[Dion]

The disease knows no borders," says Angela Hunt, an articulate and incredibly sharp member of Dallas city council who read all about our $25-million fancy footbridge and our politicians yesterday
.
"These people are twins of some of the people here in Dallas.

"I like public art. I get all of that. What I don't get is enormous expenditures for eye candy. The spending on that bridge is shocking. Such a waste.

"It's the same mentality as here. Money is not a real issue for these people. It's not real dollars. It's imaginary. It's the little kid who wants a pony. They see it, they want it and they're not accustomed to being told no.

"They don't look at spending that money in creating real services for people actually living in the city. It's a backward way of viewing the world. I very much sympathize

"I can almost guarantee you the cost of your bridge will escalate. There will be cost creep. It's going to be more than $25 million. It will be more like $40 million," says Angela.

"Cut your losses. Figure out a way to nip this in the bud because once you get on this horse you've got to ride it."

Enough of that. Let us bring in Calgary's Lindsay Blackett, the province's culture minister and widely recognized as a man of exquisite taste. Come on, he's the culture minister.

What does he think of the bridge only 8% of the population want?
"It's underwhelming," says Lindsay.

"I expected to be wowed. I didn't get it, but maybe I don't have the proper pedigree."

He says everywhere he goes Calgarians are talking. What do they ask each other?

"Do we need to spend hard-earned tax dollars there?" says Lindsay.

http://www.calgarysun.com/news/colum...23171-sun.html