Obama Center subcontractor files $40M discrimination lawsuit against engineering firm for overruns
The subcontractor claims racial discriminatory practices forced it to do extra work that left it at risk of bankruptcy
A Chicago-based subcontractor is suing one of the firms involved in managing the construction of the Obama Presidential Center for $40 million, claiming racial discriminatory practices forced the firm to do extra work that left it at risk of bankruptcy, according to a lawsuit.
Robert McGee, the owner of II in One, which provided concrete and rebar services for the center starting in 2021, filed the lawsuit in federal court last month against New York-based Thornton Tomasetti, which oversees structural engineering and design services for the $830 million project.
McGee claims that Thornton Tomasetti changed standards and imposed new rules around rebar spacing and tolerance requirements that differed from the American Concrete Institute standards, which resulted in "excessively rigorous and unnecessary inspection" and massive overruns.
The allegations: racis' engineers made the contractors be too rigorous
However, Thornton Tomasetti defended its actions nearly a year ago, writing in a memo to the lawsuit that the subcontractors were "questionably qualified," and the delays were due to their own shortcomings.
McGee claims Thornton Tomasetti falsely accused II in One of lacking sufficient qualifications and experience to perform its work, while stating that non-minority-owned contractors were sufficiently qualified.
The counter-claim: No you just suck and qualified people should have been contracted instead of your bum butt. Look at this shit
The project has faced problems in the past. Construction was initially anticipated to get underway in 2018, but it was kicked back to 2021. It is scheduled to open sometime in 2026.
Some community activists claim the new center will cause prices for homes and rent to increase and may price many of those who live in the area. Environmental activists have also been critical of the project, arguing that it would remove too many trees and destroy some bird habitats.
Also this shit was supposed to be done awhile ago and everyone else is coming with their hands out
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!chuds How long after opening until?
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I mean you're right on the border of U of C. The whole Bronzeville/HP/Woodlawn area is gentrifying or at least getting less shitty. The University means that you'll have 10k+ smart and rich mayos and asians living there, so there's an economic base that's gone from the rest of the South Side. In addition, those three neighborhoods are the trendies among young and upwardly mobile Blacks. If you believe in Marcus Garvey and the existence of a solid Negro middle class being the best way to solve race issues, the area is trying to get to that standard.
Three major obstacles to it not being a dump. First, you need aggressive CPD and prosecutors willing to heavily punish the gangbangers from the rest of the city coming in, or even this new urban Black middle class will flee to a suburb or to Atlanta. Second, they need better transit to the rest of the city. Easiest way to do this would be to hand over the Metra Electric Line's South Chicago branch to the CTA and run it at CTA frequency, but unions are heavily opposed to this. Third, someone needs to end the cronism endemic in the Black community that leads to garbage like this. There's one particular "community organizer" (gospel of prosperity preacher) who's had the aldermen on the South Side in his pocket for decades because of how popular his megachurch is. He led opposition against the Obama library for years and continues to lead opposition against any U of C expansion unless they're willing to give guaranteed contracts to local Blacks for construction and what not. He single-handedly blocked L expansion along 63 back in the 90s using the exact same white NIMBY fears of transit bringing crime because he wanted more gibs.
How U of C inevitably handles this (and where the Obama Library failed) is that you agree to the diversity contracts and then you let them do absolutely nothing. Rent some trailers and pay local Blacks to sit in them all day while Whites and Latinx do all the construction, because it's cheaper than having to deal with the inevitable problems and delays that occur from letting them take charge of anything substantial.
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not reading your substack
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They better be installing bars on those windows with construction
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