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Home | Opinion Exchange | Commentary | The I-35W bridge collapse

Board didn't decide on Bohemian Flats

The lease for bridge work was signed at the staff level and may be invalid.

By ARLENE FRIED

Last update: September 16, 2008 - 8:03 PM

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Minnesota bridges rated: An interactive map of bridges that are "structurally deficient," "functionally obsolete" or have gusset plates like those on the I-35W bridge.

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I want to thank the Star Tribune for Mike Kaszuba's provocative article "Bridge work at park has its price" (Sept. 13). It's a story that needed to be told.

However, there is one statement in the article that begs clarification. As a cofounder of Park Watch, I -- along with others -- have, through the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, made it a point to access the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board's e-mails related to the negotiations over using Bohemian Flats as a staging area for Interstate 35W bridge construction and the Park Board's subsequent lease with Flatiron Constructors Inc. We also have had representation at every Park Board meeting since January 2004.

So when Park Board President Tom Nordyke was paraphrased as saying that "the board balked" at extending the use of Bohemian Flats to Flatiron, I immediately perceived that statement as misleading, because the full board never discussed Bohemian Flats and Flatiron. The lease with Flatiron for the use of Bohemian Flats was negotiated and signed at the staff level without board direction and without ever being brought to the board for the required approvals, which is a serious violation of Park Board procedure.

The lease was for only four months; according to standard practice, it should have been worth approximately $51,000. But administrative staff tripled this figure, and e-mails reveal that Flatiron was coerced into paying $153,000 for a full year instead of $51,000 for only the four months that it needed Bohemian Flats. Flatiron representatives objected to the inflated figure, to no avail. It is apparent in reading the e-mails that the lease was signed under duress.

It is also interesting to note that the lease bears the signature of Superintendent Jon Gurban, not that of Tom Nordyke, whose responsibility as Park Board president it is to represent the board when certain agreements are signed. Because of the circumvention of these board procedures, I question whether the lease is even a legal document.

Arlene Fried, Minneapolis, is cofounder of Park Watch.

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