Posted on 09/12/2021 4:53:49 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
For years, I have heard that the only constants in this life are death and taxes, but I suspect this is not true. I think there’s at least one other constant, at least in my life — the Garcon Point Bridge.
I have been writing about this Panhandle boondoggle for more than 20 years.
Every time I’ve written a story about it, I have been convinced that that would be the last. Then something else happened that made me shake my head and start writing another bridge story. I’ve gotten more mileage out of that bridge than the motorists who usually drive over it.
I wrote about how the bridge was built using phony figures. How its construction violated environmental regulations. How, despite assurances it would pay for itself, the bridge eventually went broke. And of course, how it was built at the behest of a powerful politician who wound up behind bars.
It’s as if there’s a curse on the bridge that ruins everyone who touches it.
There are lots of environmental topics I could write about this week. I could tell you all about the completion, after 22 years, of a $1 billion project to restore the Kissimmee River by the same folks who messed it up in the first place.
Or I could discuss the state Department of Environmental Protection filing a lawsuit against the owners of the Piney Point phosphate plant for not doing things that the DEP failed to do when the state owned that property.
Or I could tell you the heartwarming tale of how a deaf science teacher won one of the prizes in this year’s python roundup and got a snakeskin to show off to his students.
(Excerpt) Read more at floridaphoenix.com ...
PING!
Eight posted paragraphs of “I”.
Followed by See What Happens Next!!!
This is LA, Lower Alabama.
“Car Strangled Banner”.
LOL!
State is having to maintain it. Condemnation and pay the debt holders based on historical data, not the short term data. State then owns the bridge that it is having to maintain, and the bond holders and the state splits the proceeds, getting the bond holders out of the picture. Best answer to a bad situation
Very astute. Whole lotta I’s.
Back in the '50s I was stationed in Key West, FL, and noticed that every bus stop bench had "Bernard C. Papy" painted on it. The guy's name was all over the place. "WhoinL is he?" I asked and was told he was some big shot in the Florida legislature.
A minor scandal erupted when it was discovered that he had a state-financed miles-long road built across on of the larger, thinly populated keys.
Turned out he had property that lined that road. In the end, nothing happened - the guy evidently was bulletproof.
Nevertheless, it got to be a running joke whenever any oddball state project was sighted - "Wonder how much land Ole Bernie owns here."
Driven this bridge a few times. It must have gotten a lot of use when the 98 bridge west of it that crossed the bay to Pensacola was down for repairs a few months ago.
Read the Article.
Yeah, I know that is against the Rules here.
Didn’t see any ideas to resolve the situation, but I did see the Author has a mild case of DDS, DeSantis Derangement Syndrome.
I guess they could just blow up the Bridge and have Adolph Stolen’s InFRAUDstructure Bill pay off the Debt.
Lots of whining...no solutions offered.
It did, and the bondholders hated it, because DeSantis suspended the tolls while the U.S. 98 bridge was being restored.
Thanks for the info
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