Scaffolding at the Guardian Building (Photo from Google maps)
Scaffolding at the Guardian Building (Photo from Google maps)
For a local government that has cried so much about being cash strapped, perhaps Wayne County government could go no further than its front door to save money.
Wayne County has spent nearly $100,000 to rent scaffolds outside the Guardian Building, even though the related work happened more than two years ago, Eric Lawrence of the Detroit Free Press writes. County offices are in the downtown landmark.
The scaffolds cost $3,400 a month, so the tab keeps swelling, Lawrence writes:
The scaffolding, which lines the building's Griswold and Larned street entrances in downtown Detroit, was erected in August 2013 for work on the building's façade and has stayed there as a safety precaution because more work is needed on the Art Deco masterpiece.
For more than two years, it has effectively functioned as a covered walkway for visitors and employees headed to Wayne County's seat of government. Officials say they plan to launch work on the building this year that will lead to its removal.
"The purpose of the scaffolding when originally erected in (August) 2013 was for safety while overhead work was being done. It remains in place today as a safety measure, to protect passersby should anything fall from the building," James Canning, a spokesman for Wayne County Executive Warren Evans, tells the Freep.
No materials have fallen the paper says.
It adds that for an unknown reason the second phase of that work was not launched for two years, leading to the extended rental.