Our engineer finally met with the lady at Colorado Springs Utilities Wastewater division yesterday. She is the person who decides what size grease trap we have to install. Her decisions are completely arbitrary, and she changes what her requirements are from day to day, and from client to client. For whatever reason, she wanted us to excavate the parking lot and install an underground Grease Interceptor the side of Rhode Island. Not only was that rediculous with regard to cost, but also with regard to capacity needs. After fighting with her and her boss (me and my architect), she downgraded her requirement to a size that is still rediculous for what we are doing. The cost of what she wants per the variance is about $5000 and would require a greas trap 8' x 5' x 4'. Most coffee shops in town either have no grease trap, or have a 24" x 24" greas trap.We subcontracted an engineer to perform capacity calculations for our shop, and go fight this battle for us. He was finally able to catch up with her yesterday and she screamed and yelled, cussed at him, and called him lots of nasty things. How do people like this get in positions of power with local government agencies??? He said he was going to elevate this issue and go over here head. She said she doesn't care, because her boss sees eye to eye with her. Our engineer mentioned that he was not going to her boss, but to her boss's boss, whom he used to work with. Her eyes got a little wide and she said maybe they could work something out. He said no, that she already had an opportunity, and that she was abusive and unprofessional. My interest is only to get a grease trap approved that is appropriate for our needs. I don't wish bad things on anyone, but I do hope that she is held accountable for her behaviour. I have spoken with other people in the construction industry in town and this lady has a reputation for being a tyrant, for acting in absurd ways that are completely unprofessional... Strange...
Tracy came up with a magnetic menu board concept. We made our own chalkboard paint (take flat paint and mix it with unsanded tile grout). She bought fancy menu board markers that write on chalk boards, glass, metal, etc. She is going to make custom strips with lettering, and they will be stuck to the menu board via magnet strips.
I have a friend (Neil Dana) who has a metal fabrication shop. He does custom fabrication, and has a CNC water jet that will handle stock up to 12' x 10' (very large for custom, CNC cut parts). He also designs and fabricates after market parts for Hummers, H2's, and now H3's. You can Google him under "H2O Hummers - Nothing Else Compares."
Anyway, I came up with this layout for the menu board, and we are going to have Neil cut them for us. It will be 38 inches wide by 56.8" tall. It will have 1/2" holes down the left and right sides. This will give it a visual break at the edges, and will give Tracy some guides to put her magnetic strips on level and straight. The whole board will be offset from the wall by an inch, and will be lit with track lighting. The holes will allow the wall color to show through. In all, there will be three menu boards side by side.
No comments:
Post a Comment