PEP Los Alamos’s conception of the proposed leased Science Complex.Frank,
This note is in regard to the proposed Los Alamos Science Complex (LASC), a proposed $250 -$400 million (M) project planned for a 16-acre piece within TA-62, north of West Jemez Road. (Experience suggests it may be more realistic to modify this cost range to $300 to $500 M.)
Some 1,400 to 1,600 LANL workers are to be housed there.
This is to be a third-party-financed project built on government land. That is, a private developer would own the building and lease it to LANS, which would in turn bill the Department of Energy (DOE) within DOE’s operating funds for LANL.[1]
For the first time, a big hunk of LANL’s infrastructure would be owned by private real estate investors, about which more in a moment. The amount (and mission-critical quality) of space leased by LANL from private real estate interests, and DOE’s annual payments for same, would make a very big jump.
I am not sure whether it is DOE’s Office of Science, or NNSA itself, that would approve this lease – or from where exactly these funds would come each year. (Other approvals are also required.) It appears that annual lease costs would be in the general range of $28 M, the amount which would service a $400 M, 25-year mortgage at 5% interest.[2]
There would be three buildings in this complex: an office and laboratory building, a parking garage, and a secure area. A 3,332 sq. ft. office suite for the Associate Director for Science (currently, Terry Wallace) is included. There would be some 276,000 net square feet of unclassified space, 52,000 net square feet of secure space, and a parking space for everybody.
The April 11, 2008 RFP was posted here. Perhaps it still is. I don’t have it.
On or about May 6, 2008, LANS held a bidder’s conference.[3] On September 10 LANS announced its selection of Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) as the project developer.
Los Alamos National Security, LLC has selected Pacific Equity Partners Los Alamos Science Complex LLC (PEP) to develop the Los Alamos Science Complex in response to a request for proposal issued earlier this year.In October Terry Wallace described the LASC as “the poster child for the future of the Laboratory.”
LANS received a total of five bids from potential offerors to design, finance, construct, lease, and operate the proposed Science Complex -- comprised of two buildings and an adjacent parking garage at Technical Area 62 northwest -- located about a half mile west of TA-3….
"It is an honor and a privilege to be selected in a highly competitive process to build a world-class facility to advance science and technology for the United States of America," said Enrique Landa, managing partner of PEP…
Now that a developer has been selected, LANS will begin preparation of the final acquisition strategy plan for submission to NNSA. If all necessary approvals are secured, groundbreaking is projected in 2009. Construction is scheduled for completion in 2010 and researches are expected to begin moving into the new facility in 2011.
Just last month (May 2009) LANS Director Mike Anastasio gave an upbeat assessment of LASC prospects.
“We’re well down the path on that process. We did an RFP, got bids and brought them forward for the science complex. We have support from the site office and NNSA. We’re getting really close. I can almost taste it,” he said.Earlier this month (June 2009), we heard that Terry Wallace said he hoped to break ground on the LASC “before the end of this fiscal year.”
**********
Who is Enrique Landa and what is Pacific Equity Partners (PEP)? Who are their friends? How have they done business before?
(I am grateful to Darwin BondGraham for some of the following research. Remaining mistakes are mine.)
The Wall Street Journal described Landa as a
…Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., architect-turned-entrepreneur and son of a Mexico City architect. Messrs. Landa and [partner James] Simmons had put together packages of permits which they sold to construction companies to build a waste-treatment plant in Sonora state in Mexico [Agua Clara, LLC], and to upgrade treatment at a Mexico City plant.Landa was also involved with a Tijuana maquiladora development, El Florido, and a golf course development in Maui. (See “Smelling money in sewage: Area firm hopes to sign no-bid deal with U.S. agency to treat Tijuana region's polluted water, then recycle it,” Mike Lee and Terry Rodgers, San Diego Union Tribune, November 13, 2005.)
Landa and Simmons created “Bajagua” out of Agua Clara, later adding partner Irwin Heller (a Boston lawyer, about which more below). Bajagua’s basic idea was to get the U.S. government to pay for building and operating a sewage treatment plant and associated conveyance infrastructure in Tijuana in order to prevent Tijuana sewage from polluting the ocean, especially after big rains.
There were no other bidders, in fact no bid at all. Creating that monopoly situation took a lot of money and influence applied in the right places over several years.
They paid to play.
Bajagua had major conceptual and engineering problems, such as failure to address a root cause of the sewage problem – lack of household plumbing in Tijuana.
In 2006 Nick Schwellenbach, then at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), wrote a very good, in-depth review of Bajagua’s business methods, basically a sophisticated, broad-scale application of textbook techniques for corrupting government contracting.[4]
Landa and his colleagues were eventually stopped in California, just about the time they “won” the bid for the LASC. Bajagua cost Tijuana and San Diego years in the fight for clean water, however, because Bajagua-supported politicians held back all other more feasible options as favors to Landa, Simmons, Heller, and their friends.
The Wall Street Journal dissed Bajagua on January 29, 2007 (“Smell Test: How Politics Influenced A Big Clean-Up Deal", by Scot Paltrow). The WSJ didn’t pull punches: “Bajagua's tale shows how plans for federal public-works projects could be diverted by a small group of lawmakers, who were able to push contracts toward big campaign contributors.”
Paltrow says Bajagua
grew out of a partnership in the 1990s between James D. Simmons, a former San Marcos, Calif., city councilman who runs a consulting business, and Enrique Landa, a Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., architect-turned-entrepreneur and son of a Mexico City architect. Messrs. Landa and Simmons had put together packages of permits which they sold to construction companies to build a waste-treatment plant in Sonora state in Mexico, and to upgrade treatment at a Mexico City plant.He describes Bajagua’s plumbing – expensive to build and to operate – like this:
Under Bajagua's plan to build a plant in Tijuana, 25 million gallons a day of raw sewage would continue to flow to the San Ysidro plant on the U.S. side where, as now, it would be treated only to primary standards. Then new pumps and pipes would send it back uphill into Mexico to the new Bajagua plant.Sewage was to be just the beginning. Bajagua’s really big profit center was apparently going to be a by-product of U.S. taxpayer investments, at least in part: drinking water, a scarce substance in Baja California.
