PubDate: 07-25-2010
Page: 1 A
Edition: 1 Replate:
User: kmetts Color:C K Y M
Taliban says it has 2 missing American sailors; 5 troops killed elsewhere in Afghanistan A3 Building a better basement
More value for the way you live.
88 Sale ¢
HOME & GARDEN, H1
sm
BLUE JACKETS, ANTON STRALMAN SEEM HEADED FOR THE TEAM’S FIRST ARBITRATION HEARING SPORTS, C1
High 86 Low 65 Details B8
$2.00
W W W. D I S P A T C H . C O M
S UNDAY , J ULY 25, 2010
PRETTY. COSTLY. The price has climbed past $60 million for the landmark new Main Street bridge.
BUDGET CUTS
More HIV patients lose state support By Misti Crane THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
An additional 500 people are about to be cut off from a program that pays for their HIV medications, prompting concern that more Ohioans will go without the drugs that keep them healthy and lower the risk they’ll transmit the virus to others. The state is nailing down details for a plan to offer help only to the sickest HIV patients, said Jay Carey, management analyst for the Ryan White Program, administered by the Ohio Department of Health. The plan is to limit eligibility either to those with a CD4 count of 500 or below or to those whose count has dropped below 200 at See HIV Page A14
TOM DODGE DISPATCH
After nine years and $60.1 million, the bridge Mayor Michael B. Coleman calls a symbol for Columbus will finally open to traffic this week.
CITY HALL
N
The design | Columbus’ new Main Street bridge is the only one of its kind in North America. DIMENSIONS
LENGTH 662 FEET
What’s distinctive about the bridge:
LOOKING WEST
SEPARATE SPANS A deck for pedestrians and cyclists on the north side bends off from the roadway.
˙
˙
ROADWAY
SIDEWALK THREE TRAFFIC LANES
5 feet
Main St..
By Peter Svensson ASSOCIATED PRESS
t EENNIAL N AL Mound St. BICENTENNIAL PARK RK
70
N
300 FEET
71
ORIGINAL 2002 ESTIMATE | $19.5
million COST AS OF LAST WEEK | $60.1 million FUNDS AVAILABLE | $64.4 million
PEDESTRIAN,
CYCLING DECK Two eastbound, 11 18 feet and 12 feet; one westbound, 12 feet
$8.6 million
CITY
MORPC
$23.3 million
$7.4 million TOM BAKER | DISPATCH GRAPHICS
NEW YORK — Does that smart phone in your pocket contribute to rape and murder in the depths of Africa? Soon, you’ll know: A new U.S. law requires companies to certify whether their products contain minerals from rebel-controlled mines in Congo and surrounding countries. It’s a move aimed at starving the rebels of funds and encouraging them to lay down their arms. But experts doubt the law will stop the fighting. Furthermore, they say, it could deprive hundreds of thousands of desperately poor Congolese of their incomes and disrupt the economy of an area that’s struggling for stability after more than a decade of war. “For many, many people, it’s the only livelihood they have,” said See CONGO Page A6
Villagers split on who can save Ohio’s limp economy
By Kathy Lynn Gray | THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH If your stomach’s aching for tongue-tingling cheese-on-a-stick or a massive roasted turkey leg, your cravings are about to be realized. The gigantic carnival that is the Ohio State Fair opens Wednesday for the 156th time. Last week, workers raised polka-dot tents, filled fishing ponds, lined up metal rabbit cages and assembled roller coasters in preparation for the 12-day show at the fairgrounds. And somewhere, a farmer gave a humungous homegrown pumpkin its last meal before preparing to haul it to the fair for the Great Pumpkin Weigh Off. Most attractions at this year’s fair are tried-andtrue: the bright-yellow 140-foot-long Giant Slide; the
FEDERAL
$25.1 million
State fair holds a few new cards
See FAIR Page A12
Ricch St.
STATE
˙
HNTB, DLZ
PEDESTRIAN, CYCLING DECK
Town St.
Where the money is coming from:
˙
˙
Main Street bridge
The money
INCLINED ARCH The rib-tied steel arch is slanted 10 degrees from vertical.
