Here’s an interesting quirk in the schoobrary plans: While city officials are loath to make the library project fall under the labor agreement that San Diego Unified adopted for its $2.1 billion facilities bond, an attorney for the school district said the “tenant improvements” that the district would pay for in the building would probably fall under the labor agreement, even though those improvements aren’t paid for with bond funds. The improvements could include such things as interior walls, flooring and lighting.
Confused? It’s a weird one. The bond funds are going to pay for a lease, which school district officials say will not trigger the labor agreement. But the school district also will have to spend millions in other funds finishing the school space, which are called tenant improvements. Because the project is a Proposition S project, schools attorney Sandra Chong opined, those tenant improvement dollars would “likely” be spent in accordance with the labor agreement. (She emphasized the “likely.”)
The labor agreement, which has yet to kick into effect, sets steep goals for local hiring on bond work and mandates that employers provide healthcare, largely through union plans.