A few months back, GovLoop Community Manager Andrew Krzmarzick made an appeal to the White House: “Mr. President: Tear Down Those Walls”. In a nutshell, he suggested that those “ugly, boxy buildings…represent everything that makes government less efficient and effective” and gave 5 reasons why it’s time to tear them down.

So Ed O’Keefe only poured fuel on Krzmarzick’s fire today with this quick report in the Post’s Federal Eye blog:

An excerpt:

The work’s getting done, but the lights keep going out at the Commerce Department‘s headquarters in downtown Washington — the latest of several problems at some of the region’s federal buildings…Commerce isn’t the only department suffering from troubled infrastructure: Faulty fire alarms last week forced an early dismissal for workers at one of the Agriculture Department’s three main buildings near the Mall. An electrical fire also damaged a USDA building last month in Riverdale. Bed bugs have infiltrated USAID offices in the Ronald Reagan Building and continue to infest offices of the Department of Health and Human Services in Rockville. EPA employees at the agency’s downtown headquarters also regularly complain about cold air seeping through drafty windows.

So you know I’ve got to ask:

Why are we continuing to support and
sustain costly, outdated Federal buildings?

Why not consolidate and/or let people work from home?

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