After treating the sewage there, Bajagua would send it downhill again, through yet another set of new channels, where it would cross the border a third time, to San Ysidro. Then it would be shunted into the ocean through the existing pipe. Eventually, the Bajagua plant would also treat an additional 34 million gallons of sewage directly from Tijuana, to be sent across the border to the ocean pipe.
By leveraging a U.S. government-funded wastewater treatment system pegged for Tijuana, developer Enrique Landa and consultant Jim Simmons aim to become the kingpins of recycled water in the parched state of Baja California.(In a separate project, Landa also was and may still be pushing a desalinization project in southern California called “Nevagua.”)
The Bajagua scheme was apparently going nowhere until Landa and his associate James Smith traveled to Roswell, N.M., on October of 2002 to meet with Vice President Cheney and Republican contributor George Yates at a fundraiser.
In the years following this meeting, Bajagua spent over half a million dollars lobbying. They also discovered the civic benefits of repeated, large campaign contributions in key places.
One wonders what connections were made and what business opportunities later came to light among those who gathered at that Roswell fundraiser. When did the subject of the Los Alamos Science Complex come up? At that time or later, and with whom?
***********
PEP LASC’s incorporation file on the NM Sec. of State website lists three entities as limited liability partners: Pacific Equity Partners, LLC; Endol, LLC; and Enrique Landa.[5]
In addition to the for-profit PEP Los Alamos Science Complex LLC (PEP LASC), Landa has also created a nonprofit called the "PEP Los Alamos Fund.” (See also http://www.nmprc.state.nm.us/cgi-bin/prcdtl.cgi?4120929+PEP+LOS+ALAMOS+FUND). Nonprofits need not disclose donors. Under some conditions they can lobby. Visiting the executive branch isn’t even “lobbying” as the Internal Revenue Service uses the term in connection with nonprofits. What, exactly, are the purposes of this organization? Who are its funders if any?
The PEP Los Alamos Fund has Irwin Heller as a director, a Bajagua investor. Heller, we saw, is a Massachusetts lawyer, lobbyist – and a trustee of Tufts University (which is important, see below).
Like other Bajagua partners, Heller made maximum campaign contributions to several CA Reps. at opportune moments when Bajagua's no-bid contract was coming up for vote in the House.
He has also been giving money to NM politicians (Bingaman and Richardson) as well as to others, e.g. Sen. Murkowski (R-AK, Senate Energy and Water Committee) and Rep. Visclosky (D-IN, House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development).
He supported Richardson's presidential campaign. See http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/irwin-heller.asp?cycle=00: In fact Heller, then chair of the Tufts presidential search committee, once summoned then-DOE Secretary to his Boston law office, according to the Tufts Daily (“Sec. Richardson considered for presidential spot”).
Another thread is lobbyist David Godfrey, who has represented PEP LASC. His client list makes interesting reading, but perhaps the picture is already getting clear.
************
I have quite a few questions about this complex, but this post is too long already. Some questions may have already occurred to you.
One question is however too important not to mention: why are Landa, Heller, and Co. in New Mexico and at Los Alamos? I believe we can be very sure they would not be involved in this project without the strong likelihood of monopoly rents.
How far might this particular concept – “rents,” in the expansive sense of the term – go, and where might it go? I think far, but I don’t know where.
I am personally of the view there is more to this than just three buildings. Merely winning bids to provide buildings is not what these folks have been about.
Good luck,
Greg Mello
[1] NNSA’s contracts consume about 96% of its resources (See Competition - or Collusion? Privatization and Crony Capitalism in the Nuclear Weapons Complex: Some Questions from New Mexico (pdf) May 30, 2006). There is thus little fiscal space for further privatization of prime NNSA contracts. Overall business growth in NNSA services must occur either by growth of NNSA itself or by adding new layers of privatization, either “below” the ordinary prime contract (as we see in the case of the proposed LASC), or “above” it, as we see in the so-called “gorilla” weapons complex “integration” effort, where NNSA would basically pay a contractor to do what NNSA does now. In both cases overall business growth occurs by creating a market for goods and services not needed by NNSA before and in both cases agency and control pass from government and into private hands. (pdf) May 30, 2006). There is thus little fiscal space for further privatization of prime NNSA contracts, so overall business growth in NNSA services must occur either by growth of NNSA itself or by adding new layers of privatization, either “below” the ordinary prime contract (as we see in the case of the proposed LASC), or “above” it, as we see in the so-called “gorilla” weapons complex “integration” effort, where NNSA would basically pay a contractor to do what NNSA does now. In both cases overall business growth occurs by creating a market for goods and services not needed by NNSA before and in both cases agency and control pass from government and into private hands. The new “market” consists of new forms of overhead.
[2] DOE’s FY2010 request for LANL Office of Science activities is $68.1 M, a decrease from this year’s $74.4 M. If DOE’s Science account is going to pay for very much of this lease a significant costs must be shifted to it, or decreased somewhere else in the account by some means. An annual lease of $28 M is equal to the cost of about 180 LANL employees, fully burdened.
[3] “Lab makes another bid for new science complex,” Roger Snodgrass, Los Alamos Monitor, 5/4/08 or 5/5/08. This article is not available in the Monitor’s web archives.
[4] If you don’t want to read Schwellenbach’s extensive research article, RAW STORY provided the gist: “Whistleblowers allege influence peddling by members of Congress, VP in Mexico wastewater project,” by Miriam Raftery and Larisa Alexandrovna.
[5] We have not attempted to fully tease apart these companies and their partners.
98 comments:
Do we really need this?
With dwindling staff numbers, there should be plenty of available offices.
AND, those offices are distributed throughout the laboratory near their respective laboratory facilities.
This looks like a scam!
Does anybody know if LANS is bound to adhere to FARs in these procurements?
This thing smells of cronyism and kickbacks.
Albuquerque Journal
June 24, 2009
By Bruce Daniels - ABQnewsSeeker
Wednesday, 24 June 2009 06:25
IBM's supercomputer beats Oak Ridge National Lab's Cray XT5 Jaguar once again.
In a battle of the machines worthy of a Terminator sequel, Los Alamos National Laboratory's IBM Roadrunner won the title of world's fastest supercomputer once again, edging the Cray XT5 Jaguar at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the second time in the past six months, the Los Alamos Monitor reported.
