Allen's Brand-New $60 Million High School Football Stadium Has Some Worrisome Cracks

Why do I care what happens with small minded bigots in Allen? This is the DALLAS OBSERVER.  

oops - Robinhood took the good concrete and replaced it with this stuff. Blame is a hot potato - contractor - not me, architect - nope, school board - you kidding. It was caused by Obamacare! 

This is Texas, first, no one looked over construction or planning, contractor cut corners to make more money, no one checked on quality of concrete, no inspection was done, standard Texas building practices.  Now that quality has come to light, no one will take responsibility, taxpayers will have to pay more, maybe even from scratch, contractor probably has minor insurance and no one will blame them.  Thats Texas.

I wonder if the Dallas Morning News will write about how Ben Pogue gets every school construction contract in Collin County.  Or are stories about school district corruption limited to those involving the DISD?

Of course, Collin County is every bit as corrupt as DISD--probably more so since the stakes are higher (speaking in purely monetary terms).  But we never read about it in the Morning News.  The News would much rather write about the corruption in the DISD. That sells more papers to white suburbanites, who like to sit in smug satisfaction, tut-tutting the crooks who run the urban district to their south.

I bet it's probably a Black or Mexican's fault. I mean, this is North Texas.

One would assume they can go after whichever contractors are directly responsible, but I know from experience and assurances from Nolan Ryan that N Texas has problems with its "soul" - and maybe the builder's warranty reflects that?

This country can't even build stadia to keep up with the bread and circuses.

with a third straight 5A championship on the line, the governor should step in and declare a state of emergency.

Allen HS could always move back to the old stadium for a few games. Any other groups who has planned to rent the stadium are probably SOL.

@TrueAmerican56  unfortunately, that is correct TrueAmerican. But yes, Sotired is right - it happens elsewhere, too.  Why there is not more oversight in construction here, I don't know. It has always been this way in my 40 years.  When I build something here, I will bring in people from another city, possibly another country, and I will pay specialists to oversee it.  People cannot be trusted.

@TrueAmerican56  

Sounds like you're quite uninformed about Texas public construction practices.

There is no doubt that samples of the concrete poured on this project were thoroughly tested, and that the rebar installation was inspected.

None of the publicized reports say exactly where the cracks in the concourse area are.

It could be the columns, raker beams, or slabs. The Seating area was precast offsite.

It it was a structural design failure they should ALL have the same defect. 

If it was a bad batch of concrete they would have known within 28 days of the pour, and Pogue would have made them tear it down and replace it before the concrete subcontractor got paid.

It its the slab on grade its not a safety issue at all, so it must be the raker beams. That probably boils downs either a stupid Mexican adding water to the mix after the samples were taken, or the bearing strata under the piers has failed. It could have been a thin layer. 

Bottom line is the forensic investigators will drag the process out in order to make as money as possible, and the fix will be to epoxy grout the cracks. Half the building in Las Colinas have had this done due to soil movements..

I'm no fan of Pogue construction, but it sounds to me like they are firmly standing behind their work. Thats probably why he is selected as CM for many School Districts on the east side of the metroplex.

More than likely it was time for the school district to pay the 6 million dollars of the contractors money they hold for retainage. This lets them keep drawing interests on the contractors money.

@TrueAmerican56  

@everlastingphelps  That's the problem with most people today. They like to enjoy others' misery.  But don't feel so superior - life will come full circle.

@James_the_P3 And Allen High did not make AYP - an academic failure totally ignored in the week-long extravaganza of stories the DMN did upon the opening of the stadium.

@James_the_P3  It is the "Dallas" Morning News though.  I'm sure you'll be able to provide us with concrete examples of corruption in PISD or AISD.  What, don't you think the DO would love to bag on the northern burbs if they could?  They do it every chance they get.  I'm sure your evidence is fascinating.

That's a pretty worrisome crack in itself.

@ruddski  

It's likely not the contractor but the structural engineering plans that are deficient.

@ChrisYu  

It's 6A now Bubba.

Err, sorry your not a Bubba. 

Bubba would've known that.

The chess team bus is sidelined due to the last road trip through Dallas.

@rogjohns64 You lost all credence after stating "a stupid Mexican," you racist bigot.

@rogjohns64  Sorry, but this state is nothing but massive corruption from Perry on down, payoffs and good old boy look the other way is rampant, West, Texas is a good example.

@sotired

The children have no idea what schadenfreude means. They'll be OK.

