Friday, July 31, 2009
News UGA dumps company connected to parking deck collapse
Posted by Asher Smith on Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 6:17 PM
Hardin construction — the big-name firm that has come under scrutiny for having been involved with the construction of both the Atlanta botanical garden walkway that collapsed in December 2008 and the partially-collapsed Centergy parking deck in midtown — has had two lucrative contracts cancelled by the University of Georgia.
In April of this year Hardin received a contract to work on two new parking decks planned by UGA, for a grand total of $18.6 million. Since then, however, Hardin has been fined $6,300 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for inadequately installing scaffolding towers to support the Botanical Garden walkway.
The AJC reported last week that Gateway Development, the company which leases the Centergy parking deck, offered impacted motorists a six-month, no-interest loan of up to $500 to cover expenses. It also waived some parking charges. The company thinks a faulty bolt might have played into the deck's collapse, but its ultimate cause is still unknown.
And while the collapse of the midtown parking deck did not result in any serious injuries, the company's attempt to downplay the incident was little consolation to those whose daily lives were dramatically inconvenienced by the destruction of an entire section of the Cynergy parking deck:
To put this incident in perspective there are 1415 spaces in this deck. One section was involved, and it is estimated that approximately 35 spaces were affected.
If anyone would like some "perspective" this time around, UGA's cancellation of these contacts makes for 943 parking spaces that Hardin will not be responsible for.
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
Comments (2)
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Isn't this an over-reaction by UGA? Hardin only had two major construction disasters this year, and only one of them involved a fatality. Hardin has supported many, many politicians over the years and has made many, many millions. And this is the gratitude they are shown?
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So the well-oiled political connections Hardin has worked so hard to cultivate can't stop people from taking a closer look at Hardin's dismal record. Let's fact it, Hardin is a mediocre at best construction company who buys and hires politicians like politicians buy and hire their favoite major campaign contributors. Too bad people have to die in this "good buddy" system.
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