Results released Tuesday at the International Supercomputing Conference in Hamburg, Germany, show that the Roadrunner system ran at 1.105 petaflops per second while the Jaguar lagged behind at 1.059 petaflops -- the same speeds that were recorded six months earlier, according to the Monitor and the Web site eWeek.com.
A petaflop is a quadrillion floating-point operations per second, and while the difference between the Roadrunner and the Jaguar was a mere 46 terraflops -- 46 trillion operations per second -- it was good enough to give LANL's supercomputer bragging rights for another six months, the Monitor said.
LANL NEEDS TO HAVE THE FASTEST COMPUTER IN ORDER TO CALCULATE MIKEY'S BONUS!
No problem: take the $28M per year lease fee out of LANS' award.
I am just glad to see that Terry has taken care of his needs. Considering the man doesn't do anything but lie and backstab people, what in the hell does he need a 3333 sq ft office suite for? Sounds like waste, fraud and abuse to me. Where is the GAO and congress now?
Weak Greg, weak.
This is a perfect industrial partner for the Lab. A history of questionable business practices, effective political lobbying (aka bribery), and having many low friends in high places. So what more does LANS need?
Greg,
Thanks for this. You found many more details than I did when I looked at PEP about a year ago. What I found then made me worried.
My biggest worry is 'Do we really want private companies to own the buildings that national security personnel at LANL work in?' The opportunity for squeezing the government by threatening to close the building or reduce services within it would seem to be immense.
My second biggest worry is that land developers do not develop land for a 5% return of a mortgage, so what is the higher return that PEP is counting on and that has not yet been mentioned yet. Are they planning on the collapse of LANL and then selling the building or trying to own the land under it or do they just want to make money by overcharging for a badly done building? There are a number of companies, even good ones, that make money on construction because government is not that talented at bringing in construction on time, on budget, and at a reasonable cost.
Since other 'private funds for lab buildings'schemes have collapsed, I expect this one to collapse as well.
Anonymous at 6/24/09 9:09 AM asks:
"My second biggest worry is that land developers do not develop land for a 5% return of a mortgage, so what is the higher return that PEP is counting on and that has not yet been mentioned yet."
I agree. There is some kind of scam going on with this!
I agree with 7:41. This is weak. Where are the researched, sourced, relevant stories.
Oh, wait, I mean 7:41 is a jerk.
I wonder if this is a way to circumvent congress.
With this lease scheme the building would not be a congressional line item, and could be built without extra money. And having the lease payments coming out of operational budget would again leave congress out.
The growing stench from the LANS crew continues to impress with its awful potency. Someone really did their homework on the people and methods behind LASC.
But why should anyone be surprised by all this? LANL is now "owned" by Bechtel. That should have been the final clue to the remaining staff that morale and working conditions at LANL would only continue to go down hill after June 1st, 2006.
After reading this article, all I can say is...
Welcome to Terry's new Tony Soprano Science Center (TSSC)!
Yuz got a problem with that, buddy? Guido, go take that man outside and see that he gets "educated".
As a TSM, I'm going to give up my private office for a small 8x8 foot cubicle in this monstrosity? And I'll pay for the distinct pleasure of this new cubicle with much higher overhead rates on my project funding?
Yeah, Terry, that should help bring the best and brightest all running to Los Alamos.
To paraphrase 11:49 AM
"As a spoiled Los Alamos worker, I'm going to have to give up my private sandbox for a newly built working environment comparable to what most of America puts up with each week, even though millions of Americans have lost their jobs due to the economy, and I'm going to whine about it like a privileged prepubescent princess who just had her unlimited texting privileges cut in half by her daddy?"
Seriously? You suck!
You are precisely the reason people resent Los Alamos. Do us all a favor and start your own scientific enterprise on your own scientific dime and use your superior brain power to profit in the private sector in the lavish office environment that you deserve.
"Do us all a favor and start your own scientific enterprise on your own scientific dime and use your superior brain power to profit in the private sector in the lavish office environment that you deserve."
well, one could argue that this is what terry is doing, minus the scientific dime part. can someone please explain the 3000 sq ft office for terry? the going rate for a house in LA with this square footage is ~$350,000 with a living room, dining room, kitchen, 4 bedrooms and 3 baths (that's a lot of sleeping and sitting on the toilet). does greg mean the whole floor for his office and staff, or an entire 3000 sq ft office? neither scenario would surprise me.
1:03pm,
Would this be a good time to bring up the subject of bottled water again?
"Would this be a good time to bring up the subject of bottled water again"
man, it sucks having to go buy water now, when before i could just fill up jugs at the office for my own personal use at home.
To paraphrase 1:03PM
"I am a fucking loser, I have always been a fucking loser. I hate people who work hard and succeed. I hate people who accomplish things. I hate education, I hate reason, I hate greatness. I wish only ill-will on people who do something with their lives. I have always felt entitled to things other people have worked their whole lives to achive. I expected that everything would be given to me so that is way I do not work hard, I have never tried to better myself and do not appreciate those that have. I am a total fucking failure who will never take reponsibility for the fact that I am the only one to blame for my failures not people who used their talents to succeed in life. I hate people who stand up for the right thing. I hate people who point out the truth. I hate people who have Ph.d's. I hate people who went to college. I hate people that produce things. I secretly wish American fails infact I wish for all of humanity to fail becuase I hate everyone. I am too lazy to even take real action for my hate. In truth I really hate myself. "
Seriously? You suck.
You are precisely the reason that people lose faith in humanity. Do us all a favor and
leave the rest of the world alone. Everyone will win. You have been spewing about what a piece of shit you are on this blog awhile now. We got it it already. Not only are you a loser but you are also getting boring.
Will there be a daycare center?
The House recently called for an investigation into the huge increase in costs caused by for-profit contractorization of the NNSA labs. As a result, LANS will soon begin implementing cost containment strategies for the general staff (but not for Terry or his buddies, of course).
Those luxurious 8x8 cubicles are going to have to be down-sized to a more modest 6x6 cubicle. This way, you'll get know know your new "room mates" very well. It'll be just like living back in the old college dorm, only you'll be shoved together a lot closer.
Remember to try and look busy when Terry glares down from the glass walls of his executive mega-suite that sits high above the floor of the LASC "science warehouse".
In October Terry Wallace described the LASC as “the poster child for the future of the Laboratory.” (Post)
Yeah... corrupt, very costly, of poor quality and built by 3rd rate Bechtel engineers. Just like LANS.