St. W. Broad TAATEHOUSE H US STATEHOUSE Scioto STA River COSI CO OS OSI
t t. S. High S
obody will remember how much the Main Street bridge cost in a generation or two, Mayor Michael B. Coleman says. People will gather near its one-of-a-kind arch, tilted 10 degrees north up the Scioto River like a jump rope on a perpetual downswing. They’ll hold festivals on its separate pedestrian deck — a “balcony for the city” in the words of bridge designer Spiro Pollalis — or they’ll just take a walk there and admire the skyline. They won’t remember that the bridge was finished more than four years late at triple the cost projected when Coleman first picked the design. What started as a $19.5 million bridge will end up consuming $60.1 million in federal, state and local tax dollars by the time it opens this week. Coleman has an answer to those who say it’s too See BRIDGE Page A4
Conflict-free cell phones might not help Congo
Front St.
By Doug Caruso and Robert Vitale | THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
METAL MINES
TOM DODGE DISPATCH
Hope Archer takes down bananas to make room for crayons at one of the Ohio State Fair game booths.
Today, The Dispatch continues a once-a-month series looking at Ohio’s race for governor through the eyes of voters in five precincts scattered across the state. The five were chosen from more than 11,000 Ohio precincts because they were precise barometers of statewide results in the 2002 and 2006 governor’s races, each coming within a percentage point of the outcome.
By Mark Niquette THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
LOCKLAND, Ohio — Ron Kehrer remembers the days when he could walk a few blocks from his house and shop for pretty much whatever he needed. Most of those stores in this village of 3,500 near Cincinnati have long since closed, and the crumbling remains of the old Stearns & Foster mattress factory, where hundreds once worked, still loom nearby. Kehrer, a retired state corrections officer, says he doesn’t know much about Republican John See LOCKLAND Page A4
The Living Room Experts.
07-25-2010
PAGE A1
PubDate: 07-25-2010
Page: 4 A
Edition: 1 Replate:
A4
User: kmetts Color:K
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
News
SUNDAY, JULY 25, 2010
BREAKING NEWS: DISPATCH.COM
BRIDGE FROM PAGE A1
READER INFORMATION Vol. 140 No. 25
CUSTOMER SERVICE Service hotline..1-877-734-7728 Billing hotline ...1-866-790-7748 Your newspaper should be delivered by 6:30 a.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. on weekends. Customer service is open from 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays, and 6:30 a.m. to noon on weekends. To ensure redelivery of the same-day newspaper, call before 9:30 a.m. weekdays, 10:30 a.m. Saturdays or noon Sundays. To stop or start your paper, call by 1 p.m. the day before the service change takes effect Monday through Thursday or, for weekend changes, by 1 p.m. Friday. To order a back edition of The Dispatch, call 614-461-5161 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays. Manage your subscription online at www.dispatch.com/service.
HOW TO REACH US General information...........614-461-5000 Toll-free in Ohio..............1-800-282-0263
NEWSROOM To report a news tip or suggest a story idea, contact us at: The Columbus Dispatch, 34 S. 3rd St. Columbus, OH 43215 Newsroom.............614-461-5200 E-mail..storyideas@dispatch.com Fax........................614-461-7580 Arts.......................614-461-8868 Business news ......614-461-5156 Editorial writers ....614-461-5072 Faith & Values ......614-461-5070 Food .....................614-461-5529 Home & Garden....614-461-5027 Insight ..................614-461-5297 Life .......................614-461-8890 Metro/State news Inside Franklin County......614-461-5255 Outside Franklin County......614-461-5569 State government ...614-461-5132 National/ Foreign news ........614-461-5224 NOW! ....................614-461-5250 Photo.....................614-461-5191 Science ................614-461-8508 Special projects....614-461-5082 Sports...................614-461-5236 Travel ....................614-461-5027 Weekender............614-461-8534
expensive or took too long: “I imagine they said the same thing about the Brooklyn Bridge.” Did we just buy the Brooklyn Bridge? In 1995, the old Main Street bridge was crumbling. The concrete structure finished in 1937 was at the end of its life, engineers told the City Council at the time, and it was time to replace it or repair it. They said the bridge could be replaced for $9 million, despite the fact that a new, no-frills Broad Street bridge just up the river had cost $13.2 million just a few years earlier. In 2001, the city hired engineering firm DLZ, of Columbus, to begin plans for a new Main Street bridge. The mayor reached out to Pollalis, who was designing sweeping arched bridges in Europe, and asked the engineering firm to bring him on as a subcontractor. A professor of design, technology and management at the Harvard School of Design, Pollalis had written a book called What Is a Bridge? In it, he argued that bridges can be more than a means to cross a river. They can provide a focal point for economic development. They can draw people to a place and help them enjoy it. They can be art. Those are the same arguments Coleman continues to make for the Main Street bridge, which will connect the underdeveloped southern end of Downtown with Franklinton and the longstruggling West Side. “I want this bridge to serve as a catalyst for economic development and all the things we’re trying to accomplish on both sides of the river,” Coleman said last week. “I wanted something more than a slab of concrete.” A slab was good enough in 1986 when then-Franklin County Engineer John Circle began planning a new bridge for Broad Street. “We want to provide a functional bridge with a limited amount put on looks,” Circle said back then of the span that would open in 1992. “People wanting anything beyond that had better have a way to pay for it.” In June 2002, DLZ offered three options for replacing the Main Street bridge, including a bare-bones design for $17 million. There was
ERIC ALBRECHT DISPATCH
The one-of-a-kind bridge, marked by its inclined arch, more than tripled in cost during its design and construction. Officials hope the bridge will stimulate more development.
