Ownership or Stewardship

"Letter to Editor"

08/13/2007

I would like to thank the Mankato Free Press for posting the link that lead me to Nationalbridges.com. I would also like to thank the Mankato Free Press for taking me directly to the page concerning the I-35W bridge.

I learned a couple of things from the web site. Things like the condition of the bridge and the Sufficiency Rating before the collapse. However there is one entry on the page that jumped out at me. The entry on this page that disturbs me states that the State Highway Agency owns the bridge.

This implies that the State Highway Agency , the owner of the bridge, makes all of the decisions concerning the bridge. Decisions to inspect; what to inspect, where to inspect and what to the information obtained by the inspections and what action is to be taken. The same can be said about the maintenance, repair and replacement the bridge. The alterative is to do just enough to get by or to do nothing.

It is beyond me how a state agency can own a bridge that is built for the common good of the citizens and paid for by the citizens of the state of Minnesota. Roads and bridges are just one example of things that are held in common by the citizens of our state. Other examples would be our waterways and the very air that we breath, just to mention a couple. All of these are held in common by the citizens of our state and are referred to as the common wealth of the state.

The part that the elected officials and the appointed officials play in this is one of stewardship. When we elect officials to office, we the citizen are vesting these officials with the power to act as stewards of the commons (common wealth) of the State of Minnesota. The same can be said for the appointed officials -- they too are stewards of the commons.

This doesn’t mean that citizens get a free ride. Citizens are obligated to provide financial support through a system of taxation and fees to insure that high standards are achieved and maintained for the commons. The check and balance is the ballot box.

Are our elected and appointed official acting as good stewards of the commons or are they acting as politicians and owners?

Charlie Zea
Madelia, MN