After Terry's marvelous success creating LANL's signature project, MaRIE, just think of the wonderful success he'll also bring to the creation of the LASC! It'll be da-bomb!
LANS and LANL have become one of those "the emporer is naked" situations. This cannot go on forever. It is a downward spiral!
You're wrong, 7:01, it can and will go on for as long as the corrupt corporate ties to government are allowed to control our national labs. LANS was given the LANL contract for a reason, and that reason was not to improve science at LANL. Rather, the reasons were
1) to further enrich Bechtel, BWXT, and WG, for which in return
2) LANS would let NNSA turn LANL into the next Rocky Flats.
Nobody got in the way of this process. Not the people of LANL, who stood by mutely and let it happen. Not our state representatives. Not Congress. Everybody just stood by and let the influence peddling process proceed to its natural conclusion.
I find this encouraging. Right now rental space in Los Alamos is about $1.60/sq.ft./month. In Santa Fe it's about $.90/sq.ft./month. If this developer builds the complex and then things go sour (like they probably will) then perhaps there will be some cheap real estate available. Hope they put in some high bay space and some lab space....
They tried this back in 2004 just before the shutdown. The US Postal Service was going to build a "Science Complex" up on Two Mile Mesa and then lease it to the lab.
Naturally, the deal went nowhere. It was, as is this endeavor, a thinly veiled attempt to circumvent Congressional budgetary control over LANL.
In 2004 LANL did not have Bechtel to bribe the appropriate Congressmen.
to 8:27 PM
You are a little off the mark. I am the proud owner of a minority-owned business that employs eight New Mexicans and pays them competitive salaries (maybe not as high as LANL) and benefits. I hold an advanced degree and encourage others to pursue educational opportunities. I credit my success to hard work, a little luck and my undying faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, who has showered me with His divine love and guidance.
I love this region and will do what I can to improve it and the lives of my employees. I have cut my own salary recently to avoid having to lay off any employee even as the economy squeezes my resources tighter.
Now other than having your nose firmly planted in the government trough and whining about being forced to relocate to a new office in a new building, what exactly do you think it is it about you that qualifies you to hold yourself in smug superiority over me? I think I might have missed it somewhere.
and more kickbacks.... how much of this "rent" goes back to Bush and Cheney?
To 1:25 PM,
Congratulations on running your own company and employing people. It was nice of you to reduce your salary to avoid laying off your employees.
However, your original post in this thread felt mean-spirited. It is reasonable for people to complain when their work environment is downgraded, especially when the boss' office is significantly upgraded. Perhaps, as a more compassionate boss yourself, your complaints should be directed at the contrast between Terry Wallace's huge office and the crappy cubicles of his employees.
Yes, we should all be grateful for having jobs. However, we should rightly complain when things are not optimal. None of us want to be mute sheeple who accept indignity after indignity because we're too scared of losing our jobs. If they ask us to move into inferior offices, that is one such indignity and we are right to complain about it. The fact is that many of us could find other jobs. In fact, those of us that can find other jobs are the "best and the brightest." If the lab wants to be successful, it needs to treat us like the "best and the brightest." If it mistreats us, the "best and the brightest" will leave, the lab will be left with the "not so great and not so bright" and the science produced will wither and die. You say you love this region. You may not approve of LANL but the fact is that it brings significant economic opportunities to this region. Therefore, it is in your best interest to support LANL and it is in your best interest to make sure that LANL employees are not subjected to indignities.
You have two choices. Be nice or be a jerk. I think you'll be nice.
Anonymous at 6/25/09 2:21 PM is correct. There continues to be a succession of indignities. There is now a real class structure at LANL.
Thru the time of John Browne, the
Director's salary was about twice that of a top-level scientist. There were no perks for the Director and the other higher-ups.
Now the Director's salary is about four times that of a top-level scientist. And he has lots of perks including a platinum parachute. The PADs, ADs, etc. are all very highly-compensated and they also have perks.
The fact is that none of these high-priced assholes has any genuine responsibility. They don't have to bring in funds, they have no accountability for the quality or quantity of the science being done, etc. All theat matters to them are that the PBIs get done and those are mostly compliance, not performance measures.
Our technical work continues to be denigrated. Yes, these are indignities!
You sure are all indignant now, 4:43. Where were you in 2004, 2005 when NNSA and LANS formed their pact to take over LANL?
I bet you were one of the ones chanting, "I want UC to win so that my benefits are preserved."
"If it mistreats us, the "best and the brightest" will leave"
Wow. What on earth will it take for the so-called best and brightest to leave? If broken bathrooms and work-free safe zone don't work, what will? Caning as a PBI? Daily rectal probes? Salmonella-flavored water fountains? Although we may have that last one now.
I don't think "best and brightest" means the same thing to you as to everyone else.
Terry, thanks for looking out for your "little scientists" and making sure we all get cubicle room. I hope you find time to leave your palacial estate and visit us your management walk-arounds just like you do now. Thank you so much for your support! We love you!
"Wow. What on earth will it take for the so-called best and brightest to leave?" - 6:20 PM
Being fired, most likely. LANL's new management wants cheaper labor. And if they were truly bright, they would have already left. It's not very difficult to see what's been happening around the lab.
LANS is bound by the FARs for procurements.
Third party financed/owned/leased back facilities is not a new concept and has been done at other DOE sites, including Oak Ridge (their records center for one)for a number of years.
Anonymous 6/25/09 5:02 PM must be a liberal: attack the person without addressing the issue!
"best and brightest"
more like bitter and balding. could we tone down the expletives please?
There is little doubt that LANL is unusually bad in generating spin-offs or substantial patent income. The lab patent office is anxious for applications and is very well-staffed and highly paid. There is a well-funded technology transfer office that probably doesn't make enough money to pay for the electricity used by their bloated staff.
Perhaps someone should come in from the outside to examine these efforts. It's not as if the LANL workers are less able than other labs. There's something very wrong with the organization of science and it probably won't be repaired by new buildings.
"There is little doubt that LANL is unusually bad in generating spin-offs or substantial patent income...Perhaps someone should come in from the outside to examine these efforts..."
i want to continue to act like a prof in academia but i don't want any of the responsibility of taking care of students or, god for bid, teach freshman. i would also like some cheese with my whine.
i totally agree with you. they need to reexamine the role of basic science vs. applied science at the national lab level. i mean, how much of this research can really be applied? i don't see organoactinide complexes being used for any industrial purpose, for example.
