State already writing checks for uncertain museum

I made a modest donation this week to the National Coast Guard Museum in New London. I like everything about it, the building, the downtown waterfront location and the deserving tribute it will provide to the brave men and women of the Coast Guard.

Of course, it could well be money cast into the wind. Given the snail’s pace of fundraising and the project’s many missed deadlines, it would not be unreasonable to assume it will never happen.

I am a sucker, though, for the calm confidence that museum President Richard J. Grahn exudes in talking about the progress in museum planning. He told me last week officials hope to finish permitting this year and break ground in 2019 or early 2020.

Still, given the uncertainty about the project, the tens of millions of dollars that have to be raised, way more than the $15 million or so already pledged privately, it is fair to say that the future of the project is hardly certain.

That’s why it troubles me that the state of Connecticut is spending borrowed money on the project. The State Bond Commission allocated $500,000 in 2013 for environmental assessment of the museum-related overhead pedestrian bridge for which Gov. Dannel Malloy pledged $20 million in state money.

The museum expects the commission will commit another $1.8 million toward the bridge at its next meeting, sometime later this month.

And state Sen. Paul Formica is involved in efforts to essentially codify Malloy’s $20 million promise into law. The first bill to do that, introduced this session by Formica, failed, but more legislation is expected.

I understand well why advocates for the museum want to get their Malloy money before the governor leaves office. After all, Malloy’s successor may decide to punt on a lot of his promises, including the $20 million pedestrian bridge in New London.

Grahn explains the next allotment of $1.8 million will be used to develop the schematic design for the bridge and that bridge planning and design will be done in conjunction with the same work on the museum building, so that they can be coordinated.

The design work on both will allow for more accurate cost estimates for the project, which currently is ballparked at about $100 million.

But should the people of Connecticut be asked to gamble millions of dollars on a project that may never be built?

Shouldn’t that kind of confidence — and risk taking — be left to private donors, large and small, like me?

Sen. Formica, after all, has been

advocating for the sale of the Seaside park property in Waterford, which he suggests could bring in $8 million. If state finances are so challenged that we need to sell parks, is it a good idea to borrow millions for development that may not happen?

The other worrisome thing about the money spent on bridge design is that much about the overhead pedestrian bridge still is uncertain. It is meant to connect to the new museum, on the water side of Union Station, and carry visitors across the railroad tracks to the vicinity of Water Street, with stair or elevator towers providing access to both sides of the tracks.

The exact location has not yet been determined, and it depends on how much money is left from the $20 million whether it will cross only the tracks or extend over Water Street to the parking garage.

The current proposed location, Grahn says, connects it to the existing Water Street parking garage. Of course, that’s problematic, given the fact that the garage routinely fills to capacity and closes on summer days. The city’s request for federal funding to add on to the garage was turned down this year.

It may be that the city can find a way to provide the hundreds of spaces it has promised to the proposed museum. But I think it would be a good idea to see that happen before state money is used to start designing a bridge which, right now, seems to lead to a parking garage sometimes filled to capacity.

Next time you see Sen. Formica, or any lawmaker for that matter, ask them what they think about spending more real borrowed state money to design a bridge carrying visitors to an uncertain museum from cars parked in theoretical spaces.

What lawmaker doesn’t love the joys of millions sloshing around the State Bond Commission?