Pier design selection - How does the process work?

Opinion by: E. Eugene Webb PhD
Coauthor of: So You Want Blog .

Here is the Florida State Statute that the City is operating under regarding the Pier Selection process.

Title XIX Chapter 287.055

 Acquisition of professional architectural, engineering, landscape architectural, or surveying and mapping services; definitions; procedures; contingent fees prohibited; penalties.

Section (4) Competitive Selection (a, b)

(a)   For each proposed project, the agency shall evaluate current statements of qualifications and performance data on file with the agency, together with those that may be submitted by other firms regarding the proposed project, and shall conduct discussions with, and may require public presentations by, no fewer than three firms regarding their qualifications, approach to the project, and ability to furnish the required services.

(b) The agency shall select in order of preference no fewer than three firms deemed to be the most highly qualified to perform the required services. In determining whether a firm is qualified, the agency shall consider such factors as the ability of professional personnel; whether a firm is a certified minority business enterprise; past performance; willingness to meet time and budget requirements; location; recent, current, and projected workloads of the firms; and the volume of work previously awarded to each firm by the agency, with the object of effecting an equitable distribution of contracts among qualified firms, provided such distribution does not violate the principle of selection of the most highly qualified firms. The agency may request, accept, and consider proposals for the compensation to be paid under the contract only during competitive negotiations under subsection (5).

The first question that comes to mind is, can the City Council or the Administration delegate away the City Council's responsibility as defined in the State Statute? I do not see in the Statute anywhere the "Agency" is allowed to delegate their responsibility.

Second, did the City Council actually, by formal vote, delegate the final ranking of the top three Pier designs to the Selection Committee? Or is the Selection Committee's final output simply a report for

The St. Pete Pier Process a way to the end

Opinion by: E. Eugene Webb PhD

Coauthor of: So You Want Blog

Mayor Rick Kriseman's crass statement "build the damn Pier" is a testament to how little he and his deeply inexperienced senior staff fail to understand the office of a strong Mayor. Faced with the very process he created crumbling before his eyes the Mayor is frustrated and his staff is clueless.

This is not the time for barroom rhetoric; it is the time for insightful leadership. It's time to calm the waters not stir the pot. It's time to be a leader.

We will never know for sure whether Kriseman's handpicked Selection Committee Chairman Mike Connors screwed up with his rant against the current pier or was simply following orders like the good solider he is.

What is obvious is the Mayor's failure to step in and do some damage control regarding the Connors' rant and reassure the Selection Committee that they have his full support has left the people serving on the Selection Committee in a very difficult spot.

There has been a lot of talk about how the Committee can only evaluate on the merits of the proposers.

The objective of this formal selection process is to get a project built. One of the merits must be how the customer views the quality, suitability and functionality of the proposed design.

One Survey and two polls provide the answer.

The thing to keep in mind is the customer for this project is not the Mayor, not the Selection Committee, not Mike Connors, not the Mayor's Dream Team, not City Council; it is you the citizen and taxpayer. The Selection Committee must accord your opinion the merit it deserves.

There seems to be general agreement that all of the remaining designs can be constructed. The bigger question is which one can actually be approved and actually built?

The Selection Committee has a responsibility to evaluate all of the merits including the public's opinion, which is a functional merit, and that merit is simply acceptability.

It is unreasonable for the Selection Committee to rank a design team first when it is highly unlikely the project with that team will actually be approved due to lack of public and/or political support.

The five people on the Selection Committee have the opportunity to make a historic decision that will allow City Council to move St. Pete forward or create a firestorm which will distract the Kriseman administration, the City Council and the community for months if not years to come.

The Selection Committee can do the City of St. Petersburg a great service by simply following the rules and looking at all of the merits.

E-mail Doc at mail to:dr.gwebb@yahoo.com or send me a Facebook (Gene Webb) Friend request. Please comment below, and be sure to share on Facebook. See Doc's Photo Gallery at Bay Post Photos

The Problems with ALMA (The Big Banjo)

ALMA

Opinion by: E. Eugene Webb, PhD
Coauthor of: So You Want to Blog

While the Pier Selection Committee gathers "more information" the pot boils and the plot thickens.

First, with ALMA the thing out at the end is a concrete rectangular box. That's it - a box. No matter how you look at it, it is a box. Not much imagination, even if you turn it upside down its still a rectangular box. You don't have to wonder about what the designer was thinking or what motivated him - it's a box.

Looking at the inverted pyramid you also have to wonder what was the designer thinking? Why a Pyramid, why upside down, why not right side up or on its side? You actually have to think and stretch your mind.

When you look at ALMA from above it looks like a big Banjo. Since the push here seems to be to the millennials and as far as I can tell other than Deliverance they're not than fond of banjo music. It seems to me that promotional material for something that looks like a big Banjo may not bring the millennials in the droves anticipated by the ALMA supporters.

And there is that Box thing. It's kind of like the LENS who would wear a T-shirt with that thing on it?

When you look at Destination St. Pete Pier from above there is an interesting approach and at the end this structure that kind of boggles the mind. What is it? I really need to see this for myself. And when you do your imagination can run wild.

It will also make one really neat T-shirt.

Finally I think some of the members of the Kriseman Dream Team and City staff, along with a few of the Selection Committee members have convinced themselves that the citizens of St. Pete are neither hip enough, or intelligent enough to know what works on the Pier. I believe you hold that view at your own peril. 

Last time around the issue of ignoring the public was almost as big as the total dislike of the LENS design.

You all probably already know the definition of insanity. 

E-mail Doc at: mailto:dr.gwebb@yahoo.com%20or send me a Facebook (Gene Webb) Friend request. Please comment below, and be sure to share on Facebook and Twitter. See Doc's Photo Gallery at Bay Post Photos