"i don't see organoactinide complexes being used for any industrial purpose, for example."
Do you see them as being important for advancing knowledge? That would useful to mankind, if they were. (Unfortunately, they are not.)
The county is salivating over yet more gross receipts tax from this complex since it is private development. Figure out the tax and then figure out how many of us will lose our job to feed the ever-growing county coffers, aka government over-grazers.
Another brewing scandal. It is alleged that proof was sent to LANS that a security employee used resources to distribute disturbing information about a county worker. It gets better, the security person serves on a board or council or some community commission. Guess that person will be dismissed soon and rightfully so.
My colleagues and I request that this blog use one major post next week for the community to provide input for the los alamos county administrator about to be appointed. Why would we want to read this crap or respond, well because for every increment passed by the county in these last 3 years the laboratory pays most of the burden. Roughly equates to 2 million dollars per year in the extra taxes imposed , figure that out in terms of our jobs, how many of our fellow employees and friends had to be cut to account for county waste.
Give us one day for all of the community to comment next week, slow day is fine. The other blog in town has already said it will not post anything but thats because wife works at county and I don't blame him for taking a stance as his wife wouold be retaliated against.
"aka government over-grazers"
LOLZ. Look in the mirror much?
I am getting sick of the county spending all of our money - lanl grt for the excessive buidling. We all work in really old crap but can move up a step if we go to the new county jail, sure you all seen it. County doubled its income in LANS from last few years so they love LANS. Now here is the question,since they doubled their revenue did we swwee decreases in taxes, gross receipt or property, do we have more restaurants, do we have a community center.l NO NO NO all we have are new county buildings popping up all over town and $75 million in debt that we did not have before. Horrific, right, but exactly like Terry they are about to name Tony M as the new county boss who happens to be the one responsible for all.
9:56 pm Terry quit commenting and go design your 3300sq foot office. You are the ultimate poster child for abusing government funds.
It is extremely disappointing that our community is so much in debt and we did not get the retail that was guaranteed when we voted on the $75 million bond issue (remember the talk of Target, Staples, Trader Joe's, restaurants, beautiful trails, lifestyle centre). Instead we have a super deluxe fire station for 5 or 6 people in White Rock and we are soon to have a huge police complex that you have surely noticed while driving. If the council appoints Tony Mortillaro as next administrator it is a clear slap in the face to us. Write to them at countycouncil@lacnm.us and offer your opinions, good or bad. Ever heard Tony speak at chamber or other places, he says "nucuuleer" and makes Mikey look like a professional orator.
A link to his pic
http://btno.blogspot.com/2007/03/propaganda-parade.html
10:27 pm- it's the government way. Tax and spend.
To 3:12,
The lab could do much better at intellectual property and licensing. A discussion for how to accomplish this has been going on for decades.
The simplest solution--reward tech transfer personnel for dollars of income generated not for following bureaucratic rules, going to meetings, or making Power Point presentations for D.C.
In the Wall Street Journal a couple of weeks ago, there was an article saying that government success is press releases while industry success is profits. Often the two do not mix.
If LANS, Tech Transfer, the Lab's Patent Office, and individual Lab Employees were rewarded on dollars generated not rules blindly followed, tech transfer would change overnight.
From Science magazine ~1992 concerning Livermore.
"Tech transfer here is 100% successful. Anyone who invents something commercially valuable leaves the Lab."
So, the underlying problem seems not to be the people but the reward system.
Thoughts?
The lab will argue that it will be able to give up older space and that the savings will more than offset the costs for this.
Unfortunately, I can hear Mike telling us that our G&A rate needs to increase to 50% to offset the costs of strategic investments.
Unfortunately, I can hear Mike telling us that our G&A rate needs to increase to 50% to offset the costs of strategic investments.
6/27/09 10:30 AM
Rumors are already circulating that the FTE rates are going up significantly for the next fiscal year. It appears some means must be found to pay for all the work killing policies and executive bloat created by the LANS 'shut-down' team.
I'll never forget the Op Ed piece Tony Mortillaro wrote to the LA Monitor two years ago defending the $75 million in bonds for the Boyerville complex. His Op Ed piece had all the ooze and sleaze you would expect from a used car sales man.
Tony and certain other councilors were fete by the Boyer company. Boyer spent tons of money to buy the vote in this community and in the local paper. The project is now dead. What did we get for that $75 million? A fancy new jail? A swell looking fire station? These county crooks are running a switch and bait scam on the citizens!
If Tony becomes the new city head, more sleaze and corruption will surely be heading Los Alamos' way. LANS and the LA County management -- two entities made for each other.
The natives appear to be getting restless (LANL Reader's Forum)...
May 19, 2009
*A question of priorities*
During the past nine months, Oracle-based systems, Concur-based systems, and even WIN account access at the Laboratory have continued to be wildly unreliable for many regular users. For example, on principle data entry days, the Oracle Time/Labor system is often unwieldy, unresponsive, and prone to crashing when employees try to "save or submit" their time/labor. The Concur system is surely a cousin of the Ouija board, but one might logically expect that the group office administrator would be able to enter travel for everyone on her cost account without having to make a special phone call to the travel help line to have outliers manually added; and other examples abound.
Service teams put aside their exasperation with faulty systems and patiently do work-arounds to help the users. It is unclear if Lab management is content with allowing service teams, including Limited Timekeepers, Payroll Team, Labwide Consulting, and the Travel Team, to continue to bear the load of these inadequate system designs which seem to have little in common with logical workflows. (And by the way, thank you to Travel, Payroll, and Labwide Support for continuing to forge on through rain, sleet, snow, and dark of night).
If I were either upper management or the responsible parties, I would not be proud of the current unreliability of the aforementioned Lab user systems. Firing the perpetrators of the system did not actually fix the legacy of the poorly-conceived and poorly-executed user interfaces that users struggle with daily. The question arises, do we have a plan forward, or are we going to just live with these systems for the next decade? And, do any managers above the group level care, or is it all about cutting budgets and placing blame? A statement of commitment would be a wonderful thing to hear, because it is not difficult to connect the dots.
