Bridge Critics Find A Friendly Audience Most Attending Public Forum Agree Lincoln Street Structure Should Not Be Built

For those bashing the Lincoln Street bridge, there was applause; for those defending it, there was silence.

The clap-inclined made their feelings known during a public forum on the Lincoln Street bridge at The Met Sunday night. About 90 people attended.

Sponsored by the Citizens League of Greater Spokane, the forum was moderated by KPBX’s Doug Nadvornick. The public radio station will air the broadcast at noon Tuesday at 91.1 FM.

The league invited three bridge defenders and three bridge critics to field questions from the audience and parry with each other over the proposed $36 million structure.

Bob Herold, executive vice provost for Eastern Washington University, won numerous rounds of applause with his pointed attacks on the bridge and the process that brought it to its current stage.

Building a bridge has always been a foregone conclusion because of the way the city framed the discussion over the years, Herold said.

Instead of the city asking itself how it can deal with air quality and traffic circulation problems, Herold said, the question should have been what should be done with the gorge while keeping a vital downtown that’s friendly to pedestrians.

Asking that question doesn’t necessarily lead to a bridge, Herold said.

Through the hour-and-a-half forum, Herold continued to tear at the decision-making process over the years.

“Despite claims to the contrary, this has been an extraordinarily closed process,” Herold said.

But Brad Blegen, a city engineer, repeatedly defended the lengths the city has taken to include citizens.

“In the 26 years I’ve been with the city, this is the most open project I’ve been involved in,” Blegen said.

Blegen was joined by Laurae Sather, a citizen volunteer on the Lincoln Street bridge committee. Sather said the public has had plenty of opportunities to comment on the project since 1992.

Blegen went so far as offering to sit down one-on-one with anybody who wanted to learn more about the bridge. But that offer wasn’t enough for one man in the audience who shouted, “Let us vote! Let us vote!”

Critics have contended the public should get a chance to vote on the project, but so far the city has resisted.

No city council members or candidates were on the panel.

, DataTimes