James Hafner of Coon Rapids, MN wrote a letter to the editor of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, complaining about the new Minnesota Twins stadium (the groundbreaking ceremony, now postponed, was to take place today). In his letter, Hafner wrote:
It sure looks like Carl Pohlad and the Twins could have paid for the entire stadium project and had enough leftover to finance a few lakeside estates, an overpriced jewelry store and still made a handsome profit on their investment. In a period of crucial funding shortfalls for roads, bridges, libraries and crumbling public infrastructure, local government officials decided building a stadium for a billionaire was more important.
Less than 12 hours after that letter was published in the morning paper….
UPDATE: Some good amateur photos of the event here and here. To be honest, I don’t quite understand why people are videotaping their TV and uploading it to Youtube. (I have a TV, people!)
MORE: Law Professor Dale Carpenter:
I cross the 35W bridge that collapsed tonight at least twice a day to go to and from work, often during rush hour. Tonight I left my office at about 5:45 p.m. and took the 10th St bridge right next to the 35W bridge in order to avoid the congestion created by the recent construction on it. It went down about 15 minutes later. If I’d taken the 35W bridge, as I usually would, there’s a decent chance I would have been delayed in the congestion and stuck on it when it collapsed.
As I crossed the Mississippi River tonight, I looked over and saw the cars jam-packed on 35W and remember thinking, "Thank God I didn’t go that way."
MORE: This article suggests that vibrations may have brought the bridge down. Hmmm. Let’s see. A bridge known to have some cracking in the supports. A work crew operating machinary on the bridge. A train passing underneath (causing vibrations). And bumper-to-bumper traffic weighing on the bridge. I’m no civil engineer, but I think they add up to the disaster we saw.
MORE: What Digby said (Echoing my sentiments yesterday) —
Governments all over the country have been robbing Peter to pay Paul, shifting money to immediate needs like health care and child welfare and hoping against hope that the roads and bridges and buildings built during the new deal era held up. "No New Taxes" has been the rallying cry for decades now, but nobody ever said how we were supposed to pay for the things we all take for granted. And, of course, when things like this happen, the wingers blame the government and everyone decries taxes even more.