University of Washington has $1 billion backlog in building repairs

[TexasTowelie]

Pipes leak. Drains back up, spilling sewage into basements. Utility rooms flood. Heating-system filters, rarely cleaned, clog with dust.

For more than a decade, maintenance workers at the University of Washington’s Seattle campus have said the UW isn’t spending enough to maintain its buildings. Now, a consultant’s report has identified a billion-dollar backlog in building fixes.

That includes millions of dollars in repairs needed at the sprawling Magnuson Health Sciences Center and other buildings constructed during the same era — particularly the 1960s and ’70s, when the UW was expanding rapidly to meet the demand for higher education by baby boomers.

Maintenance workers say the university needs to hire more workers so they have time to do preventive maintenance, not just respond to emergencies. The complaints come at a time when the union that represents workers is negotiating a new contract.

Read more: http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/uw-has-1-billion-backlog-in-building-repairs/

[JonathanRackham]

1. A lot of colleges boom built in that era.

This may be a nation wide crisis.

[pscot]

2. But our athletic facilities are the best

that money can buy, so we got that goin' for us.