Looking around the city of Concord has me wondering if anyone in government ever does a cost/benefit analysis before proposing spending tax dollars? The DOJ building is coming down to make room for a new parking garage. Also, part of the project is demolition of the existing garage on Stickney Ave. which is beyond its useful life (no argument there). The total cost of the project is $35 million. Since the Stickney garage must come down couldn’t the new garage be built at the same location? We could have demolished the existing garage, built a replacement for $34 million and kept the DOJ building.
The police have outgrown the existing station. Wouldn’t it have made sense to use the DOJ building, across the street from the police station, to expand the offices? Keep using holding cells, booking, etc. then rent out any space that the police don’t need. The city bought the Concord Group building for $4.5 million and will need upgrades to accommodate the police but there was no figure given for the upgrade costs. Were we in a bidding war with someone that wanted to purchase the building and couldn’t take the time to discuss other possibilities? Could it have been kept on the tax rolls? Even with upgrades to the DOJ building I doubt we would have spent $4.5 million. What do we do with the old police building? I’m wondering if anyone in government does cost/ benefit anymore?
Thomas Kolling
Concord