Why the costs increased STEEL: In 2003, engineers
determined that the bridge needed an additional 1.1 million pounds of steel, mostly for the arch. ADDED COST: $4.2 million CONCRETE: That plan also added 2,500 cubic yards of high-stress concrete. ADDED COST: $2.1 million DEMOLITION: During demolition
of the old bridge, divers with cutting torches and explosives experts were called in to remove steel forms that had been left around the concrete pylons. ADDED COST: $620,000 TEMPORARY SUPPORTS:
Designers hadn’t considered the cost of temporary supports for the roadway and pedestrian walkways while the arch was put in place. The supports needed to withstand a major flood. ADDED COST: $4.9 million DESIGN: After the mayor decided to go with the inclined-arch bridge, engineer-
ing firm DLZ’s contract grew from $1.9 million in 2001 to $8.3 million today. That included $1.4 million for initial design of the new bridge, $87,000 to have the design tested in a wind tunnel, $255,000 for the services of Harvard design expert Spiro Pollalis, $2.9 million to redesign the bridge in 2004 and annual increases to cover the firm’s continued work. ADDED COST: $6.4 million THE ROADWAY: In 2009, the city decided it wanted the bridge to carry two-way traffic across the Scioto River, instead of just from Franklinton into Downtown. ADDED COST: $245,000 (est.) EXTRAS: The cost of fixing up the area between the Main Street and Town Street bridges on the west side of the river increased from an estimated $500,000 in 2002 to $1.8 million by 2006. Lighting costs increased by more than $455,000. ADDED COST: $1.8 million THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
some disagreement on what Pollalis’ inclined-arch design would cost. DLZ at first estimated more than $40 million, but Pollalis argued it would cost half that. Eventually, around the time Coleman picked Pollalis’ design, the official estimate was set at $19.5 million. Columbus Public Service Director Mark Kelsey, a former ODOT deputy director who came to City Hall in 2007, now dismisses that early projection as Pollalis’
“off-the-cuff opinion.” If it was ever used officially, he said, “it was just plain wrong.” Pollalis said last week that he thought the steel structure could have been manufactured in Spain for less money. But under federal buy-American laws, steel for the Main Street bridge had to be bought and shaped in the United States. By the end of 2003, engineers had recalculated. Among other things, they
needed a million more pounds of steel and much more concrete. The estimated construction price had hit $41.5 million. In 2004, as steel and concrete prices spiked, estimates topped $53 million. Pollalis was off the project. Kelsey, then following the project from ODOT headquarters, said city and state officials reached an “oh-myGod moment.” Coleman remembers meeting with engineers and advisers in his City Hall conference room, looking at the numbers sometime in 2004 or 2005. “What we decided — and I made the decision — was to move forward with the larger purpose, knowing this was going to cost much more than we had anticipated, much of it beyond our control,” he said. Officials would maintain many of Pollalis’ concepts: the inclined arch, the separate vehicle and pedestrian decks, “but we toned down many of the things he wanted.” Coleman said sticking with the original plan might have cost $120 million, making the current $60.1 million tab a relative bargain. That $120 million figure can’t be found in the city’s documents. Coleman wouldn’t say what price between the two figures would have caused him to scrap the inclined arch altogether. But saving money also cost money. Columbus paid an extra $2.9 million to DLZ to incorporate cost-saving measures into the design. Pushing back the original 2006
