Tutor Perini is a large construction firm that is building many of the nation’s large transit infrastructure projects, including California High Speed Rail and the San Francisco Central Subway project. We have expressed concern about a disconnect between accounting profits and cash losses – a pattern that has continued since we highlighted it during the high speed […]
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Status of Environmental mitigation projects in the Central Valley
The California High Speed Rail Authority’s website states the Authority “is committed to working with local, state and federal agencies and local stakeholders to develop a high-speed rail system that preserves open spaces and environmental resources that make California golden. Because the project is starting work in the Central Valley in the summer of 2013, the […]
Tutor Perini – still on shaky financial ground
Tutor Perini just violated a bank loan covenant and required a waiver In November, the Wall Street Journal reported that Tutor Perini had an earnings conference call for analysts that was notable for what it was missing – the earnings. Tutor ended up filing its required quarterly financial statements a week late. It needed the time […]
CARRD calls on Legislators to beef up reporting requirements
By Nadia Naik on November 9, 2015 in Board Meeting, Business Plan, CHSRA, Funding, Statewide, Uncategorized
You may have heard Authority Chairman Dan Richard and CEO Jeff Morales in the media lately talking about transparency. We sent legislators new information about how the Authority is so concerned about the public perception of the project that it is willing to compromise the state’s ability to oversee the many consultants working to design the rail line. […]
Backup documents for the 2014 Biz Plan Capital Cost: Do they exist?
Yesterday, we sent a request to the CHSRA board for back up cost documents for the published 2014 Business Plan capital cost estimate. Last summer, we were told they did not exist. Cost estimates for large transportation infrastructure projects are produced in a standard way. The engineers use a standard list of categories (track, utilities […]
Land purchases for initial construction way behind schedule
By CARRD on February 10, 2014 in Board Meeting, Business Plan, CHSRA, Fresno, Fresno – Bakersfield, Merced – Fresno, Statewide, Uncategorized
The contract signed with the design- build construction team led by Tutor Perini in August had a detailed list of properties that the CHSRA would have to buy and the date each parcel would be available to the contractor. The most recent report on January 16th notes that there are significant delays.How far behind is […]
What invoices are the FRA hiding?
At today’s Congressional hearing, Congressman Jeff Denham accused the FRA of failing to provided promised invoices from the project. He asked what they could be hiding. One invoice they may not want to share is a payment to former DOT official Roy Kienitz. Remember this guy? http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/05/25/2402531/feds-unlikely-to-budge-on-valley.html http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/26/local/la-me-high-speed-rail-20110526 CARRD received invoices through a Public Records […]
Post the *** packet!! / What exactly did Jeff Morales do?
We sent in the following letter to the CHSRA authority today. For reference, here is the board resolution that retroactively okays everything Jeff Morales did. The accompanying memo does not shed much light on the issue. ————————————- We are writing to comment on agenda item #3 and to request that the full meeting packets be […]
Negotiation over a few small words
In April 2012, the California High Speed Rail Authority announced a miracle. It could cut $30 billion off the cost of the project by downsizing project infrastructure in the Bay Area. It could share 50 miles of track with a commuter railroad that made frequent stops, without incurring any time penalty for doing so. While […]
July 12, 2014: What is the big deal?
The STB today denied the Authority’s request to get its blessing for the next segment it wants to construct from Fresno to Bakersfield. The Authority apparently applied in September for a “conditional approval” to move forward with construction. It should be noted that as of September, the Authority hadn’t even decided which route it would […]