Redmond's 36th Street Bridge, better known as the "Bridge to Microsoft," is a "wonderful project" that benefits much more than the software giant, write the city's mayor and the head of the Puget Sound Regional Council in a Seattle Times guest column.
The plan "reduces congestion and greenhouse-gas emissions, helps our region meet growth and housing obligations, and addresses the needs of hundreds of employers within a major regional job center," say Redmond's John Marchione and the PSRC's Bob Drewel -- responding to critics who assert that the project doesn't deserve federal stimulus money.
"Simply put, without this bridge, Redmond cannot -- repeat, cannot -- accommodate the employment and housing the city is expected to absorb for the benefit of our region and our state," they write.
Bloomberg News reported March 13 that local planners designated $11 million of the region's federal stimulus money for the project. Microsoft is paying about half of the total $36.5 million project cost.
Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, told the news service at the time that federal funding was inappropriate, considering that Steve Ballmer or Bill Gates "could finance this out of pocket change."
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