Fish Fear Me

Got Dome?

It took them 7 months, but our incompetent Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission and its incompetent executive director, Bill Lester, finally got it up yesterday:

The new Metrodome roof was inflated just after 7 a.m. Wednesday, a process that took just 45 minutes to complete.

The Minneapolis skyline has been without the marshmallowy icon of the Metrodome since the roof collapsed in December .

I have been quite exercised in the past about this issue, but now it just makes me sad. The Metrodome roof collapse of 2010 will fade into some obscure Wikipedia entry with no investigation into why 17" of snow, a not unheard of event for Minneapolis in December, would cause that roof to collapse. As far as I can tell, one Vikings blogger asked more questions than all of our local news organizations combined. That meekness naturally allowed the MSFC to blow him off. 

There will be no accountability for the collapse, nor for the lackadaisical attitude of the MSFC in getting the roof repaired. Their sole focus was on getting the facility ready for the Vikings this year. Certainly the Vikings are the main tenant, but it was community tax money that paid for that building and hundreds of community groups other than the Vikings depended on that facility during the harsh winter months here. We might as well name them the Vikings Sports Facilities Commission because it's quite obvious they don't give a damn about anybody else.

Oops, there I go starting to get all exercised again and I don't want to do that. I suppose in the grand scheme of things this will matter not one bit, but the indifference and lack of accountability displayed around this issue by a lot of people, including the general public, is not a good sign. Not good at all.

Can't Do, Part Two

(Rant Warning)

Three weeks ago I was upset at the news that the roof of the Metrodome wouldn't be repaired until perhaps as late as the end of March. So you can probably imagine my response when I read this today:

If the entire roof of the Metrodome needs to be replaced, it may not be finished in time for the start of the Vikings exhibition season in August.

Ted Mondale, the newly appointed head of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, said after Thursday morning's commission meeting that weather has delayed evaluation of whether part or all of the fallen roof needs to be replaced.

"If we need complete replacement of the roof, it will take five to six months,'' Mondale said.

Workers were on the roof today and an engineer's evaluation is expected soon that will help determine whether the commission will replace torn panels or install a new roof. He said the safety of the roof and the public is his priority and he will not rush the work.

I'm gobsmacked. They can't be safe and do this any faster? Bullshit. Ted Mondale is flat-out full of shit.

I'm normally more cautious than this, but the hell with it. That kind of timeline is prima facie evidence that the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission doesn't give a flying fuck about the thousands of people other than the Vikings who use that facility and that the staff in charge is nothing less than incompetent.

Executive Director Bill Lester should be fired since he apparently doesn't have the decency to resign. The one thing he has to do, the one fucking facility that he has to keep functional for the general public is the Metrodome and that's nothing but a clusterfuck now. And you know what? I see no evidence that he even gives a shit about that. If he does, by all means somebody show me, because it appears from my perspective that the man is completely unmotivated and unable to serve the public.

I'm serious: Fire Bill Lester.

What an epic fucking fail. And you know what's even worse? Our political leadership of all stripes is just going to accept it and the reason for that is we, the general public, are just going to accept it too. 

I suppose in today's climate I should make clear that my anger about this should not be taken as edging towards or advocating anything over the top. I'm simply wanting some accountability for the failure to keep the Metrodome functional and the additional failure to aggressively fix the problem so it could once again function for the thousands of people who use it during the harsh winter months here.

Fire. Bill. Lester.

Can't Do

I'm not sure which lack of effort I should be more dismayed about here, the local sports commission or the two reporters who apparently can't ask a simple "why?":

The Metrodome will remain deflated and unusable at least through March, stranding the popular TwinsFest, dislocating shows and leaving several college and high school baseball teams scrambling to find other accommodations.

Bill Lester, executive director of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, said on Wednesday that it's not yet clear when the Dome's ripped roof can be fixed but that it won't happen before spring.

Well whatever you do, Bill, for God's sake don't break a sweat serving the public. Ditto for the Strib's two staff reporters who apparently don't have the balls, brains, instinct...whatever it takes, to question if maybe the sports commission can move a little faster instead of screwing up the plans of the dozens of organizations and thousands of people who were counting on using the Metrodome.

Perhaps it really can't be fixed any faster, but I would like an explanation for why that is, or at least some comfort that the commission even tried to get it fixed faster than that. My experience over the years has been that when a long time frame is confronted with a forceful "bullfuckinshit!", the long time frame magically gets considerably shortened.

I think we are entitled to know if we are getting that kind of money's worth from our local sports commission. It's too bad that we apparently won't get that answer from the local paper.

Credit where due: I shot an email off to the reporters on this story and one of them did email back to me. He apologized for not making it clearer in the story, but the testing to determine the scope of the repairs is going to take until the end of January. It is possible that the repairs will be done earlier, but the commission doesn't want to promise that since they can't guarantee it. I'm still not satisfied that they are doing the best they can, but that's where it stands.