Microsoft's own Bridge to "somewhere".. ($11Million stimulus money)

[SoCalDem]

Critics slam Microsoft bridge as waste of stimulus money


http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/31/bridge.microsoft/By Patrick Oppmann
CNN


REDMOND, Washington (CNN) -- Should a bridge that would connect two campuses at Microsoft's headquarters be funded with $11 million from the federal stimulus package?
An artist's rendering shows how the proposed bridge would be constructed over a busy highway.

An artist's rendering shows how the proposed bridge would be constructed over a busy highway.


Critics of using stimulus money for the bridge say it would give the software giant a break on a pet project. They also say it serves as a warning sign of how some stimulus money is not being used to finance new projects but is being diverted to public works already under way.

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"It's going create just under 400 jobs for 18 months constructing the bridge," says Redmond Mayor John Marchione. "It's also connecting our technical sector with our retail and commercial sectors so people can cross the freeway to shop and help traffic flow." See a larger image of the proposed bridge » Marchione applied for federal stimulus money after costs jumped on the project from $25 million to $36 million. Marchione says the increase in costs were due to a rise in construction prices and because the bridge will be built on a diagonal in order to connect Microsoft's original East campus with a newer West campus that are split by a public highway.

Microsoft is hardly getting the bridge for free. The company is contributing $17.5 million or a little less than half the tab of the $36 million bridge, which would be open for public use.
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But a watchdog group monitoring how stimulus money is being spent says the taxpayer in this case is getting ripped off. "This is $11 million where we are substituting public money for private money, and that means there's some other project that would have a greater benefit than a bridge to Microsoft that's not being built," says Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense.

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[NeedleCast]

1. If it's going to create the kind of jobs they claim

I really don't have an issue with it. That's what the stimulus was designed to do.

I see how the watchdog group is looking at it too though. I consider the jobs more important.

[Seedersandleechers]

2. 11 million is pocket change for BG

[Stevenmarc]

3. Bill needs to upgrade to Just Write The Fucking Check 2.0

[MindPilot]

4. I think the bigger question should be

why is Micro$oft getting stimulus money?

[SoCalDem]

5. because they can

:(