MESSAGE
| DATE | 2009-03-31 |
| FROM | swd
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] "Critics slam Microsoft bridge as waste of stimulus money",
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Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/31/bridge.microsoft/index.html#cnnSTCText
Critics slam Microsoft bridge as waste of stimulus money
Story Highlights
Project would build bridge between Microsoft's two campuses
Microsoft paying for about half of the $36 million project
Mayor backs plan, says bridge will benefit entire community
Taxpayer watchdog group says project a good example of waste
By Patrick Oppmann
CNN
REDMOND, Washington (CNN) -- Should a bridge that would connect two campuses
at Microsoft's headquarters be funded with $11 million from the federal
stimulus package?
Critics of using stimulus money for the bridge say it would give the
software giant a break on a pet project. They also say it serves as a
warning sign of how some stimulus money is not being used to finance new
projects but is being diverted to public works already under way.
Supporters argue the bridge is an ideal public-private partnership that will
benefit an entire community while fulfilling the stimulus package's goal of
getting people back to work.
"It's going create just under 400 jobs for 18 months constructing the
bridge," says Redmond Mayor John Marchione. "It's also connecting our
technical sector with our retail and commercial sectors so people can cross
the freeway to shop and help traffic flow." See a larger image of the
proposed bridge >
Marchione applied for federal stimulus money after costs jumped on the
project from $25 million to $36 million. Marchione says the increase in
costs were due to a rise in construction prices and because the bridge will
be built on a diagonal in order to connect Microsoft's original East campus
with a newer West campus that are split by a public highway.
Microsoft is hardly getting the bridge for free. The company is contributing
$17.5 million or a little less than half the tab of the $36 million bridge,
which would be open for public use.
And even though the bridge goes from a parking lot behind Microsoft's West
campus across a highway to an entrance of Microsoft's East campus, Marchione
says, people other than Microsoft employees would use the overpass.
"We're not a one-company town," Marchione says. "Our traffic studies show
that Microsoft traffic would be about 42 percent of the bridge, yet
Microsoft is paying for about 50 percent of the bridge, so we think we are
getting fair value.
"The United States taxpayer is leveraging their dollars, and I think
everyone is getting a fair deal."
But a watchdog group monitoring how stimulus money is being spent says the
taxpayer in this case is getting ripped off.
"This is $11 million where we are substituting public money for private
money, and that means there's some other project that would have a greater
benefit than a bridge to Microsoft that's not being built," says Steve
Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense.
But without the stimulus money, Marchione counters, the bridge may not have
been built. Microsoft had "capped out" its contribution to the project, he
explains. And the economic tough times have affected even the biggest
companies. "Microsoft laid off 5,000 people in January," Marchione points
out.
Ellis doesn't buy it.
"Let's face it. Microsoft is one of the most lucrative companies in the
country," Ellis says. "They could have easily funded this out of pocket
change. This is really about getting while the getting is good. Uncle Sam
has a big wallet that's there for the taking, and Redmond wanted to take it
-- and Microsoft was happy to let them pick up that part of the tab."
Microsoft did not respond to CNN requests for an interview on the bridge
project. But in a posting online, Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith
wrote: "As the largest employer in Redmond, Microsoft takes its
responsibility to the surrounding community seriously. We have spent over
$50 million to assist the City of Redmond and other local governments with
street construction, transit facilities, water and sewer facilities and fire
equipment."
Last week, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire certified 138 projects, including
the bridge, to receive stimulus funding. Construction is expected to begin
in June.
Michael Ennis of the Washington Policy Center, a Seattle-based
not-for-profit group that advises policy makers, said there are many reasons
the bridge project is a good one.
"Any time you can include the private sector in funding transportation
projects, it's a win-win situation," Ennis explains. "The state has a
monopoly on our roads system. Even if Microsoft wanted to pay for this
project on their own, legally they are required to work with the public
sector."
But Ennis also says the bridge does not fit with the kind of projects the
stimulus plan is meant to bankroll.
"This project would have moved forward regardless of having the federal
money or not, so it doesn't have any additional benefit to the economy," he
says.
As he pedaled on his bicycle to work, one Microsoft employee saw the issue
in much simpler terms. "It's going to cut about two miles off my ride each
day," he said.
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