Lars Larson: Multnomah becomes a bridge too far

Photo by Steve Morgan

By Lars Larson
NW and national radio host,

You might think when the region spends almost a billion taxpayer bucks on a new major bridge, it would seek the public’s opinion.

https://www.koin.com/news/politics/advisory-group-disagrees-with-public-on-burnside-bridge-replacement-design/

Multnomah County pretends to do that with the Burnside Bridge replacement.

But that pretense is fully fake.

The county made a big production out of seeking the opinions of 20,000 citizens on which bridge design they prefer.

County commissioner Sharon Meieran crowed about how many people offered up their opinions: “Those are really incredible numbers compared to what one usually gets in surveys.”

It then promptly ignored those opinions and chose the option taxpayers ranked #4.

The elites on a County advisory committee even said the quiet part out loud: “It would take the public 30 hours to match our knowledge. Our recommendation is grounded in objective reasoning…whereas much of the public commentary (is) subjective opinion.”

Translation: we know better than you commoners.

Someone should inform Commissioner Meieran of the reason the public usually doesn’t show up to offer opinions: the government routinely ignores citizen opinions.

In other words, these so-called “public servants” really don’t think they serve the public at all, and they don’t give a damn how you want your tax money spent.