In Business to Spend Money

The Oregonian's Steve Duin posts a telling story today. Some folks in a nice Portland neighborhood wanted to get the alley running through their area paved with an asphalt overlay. The alley was in rough shape and occasionally ate cars that braved running through it. The City of Portland's response? For a mere $525,000 it can be yours! Which brought a look of total incredulity to the neighbors' faces because they had gotten a bid from a private paving contractor to do the work and it had come in at only $54,600. Part of the difference was the $250,000 that the city proposed to spend on "engineering." Right. How much engineering does it take to put on an asphalt overlay? The private contractor summed it up best when he related what a city inspector once told him: "You're in business to make money. We're in business to spend money." Indeed.

 www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/steve_duin/index.ssf/2011/09/portland_the_city_that_spares.html