Joshua Holland: Are the Dead From the Minneapolis Bridge Collapse Victims of Conservative Ideology?

[Hissyspit]

http://www.alternet.org/stories/58716

Are the Dead From the Minneapolis Bridge Collapse Victims of Conservative Ideology?

By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted August 3, 2007.

After swallowing 30 years of small-government rhetoric, our infrastructure, once the pride of the developed world, is falling apart around us. We're reaping what we've sown.

The tragic collapse this week of a stretch of I-35 spanning the Mississippi river in Minnesota was shocking but should come as no surprise. America's core infrastrucure has been falling apart in very visible ways during the past few years. It's a predictable outcome of the rise of "backlash" conservatism; we've swallowed 30 years of small-government rhetoric, and it's led us to a point in which our infrastructure, once the pride of the developed world, is falling apart around us. We're reaping what we've sown.

Minnesota's Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty, reacted to the disaster by calling a press conference and, with a steely determination worthy of Rudy Guiliani, lying to the American people. Pawlenty insisted that inspections in 2005 and 2006 had found no structural problems with the bridge. But the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that the bridge "was rated as 'structurally deficient' two years ago and possibly in need of replacement." The bridge was borderline -- with a 50 sufficiency rating; if a bridge scores less than 50, it needs to be replaced.

- snip -

The governor had every reason to obfuscate; in 2005, he vetoed a bipartisan transportation package that would have "put more than $8 billion into highways, city and county roads, and transit over the next decade." At the time, he was applauded by many Republicans for his staunch fiscal "conservatism."

- snip -

According to a report card released in 2005 by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 160,570 bridges, or just over one-quarter of the nation's 590,750 bridge inventory, were rated structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. The nation's bridges are being called upon to serve a population that has grown from 200 million to over 300 million since the time the first vehicles rolled across the I-35W bridge. Predictably that has translated into lots more cars.
It was the second U.S. bridge collapse this week -- a span in California fell the day before, with far fewer injuries and no loss of life. The tragedy occurred just weeks after an 80-year-old steam pipe in Manhattan blew up, killing one and injuring dozens more. A year earlier, a section of tunnel in Boston collapsed, killing a woman as she drove home. A year before that, hundreds of thousands of Americans became refugees after New Orleans' pitiable levees collapsed -- a graphic illustration of shortsighted public policy if ever there was one. The AFL-CIO estimates that more than one in four roads are in "less than good condition." Minnesota ranks low on their list, with about one in eight failing to make the grade.

It's all part of a larger picture. We have a crumbling power grid and are falling behind the rest of the world in broadband infrastructure. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) talks of "congested highways, overflowing sewers and corroding bridges" that are "constant reminders of the looming crisis that jeopardizes our nation's prosperity and our quality of life." Every year the engineering society issues a report card grading 15 categories of America's once-premier infrastructure. In 2005, that "core" infrastructure collectively got a "D-," slightly worse than the "D" it received in 2000. Ironically, the nation's bridges received the highest score -- a "C" -- in 2005.

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[malaise]

1. Get thee to the greatest page

Great article.

[Hissyspit]

2. Pawlenty's career needs to be over.

A 50 rating? Hmmm, was there any political pressure on that?

[Warpy]

12. There was certainly plenty of fiscal pressure

They knew in 1972 that the thing was substandard. Large cracks in the steel had developed. They've spent 35 years welding and riveting more steel to this overstressed, underengineered monstrosity because nobody wanted to be responsible for getting a "new" bridge torn down and replaced. It was expensive!

It's been fun digging up the history of this thing. It's the history of hubris, of stinginess, and the impossibility of getting any official to admit an expensive mistake has been made and needs to be corrected.

Neither party is wholly responsible for this mess, but "small government, low taxes" conservatism certainly bears some of the onus. Lest we forget, there are people in both parties who have drunk deeply of that particular flavor of Koolaid.

[liberaldemocrat7]

20. I say this often: Where Republicans tread innocent people end up dead.

People died in the Murrah Building because of Republican Timothy McVeigh's and Terry Nichol's Terrorist actions.

You have 14 astronauts dead because Republicans refused to heed warnings of their own scientific engineers.

You have 2750 people dead in the trade towers and the pentagon because Republicans wanted oil to flow through Afghanistan down from the former Russian Republics of Kazakstan down to the middle east but the Taliban would not cooperate so Bush threatened to invade the Taliban run Afghanistan and the Taliban struck us first. 2750 people died for oil profits.

500,000 innocent Iraqis and 3600 US soldeiers died because Bush wanted Iraqi oil and invaded Iraq.
Over 20,000 US soldiers got injured as well.

Where Republicans tread innocent people end up dead.

Republicans act like the bridge to the 12th century.

Republican Tim Pawlenty has a lot of explaining to do why he could not get this bridge maintained properly.

