JEFFERSON COUNTY - Two county commissioners who joined the board after the approval of the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere" pedestrian bridge at Wadsworth Boulevard and Bowles Avenue are criticizing the use of $3 million in taxpayer money, exposed by 9Wants to Know.
The bridge spans Wadsworth between two aging shopping malls, Southwest Plaza and Bowles Crossing. Taxpayers critical of the project have dubbed it the "Bridge to Nowhere" and Commissioner John Odom, a Republican appointed to fill a vacancy in early 2011, says he doesn't disagree.
"It absolutely was an unwise use of taxpayer money," Odom said. "It is a monument to government waste."
Commissioner Donald Rosier, a Republican elected in 2010, questioned whether commissioners should have "taken a time out" in light of the recession before approving the pedestrian bridge in 2009.
"We are not here to have pet projects," Rosier said. "We are here to use those tax dollars to the highest and best use, and be good stewards of those tax dollars."
Both commissioners were responding to a 9Wants to Know investigation that uncovered internal county emails in which the project engineer agreed with a taxpayer who criticized the pedestrian bridge as "expensive" and "unnecessary." The same engineer was responsible for writing and disseminating a lengthy defense of the project that was distributed to taxpayers who wrote with concerns.
In an internal email exchange, engineer Brad Bauer told his superior, Transportation and Engineering Director Kevin French, that the public "seems to have figured out that the project was awarded the federal funding, and the county seemed to want to find a way to spend it."
9Wants to Know investigator Kyle Clark asked French if that's what happened.
"To some extent, yes," French said.
Pressed on whether that was appropriate, French did not answer directly.
"There are a number of factors that went into that decision," French said. "I'm not sure what all of them were. I know that there's a drive to secure federal funds for projects in Jefferson County so it may have been very difficult to turn those funds back."
When asked if the bridge was necessary, or a wise use of taxpayer money, French declined to answer the question directly, instead discussing the safety of pedestrians at the intersection.
A 2008 study looking at eight years of traffic data at the intersection found no pedestrian accidents during that time.
The only sitting commissioner to participate in the unanimous 3-0 vote in 2009 to approve the design permit for the bridge is Republican Faye Griffin. She initially declined to comment on her vote through a county spokesperson.
When 9Wants to Know visited her office unannounced, Griffin agreed to discuss the issue.
Griffin says, in retrospect, she does not believe the pedestrian bridge was a good use of money, but she maintains that county staff spoke highly of the project in 2009.
"The facts and the figures that were given to the commissioners at that time didn't show that it was going to be a mistake. If it had been, we would not have approved it," Griffin said.
Asked if she had any responsibility to research the issue beyond what staff told her, Griffin said there "would be no reason to do that."
Griffin declined to directly address the discrepancies between what county engineers said privately and what taxpayers were told.
She acknowledged that the emails obtained by 9Wants to Know had been made available to her by county staff. 9Wants to Know investigator Kyle Clark offered to provide her copies during their discussion. She declined to view them.
Jefferson County resident Randy Brown, who famously fought the county for records following the Columbine High School shootings, and has been a vocal critic of the pedestrian bridge project, was willing to review the emails.
"It's funny and it's sad at the same time and that's what's a shame," Brown said. "What a waste of money."
"This is a bridge that essentially no one will use," Brown said. "They're spending our tax money, wasting it, and not spending it on things that they should be and that would actually make a difference."
9Wants to Know was unable to reach former commissioner Kathy Hartman, a Democrat, who voted for the project in 2009. A listed home number was disconnected and a message left at a family member's business was not returned.
Former commissioner Kevin McCasky, a Republican who resigned in early 2011 to head the Jefferson Economic Council, defended his vote as a wise use of taxpayer money.
McCasky faces a January hearing before the state's Independent Ethics Commission for a complaint that he improperly voted to increase funding to the Jefferson Economic Council while applying to lead that public-private partnership.
9Wants to Know investigator Kyle Clark will continue to look into and report on the pedestrian bridge project and the key players involved. To discuss this story, or suggest examples of government waste in your community, please email him or call 303-871-1841.
(KUSA-TV © 2011 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)