Work continues today on the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center's new168-bed hospital facility though no one knows how long Turner Construction will be on the job.
The new building was supposed to open Sept. 19 and house the center’s rehab, intensive care, maternity and burn units. But officials acknowledged that not one room is ready and that delays are costing the county $100,000 a day in lost revenue.
George Williams was making a rehab appointment today and was upset to hear that a bigger, more modern facility is now years away.
"We are the ones that will suffer,” he said. “I mean, I notice just walking through and looking at the lines of people that are waiting now that have their heads down."
A steam explosion took place at the site last year. And even though the two sides disagree on how seriously the worker was hurt, the county said improved safety conditions is one of the terms Turner must accept – along with stricter deadlines and a multi-million dollar line of credit to compensate the county for further delays.
We need to make sure we have leverage to get the project finished, and the way it is now, it's just going too slow,” Jeff Smith said on behalf of Santa Clara County.
Smith sad his consultants estimate the project is still about a year and a half from being ready and that's with a bigger work crew.
People who talked to NBC Bay Area say they approved measure A to fund the project but find that the public is caught in the middle.
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It's sad because there's a lot of people out there who need that help..and can't get it in time,” San Jose resident Violet Oblia said.
The South Bay labor council is also monitoring the situation to make sure workers are protected regardless of the outcome.
Turner Construction officials declined to comment until next week.
