Low bid blues

The South Brunswick Township Council is suing two contractors because it believes work done on Ridge Road near the Monmouth Junction Post Office and at Rowland Park on Rowland Road. According to the township, JPC Group has failed to finish some paving on a $400,000 road reconstruction project on Ridge and Northstar Enterprises has failed to complete electrical work and landscaping at the park (part of a $6 million contract).

So they are suing with the intention of either getting money so the township can finish the project or to force the contractors back onto the sites.

Some on the council were unhappy with CME Associates for the company’s oversight of the projects — and it appears they may bear some of the blame. The council and Township Manager Matt Watkins also have to shoulder some blame. (Perhaps someone could have ordered the engineer to ride the contractors like a basketball coach rides a player with an attitude problem?)

But the bigger issue is that a law designed to protect the public from cronyism in the award of contracts — by requiring them to award contracts to the lowest bidder — may be forcing governments to hire subpar contractors and leaving them without much recourse should the work be shoddy or not up to standards.

“We have to pay them within 20 days,” Mr. Watkins said. “If you’re renovating your home and the contractor doesn’t finish the job, you don’t pay him. Then they come back and finish the job. We have to pay them.”

He said that, to get the work done, the township has to enter into litigation. He said the problem is not only happening in South Brunswick, but throughout the state.

If he’s correct — I’ve heard this sime complaint in other communities — then it would seem an easy problem to fix. First, we could allow towns to show specific cause so they can turn down low bids (perhaps a registry of complaints by towns filed with the state, a state rating system or some other mechanism can be created that would remove repeat offenders from the public-contracting pool). And we could allow towns to pay off contract work the way homeowners do, a portion at a time until the work is complete and OK’d by inspection.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
The Cranbury Press Blog

E-mail me by clicking here

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Send Alberto packing

If Alberto Gonzales won’t resign as U.S. attorney general (consider this and this), then President George W. Bush should fire him — and if the president won’t do it, the legislative branch should step in.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
The Cranbury Press Blog

E-mail me by clicking here

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

It’s the pitching, stupid

I know it’s early still — opening day remains about two weeks off — but hte news from Mets camp has me feeling more optimistic than I probably have a right to feel.

The rotation — incredibly suspect for a contending team — may just be rounding into shape. both John Maine and Mike Pelfrey have been impressive and Oliver Perez has thrown well since he opened the spring with a poor outinng. If all three prove to be ready and even moderately reliable, that would give the Mets enough starting pitching to counter the overrated Phillies rotation. And there remains a chance that Pedro will return, that Jason Vargas (who has Major League stuff) could become a player, etc.

As I’ve written before, the upside is there and it is a rather high upside at that. And it also put the lie to the notion that the Mets’ pitching is old. Consider a potential rotation in 2008 that includes Pelfrey, Maine, Philip Humber, Perez and Vargas — two lefties and a lot of potential. At the very least, there are lots of trade chips to be dangled for a proven arm.

As for Pelfrey and Maine, they are the story of the day from camp:

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
The Cranbury Press Blog

E-mail me by clicking here

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

A duck walks into a bar….

I had to link to this because the responses are just way too funny. Anyone looking for some good, not-so-good, awful, corny, surreal, weird jokes and one-liners needs to check it out. (Found it initially on Blanton and Ashton’s.)

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
The Cranbury Press Blog

E-mail me by clicking here.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Runner’s diary, Wednesday (and Tuesday, too)

Tuesday:
Yes, I did run yesterday — on the treadmill at the gym: four miles in 35 and change, a pretty good pace, but my knee was killing me.

Music selection: The Beatles, Yellow Submarine

Wednesday:
Five miles in 44:40 while listening to John Mellencamp’s new disc, Freedom’s Road.

That’s 12 miles so far after last week’s 14. Friday’s minimum run, then has to be five miles, though we’ll see.

And yes, I did run inside today even though the weather was magnificent. My plan is to charge the GPS (measures my mileage and pace as I run) so I can get out Friday or next week.

Unless I can develop some novel excuses.

(No run tomorrow, in case anyone cares. Must take the car in for some basic maintenance.)

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
The Cranbury Press Blog

E-mail me by clicking here.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.