For those who love the politics and intrigue of cultural facility construction (that’s everybody, right?), Miami-Dade is like “West Wing” and “American Idol” combined. The latest plot twist is the open conflict between officials overseeing the construction and the construction consortium doing the work. It seems that structural flaws might affect the final acoustics and price tag of the facility (see this groovy infographic).
In a particularly enjoyable quote, the construction consortium offered this acceptance/denial combo platter:
The structural questions, and the estimated $50 million they could add to the cost of the project, are just the latest twists in a decade of wrangling about this particular facility ‹from parking, to payment schemes, to project delays. The big public noise started back at the end of 2000, however, when construction bids for the project came in way over budget (budget at that point was $205 million, and the only two bids came in at $280 and $332 million).
Not all cultural construction projects are like Miami-Dade (in fact, almost none are of the same scale, in the same steamy political/business climate, with the same intrigue). But this project does underscore the strange beasts such projects have become: at the intersection of politics, economic development, big-ticket arts organizations, massive corporate interests, and wealthy donors.
It brings to mind the 19th-century chestnut by German chancellor Otto von Bismarck: “People will sleep better not knowing how their sausage and politics are made.” I might add ‘cultural facilities’ to the list.