completion date because of high steel and concrete prices ended up costing even more because prices continued to soar, Kelsey said. The city was going to need more money. Early on, the Ohio Department of Transportation said it would pay no more than $15 million for construction and $200,000 toward design. The agency since has agreed to pick up $4.7 million in inspection fees. The city looked elsewhere to pay the mounting cost. Then-U.S. Rep. Deborah Pryce pushed through federal earmarks totaling nearly $8.6 million. The Ohio Public Works Commission authorized $5.2 million for Columbus. The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission kicked in $7.4 million. Columbus taxpayers will pay off up to $15 million borrowed from the State Infrastructure Bank, as well as $8.3 million in city bonds for bridge design. That put $64.4 million at the city’s disposal. If the cost stays at $60.1 million, Kelsey said, the city will borrow a smaller amount. He and Coleman reject the 2002 projections of a $19.5 million price tag and 2006 opening date as valid starting points for judging the final product. The bridge was built for just $3 million more than Kokosing Construction Co. estimated when it won the job in 2006, Kelsey said. It is opening 13 months late because of delays caused by bad weather, high water and unplanned difficulties in demolishing the old bridge. Coleman makes no apologies for the bridge’s scale and cost. He has called it a symbol for Columbus that will stand for generations. Critics have called it a symbol of government excess, and Republicans used the bridge during their unsuccessful 2009 campaigns against City Council incumbents and a local income-tax increase. City officials plan a low-key opening late this week. Pedestrians and bicyclists will be able to cross, but only one Downtown-bound lane will be ready for motorists. Pollalis said he’s happy with the finished project even though he didn’t agree with all the alterations. “Cost is important for the period,” he said last week from Athens, Greece. “Nobody thinks today what the Parthenon cost.” dcaruso@dispatch.com rvitale@dispatch.com
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR By e-mail .....letters@dispatch.com (No attachments, please)
LOCKLAND
Or by fax ...............614-461-8793
FROM PAGE A1
INTERNET Web services..........614-621-1243 www.dispatch.com
ADVERTISING Classified .............614-888-8888 Retail....................614-461-5500 National ................614-461-5193
PAID NOTICES Obituaries.............614-461-5089 In Memoriam, Card of Thanks.....614-888-8888 Weddings, other celebrations..........614-559-1826
REPRINTS Copies of photos ...614-461-5200
NEWSPAPER IN EDUCATION The NIE program provides newspapers to central Ohio classrooms at a reduced rate. Information...........614-461-8857
CORRECTION POLICY The Dispatch strives to be fair and accurate. The newspaper corrects any significant errors of fact brought to the attention of the editors. If you think an error has been made, call 614-461-5271. Corrections will be printed below. The Columbus Dispatch (ISSN 1074-097X) is published every day by The Dispatch Printing Co., 34 S. 3rd St., Columbus, Ohio 43215. Main telephone is 614-461-5000. Periodicals postage paid at Columbus, Ohio. Publication No. 124560. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Columbus Dispatch, 34 S. 3rd St., Columbus, Ohio 43215. Home-delivered rates: Daily, $6.49 per week; Sunday only, $2.79 per copy; Daily and Sunday, $6.49. Current Sunday-only and partial-weekday home-delivery subscribers in Franklin and surrounding counties will also receive the Nov. 25 and Dec. 25 editions.
Thanksgiving Day is $1.25 more than normal rates. The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for republication of all local news printed in this newspaper as well as AP news dispatches. The Columbus Dispatch is not responsible for unsolicited photographs, manuscripts, books or other material. The Columbus Dispatch is read to people who are print-disabled by volunteers on the Central Ohio Radio Reading Service. Publication of contents without express permission is prohibited. Copyright 2010 The Dispatch Printing Company
This newspaper is printed on recycled paper and is recyclable.
