Special Report: San Jacinto Plaza delays

the 2012 quality of life bond projects. but months of unexplained delays have dulled the intended shine in many people’s eyes. so what’s the hold- up? abc-7’s andrew j. polk investigates in a story you’ll see only on abc-7. :35 1:08 1:55 2:35 it took just 12 months to go from this… to this. and yet work on the renovations for san jacinto plaza continues to drag on. it was originally supposed to be done last november. that was then pushed back to march “It sucks” “Does it make it m difficult to get around to do the work you’re doing” “Oh yea it does.” but in april and no may… Cortney Niland, City Rep: “Unfortunately, at this particular time, it’s not quite ready. … the construction continues with no explanation from the city. Um, and instead of rushing the process, and delivering a product, um, that is not up to the standards of which we negotiated with the contractor, we are making sure that the investment that this community is making in this park is exactly what they’re expecting.” beside the hassle events planned for a finished plaza are being impacted. the mariachi loco and neon desert music festivals will be held around the plaza. the city has just stopped announcing the project’s end date. Andrew: “No particular en date in sight?” Irene Ramirez City engineer: “No. We’re still working on it, still working diligently with the contractor to make sure that we provide for the citizens the great project we know they want and expect. city engineer irene ramirez showed me some of the completed features, like the splash pad, tree lined walks and brickwork on three sides of the site. still remaing is work on the oregon street side and a 40- ton canopy that will cover the center of the park, where the refurbished “lo lagartos” statue will sit. Iren Ramirez: “Until we get all that in place we can’t really bring in the sculpture. We get that in place, then we can go in and finish off the pond and all the pavers and work that’s underneath that, because frankly, we’re working underneath it and we don’t want to go in and damage what we might have put in.” “priorities for the plaza hav been constantly changing. construction documents and change orders from the city show numerous changes large and small – from rerouting pipes and wiring to adding nearly a quarter of a million dollars in trees.” –the bid an contract are excruciatingly detailed in these 971 pages, which we got through an open records request. the abc-7 i-team also found 22 change orders, 17 of them approved since december, when city council adopted new strategic goals, like promoting the visual image of el paso and enhancing enhance el paso’s quality of life. Lily Limon, City Rep: “Unfortunately we’re kind of caught in the middle of some actions …So it’s kind of like coming — actually it’s like building a bridge from two different sides and hoping that the two are going to meet in the middle somewhere.” construction costs are adding up. the original construciton budget for san jacinto was just over $4.5 million. the city is now more than a quarter of a million dollars over. “Yeah, it doesn’t seem like the could have anything anytime soon.” san jacinto stil looks like it has a ways to go. andrew j. polk, abc-7 the entire san jacitno plaza project has a budget of $6 million including marketing and other costs beyond construction — and the city says the entire project is still below that budget.