( Erica Wissinger )
Erica Wissinger at 6/27/09 1:21 PM
is very naive. LANS management does not give a damn at all about the performacne of web-based time, travel, etc. systems. There are no PBIs for the performance of these systems so they really have no interest.
6:27 says If Tony becomes the new city head, more sleaze and corruption will surely be heading Los Alamos' way. LANS and the LA County management -- two entities made for each other
Did you look at the link to the pic and all the comment. This was doomed years ago and they are rewarding Mr. Sleaze by promoting him. LANS and county have much in common.
Los Alamos, the home of whiners.
I"m sorry but alcohol laws are alcohol laws. You don't take a beer into a bar.
--
The end of reason
By Ralph Damiani
Friday night at the ski hill was another in the series of summer concerts put on by the county and various businesses in the community.
People gather to relax, meet with friends and listen to some great music. Friday night was no different.
The night air at Pajarito was cool and crisp and the music rocking. All was well.
Until the state police decided to make an appearance and clearly demonstrate that we have lost our collective minds.
So many times you hear figures talk about what makes America great is that we are a nation of laws. That is wrong. Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia were nations of laws.
What makes us great is that we are a nation of justice, of reason. But we are rapidly moving away from that and all we can do go by rote and recite the laws and rules with no thinking?
Friday night was a perfect example.
It seems that the state police folks in Santa Fe wanted to make a bust in Los Alamos, so they sent an officer from Albuquerque to come here and attend the summer concert and find something wrong.
And surprise, surprise, he did.
No, there was not excessive drinking, there was no serving to underage folks, there was no problem at all. There was just a group of people relaxing in the cool air.
But in this age of insanity, the state police had to flex its muscle and find a problem. And they did. See, people did not stay were they were supposed to.
As the officer shut down the booth selling some beer, he said rules are rules and people buying beer could not mix with those who brought their own and that those who brought their own could not come and be with those who bought theres.
So he shut it down.
See, according to the officer, if you bought beer you had to stay on the patio and if you brought your own, you had to stay on the grass.
That is why he shut the sales down. Now we are not sure, he may be completely correct in the strict interpretation of the law. But as we said, where is the logic here?
The folks selling did a very good job of trying to comply with the law. But when compliance becomes impossible – the officer will find something no matter how hard you are trying – then the whole process becomes a joke. And that is dangerous.
Is that all there is anymore, strict following of the law with no common sense to situations, to logic, to reason?
What we fear the most however is the loss of respect for our people in uniform. People were very disgusted by this officer’s actions and felt it was unjust, as it was. But when those critical people we need for our safety begin to lose our respect, we are really in trouble.
And this officer was arrogant at best, uncaring at worst. There was no reason to do what he did, save for the fact that he could. It was the law.
But where was the justice? There was no harm being done, except that he could find some. There were no abuses of alcohol going on, save the ones he created.
Drunken driving and abuse of alcohol are terrible issues that we need to deal with in a serious way. But this officer’s actions diminish that effort and open those people who put their life on the line for us to unnecessary ridicule.
And that is a very sad outcome of his actions up on the ski hill Friday night.
Sad indeed if the State Police are focusing on an alcohol bust at a Gordon's concert, instead of, I dunno, illegal immigrants opening fire in an Albuquerque Denny's.
Mr. Mortillaro approved the removal of the remains of more than 40 people from an ancestral Lummis Tribal site during excavation for a new sewage treatment site in Blaine in 1999. City officials acknowledged that the city violated an agreement with the tribe, the state, and federal officials by not notifying the tribe of the find and continuing to work.
Information (enclosed) on Mr Mortillaro’s actions is easily found on the internet at :
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/lumm17.shtml
http://www.thenorthernlight.com/archives/2001/sept06_12_2001/fp2.html
http://fordblog.xdesign.ws/archives/003823.html
http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/9938/features-downey.shtml
Settlements top issue
By John P. Kamin
Special to The Tribune
PRESCOTT VALLEY – Prescott Valley’s recall candidates made settlement agreements the most divisive topic of Thursday’s candidate forum at the Central Arizona Senior Association’s Senior Center.
In answer to a question about the current hiring process for the new town manager, Town Council candidate Tom Steele said the settlement agreements with former town manager Anthony Mortillaro and former human resources director Barbara Hanson are an example of the town’s poor leadership. Mortillaro received $105,338.62 and Hanson received approximately $43,500 in their respective agreements.
Mayoral candidate Harvey Skoog spoke after Steele and made note of a “statement of defense” by the mayor.
“It says that the Town Council agreed to give the town manager notice in March that his contract was not going to be extended,” Skoog said. “If his contract was going to be terminated, why in the world did they pay him 100-plus thousand dollars to terminate him then with severance pay?”
Audience members applauded after Skoog said the council should have negotiated the agreement during an open meeting. Skoog also mentioned Hanson’s severance package as well.
When asked about whether the $12,000 to $13,000 cost of the recall election was worth it, Skoog, mayoral candidate Sue O’Grady and Steele all said the cost is justified for the change the election could bring,
The town had an unacceptable situation with Mortillaro that “it had to stop,” Killingsworth said. He noted that the council gave up only four extra months of pay to Mortillaro in the agreement.
“He already had his lawyer and was going to go to court to fight that situation,” Killingsworth said. “We made the decision that we were not going to pay another $100,000-plus to do that.”
Next, Killingsworth spoke of Hanson’s severance package. He said the council consulted two private law firms that said retaining Hanson would create a “high situation of liability.”
Current vice-mayor and council candidate Jay Fagelman made similar statements about the severance packages.
“We were told by one attorney, ‘You guys are in real trouble,’” Fagelman said. The second attorney was in “total disbelief” of Hanson’s attitude, he said.
“She did nothing but break policies, she hurt the town, and for accusations to fly at our council for our actions is really terrible,” Fagelman said.
Eunice Conner was the only participating candidate who did not talk about the severance packages. Mayoral candidate Walter Bassett attended the forum but did not participate.
No wonder we're in the shitter, with senior management of this caliper.
6/28/09 8:21 AM
LANS senior management isn't doing the job of running LANL into the ground to benefit you, 8:21 AM. They appear to feel that staff are easily replaceable. In fact, senior management wants you to leave, especially if you are in a higher salary category, doing research, and don't "wear shoes that GRIP".
