Don't Blame the Builders Just 'Cause the Bridge Fell Down!

Western Suspension End of the SF-Oakland Bay Bridge (at dusk)

This is not the part of the bridge that collapsed

This is the more elegant San Francisco side of the bridge, which is of a suspension design. The Oakland side is of a cantilevered design which proved faulty in a 1989 quake and problematic since. The cheap way to fix the eastern side of the bridge may not be the style which has survived recent local earthquakes

Picture allowed via Creative Commons license. No support of nor further contribution to this blog by photographer/artist implied. Thanks to "Bill Lim" at flickr.com. Click on picture to go to original site and for link to options on different sizes. Rollover picture for further attribution.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bill_lim/ / CC BY 2.0

Welcome to a beautiful example of how mainstream news covers for business  interests and pro-business/big-money politics.

A journalist probably a columnist does a great job of barely concealing his disgust with anyone who might have some outrage over the fact that parts of the San Fransisco-Oakland Bay Bridge fell down unless it's aimed mostly at Democrats in state government with an aside at "government agencies"one of which is er the Navy.  

Funny how those armed forces become "government agencies" when someone wants to make a point about the 'uselessness of government', a common mantra among the libertarian types who are most useful to the mainstream news business.  Back when we were invading countries because we saw terrorists behind every under-utilized oil field, or pipeline route in the world, our citizens in military uniforms were a valiant force, and our saviors.

Read Tom Barnidge's piece from The Oakland Tribune at Inside Inland Bay.

Laugh your self silly as he clumsily avoids talking about the elephant in the room...er ... state.

Proposition 13

The granddaddy of the don't tax the rich or business laws shunted into power by a 1978 initiative that pulled the wool over the eyes of California voters and carried it's own impossible to break vault of protection.   Though the proposition did not need a 2/3rds vote to pass, all tax raising in the state has taken 2/3rds vote keeping the state under the control of it's Republican minority.  Our primary, secondary, and college level schools have suffered as has infrastructure and social services.

But through their lock on the echo chamber of mainstream news big business and right wing interests have been able to keep Californians who live in a state with the 1/8th largest economy in the world in a state of social and infrastructure poverty.

The Loma Prieta Quake happened just about 11 years after Prop 13.  

Mr. Barnidge notes that a proposal for a new bridge was approved in 1996.  Probably, like most infrastructure after the 1978 measure, it was utilitarian and drab design and Barnidge makes a big point of saying that Jerry Brown, then the Mayor of Oakland and currently the only candidate running for the Democratic nomination for next year's governor's race,  objected to the look of the bridge.

And, yes, each year the cost of the new bridge rose through three governors, etc. Blah Blah.

It just amazes me how the columnist can ignore what Proposition 13 did to our state.  It was ostensibly about saving middle class people from rising property taxes, but really took the burden off business which does not move as often as families, and the provision to allow a little over 1/3 of the legislature to control the state. Later measures gave protection to older folks who move and to various sectors of the population putting more and more of the property tax burden onto families. The measure was so onerous especially to cities and counties that the state gave money back to the local communities from what it had left and --wait for it-- this year the state government couldn't even do that.  Sacramento considers the hold back a loan from the local governments, but it's a forced loan at a time when communities were already hurting badly.

The legislature did have a plan last December to break the Proposition 13  anti democratic demand for 2/3rds approval which may have forced a constitutional convention in the end, but Governor Schwarzenegger refused to sign it, knowing, I imagine just how powerful the obstructionist provision of the measure is in the state.  And how valuable it has been to the political right wing.  That led to long sessions in the winter, spring and summer in which patchwork deals were made that always ignore the  Democratic majority in the state and make us always more like a Southern domain in terms of our infrastructure and educational system.

Now lets talk about the construction.  A repair from a problem that developed on Labor Day is involved in the latest Bay Bridge near disaster.  Mr. Barnidge  confirms what I suspected,  that C.C. Myers was involved in the repair.  The construction company (named after it's it's main man, though its website says it's 'employee owned') contributes widely to political campaigns inthe state (which has an allowance for business contribution) as does Myers the man.  Libertarian groups have been known to promote Myers the man as a good candidate for governor.

CC Myers seems to win every contract calling for quick repair of infrastructure in California.  As local reports noted after the LA truck tunnel fire, it also gets breathtaking amounts of money up front for quick, but supposedly quality repair.  It gets astounding bonuses if it finishes those miraculously quick jobs early. 

I don't see why the state can't get some claw-back if some of those rapid repairs don't work.  And if any citizens or visitors have been injured, of course they are due compensation.  

I suggest that some of the higher 'cost' of construction on the new Bay Bridge is due to political campaign donations not only by the CC Myers company, but by many other interested builders and suppliers in the state or out of it.

Mr. Barnidge would like you to think the Democratic majority of the state legislature, and the likely Democratic candidate for governor next year are responsible for the latest Bay Bridge disaster, but the real cause is the neutering of democracy in the state via a dishonest initiative campaign.  Beyond that I don't know why the columnist wants to disconnect big builders from responsibility to do their jobs so that their employees as well as users of infrastructure are safe.  I'm sure he would feel differently if a big chunk of bridge came crashing down on his car.

It's not just the Bay Bridge.  This is a problem for our entire state.  And the oligarchic nature of our mainstream news system is another.

There is more information on the CC Myers connection to the recent collapse on the Bay Bridge at SF Chronicle. I am adding this link in case you need more information.  I did not seek it out until I had finished this post and did not use any information from it.

I won't even deal with Mr. Barnidge's sneer at Oakland.   That just showed what a jerk he is.

Note, I also borrowed some information from the man who posted the picture at the top of this post on Flickr.  You can reach the original location of the Creative Commons picture and Bill Lim's notes by clicking on the image above.

tags: san francisco oakland bay bridge  blame for collapse  jerry brown  california  schwarzenegger  labor day  cc myers  

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