{"id":27870,"date":"2018-02-04T02:09:03","date_gmt":"2018-02-04T02:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=27870"},"modified":"2018-02-04T02:09:03","modified_gmt":"2018-02-04T02:09:03","slug":"mpev-job-faces-tight-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=27870","title":{"rendered":"MPEV job faces tight deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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They’re supposed to start rolling the heavy equipment soon onto the site of Amarillo’s next big project.<\/p>\n

The contractor will bring in the front-end loaders, the backhoes, the dump trucks … all of it.<\/p>\n

Then they’ll get to work on the multipurpose event venue, which celebrated a ceremonial groundbreaking this week on the now-vacant lot across the street from City Hall.<\/p>\n

Once they get started on the job, they’re going to face some immediate pressure. They’ve got to get the job done in about a year.<\/p>\n

You see, they’re going to welcome a minor-league baseball team to Amarillo. The plan is to toss out the first pitch for the start of a AA season that begins in April 2019.<\/p>\n

The MPEV will cost about $45 million. It will be paid with hotel occupancy tax and lease money provided by the Elmore Group, owners of the team that is relocating here from San Antonio.<\/p>\n

I remain confident they’ll get the job done. My confidence, though, must carry a caveat.<\/p>\n

It’s the weather, man.<\/p>\n

We’re in a prolonged dry spell in the Texas Panhandle. Not only have not had any snow this winter, we haven’t had any measurable precipitation of any kind.<\/p>\n

Can we depend on the weather cooperating with us? Hah! Not a chance, dude! As the saying goes: If you don’t like the weather, just wait 10 minutes …<\/em><\/p>\n

The weather is likely to become a major determinant on whether the MPEV gets built on time.<\/p>\n

I don’t intend to wish bad things with this blog post. I merely intend to forewarn us all that the weather quite possibly can toss a major roadblock in front of the construction crews that will have little room for error — manmade or nature made — as they proceed to get this first-class venue built.<\/p>\n

Let’s remember, too, that even though this winter has been bone-dry — so far!<\/em> — we cannot guarantee what the next<\/em> winter will bring to the High Plains of Texas.<\/p>\n

And, oh yes, we have the unpredictable and occasionally explosive<\/em> spring season awaiting us just ahead.<\/p>\n

Time won’t wait for the work to get done.<\/p>\n

Here’s hoping for the very best.<\/p>\n\n

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They’re supposed to start rolling the heavy equipment soon onto the site of Amarillo’s next big project. The contractor will bring in the front-end loaders, the backhoes, the dump trucks … all of it. Then they’ll get to work on the multipurpose event venue, which celebrated a ceremonial groundbreaking this week on the now-vacant lot … Continue reading MPEV job faces tight deadline<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[290,1436,3153,4609,4668],"class_list":["post-27870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-amarillo-city-hall","tag-downtown-amarillo","tag-mpev","tag-texas-drought","tag-texas-panhandle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27870"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27871,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27870\/revisions\/27871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}