The Open Forum Private-public partnership for U.S. 36 was a mistake
I attended the community meetings years ago “staged” for those of us along the U.S. 36 corridor from Denver to Boulder. That was all it was, a staging, for we were told of the Boulder Turnpike reconstruction as a “done deal,” not for further public scrutiny or input. I can tell you that as the “flagship,” first-time PPP (public-private partnership), no one was happy being presented with an unprecedented 50year contract, starting from design through construction through maintenance.
The “Boulder Turnpike,” as originally built by the State of Colorado, had no major structural issues for what, 50 years? Now the new “model” for road expansion brings us a private entity, and not the expertise of CDOT engineers, with we as consumers having little understanding of the role and oversight, if any, of the PPP’s expertise and CDOT’s oversight.
With a fully collapsing structure, and major closure of this vital corridor between Broomfield and Westminster, this is now a calamity.
Could this have been avoided? Is such private “expertise” really worth what CDOT sold it as? At this point, I think not. The CDOT spokesperson, whose arrogance throughout those meetings reminds me of a similar spokesperson for the White House, shut down most questioning and discussion. Enough said.
Anybody else a little disturbed by newly seated Councilwoman CdeBaca’s comment that our nation is in “late-phase capitalism” and that she believes in community ownership of “land, labor and resources” and that she’s excited to “usher it in by any means necessary?”
In her interview CdeBaca expresses her belief that others peoples earnings, if above some threshold, are unfair and must be redistributed by government. Looking at every historical occurrence where such a concept has been tried shows that the redistribution goes mostly to those doing the redistribution, and pittance enough to keep them quiet goes to the citizens.
We’re seeing this very example being carried out live in Venezuela right now. What had been the wealthiest nation in South America is now a wasteland of poverty for the citizens, and a golden throne built on theft and corruption by the current totalitarian demagogues. What fools are we?