Most folks agree that a replacement I-5 bridge over the Columbia River has to happen, but environmeddlists worry about "potential unintended consequences". They fear that a new bridge might encourage sprawl. Or maybe it'll increase "greenhouse gas emissions". Or maybe something else really, really bad will happen.
Into the fray leaps Metro "councilor", bicycle advocate, and perennially power-hungry gadfly Rex Burpholder, who in a Friday yak at Portland City Club made it abundantly clear that if he's not happy with the bridge, it ain't gonna happen.
“If you don’t agree [with our concerns], we won’t help you get it,” Burkholder said of the project’s principle partners, the Oregon and Washington departments of transportation.
Note to the Trib: the bridge would run somewhere around $4.2 billion - not $4.2 million.
In any case, it's clearly way past time for self-important little snots like Burp Holder to be removed from governmental offices.
