Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.JoeTown244GL
09-04-03, 09:02 PM
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/6676625.htm
$800,000 for Lewis and Clark monument raises questions
By JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star
A monument depicting the Lewis and Clark expedition, placed on the state Capitol grounds near the highway department headquarters, would honor Missouri history, supporters say.
"This is a marvelous opportunity to leave a legacy of our Missouri heritage," said Sally Sprague, a member of Jefferson City's Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Task Force.
But at least one highway commissioner says the monument could leave a different legacy.
"It just sends a wrong message," said Commissioner Bill McKenna.
On Thursday the commissioners will consider a proposal that the Missouri Department of Transportation help fund the project with nearly $800,000 in federal money.
McKenna and another commissioner wonder whether that would drain money from other projects around the state, such as bicycle paths and roadside beautification.
"If we do this project, what does not get funded that's in the pipeline?" said James B. Anderson, a member of the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission, which oversees the highway department.
The Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Capitol Monument surfaced at the highway commission's meeting last month on a list of generally noncontroversial items for the commission to consider and pass in a bundle.
But Anderson and McKenna raised concerns and were irritated that they were hearing about the project for the first time.
Anderson, of Springfield, said he wasn't opposed to the monument.
"I think it will be a tremendous addition to the Capitol complex," he said. "I just want to know that if we do that, we're not jeopardizing or penalizing other areas of the state."
But McKenna wondered why the highway department should be involved in building a monument at all -- especially one that will sit across the street from the department's headquarters in Jefferson City.
"If it's along the highway, that's maybe arguable," said McKenna, of Crystal City. "But when it's in the middle of a town, I couldn't see any connection there. Plus, it's right across the street from the department, which makes it look even worse."
Commissioners asked the highway department to answer their questions Thursday.
Last week, The Kansas City Star reported that Missouri's roads have gone from among the best in the country to among the worst. Part of the problem, the series found, was management shortfalls in the highway department.
On Tuesday, Kyle Kittrell, the highway department's transportation planning director, said he had found that the monument's cost wouldn't have a large effect on other proposals from around the state, most of which are for bicycle paths.
This year the state received about $14 million in federal transportation enhancement funds, which cannot be used for building or repairing roads.
Since the federal program began in 1993, Kittrell said, 75 percent of the funds have been used for bicycle and pedestrian trails and 17 percent for beautification along highways. The rest has gone toward historic preservation, such as rehabilitating old train depots.
Kittrell said he didn't know how many applications the highway department received last year, but that the agency funded "a fairly large portion." The cities and counties have to pay for 20 percent of their projects, he said.
In Kansas, the Department of Transportation receives about $9 million a year in federal enhancement funding, said Harold Benoit, chief of the office of engineering support.
The agency is giving out about $1 million for Lewis and Clark projects in Atchison, he said, but it's all for infrastructure improvements, such as bicycle and pedestrian paths along the river.
Benoit said he couldn't recall the department ever giving money for statues or monuments because funding is so limited.
The Jefferson City project includes five bronze statues, some 8 feet tall. They include Meriwether Lewis and William Clark; Clark's slave, York; George Drouillard, an interpreter and hunter; and Lewis' dog, Seaman.
Other features include a reflecting pool and a stairway that will connect the exhibit to monument areas on the north side of the Capitol.
Sprague, whose task force is leading the monument effort, called the project "a bicentennial gift to Missouri."
The total cost is $991,000. The task force is seeking private donations for $200,000, and the remaining 80 percent would come from the highway department's federal money, she said.
Sprague said the task force hopes to have the monument erected by next June in time for the bicentennial.
WTH?
$800,000 for Lewis and Clark monument raises questions
By JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star
A monument depicting the Lewis and Clark expedition, placed on the state Capitol grounds near the highway department headquarters, would honor Missouri history, supporters say.
"This is a marvelous opportunity to leave a legacy of our Missouri heritage," said Sally Sprague, a member of Jefferson City's Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Task Force.
But at least one highway commissioner says the monument could leave a different legacy.
"It just sends a wrong message," said Commissioner Bill McKenna.
On Thursday the commissioners will consider a proposal that the Missouri Department of Transportation help fund the project with nearly $800,000 in federal money.
McKenna and another commissioner wonder whether that would drain money from other projects around the state, such as bicycle paths and roadside beautification.
"If we do this project, what does not get funded that's in the pipeline?" said James B. Anderson, a member of the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission, which oversees the highway department.
The Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Capitol Monument surfaced at the highway commission's meeting last month on a list of generally noncontroversial items for the commission to consider and pass in a bundle.
But Anderson and McKenna raised concerns and were irritated that they were hearing about the project for the first time.
Anderson, of Springfield, said he wasn't opposed to the monument.
"I think it will be a tremendous addition to the Capitol complex," he said. "I just want to know that if we do that, we're not jeopardizing or penalizing other areas of the state."
But McKenna wondered why the highway department should be involved in building a monument at all -- especially one that will sit across the street from the department's headquarters in Jefferson City.
"If it's along the highway, that's maybe arguable," said McKenna, of Crystal City. "But when it's in the middle of a town, I couldn't see any connection there. Plus, it's right across the street from the department, which makes it look even worse."
Commissioners asked the highway department to answer their questions Thursday.
Last week, The Kansas City Star reported that Missouri's roads have gone from among the best in the country to among the worst. Part of the problem, the series found, was management shortfalls in the highway department.
On Tuesday, Kyle Kittrell, the highway department's transportation planning director, said he had found that the monument's cost wouldn't have a large effect on other proposals from around the state, most of which are for bicycle paths.
This year the state received about $14 million in federal transportation enhancement funds, which cannot be used for building or repairing roads.
Since the federal program began in 1993, Kittrell said, 75 percent of the funds have been used for bicycle and pedestrian trails and 17 percent for beautification along highways. The rest has gone toward historic preservation, such as rehabilitating old train depots.
Kittrell said he didn't know how many applications the highway department received last year, but that the agency funded "a fairly large portion." The cities and counties have to pay for 20 percent of their projects, he said.
In Kansas, the Department of Transportation receives about $9 million a year in federal enhancement funding, said Harold Benoit, chief of the office of engineering support.
The agency is giving out about $1 million for Lewis and Clark projects in Atchison, he said, but it's all for infrastructure improvements, such as bicycle and pedestrian paths along the river.
Benoit said he couldn't recall the department ever giving money for statues or monuments because funding is so limited.
The Jefferson City project includes five bronze statues, some 8 feet tall. They include Meriwether Lewis and William Clark; Clark's slave, York; George Drouillard, an interpreter and hunter; and Lewis' dog, Seaman.
Other features include a reflecting pool and a stairway that will connect the exhibit to monument areas on the north side of the Capitol.
Sprague, whose task force is leading the monument effort, called the project "a bicentennial gift to Missouri."
The total cost is $991,000. The task force is seeking private donations for $200,000, and the remaining 80 percent would come from the highway department's federal money, she said.
Sprague said the task force hopes to have the monument erected by next June in time for the bicentennial.
WTH?