A juicy tale of greed and corruption !

WPsst. Hey, you. Yes, you. Did you read the Strib last Tuesday? Did you see that little soundbite tucked into a section called "Short Slices" or "Quick Jabs" or something snappy like that? I am referring to the bold announcement that Jon Campbell, CEO of Wells Fargo, supports something he calls "transportation mix", a healthy recipe of trains, busses, bikes, roller blades, and what the heck, a rickshaw or two - oh yeah, and of course, freeways.

Freeways.

Psst. Lean in a little closer and I'll let you in on a secret. When Jon Campbell isn't lauding the virtues of public transportation in the Strib, he busies himself promoting affordable housing, crime reduction and general happiness and welfare for all the good people of Phillips. He calls his band of do-gooders the Phillips Partnership and counts among them Allina Healthcare and Fannie Mae. Their favorite lawyers? Smith Parker - Unbounded by Precendent, Public Scrutiny or Rule of Law.

A case in point: tucked back on page eight of the Phillips Partnership newsletter is a monthly update on "infrastructure". This is a code word for freeway access. Flip past the pictures of Jon Campbell shaking the hands of new Hmong home owners or picking up litter at Chicago and Lake and you find the raison d'etre of the Phillips Partnership. Could it be that all the hype over housing and crime is but a smoke screen designed to shield these companies from scrutiny over a freeway expansion that amounts to corporate welfare?

With a deft hand like that of the vantriloquist, Campbell and other corporate leaders have managed to keep citizens and local councilpersons at bay while federal funds flow copiously into the coffers of Smith Parker. Like a robust virus, these spinsters pop up at meetings all over town to convince people that an eight lane Lake Street isn't really as bad as it sounds, and now we'll turn it over to Craig with his mitigation package, complete with round-a-bouts, pocket parks and those nifty purple pavers.

This circus is reminicent of the good ol' 1890's when William Washburn and company, living large on the profits of flour milling, held the reins to virtually any public project. Government did the bidding of the millers and the railroaders. If infrastructure projects got done, it was in the name of business - from the Stone Arch Bridge to the apron holding up St. Anthony Falls.

One hundred years later, and under the euphemism of the "public/private partnership" this profiteering goes something like this: form a limited liability corporation including the wealthiest companies in the neighborhood, and reserve two slots for the mayor and county commissioner. Design a freeway exit cum driveway-into- your-parking-ramp, christen it "The Flyover" and hire the most well-connected public relations firm in the city to trumpet your cause. Hope that tax-payers won't notice that the behemoth costs $12 million at little or no value to the general public. Then sit back, sip martinis, and behold the spectacle of bulldozers reducing homes to rubble to clear the way for progress. No matter that the republicans in the House slashed the mitigation dollars, and with the project running over budget, the "highest and best use" for the land under the ramp turns out to be a parking lot. Go figure. At least we saved three minutes and a little anxiety for the telemarketers beaming their way into the mothership.

Jeff Carlson, Whittier