LANS needs to meet a new NNSA 5% attrition milestone for next year at LANL from people either leaving in disgust or from people being fired "for cause". This, after thousands have already left LANL in the last few years. That "for cause" bit has become especially popular with the LANS team. Care to help them out? You'll be doing them a big favor for their next year's PBIs/bonuses.
LANS is the shut-down crew and Mary Neu is doing a terrific job helping them with this task. She is *exactly* the type of upper level management that LANS wants in place at the top. NNSA wants to see LANL downsized to about 6500 employees doing mainly low level production activities and cleanup work. I expect they'll get their wish.
The recent Ski Hill incident sounds like the sort of crazy policy stuff that LANS like to enforce at LANL. It seems that every infraction, no matter how petty or minor, must be thoroughly investigated and prosecuted to the limit.
I thought that the LANS mindset might be affecting the county of Los Alamos. I had no idea that it was such a potent "viral" force that it has apparently infected our NM police force. Wow!
Watch out America. It's coming for you, next! Be sure to wear shoes that GRIP. It may be your only hope for avoiding the quickly spreading LANS virus.
I'm sorry but you can't byob to a bar (or restaurant or any other establishment) when the place has a liquor license! I think the only place you can do that is maybe New Orleans. Bartenders are trained to tell when a customer has had enough and if they also byob, it is hard for them to know how many beers a person has had. It sounds as if the po-po was trying to control it so both could exist, but the folks in attendance were not interested in the "stupid rules". The cop was in the right, whether you like it or not. Also, considering there are at least 3 DWI arrests in the county every time I read the police blog on the monitor, it seems like there might be a problem with alcohol in this area.
Actually, 10:50 AM, Mr Asstroll sounds like Susan Seestrom. She is so insecure and incompetent that she view any questionable comment as negative, whiney, or complaining and then she punishes.
Will the bricks in that picture of the future LASC come crumbling down like that do at the newly built LANL nano-tech building? The front of that building had to be roped off to keep people from getting hurt from falling bricks!
"Also, considering there are at least 3 DWI arrests in the county every time I read the police blog on the monitor, it seems like there might be a problem with alcohol in this area."
Only 3, wow that is low! In Santa
Fe it is like 300.
Thanks for the info.
Is it too early to start complaining about the new LANL internal homepage?
You know how the Research Library used to have its own link from the very top banner?
No surprise, that's gone. Now you have to hunt around for it in a drop down menu.
Just one more way LANS is discouraging us from even thinking about working on any pesky science projects.
"it seems like there might be a problem with alcohol in this area."
As they say, Los Alamos--a small scientific town with a big drinking problem.
"Is it too early to start complaining about the new LANL internal homepage?" (9:26 PM)
The previous internal lab web page may have not been the slickest looking web page, but it was one you could easily navigate around.
The new page? It's one big hot mess. Lots of bright graphics and pop-down sections with an extremly "busy" look to it.
I'm sure LANS must think this is cool stuff, but frankly, it really stinks. Of course, this is the same crew of managers that thinks the Oracle and Concur systems are great systems. Down, down, every downward we go....
The new LANL internal homepage is yet another example of our computer support people being out of control. They would not think to ask the users what they want!
"As they say, Los Alamos--a small scientific town with a big drinking problem.
6/28/09 9:28 PM"
Compared to the rest of New Mexico? ROFL.
Sorry they "do not say". Try again.
In fact the only place I have every heard this is on the blog. In the real world of course the opposite is true.
3 DWI arrests every time the police blog is updated, so that would be 7-10 a month, not including all of the MIPs (MIPs far outweigh the number of DWI arrests). That would be roughly 80-120 people a year arrested. There are 18,000 people in the county, still high for a county the size of a fingernail filled with "the highest number of PhDs in the country". Also a scary thought, that number does not include the folks that the keystone cops do not catch. If they actually cracked down on DWI, that number would easily double, but cops around here are lazy.
6/29/09 8:14 AM - Have you ever put more detail in your reading of the police reports and checked, where everyone who was cited with DWIs by Los Alamos county police is coming from? Most of them do NOT live in Los Alamos.
"Sorry they "do not say". Try again."
umm, try again dude. i was told that when i came out here in 2002. many are closet drinkers and you won't see them at the bars. who do you think clears out the alcohol aisles at smiths? the 4th is coming...show up on wed and see how much beer disappears from the cooler.
one night, my boyfriend and i were watching the dwi checkpoint at the catholic church on canyon rd. they arrested 4 and let 2 walk home. needless to say, we were appalled. then they closed up shop at 11 pm. cops around here don't have a clue and it wouldn't surprise me if there was a special deal set up with the lab.
7:32 am: Its dudette and obviously you aren't in the HRP program, have not been privy to Tom Locke present at your group meeting (assuming you work for the lab) or know anyone who is a recovering alcoholic attending AA. Alcohol IS a big problem at the lab and los alamos, in general.
"6/29/09 8:14 AM - Have you ever put more detail in your reading of the police reports and checked, where everyone who was cited with DWIs by Los Alamos county police is coming from? Most of them do NOT live in Los Alamos.
6/29/09 10:27 AM"
F off 10:27AM. I refuse to think, read, or get facts. I am a bitter idiot. I will not read the police reports.
"3 DWI arrests every time the police blog is updated, so that would be 7-10 a month, not including all of the MIPs (MIPs far outweigh the number of DWI arrests). That would be roughly 80-120 people a year arrested. There are 18,000 people in the county, still high for a county the size of a fingernail filled with "the highest number of PhDs in the country". Also a scary thought, that number does not include the folks that the keystone cops do not catch. If they actually cracked down on DWI, that number would easily double, but cops around here are lazy.
6/29/09 8:14 AM"
Hey dipstick, first it is not three every time the police blog is updtated. On "average", (I know that the concept of "the average" is little deep for some of you)
it is more like 1.2. Now before some idiot says you cannot have .2 of a person, just trust me it works due to something called "math". Now I know you got the number 3 from a previous poster who pulled it out of his ass. Now the second point, more than 2/3 of the DWI are from people who do not live in LA county. So in the end the number
of DWI's is very tiny, in fact I do not know of a single Ph.d with one. Now I know there must be some but the number is very very low. It has also been established that higher eduction levels correlate with lower amounts of drug and alcohol abuse, and of couse is why crime, drug and alcohol abuse are so low in Los Alamos. Sorry facts will get you everytime.