[malaise]

15. Check this

http://www.leanleft.com/archives/2007/08/02/6220/

[Buzz Clik]

3. The infrastructure is a mess, but I disagree with the premise that it's a conservative problem.

I've lived in two heavily Republican states that have poured huge sums of money into improving highways.

It's a general mindset, not a political ideology, that leads to this kind of neglect. Time for change.

[Hissyspit]

4. I'm gonna say:

that it is the Republicans who have taken advantage of that mindset in the U.S. for political reasons at least for the past 7 years if not since the Reagan years, and thus it is political. Tax cuts, war in Iraq, all are expensive items that have benefitted from taking advantage of the mindset.

[Buzz Clik]

8. It's political for sure -- but it's not limited to the Republicans.

California was mentioned in the OP. Although The Governator ran as a Republican, he's not typical, and he replaced a Democrat in a Democratic state. And considering that the Interstate system was the brainchild of a Republican president, I just can't buy into the "conservative only" thesis.

No question the problem is political. Civil engineers have evaluated the problems and they can fix them if given the opportunity. The politicians are the roadblock.

Let's hope that this high profile tragedy gets the politicians of all flavor to get off their butts and make the correct decision.

[sailor65]

11. I agree

We live in a blue state (Mich) with probably the worst roads anywhere.

The problem exists on both sides.

[Tempest]

22. From 1991 to 2003 Michigan had a Republican governor

The state legislature has been in Republican control for most of those years.

Now how exactly does that make Michigan a blue state?

[Mabus]

13. During the GOP years our highways got a lot of money

but it was mostly for new roads rather than for fixing our existing infrastructure. The reason for the expenditures was to make certain roads more accessible for corporations. For example, one of KDOT's proposals was to tear up several award winning conservation farm and diary land to put in what was actually an access road for some Wal-Mart distribution center. It was part of an overall project that would result in the realignment of US-59 to facilitate proposed connections to I-70 and K-10. Over 20 years ago KDOT proposed several roadways that meet up at a distribution center east of my town (after going through some wetlands and Haskell Indian Nations University). In the meantime, several major roads were going unrepaired because they didn't service the corporate donors of the GOP.

[Buzz Clik]

16. Kansas has been going through a Dem/GOP rotation for govs for decades.

Do the bridges improve under the Dems and then degrade under the Republicans?

IIRC, it was under Hayden that the big spending to improve highways happened; and, as you called it, it was mostly for either bigger roads or new ones. However, I do know that Kansas has had a lot of continual bridge replacement, because there were simply places you could not go as these bridges were improved. This has spanned the terms of the past several govs -- Dem and Republican.

[Mabus]

17. Don't forget Graves and Dole

Graves' parents had a trucking company. And during the 80's when Dole was in office his darling second wife Elizabeth was Sec. of Transportation (and the seed funding for the two roads projects I mentioned in my previous response). Not surprisingly Dole sponsored the bills for these projects and the DOT was happy to do them as special programs. fwiw, Kansas is third in the miles of road in the country (KDOT brags about it in a lot of their brochures).

What I've always found interesting about Dole is a stock transfer he made to Elizabeth when he ran for POTUS in 1996. It was stock for a local LLC that his friends/developers owned. These developers had a lot of money riding on some new subdivisions on the south and west parts of town. One of their selling points was that this proposed roadway was going to go in and provide them a trafficway to K-10 and I-70 that would faciliate their travel to and from KC and Topeka. These developers have turned my sleepy college town into a hybrid. On the west side of town (west of Iowa Street) Lawrence functions more as a bedroom community and the east side (east of Iowa Street) is the old college town.

As for the bridges, not lately. I guess they fixed them all under Hayden because they seem to be building new ones (and new roads) rather than fixing bridges. I know that one of the county roads I use to get to Baldwin City was closed recently as they replaced a really old concrete bridge. I use the road to get to the vet's office. I don't go into the KC area a lot but the last time I was there I noticed they were doing a lot of work downtown. They had a lot of streets shut down and it appeared to be related more to an overall downtown plan rather than federal or state maintenance.

We do have a bridge to nowhere that spans over US-59 and then turns into a grass field here in town because of a court case I was involved in that stopped one of the roads from going through. The state claimed they spent all the federal funding building the western portion and that they were only going to use state funds to finish the project (and by-pass NEPA). The 10th Circuit found that the state was trying to de-federalize a federal project in an attempt to by-pass NEPA (and go through the wetlands), that the project (as proposed) was designed and conceived with federal dollars and that once a state and the feds collaborate financially on a project that the money is comingled.

[Buzz Clik]

18. Interesting tidbits. Thanks.

I lived in Manhattan for 15 years while working at the school (your country cousin). We, too, benefited from the flush of highway money -- doubling the lanes for the little feeder road between Manhattan and I-70. It cost a fortune and hour-long delays during construction were common. I did some figuring one day while rotting away during a delay. That 10-mile stretch of road would save the average commuter a maximum of 1 minute per day. We had over 200 cars sitting idle for a long, long time; that lost time just for those cars at that moment would take months of normal daily traffic just to break even. One fine investment.

