Assignments

A. Bidding

Newspapers report the bidding on major contracts awarded by the city, county or state. These contracts include large construction projects such as schools, office buildings and jails; highway construction; improvements such as sewers, street lighting and sidewalks.
Here are the items usually included in a story on bid openings for public works projects:

Bid Openings Checklist

Low bidder (or apparent low bidder).
Amount of bid.
Character of project.
Engineer's estimates.
Next-lowest bid, or all other bids and bidders.
Experience of low bidder; previous contracts; reputation.
Open or closed shop (particularly in industrial regions).
Date for award.
Starting date for construction.
Source of funding for project.
Date, location of bid opening.

Here is the beginning of a bid-opening story by Mike Hiltzik that appeared in the Courier-Express of Buffalo, N.Y.:

Two area construction firms were apparent low bidders Monday on an estimated $9.8 million in sewer construction contracts in Amherst, with combined bids 40 percent lower than the engineer's estimates.
The firms, Cimato Bros., Inc., of 165 Hartford Road, Amherst, and Wm. W. Kimmins and Sons, Inc., of 1300 Military Road, Kenmore, submitted bids lower than those of eight other firms, including two from out-of-state. They were on three contracts to construct an interceptor sewer along a former railroad right-of-way—known as the "Peanut Line"—that cuts across the town from east to west.

The project is part of a more than $30 million phase of the town's massive $136 million sewer plant project, one of the largest public works projects in Erie County.
The Cimato firm was apparent low bidder on two of three contracts. On one, for construction of the interceptor from Campbell Boulevard to Hopkins Road, the firm bid $1,974,655, as against the $2,902,557 estimate provided by Amherst's consulting engineer firm of Nussbaumer and Clarke, Inc.

Attend a bid opening for a local project or obtain information about such an opening and write a news story.

B. Family

Each year, the Department of Labor announces the annual poverty level. This is the line separating poverty and subsistence. The poverty level 15 years ago was about $16,000 for an urban family of four. What is it today? Just what does this figure mean in terms of what the department considers essentials for a family of four: food, clothing, shelter, entertainment and the like?

C. Subsidy

A study by the Consortium on Financing Higher Education has found that a group of private colleges is using revenue from tuition to subsidize scholarships for poor students. The study of 31 prestigious schools found that an average of 20 percent of tuition (which averaged $19,110) goes to help less affluent students. The subsidies ranged from 43.7 percent at Mount Holyoke to 1 percent at Princeton, which is low, say officials there, because the university has a $450 million endowment devoted to scholarships.
What is the situation at your school? Does it have a formal plan to help students from low-income homes?

D. Unobtrusive

There are many opportunities to carry out unobtrusive observations. Try to find an inconspicuous spot in a restaurant, a laundromat, a bus, a park where mothers walk or sun their babies, a ball game, a hotel lobby, a department store, a tourist attraction, a fishing pier, a driving range, a bird walk or a hike. The possibilities are unlimited. Take notes carefully or use your memory. Do a piece that could be part of a series: "What Freeport Residents Are Talking About" or "The Talk of the Town." If there is a solid news story in what you overhear, follow that up also.

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