Folks the topic of the ongoing boondoggle at the Jefferson Parish (non)Performing Arts Center is one that has been mentioned a time or two on these pages and even more offline but it is also a topic I have personally avoided delving into here on Slabbed because despite the fact the subject matter of a construction project gone bad is right up my alley professionally I could never wrap my arms around the topic. That changes today.
I noticed the emails coming in Friday that the subject matter was topical in the press beginning with Rich Rainey’s report for the T-P and the Wino even sent me a bat signal first thing Monday morning the Legislative Audit Report was up on the web. The conclusion of tax season 2010 prevented me from boning up on the latest until yesterday and it was the legislative auditor that finally cleared things up for me and in turn I hope to now advance the discussion but first a hat tip to my brother CPAs at the Legislative Auditor’s office:
The short version of the press accounts is the end result of a major study on the development of the LaSalle Tract of land owned by the Parish resulted in the determination that its best use would include the inclusion of the Performing Arts Center on the site. An architect was hired to design the facility, the project was first bid in 2005, ground broke after Katrina and in 2011 with over $18MM in cost over runs the project remains unfinished and there is lots of finger-pointing to this day. But the devil lies in the details and man o’ man have we accumulated details here on Slabbed (without completely knowing) since 2008. Let’s start with a snippet from the Legislative Auditor Report: Continue reading ““Something is definitely rotten in Jefferson”: The (non)Performing Arts Center Boondoggle in the news…”