To 12:04 PM, oooh, hot date in Los Alamos? Watching the dwi checkpoint? Good grief, I wouldn't criticize a few drunks with your date life.
"So in the end the number
of DWI's is very tiny, in fact I do not know of a single Ph.d with one."
Ha ha. I know of 3 PhD workers in my area with DWIs. One got terminated, 1 permanent loss of Q, other lost Q and got it back. Sorry, facts will get you every time!
"7:32 am: Its dudette and obviously you aren't in the HRP program, have not been privy to Tom Locke present at your group meeting (assuming you work for the lab) or know anyone who is a recovering alcoholic attending AA. Alcohol IS a big problem at the lab and los alamos, in general.
6/29/09 1:32 PM"
I call BS, on this. It just ain't so. On the whole Los Alamos has less of of a problem with alcohol and drugs than comparable towns or organizations. To you have any idea what other towns outside of Los Alamos are like? Have you ever been to other parts of NM? Have you ever been out of New Mexico?
Think before you say crap!
"Ha ha. I know of 3 PhD workers in my area with DWIs. One got terminated, 1 permanent loss of Q, other lost Q and got it back. Sorry, facts will get you every time!
6/29/09 8:59 PM"
Bullshit, you are full of it. You do not work at LANL.
Alcohol IS a big problem at the lab and los alamos, in general.
6/29/09 1:32 PM
Cheers!!
"Ha ha. I know of 3 PhD workers in my area with DWIs. "
Nope!
Three names were supplied in a comment I rejected.
Hey, I'm the person who commented about the 3 PhDs. I'm not full of shit and I do work at LANL, HRP program even. One of the guys who lost his Q permanently is a good friend of mine! ;*P
wow! some interesting comments.
i would like to see the local cops set up a dwi checkpoint at the high school right after a gordon concert. it would be interesting to see how many they nab when they actually try. i bet they would get ~20 (i've seen you people dance). of course they won't because they're too lazy to fill out the paperwork.
"Hey, I'm the person who commented about the 3 PhDs. I'm not full of shit and I do work at LANL, HRP program even. One of the guys who lost his Q permanently is a good friend of mine! ;*P
6/30/09 7:37 AM"
Even if what you say is true it could that because you work in HRP that know of these people, so that is 3 people over 10-20 year time period, out of 14000 people. That is insanely low number, insanely low! You have to compare these numbers to other places of comparabe sizes. You refuse to do that so you have no point. Saying I know 3 people is not an argument. Anyone can say they know 3 people who have DWI's over their lifetime. You need to step up and start "thinking", try it. You are the one with the problem, it is time you to face the facts. Do you really work in HRP? I have my doubts I think HRP would have actual numbers about how LANL compares to similare organizations and towns, since you do not have them I suspect that you do not work in HRP.
Someone is in denial.
County No. of Local Drivers Ever Convicted for DWI, 2005: 2,281
County Licensed Drivers, 2005: 15,965
County DWI Arrests, 2005: 57
County Mean Arrest BAC for DWI Arrests, 2005: 0.163
I will say that the number of dwi arrests is down from 1987 (176) but I wonder if the number has gone up since bechtel took over. But then again, all of these people are from out of town, right?
". i bet they would get ~20 (i've seen you people dance). of course they won't because they're too lazy to fill out the paperwork."
"I" bet it would be zero. Do you have a few problems with the law?
11:18 AM, uh, I think 7:37 AM meant they are *in* the HRP program. Not that they work for HRP.
Any why are you so hell-bent that there's no alcohol problem in Los Alamos, anyway? Educated people develop addictions too.
Give me a break. The only people that think LA doesn't have a bunch of drunks either 1) never lived here, or 2) is incredibly stupid. I know lots of drunks. They are my friends and neighbors and coworkers. Drunkenness is normal here in NNM, and LA has a long history of serious boozing. Ever hear of Kitty Oppenheimer? Some of my friends hand me a beer when I get into their car. Hell, I'm on my seventh beer tonight, but I'll probably stop after I finish the 12 I bought at the Quik Stop earlier. (Maybe a couple shots on the way, too.)
The fact is that the LA cops will never really try to enforce drunk driving laws because too many labbies would get caught. I have been at the Canyon (aka Ma and Pa's, The Fireside) many times after midnight, and believe me, most people who leave there are totally shitfaced.
"Any why are you so hell-bent that there's no alcohol problem in Los Alamos, anyway? Educated people develop addictions too.
6/30/09 8:10 PM"
The question is whether Los Almaos has a worse alcohol problem than other towns of comparable size. The answer to that question
is no, in fact it has far less than the average town of comparable size. What is so hard to understand about that?
Denial is the first symptom.
Most of the alcohol consumption in Los Alamos is done in secret, just like most of the work at LANL.
It's consumed at home rather than at bars because there aren't many bars on the Hill. The good news about all this is that it keeps the drunks off the highway. There is no law about getting shit-faced drunk at home (at least not yet!).
With the increased anxiety and low morale since LANS took over the lab, drinking has probably gone up quite a bit during the last few years.
"Most of the alcohol consumption in Los Alamos is done in secret, just like most of the work at LANL. "
How the hell would you kmow? Most of your stupdity is done out in the open. Facts baby, get em, use em, and STFU.
"obvious he can't bother getting the facts straight himself. "
Where are your facts than?
Where are your facts than (((sic)))?
6/30/09 10:43 PM
I rest my case. This wacko has both anger management problems and a big drinking problem. He's in denial of both.
"Do you have a few problems with the law?"
yes i do! 6 businesses broken into with the police station a BLOCK away...i have a problem with that. there is little if any activity in this town at 2 am, but two people managed to rob the businesses on central avenue all the while the cops have their thumbs up their asses! LAZY! if most crime happens in the downtown area, they should stress that they will double their efforts to monitor that area, not tell business owners to buy video cameras because "we don't have enough man power."
and the state police showing up at a gordon concert? the local police should take care of these situations, not the state.
I'll bet it chaps Greg Mello's hide that people would rather talk about Los Alamos' alcohol consumption than about his little Science Complex conspiracy theory.
Great info Frank. We posted a link to it. Thanks for pulling this together and sharing!
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