WE’RE FROM THE GOVERNMENT, WE’RE HERE TO HELP

The blue building in the middle of this picture is the Comcast Tower. It’s in Center City Philadelphia and stands about 975 feet tall. It’s every bit of MASSIVE. It is one of the tallest buildings on the east coast. It took about three and a half years to build. During the construction I actually responded to a fire somewhere around the 35th(?) floor or so. Lucky there were plenty of buckets available.

This is our suddenly beloved South Street bridge. It’s a couple of hundred feet long and spans the Schuylkill River. It’s going to be demolished and rebuilt to the tune of 67 MILLION dollars. Oh yeah, it’s going to take TWO YEARS as well. TWO YEARS! I’m sorry, but if you look closely you can see the COMCAST TOWER in the background just below the street sign. Can someone please explain how a private contractor can build a nearly 1,000 foot skyscraper in three and a half years and a three hundred foot bridge will take TWO? Holy crap, in WWII Navy Sea Bees build entire airfields in DAYS!

I know the Sea Bees had the Japs shooting at them. Well, if that’s what it takes, this bridge is close enough to West Philly. Construction should come in ahead of schedule!

Look, this reminds me of when the City finally decided to put a new kitchen in our firehouse after 30 years. At the same time, they were building luxury high rise condos along the Delaware River waterfront. It took about 9 months for them to finish our kitchen. Every time I drove by those condos on my way home from work it seemed like they added a new floor. The running joke in the firehouse was that they would be cooking in the new condos before we would.

So forgive me if I’m skeptical of Government bailouts and white elephant construction projects. Been there, done that. Show me the money!

CASE IN POINT

The venerable (and crumbling) South Street bridge.

Harried commuters are braced for protracted delays as the long-awaited reconstruction of the South Street Bridge begins tomorrow, closing the historic span over the Schuylkill and necessitating detours expected to last two years.

The 23,000 motorists and countless pedestrians and bicyclists who rely on the bridge daily to go between University City and Southwest Center City will have to use alternate routes because the 85-year-old bridge is “structurally deficient,” inspectors say, and must be demolished and rebuilt.

“Significant traffic congestion and travel delays are expected,” Streets Commissioner Clarena Tolson said of the $67 million project. “We ask Philadelphians for their understanding.” LINK

I have been over this bridge probably hundreds of times in my life. Any Philadelphian worth their weight in cheesesteaks can tell you that the South Street Bridge has been falling apart for YEARS. But it is in a critical location linking the thousands of people who work in University City to Center City. This bridge allows you to bypass the nightmare / gridlock area around 30th & Market St. (Amtrak’s 30th St. Station) and the Schuylkill expressway interchange located there. It also allows Fire Companies responding into West Philly to bypass the traffic as well.

And now, finally the City has decided to close it for TWO YEARS and re-build it. At Christmas no less. I guess we should be happy they are fixing it at all. This will mean slower emergency response times for people involved in car accidents on the expressway, as well as in the near part of South West Philly.

The South Street bridge needs to be fixed, for sure. But let’s be clear on a few things here: It’s needed fixing for a long time and the City has neglected the routine maintenance to the point that CONCRETE chunks were falling off. These repairs are LONG overdue.  It is NOT the Federal Government’s responsibility to fix this bridge. It’s the city’s.

Now if the Federal Government decided to Federalize all roads and bridges, and then demanded payment from the cities and states for doing so, the cities and states would be HOWLING MAD! LOCAL CONTROL! would be the rally cry as Mayors and Councilmen stormed Washington with torches and pitchforks! Local control is the principle that is supposed to govern this land – not Politburo style central control. We might as well rename Washington Moscow!

Here’s an example:  When it comes to emergency services or police protection, some towns are too small to have a bona-fide modern police force. In Pennsylvania, those towns often contract with the Pennsylvania State Police for police coverage. They have the option of soliciting government service from the State but the State charges them a fee. Philly had been in a battle for years over patrolling I-95.

The Philly P.D. patrolled I-95 through the city. Our politicians always bickered with the State over reimbursement for the coverage. The State told the City to go pound sand. Finally, the State got fed up and sent Troopers to cover the expressways. Now the Philly cops got pissed because Troopers are better paid and are allowed to live outside the city. Suddenly they were doing a job that Philly P.D. had been doing for years. It was a mess. Of course, the Philly cops’ union took it to court and WON! Now we have both Philly Cops and State Troopers covering the highways. D’oh!

It’s just like if Washington decided to tell every School District what they can and can’t teach in their schools. It’s that simple, folks. Our system was never set up to have the Federal Government provide money and solutions for every problem that comes down the pike. Unfortunately, many politicians have deferred their real fiscal responsibilities for years in lieu of financing pet social projects or outright mismanagement. They have built a house of cards, and now that it is crumbling like the auto industry they want a bailout. It’s a disgrace.

Just remember one thing: You always get what you pay for, especially in Government.