Hey Readers,
I love the city of Saskatoon and always have but lately there has been some ridiculous controversy over a problem that should be straightforward. There is a bridge in our great city called the Victoria Bridge. The nice people of Saskatoon know it as the, "crappy little bridge that you feel like you're going to scrape against every car you pass or rip your side view mirror off on the railing" bridge.
In September of 2005, the city of Saskatoon closed it down for inspection. They found major problems in corrosion along with many other dangerous elements that could cause the thing to keel over at any time. Anyone who has taken a close look at the bridge knows this as it looks like a rusted out Cadillac El Dorado. That's why we were all surprised when they re-opened it to the public and had been until recently (late August 2010).
Now, I know what you're saying, who cares about a boring old bridge? I agree but this story becomes more interesting when the discussions begin on what to do about the decrepit bridge. The rational side is saying to take the thing down and build a strong, mighty, new and improved bridge. This would cost the city a bit of money but it's a main part of our infrastructure and needs to be taken care of. I live on Broadway and without that bridge it makes traffic horrendous around my area so I'm all for the quick and clean fix.
The other side of the argument is interesting but difficult to side with. They did win the city officials over way back in 2005 by saying that the bridge is an important part of our history (which it is). Since then, the city has put some Elmer's glue on the trusses and let the citizens to continue to drive over it for over 5 years because it looks pretty and people like the rush they get when they come in near death experiences driving across it.
The city also decided it would be a great idea to put Christmas lights on it... get this, year round! Yay!
Hey, I'm very much an optimist and for me, Christmas is the best time of the year! But even I think flashing colored lights on a landmark will make it look tacky. I think we should take this same philosophy to the Louvre and add strobe lights to the Mona Lisa! That would be a great idea!
But the tackiness of the year round Christmas lights aside, are you wondering how much it cost? What's your guess? K, you may want to guess big. I mean, it is only Christmas lights but you have to keep in mind the city is putting them up. So are you ready for the real number? IT WAS $462,000 OF TAX PAYERS MONEY! The real lesson to be learned here is don't hire the city of Saskatoon to put up your lights this winter or you may have to re-mortgage the house.
So should we keep the Victoria Bridge? The answer is no. Why? Because we can either keep spending hundred's of thousands (if not millions) continually inspecting it, adding Christmas decorations and adding Elmer's glue so we can just to delay the inevitable OR just do the dirty work and replace a rotted bridge with a new shiny one.
We are an amazing city with a great economy and friendly people. Do we really want the City of Bridges to start crumbling? I think not.
Cheers,
Ryan
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