Red Gate Bridge in St. Charles likely still a go after election

St. Charles Mayor Don DeWitte has hailed the Red Gate Bridge as the No. 1 priority for the city the past couple of years. After the April election, he's still assured the support of at least a majority of the new city council.

Nonetheless, candidates were sharply split over the issue during a recent endorsement interview session with the Daily Herald or in responding to a candidate questionnaire, with five supporting the bridge, three against, one undecided and one who didn't answer.

Supporters believe the bridge, expected to cost between $18 million and $30 million to build, will relieve traffic congestion on Main Street and connect the east and west sides of the city for shopping and commuting purposes.

In addition to the support already vocalized by sitting members of the city council, potential newcomers Steven Gaugel running against incumbent Jim Martin in Ward 4, and the Ward 2 candidates, Rita Payleitner and former councilman Art Lemke, all said they support the bridge.

Ray Rogina, who is running for the Ward 3 seat, said while he personally supports the bridge, he'd vote the way his constituents wanted. The city should place an advisory question on election ballots asking the city as a whole to weigh in on the issue, he said.

“I really want to see what the referendum would say,” Rogina said, adding he would vote “yes” in the referendum.

However, if the majority of the people in Ward 3 said they didn't want the bridge, he'd vote against its construction in council meetings, he said.

“My first obligation is with the ward. My second obligation is to the city.”

Fellow Ward 3 candidate Lars Michael Henriksen didn't to respond to either the questionnaire or the endorsement interview invitation.

The third candidate for the Ward 3 seat, Vanessa Bell-LaSota, said the city should wait to see what sort of benefits the newly opened Stearns Road Bridge brings to the city. She said she's not sure the construction will be either cost-effective or safe because of a fuel pipeline that runs near the bridge site. Bell-LaSota said she believes the bridge potentially addresses traffic congestion as the expense of Main Street's vitality.

“The bridge will be like a bypass for businesses on Main Street,” she said. “I have no problems voting ‘no.'”

Echoing Bell-LaSota's thoughts are Ward 5 candidates Kim Malay and Jotham Stein.

The other Ward 5 candidate is Maureen Lewis, who was appointed to the Ward 5 seat to fill a vacancy and is running to fill out the remaining two years of that term. She believes the bridge is long overdue. If elected, Malay or Stein would replace her ‘yes' vote with a ‘no.'

“Now is not the time to do that bridge,” Malay said. “Fiscally, we are not ready to do it. And I honestly have to say I don't even know that it's needed at this point. One of the big reasons for this bridge was to get the truck traffic off Main Street, and we're not able to do that with this bridge. If it's just going to be used to get buses across, then I don't think it's worth $18 million to $30 million.”

Stein said tax money socked away for the bridge and dollars spent on the project could've been put to much better uses. Stein urged the city council in December to not spend $1.7 million on additional engineering for the bridge.

“In these economic times it is wrong to spend $1.7 million of our tax dollars that won't bring one single job to the community,” Stein said.

He pledged to oppose the bridge as a way to cut and rebate property taxes as well as a way to fund bringing back the popular spring cleaning program the city cut from the budget.