@Myrna

I just had to go through the effort (your obsession worked, congrats) to see what this quote was about. It seems you are either totally immune to painfully obvious sarcasm, or are so desperate to salvage your assumed reputation as some sort of intellectual sophisticate, you're willing to look like a completely obsessed fool.

In the context, which you love to omit, it was a sarcastic humor reply to a guy whose nick means Jesus sucked men's balls, accusing me of not "hating" enough "groups". Apparently, he was one of those ignorants who assumes that if you are against illegal immigration, you "hate".

So, to keep him happy, I replied as you post above. Hadda come up with a new group for the Jesus hater. I picked "old Jewish White Men". Kinda catchy, don't you think? I considered " overweight, drunken Samoan Baptists", but EVERYONE hates them.

Now, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to search further to find more validation for your apparent belief that I actually "fucking hate old Jewish white men", which given the obvious support I have for Israel over your chosen rock band, is gonna be damn hard to do.

Oh, and here's another quote for you to put in your Book of Ruddski:

"Myrna is more of an idiot than I ever thought possible for a lonely, angry Cat Lady"

Have a wonderful day, sweetums, and kick some ass! (Just try to make it ass not your own for a change)

Could be, but hopefully they'll find a way to blame Jerry Jones. After all, it's North Texas football, something's not working as planned, crack is involved and Jerry's from Arkansas. Works for me!

@nhp3 @rogjohns64  

I tell you what chief ........ drive around Dallas and see if you can find any non-Mexicans pouring concrete.

Report back with your results.

After you realize that well over 95% of the people pouring concrete in Dallas are Mexicans ...... and that it really wasn't much of a presumption on my part ...... ask them any question you think might be a fairly accurate gauge of their intelligence.

Ask them if they know how much water they can add to the concrete mix they are pouring before it screws up the water/cement ratio enough to weaken the design strength. 

They won't have any idea WTF you are talking about ..... yet it's their profession. Shouldn't they know?

.... in fact they really dont give a shit whether it does or not, they just want it watered down enough that its easier to work. 

I was going to mention that before but it would have been presumptive of me.

I mean think about it ..... if they were intelligent and quality conscience workers ..... would they be pouring concrete for a living? The smart ones don't last very long in Texas heat.

You guys want to blame the corrupt government or shady contractors ...... but 9 times out of 10 problems like this boil down to ignorant workers, 90% of which in concrete industry in Texas are Mexicans.

I'm Hispanic btw. You seem to easily confuse racism with honesty. 

You might want to reconsider the possibility that you really don't know what WTF you’re commenting about.

@rogjohns64  No, I know there are stupid Mexicans; stupid Caucasians; stupid Asians; stupid Europeans; etc.

You made the presumption that that it was a stupid Mexican and excluded the possibility of it being anyone other.

@nhp3 @rogjohns64  

Did I?

You dont think there's any stupid Mexicans pouring concrete in this town?

You're a blind fool.

I

@rogjohns64 @TrueAmerican56  Corruption did play a role somewhere in this project, always does when something is this expensive, seen it too many times here in Texas.  Texas is one big corrupt government system right now, from top to bottom, from state government to school districts.

@TrueAmerican56 @rogjohns64  

Well I've been pouring concrete on public projects like this one for 30 years and I've never been able to get an inspector to look the other way.

I cant speak with authority on how corrupt State Government might be, but I do know from first hand experience that owners are told of the risks of structural damage due to ground movement in the early phases of project planning based on site specific soils reports. They are given several design options to minimize this risk, but due to the increased costs they almost always choose the cheaper option, then freak out when the structure moves exactly as they were warned it would. 

I do know you are misguided if you think corruption played any role in these cracks forming.

@ruddski  Uh, yes they do.

@phelps

Sure they do. Anger, lack of self-awareness, anger, ignorance of their own history, and anger because of all of the above.

That's why lefties have to be forced at the point of a gun to accept the policies they demand, which makes them angry.

Viva Venezuela!

@tdkiosk

Your first mistake is a lack of specificity, as well as accepting something at face value with no context. IOW, the perfect rube.

Your second mistake is claiming I don't "own the game", when in fact, I do.

@tdkisok Funny, considering that Lorne Michaels went on the record saying exactly the opposite.  I'm guessing he knows a bit more about the subject than you do.

Thanks for playing, though.

@ruddski  

Jesus, you are stupid. You just don't get it. See, here is the thing about the right wing ego, they can make sarcastic remarks (which are hardly ever funny) and make fun of "Libtards" but heaven forbid if you should ever bust their balls. Get off your pile of bullshit and realize you don't own that game.   

@ruddski  

@tpfkap

They are still there in the bus.

Someone forgot to pack a chess clock.