I was pretty amazed by the "by-pass" for Lawrence. It was clearly for the benefit only of those who worked in SW Kansas City but chose to live further west. I felt sorry for you folks getting so royally screwed. (Not a big Jayhawk fan, but I do like your town.)

[Mabus]

19. My uncle used to have a store on Poyntz

It got torn down for the mall. I've got nothing against the Wildcats, except when they play my Jayhawks. I'm one of those people that go to games on The Hill. It has been years since I was in Manhattan and I have never gone for a game (because I wanted to live). I think the last time I was there it was for a cousin's wedding. Besides my uncle, I've got an aunt, four cousins, their husbands and kids who live there.

But funny you should mention Jayhawks because that's the crowd they were aiming for with their development. A number of retired athletes (some of them millionaires) returned to KU for various reasons. Some active wealthy athletes also return to the area in the off season. We've got subdivisions of huge McMansions. There's a big east-west division in our town that plays a big part in city politics. I live on the east side. We've got old hippies, young working families, families on assistance and college kids. Across town they've got Starbucks and new schools.

[NotGivingUp]

5. Get rid of anybody that only politicize on tragedies and DO NOTHING ABOUT THEM! nt

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. Wow. They drowned in Grover Norquist's bathtub.

[glitch]

14. Seems to be their preferred method. Like New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. nt

[rhett o rick]

7. What we are seeing in the Republicans today is not the Conservative Ideology.

The current Republican Party has been taken over by those that believe in Corporatism. Corporate profits over all (isn't there Latin for that?). They aren't conservative. They have become greedy corporitists (read fascists).

[HereSince1628]

9. We've watched this for years because we're in denial.

Migration of jobs means migration of the tax dollars needed to do maintenance.

As long as it was private property falling apart "we" could blame it on bad landlords and the denizens of the inner city. Racing through pastoral landscapes "we" saw but thought little of the meaning of collapsing barns, unpainted homes, burnouts and main streets lined with empty storefronts.

"We" built bridges and bypasses to zip us past the problems so that our sensibilities wouldn't be seriously offended by the unsightliness of it all. Now our bridges are getting old.

In the shadow of Wednesday's catastrophe, the veil is lifted on the decay. "We" note that the half-life of most things raised by hammer and hand is about 50 years, and that's if they are well cared-for.

Without benefit of the taxes provided by the blossoming economies,the economic bubbles, that built these things "we" can't keep up with the maintenance and "our" world falls into ruin.

It's not so new here in the US either. The big shift in "jobs going south" was underway in earnest by the end of the 60's--about one half-life ago. Now 'going south' has become 'off-shoring.' Those that stick around are the ones who must learn to live in shrinking economies. Whole-scale abandonment of public projects is the small government solution to dealing with gargantuan costs; consequently the ideology of small government is a correlate not a cause, and something of a pathological nostalgia to a time when things were small but growing.

Look at the decaying "hoods" and brown zones of the rust belt, the collapsing farms and contemporary ghost towns forming in the Midwest and take heed. It is as though "we" are watching the fall of the mighty Ozymandias. If that doesn't make "us" tremble it should at least make us think about the scale of the impending colossal collapse.

The stinginess of the anti-tax folks is a force in "our" decline but it is small compared to the geographic migration of economies. The solution to failing infrastructure lies between bringing back the boom years of the economy and the triaging of our civilization.

[kineneb]

24. historical precident

don't forget that Rome did the same thing... ignored internal infrastructure and security to wage continual "colonial" wars in far away places... and we all remember what finally happened.

Note that it wasn't a quick collapse, but a slow slide into the Dark Ages. With modern time compression, the collapse should take about 20 years, or less, if it hasn't already started.

Santayana was right.

[Beelzebud]

10. Conservatism Kills

[mzmolly]

21. The Twin Cities area is highly blue/progressive.

The burbs/rural areas are another matter unless one considers the iron range. But, even my burb went blue in the last election. Here's a map from 2002, which mirrors many elections.



I doubt most of those who perished were "conservative" politically speaking though I realize the Mr. Holland was not being 'literal' with his question.

[MisterP]

23. every time neoliberalism strikes, its enforcers PREPARE for such "growing pains"

as riots, social disintegration, skyrocketing poverty, migration, a flood of jobs to wherever it's the cheapest (Dixie, Mexico, Guatemala, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, China, Vietnam, the Marianas, about in that order) benefiting neither the consumer (since they don't have to drop the price by much) or the worker (since the wages are a pittance and require the dismantling of subsidies and protections there that keep, you know, LIFE going), crumbling infrastructure, and a neat little term historians call deindustrialization as the regime goes for whatever monoculture gives the most immediate profit (for the owners...)--bananas, coffee, copper.
Welcome to the global plantation--where the overseers tell you that this is the ultimate in freedom, since it's a human right not to have minimum wage laws