Kasich. But, with the economy foremost on his mind, he’s leaning toward voting for Kasich this fall instead of Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland. “I’ve seen jobs go, and I’ve seen people go,” Kehrer, 67, who considers himself an independent, said while sitting on his front porch last week. “I’m not sure the other guy can do any better, but I’ll give anybody a try.” Walking his dog nearby, Jeff Rahe said he is a Republican but thinks the governor has done a good job despite the deep national recession — especially supporting organized labor. “I don’t think he can be blamed,” said Rahe, 46, who works at Ford’s Sharonville Transmission Plant outside Cincinnati and is a member of the United Auto Workers. “Everyone is hurting.” That difference of opinion was typical in interviews last week with residents in the former Precinct D in Lockland, the 160-year-old village founded on the former Miami-Erie Canal in Hamilton County. Most people interviewed said they weren’t very familiar with Kasich, and there were mixed views about Strickland’s performance on what virtually everyone said was his or her top issue: jobs and the economy. The Dispatch chose the former Lockland Precinct D, which was absorbed into other precincts in 2008, to gauge opinions about the governor’s race this year because the vote there for governor in 2002 and 2006 nearly matched the actual statewide results. When Strickland beat Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell by 23.9 percentage points statewide in 2006,
ED MATTHEWS DISPATCH
From left, Wanda Whitaker, Keith Brumley and Dwight Plumner talk about changes in Lockland. The village’s last remaining gas station closed recently. voters in the precinct deviated by just 0.7 percent. They came within 1 percent of Republican Bob Taft’s 19.5 percent victory margin against Democrat Tim Hagan in 2002. Residents say Lockland once was a thriving small city that fell on hard times after Stearns & Foster, three paper mills and other businesses began to close in the 1970s and 1980s. Census data show that residents in boundaries of the former Precinct D are less affluent and less educated than the rest of the state, but Lockland is a solid middleclass community with many people coming from Appalachian roots, Administrator David Krings said. He thinks the village is poised for a comeback, perhaps by redeveloping some of its acres of vacant industrial property. “I really believe, with an uptick in the economy, Lockland will benefit greatly,” Krings said. But the village’s last re-
07-25-2010
Lockland Precinct D
Total population White Black Other Poverty rate Median household income Per-capita income Median rent Median home value Median real-estate taxes Percentage 25 or older with high-school degree Percentage 25 or older with college degree or more Mean travel time to work Industry of largest number of residents
IND.
Lockland
75
71
OHIO
Profile of former Lockland Precinct D in Hamilton County, based on estimates from the 2000 U.S. census, compared with Ohio numbers:
275
Cincinnati ˙
10 N MILES
KY.
LOCKLAND
OHIO
770 91.6% 6.1% 2.3% 14.2% $23,419 $13,925 $332 per month $66,500 $1,196 65.6%
11,353,140 84.9% 11.3% 3.7% 10.6% $40,956 $21,003 $423 per month $100,500 $1,271 83%
5.1%
21.1%
21 minutes 19.2% Retail
23 minutes 20% Manufacturing
Sources: The Northern Ohio Data & Information Service; Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
PAGE A4
maining gas station closed recently, and residents mostly say they think the local economy is stagnant or getting worse. Randy McKinney, 55, said he has been a Democrat but is thinking about switching and voting for Kasich this fall with hopes he can do better than Strickland has in keeping and creating jobs. McKinney pointed up the street to a red brick house where a man he knows had lived for 25 years but was forced to move in with his sister in Kentucky because he couldn’t find work. “He’s just dropped the ball on too many things,” McKinney, a disabled former Marine, said of Strickland. But Strickland repeatedly has said he can’t be blamed for the recession and that policies supported by Republicans and Kasich when he was in Congress led to it. Jack Burdine, 49, mostly agrees. “I know it’s not all his fault,” Burdine said of the governor. “I think Strickland could have done more, but things got out of control.” Keith Brumley, 35, lives in the former Lockland Precinct D and manages Joe’s Burgers and Breakfast Cafe on Mill Street. He said he isn’t sure yet whom he’ll support. Brumley doesn’t blame Strickland for the loss of jobs but isn’t sure Kasich could do any better. “It seems to get better, then it gets worse,” he said. “We get a good run for two weeks, then the next three weeks aren’t good.” Taking a break outside of the Valley Radiator shop that his brother has owned since 1959, Gary Holmes said he doesn’t care whether Democrats or Republicans are more responsible for the jobs loss. He just wants some results. “They’re both to blame,” said Holmes, 66. “Someone’s got to fix the problem.” mniquette@dispatch.com