Government not at its finest

It is understandable that government officials and taxpayers will disagree over issues. The proposed Red Gate Road bridge in St. Charles has been debated for more than 30 years — and for good reasons.

It will be a tremendous expense to taxpayers now and in the future. This bridge needs to be worth the expense, travel time, disruption to communities, environmental effects, etc. Both the taxpayer and government officials should make every effort to ensure that there is value in building the Red Gate bridge.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. The City of St. Charles is full steam ahead without looking or considering any new data. When the surveys were previously done, the Stearns Road bridge was not included and projected growth figures are now inaccurate. Did you know that when the consultants first gave the city a number of bridge options, Red Gate was the least effective in relieving downtown traffic?

Before spending in excess of $30 million in taxpayers’ money — no matter how the officials explain it, it is all taxpayers’ dollars — shouldn’t we explore the effects of the new changes? Why the rush?

This is a lot of money during a time when money needs to be spent wisely both in the household and with our government.

The calamity for all of us is that when the taxpaying citizens approach the government officials with a legitimate concern about spending, the government officials are not concerned. Come see for yourself. Attend the next city council meeting at 7 p.m. July 5. Ask your mayor or an alderman to wait on spending taxpayers’ money on a Red Gate bridge until we can see up-to-date traffic results from the Stearns bridge.

Terry Masterson

St. Charles