Enquiring minds want to know.-----------------------
Updates:
In comments, Sierra College Trustee Aaron Klein says it "...looks like the fire training facility...If I'm correct, the source of funds is the Measure G bond measure approved by the voters in November 2004".
And to enable clearer judgment, I've added before-and-after aerial photos, by Google and Keachie.
To me, this has "taxpayer-funded boondoggle" written all over it, but this journalism project's all yours - looking into it might be rewarding for an anti-wasteful-spending-of-taxpayer-monies crusader who wasn't already engaged
in trying to protect human civilization from these fellows.
Do we have any such crusaders in Nevada County?
8 comments:
My Google News alert pinged for "Sierra College" and brought me to your post! Glad I saw this.
That looks like the fire training facility at NCC campus to me. If I'm correct, the source of funds is the Measure G bond measure approved by the voters in November 2004.
Anna e-mailed me a question and then asked that I post the response to her blog, so here goes.
The projects put before the voters to be financed by the 2004 Measure G bonds specifically included firefighter training facilities.
From my understanding in a briefing by the fire chief, the first aspect of a training facility is a very large concrete surface where training teams can safely set all manner of things on fire and then extinguish them: structures, vehicles, etc.
The science of fire protection requires extensive training and this facility was a partnership with the local fire department. Sierra College is one of the largest trainers of firefighters in the North State, and this is a good investment for our region.
I believe the next phase that the fire protection agencies would like to build includes some concrete structures in the middle of this training ground, which could allow them to simulate large-scale multi-level structure fires, and train crews on how to fight them. That won't happen until funding is available to either their agency or ours.
Hope that helps.
Trustee Aaron Klein
www.aaronklein.com
This is confusing. I'm wondering what construction co. did this project, and lo, Jeff Ackerman has a Union article from a year ago, saying:
"the first half of that [Measure G] project — $20 million — was awarded to the international corporation Turner Construction, which recently completed a new classroom building and two new arts facilities with no local subcontractors."
but that for Phase 2,
"...local contractors Keoni Allen and Tim Brady decided to partner with Sacramento-based Clark & Sullivan Construction in a three-way effort to ensure that most of the work for Phase 2 of the project — which includes a gymnasium, multi-purpose facility, wellness center and renovations to some existing buildings — stays local."
No mention of the fire truck facility - which, as you can see from the photos, is not exactly inconspicuous.
p.s. thanks Aaron - I didn't see your comment was up already, when I posted mine.
Do you know which construction phase (I or II) this facility was part of? (& which construction co(s) built it)
Phase 1. That means Turner was the general contractor. I don't know who the subcontractor was and whether or not they were local.
Here's a Union article (Aug 2008) by Dave Moller that tells a little more about it -
"Graders and bulldozers are working on the fire training site pad, located on several acres behind the Grass Valley Fire Department Station just below campus.
The fire training site is a $2 million portion of the first phase, Smith said. The college is building the site in hopes that area fire agencies can receive grant funds to complete it.
A similar training site is located in Roseville, "and all the agencies down there use it," Cunningham said."
Paging Peter Kostes... perhaps you'd like to establish your local cred with this one?
Update, 12 days later: I'd alerted our plethora of news orgs to this story, but there's been no sign of action that I'm aware of.
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