall of the canal you get concerned and rightly so," he said. "The theory that I tend to agree with the most is that you probably had some old ruptured line that wasn't shown on the plans."
But the explanation may be even simpler. Most of the contamination coincided with rain at the site. Amazingly, the Marlins hadn't anticipated rain in South Florida.
In order to get the necessary permits to begin construction the Marlins promised to install grass swales and special fencing around the site to protect the storm water system.
But they failed to get it done before construction began in August.
As a result, lime stone and other material were washed into the streets and down the storm drains the Marlins had failed to cap.
Environmentalist Barbara Lange was shocked when she learned that despite their mistakes, the Marlins weren't even fined or cited for the contamination.
"They didn't get any fines," she said shaking her head, "you know the little dry cleaner would get pummeled for this, for dumping anything. But the Marlins, no, forget it; let's not dare...dare [fine them]"
Today, whatever had been dumped into the Lawrence canal has settled to the bottom.
Both the Marlins and the contractor, Hunt Moss, refused to be interviewed for this story.
City Manager Pete Hernandez said he doesn't believe there are any long-term or serious consequences to the incidents. He also there has been no further contamination since early September.
The Marlins, he told me, have finally "stepped up to the plate."
It's being built on the site of the old Orange Bowl.
Total cost to taxpayers -- more than $350 million.
Given its history, and the lingering anger over the project, you might expect the Marlins would do everything possible during the construction of the stadium to avoid making mistakes.
Turns out, you'd be wrong.
As soon as construction began in August, a canal located just west of the proposed ballpark, became contaminated with runoff from the stadium site.
Because the canal -- known as the Lawrence Waterway -- flows directly into the Miami River, a cleanup effort was launched.
But in September it happened again.
For critics of the stadium, like longtime environmentalist Barbara Lange, the episode is just the beginning.
"It says to me they just don't care and they are trying to do everything as quickly and as on the cheap as possible," said Lange, who is with the Sierra Club. "My concern is that nothing is going to be done right and it's my taxpayer's money, it's the City of Miami's taxpayer's money, its Dade County taxpayer's money that's paying for it."
This was not the way construction was supposed to go.
At the groundbreaking ceremony earlier this year, Miami City Commissioner Joe Sanchez offered a prediction. "If you build it and if you build it right, which the Marlins are doing, and which the city is doing with the county, the fans will come."
But are the Marlins building it right?
The CBS4 I Team has reviewed dozens of emails between city engineers and the company building the stadium, Hunt-Moss.
The emails raise concerns that in a rush to meet their deadlines for the 2012 season, the Marlins are cutting corners and failing to live up to some of their promises.
The first sign of trouble came on August 12 when city engineers took pictures showing runoff from the site spilling into the street.
The attached email from Francis Mitchell, the city's assistant director for Public Works declared: "This silty water is ending up at our pump station and into the river."
The Marlins downplayed the incident, saying the problem was minor and would be immediately corrected.
Six days later, city engineers were horrified when they visited the Lawrence canal and saw the waterway fully contaminated with lime rock and other material which was washed into the storm water system from the stadium site.
The pictures prompted city engineer Elyrosa Estevez to write Marlin officials on August 18: "Today, I could not believe the pictures taken by our inspectors. Please stop your dewatering operation immediately and start cleaning the storm sewer system already contaminated with sediment since last week."
After shutting down the operation for a couple of days, they started up again. And a few days later, on August 25, city engineers took additional pictures of the canal showing further contamination.
Frustrated, Mitchell, the assistant director of Public Works wrote: "This is UNACCEPTABLE."
She also complained the city had to dispatch its own emergency crews to the site to contain the contamination. "Our department is not required to mobilize our crew and meager resources to do the contractor's protective measure work."
September 2 -- another incident -- as the city manager called them, documented once again by his staff.
Accompanying the photos, City engineer Elyrosa Estevez wrote matter-of-factly: "The dewatering that happened this afternoon caused this mess."
Environmentalist Barbara Lange said the fact that construction continued as they tried to figure out the cause is remarkable.
"They should have shut it down, the should have figured out what was going wrong, they should have stopped the contamination and they should have got somebody in here who knew what they were doing," she said.
Why would the contamination of the canal cause concerns?
Besides affecting plant and fish life, this canal is connected to the Miami River which just underwent a $90 million dredging operation to clean up the waterway
"It's sort of like you just finished vacuuming your living room floor and someone comes in with muddy feet," noted Eric Buermann is chairman of the Miami River Commission, which took the lead in helping clean up the river. "Everything is connected to everything else. It's a system and if you have damage in one part of the system, it can be a problem throughout."
Even if it is just limited to or isolated to the Lawrence canal?
"Well yes," Buermann said, "because those feed into the river so this is almost like a plumbing system. You don't want those pollutants to get out into the main body of the river and then flow out into Biscayne Bay and beyond."
Despite the frustration and anger expressed in emails by his staff, Miami City Manager Pete Hernandez defended the Marlins.
"Obviously when you first look at it and you see the milky water coming out of the outfall of the canal you get concerned and rightly so," he said. "The theory that I tend to agree with the most is that you probably had some old ruptured line that wasn't shown on the plans."
But the explanation may be even simpler. Most of the contamination coincided with rain at the site. Amazingly, the Marlins hadn't anticipated rain in South Florida.
In order to get the necessary permits to begin construction the Marlins promised to install grass swales and special fencing around the site to protect the storm water system.
But they failed to get it done before construction began in August.
As a result, lime stone and other material were washed into the streets and down the storm drains the Marlins had failed to cap.
Environmentalist Barbara Lange was shocked when she learned that despite their mistakes, the Marlins weren't even fined or cited for the contamination.
"They didn't get any fines," she said shaking her head, "you know the little dry cleaner would get pummeled for this, for dumping anything. But the Marlins, no, forget it; let's not dare...dare [fine them]"
Today, whatever had been dumped into the Lawrence canal has settled to the bottom.
Both the Marlins and the contractor, Hunt Moss, refused to be interviewed for this story.
City Manager Pete Hernandez said he doesn't believe there are any long-term or serious consequences to the incidents. He also there has been no further contamination since early September.
The Marlins, he told me, have finally "stepped up to the plate."
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment