Same Ol' Niagara Falls

So the City of Niagara Falls had 21 streets on its list to be repaved this year, and plans for all 21 to be completed. However, instead of the 21 streets being repaved in-house, the city has decided to outsource 10 of them. Ten of them? Half of of your paving schedule needs to be outsourced? Who the heck planned that schedule? 

This is what happens when you get tens of millions of dollars in free money from the Seneca Nation - no accountability from your department heads. Instead of forcing Dave Kinney, the director of the city's public works, to do the job he said he would do, the city will just send the repaving out to bid, letting Kinney and his department off the hook. 

In the private sector, most people sit down with their boss at some point to outline goals for the year. So if I understand this correctly, Kinney sat down with someone to plot out his plan of action for the city's roads, which obviously occurred since they had this list of 21 streets, but Kinney missed his objective by 50%. In the private sector, that gets you fired. In Niagara Falls, it'll probably get you promoted. 

What's most troubling is that throughout the entire piece, no one asks or states how much the outsourcing of these 10 streets is going to cost or how it's going to be paid for. How is that possible, Jason Sondel? While the focus on Leona Scibilia adds just so much to the story, how about asking some relevant questions? I mean, we all know that both newspapers and good journalism are on life support, but I just don't freakin' get it. You're a reporter. REPORT. 

I want to know how much this is going to cost and how it's being paid for. I want to know how a department head can simply decide to outsource half his work. Are these unreasonable questions?