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Secretary visit cost

In these days of $31k tables, how much is being spent on extra landscaping, painting, and cleaning in preparation for the visit by Secretary "oops"? 

Comments

Anonymous said…
Uh, the $31K dining set for Ben Carson's office was cancelled. Maybe it was only cancelled after the pending order received bad press, but it was cancelled nevertheless. No money was spent.

In any case, $31K is chump change compared with the $536,000 Obama billed the Government last year for his 8,200 square foot post-presidency office. That's over 50x larger than my office.
Anonymous said…
Probably not as much as when Bush 41 came to LLNL. Although I observed that only the front of the buildings facing the parade route were spruced up. I heard that new fixtures were put in the bathrooms of B111 were the president might freshen up. Can't have him seeing how things really were.

I thought they should have toured him through some of the barrack buildings with begging cups out.
Anonymous said…
A fortune was also spent in 2009 on visiting dignitaries for the opening of the NIF. Landscaping everywhere, a nifty gold sign, banners, it was astonishing - for a few-hour visit by a handful of politicians. Good old Ed Moses, he sure knew how to blow taxpayer money, money that would have been better spent on firming up realistic plans for the NIC.
Anonymous said…
Don't forget on the 2009 visit they had a crew take the geese offsite. I heard the goose wranglers took them to Del Valle but they eventually returned. Lord knows we couldn't have a politician step in goose crap.
Anonymous said…
Since they got away with it before, they might as well do it again and more. The geese are gone, the recently painted walls are repainted, and the flowering magnolia trees are cut down.

DOE is used to buildings falling down on and around them. If it is this nice on the existing funds, and the buildings aren't dripping, they won't see why the labs need money.
Anonymous said…
"Good old Ed Moses, he sure knew how to blow taxpayer money, money that would have been better spent on firming up realistic plans for the NIC."

Very, very cheap shot by a low class person. All of us that work/worked on NIF very much appreciated the upgrade to the landscaping, etc... After all it made our travels outside our buildings to home and back more enjoyable. Who wants to look at dead grass and withering plants !
Anonymous said…
Who wants to look at dead grass and withering plants !

March 23, 2018 at 9:22 PM

Oh, wait! This is California!
Anonymous said…
Yeah, "dead grass and withering plants" require massive infrastructure funding by the federal government so your trip home is more enjoyable.
Anonymous said…
9:22 PM, that is an excellent imitation of an effete pampered NIF worker, accustomed to Moses showering money on him! Nicely done.
Anonymous said…
"Who wants to look at dead grass and withering plants".

LANL people. That is what they think landscaping is. It is ridiculous. Drive past the yards in Los Alamos and White Rock. You can immediately tell who is from Los Alamos and who has travelled to Los Alamos for work. They truly believe living like that is "greener".
Anonymous said…
Los Alamos is currently "brown" because it has had little to no snow this winter. The Rio Grande is way down in flow. The mountain peaks are almost snowless. It's as if the ugly drought that hit Cali for years as now moved eastward. Given this lack of snow and rain it is easy to see why lawns in Los Alamos are currently looking so bad. The fire season this Spring in New Mexico is going to be a very bad one, for sure.
Anonymous said…
March 25, 2018 at 11:52 AM

No one cares. You had your 15 minutes of fame in May 2000. Fires, schmires.
Anonymous said…
"Los Alamos is currently "brown" because it has had little to no snow this winter. The Rio Grande is way down in flow. The mountain peaks are almost snowless. It's as if the ugly drought that hit Cali for years as now moved eastward. Given this lack of snow and rain it is easy to see why lawns in Los Alamos are currently looking so bad. The fire season this Spring in New Mexico is going to be a very bad one, for sure."

I have been here for a decade and it has always been "brown". People don't care about their lawns or the general landscaping, except Ashley pond. good work on that.

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