6A» NEWS
tuesday, november 29, 2011 B the denver post B denverpost.com
6
SCHOOL: Neenan disagrees with fix
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FROM 1A
for Neenan. Newman said Neenan offered an outside review after problems surfaced at Meeker’s school, which was closed last summer when school officials learned it was built to the wrong safety codes and at risk of collapse in extreme weather. Newman said the Monte Vista high school was built to the correct occupancy code. Neenan did not agree with the proposed fix in Monte Vista but agreed to carry it out anyway, Boian said. He said that neither Neenan nor the outside reviewer — Computerized Structural Design — considered the situation a “life-safety issue.” “This revolves around a difference of opinion, and we opted to go with the recommendation of the peer review engineer firm,” Boian said. Neenan president Randy Myers is scheduled to appear Thursday at a Monte Vista
school board meeting, part of a week-long goodwill tour of 16 communities in which Neenan has done school and medical building business. One stop will be tonight in Meeker, where the school board will get an elementary-school update and possibly vote on repairs, which Neenan has agreed to pay for. Boian said he recommended Myers make the tour “to reassure these boards their schools are safe.” Boian said Neenan will expand the number of past school projects subject to independent peer review of structural engineering. He said other projects will get that scrutiny “on a case-by-case basis,” including those under construction. Neenan also said Monday that it will review and confirm the credentials of its licensed engineers and architects after the disclosure last week that it had hired a structural engineer with a lapsed license in 2007.
The state Department of Regulatory Agencies reprimanded the engineer, Gary Howell, and last week opened an investigation into his work on the Meeker school. Neenan fired Howell that same day. A different Neenan engineer worked on the Monte Vista project, Boian said. Because of the problems in Meeker, the company had previously announced other reforms — including third-party peer reviews of its structural engineering designs and drawings on new projects. “I am disappointed in the errors we made in constructing Meeker Elementary School, and I want to assure everyone that we will take any and all steps necessary to make it right,” Myers said in a statement. Neenan has become a major player in Colorado school construction in the past decade. In Conejos County, the Sanford School District has a planning agreement with Neenan
but has not chosen a builder for a major renovation that has won a BEST grant, said Superintendent Kevin Edgar. Edgar said “of course” he is concerned about problems at the Meeker school, but Neenan “has been great to work with through the master-planning process.” The district is among the stops on Myers’ tour this week. Neenan has done extensive work renovating and expanding a multi-grade school in the Primero Reorganized School District RE-2, in western Las Animas County. Superintendent Duane Denny said the district has not formally requested a more in-depth review, but “we probably will have them come do an inspection.” Eric Gorski: 303-954-1971, egorski@denverpost.com or twitter.com/egorski
Dems press extension of cut in payroll tax By The Associated Press
washington» Senate Democrats are pressing ahead on President Barack Obama’s plan to cut in half every worker’s payroll taxes next year — paid for by a 3.25 percent tax surcharge on the very wealthy. The $248 billion plan would trim Social Security payroll taxes from 6.2 percent to 3.1 percent in hopes of propping up the still-weak economy. It also would cut in half the 6.2 percent tax paid by employers on the first $5 million of their payroll. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Democrats would hold a test vote on the plan later this week. The 2 percent payroll-tax
holiday enacted a year ago expires on Dec. 31. Republicans are likely to oppose the plan because it would post a permanent surcharge on income exceeding $1 million, including income earned by many small businesses. Reid’s move is the latest political salvo by Democrats as the two parties spar over the best way to create more jobs. Monday’s move appears aimed at drawing a distinction between Democrats and Republicans on taxes, with Reid seeking to maneuver Republicans into opposing the payroll-tax cut. Indeed, the payroll-tax cut is unpopular with many Republicans who say the existing 2 percent cut hasn’t done much to create jobs.
On the money.
David Olinger: 303-954-1498 or dolinger@denverpost.com
OCC UP Y WA LL STR E ET MOVEMENT
L.A., Philly camps defiant; cops back off By Christina Hoag and Geoff Mulvihill The Associated Press
los angeles» Anti-Wall Street demonstrators in Los Angeles and Philadelphia defied orders to leave their months-old encampments, making it through the deadlines without the acrimony that marked earlier forced evictions in other cities. Protesters chanted “we won, we won” as Los Angeles police clad in riot gear left on Monday, though there were four arrests. Occupy L.A. supporters asked a federal judge to bar the city from tearing down their encampment. In Philadelphia, the camp was mostly quiet amid a heavy police presence, and on Monday morning a handful of people marched down one of the city’s main business corridors banging drums. When the camps would be cleared after officials in both cities ordered their removal was unclear. “There is no concrete deadline,” Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said after hundreds of officers withdrew without moving in on the camp. He said he wanted to make sure the removal would be safe for protesters and officers. “With as little drama as possible,” he told reporters. Police and protesters have
An anti-Wall Street demonstrator moves into a tree near City Hall in downtown Los Angeles on Monday. Despite a midnight Sunday deadline to evacuate, police turned back as more Occupy L.A. protesters arrived.
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Occupy Denver. City calculates cost of police overtime for protest. clashed in recent weeks, most notably in Oakland, Calif., as officers sometimes used pepper spray and tear gas to shutter camps that officials say have grown more dangerous for public health and safety. Some of those encampments had been in use almost since the movement against economic disparity and perceived corporate greed began with Occupy Wall Street in Manhattan two months ago. Elsewhere, nine people were arrested in Maine after protesters in the Occupy Augusta encampment in Capitol Park took down their tents and packed their camping gear after being told to get a permit or move
their shelters. In San Francisco, protesters shouted and chanted as they disrupted a University of California board meeting, forcing officials to move to another room. The meeting comes after video footage that captured a UC Davis police officer pepperspraying peaceful protesters drew outrage, not just at the school but around the world, and set off a debate about the appropriate use of force. In Los Angeles, about half of the 485 tents had been taken down as of Sunday night, leaving patches of the 1.7-acre park around City Hall barren of grass and littered with garbage.
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