Posted on 12/31/2005 6:13:21 AM PST by johnmecainrino
Blanco orders remodeling just after storms
Office tab: $564,838
Members of Gov. Kathleen Blanco's staff are scheduled to move into the newly renovated offices on Tuesday. Some members of the governor's staff will return from the three-day holiday on Tuesday to newly renovated offices at the State Capitol. Shortly after the two hurricanes, Gov. Kathleen Blanco decided to renovate some of her staff's offices. At the time of her decision, Blanco also was hinting at deep budget cuts to state programs and the possibility of laying off 20 percent of the state workforce.
The project cost $564,838.
The newly refurbished office space on the sixth floor of the State Capitol includes hookups and mounts for two flat screen televisions, Swedish granite countertops, walnut paneling and frosted laminated glass. The floor, which will not be accessible to the public, was redesigned to add three new offices, a conference room and file storage areas.
About 20 members of the governor's staff – who focus on constituent services, children's issues, women's policies and other functions – will work on the newly restored floor.
Concerned about the perception of fixing up their office space while slashing others' spending, Jimmy Clarke, Blanco's chief of staff, said Friday the governor's top aides considered not fixing the 6th floor.
But the sixth floor project was bid six days before Hurricane Katrina came ashore near Buras on Aug. 29. Clarke said he became concerned that the state could be sued successfully if the restoration project were shut down.
"We certainly would not have initiated this work post-Katrina and Rita," Clarke said. "Given all that the state faces at this time, these renovations would be a very low priority."
The floor had not been improved since the early 1980s and the space needed to be upgraded to meet safety codes, Clarke said.
Restoration work began on the sixth floor Oct. 10, two weeks after Hurricane Rita struck Cameron on Sept. 24.
The week before work began, Blanco ordered a spending and hiring freeze to rein in state government expenses.
Three days after crews started tearing out the old offices, the administration announced that the state's budget would be about $1 billion short because of damages caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. That day, Commissioner of Administration Jerry Luke LeBlanc told a legislative finance committee that the budgets supplying money for public health care and education would need cuts of 20 percent or more and that more than 18,000 state employees would have to be laid off.
All three floors that the governor and her staff occupy saw some upgrades, said William Wilson, director of the Office of State Buildings.
A bathroom was added to the fifth floor and new carpet was added to all three floors, he said.
But the sixth floor saw the most work, costing almost $300,000 alone, he said.
Like most of the government offices in the State Capitol, which was built in art deco style in 1932, offices line the perimeter of the sixth floor with one office per window. The center section had offices and storage space, he said.
With copy machines in the halls and files stacked in corners, "it really wasn't very efficient," Wilson said.
The center section was ripped out and rebuilt to include three new offices, space for student workers and a new conference room. The coffee room in the northwest corner was modernized.
She is not only incompetent but she is also a partisan hack.
She blamed Bush for everything while she was the one causing the trouble.
Blanco took over the body recovery from Fema. She blasted Fema so what does she do, she shuts down the body recovery before teams had even searched in the 9th ward. So when family members go back to the 9th ward and find bodies 4 months later it gives the media another way to blame Bush.
GOP is asleep at the switch. This woman had her hands in everything wrong that happened with Katrina.
Blanco rejected Florida National Guard help before the storm.
Waited till morning of the storm for a mandatory evacuation.
Didn't active state buses.
Wouldn't sign an executive order allowing out of state doctors and vets to come in.
Rejected homeland security rapid response firefighting teams.
Blasted Fema on body recovery then she ends the body recovery way too early befre the 9th ward was even searched.
Blocked Bush from allowing it to be federalized so their would be one cohesive chain of command under general honore.
Sent people to convention center without food and water.
Blocked Red Cross from giving aid to the people at the convention center.
She was to blame for the hurricane not that dork Brown.
Someone anyone in the national GOP go after her.
This will get your blood pressure up...ping
When in doubt, go shopping.
Well the $250 billion she demanded of the Federal government should help cover this office remodel tab.
LMAO - Since when are any of these losers concerned with efficiency?
Here come da pork.
Shredders, where to put the high volumne shredders.
The front man is lying. Just because a project has been bid on doesn't mean it can't be cancelled. Happens all the time.
Louisiana, it is time for a march on Baton Rouge to take your state back.
Before the rest of us do.
Governor Bobby Jindal
let the good people of Louisiana eat cake.
This blew out of the screen at me.
"How conveeenient! We can change the 'codes' and then we 'have' to upgrade." G*#)(mn gov't is out of control.
There's an old saying here in Texas..."No matter how much our state government screws up, we can always count on Louisiana to do it bigger & better."
Glad to see the tradition continues.
WTF...Taj Majal remodeling for FILE SPACE!!???
Do those codes call for those high dollar walls and countertops? How about CINDERBLOCK and FORMICA, that's pretty damn*d efficient isn't it?
Crickets chirping...
Sounds not unlike the time when the wonderful Jay Rockefeller was gov. of WV and to save the state money he ordered air conditioning turned off in many state buildings. So people in hospitals and other state facilities had to suffer in the heat but the AC was on full blast in the governor's office. The Democrats are indeed the party of compassion!
I love sarcasm.
No court would have held that a bankrupt state would have to go forward with that bid. Ridiculous.
Wow - she is butt ugly. Who votes for butt ugly chicks? I don't.
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