Executive
Waste of the Day: Throwback Thursday: ‘Bike Showers’ Took Money from Bridge Repairs
The federal government spent money on a bike center, within walking distance of a bridge that had recently collapsed.
Topline: Given the choice between repairing dangerous bridges or opening a café for bike riders, most taxpayers would probably choose the first option.
The bike center gets the money
But in 2008, the federal government decided it would rather spend $560,000 on the Freewheel Midtown Bike Center in Minneapolis, Minn. then on saving the nation’s bridge repair fund from bankruptcy — even though a bridge three miles away from the bike center had just collapsed.
That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S. Senator Dr. Tom Coburn. For years, these reports shined a white-hot spotlight on federal frauds and taxpayer abuses.
Coburn, the legendary U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, earned the nickname “Dr. No” by stopping thousands of pork-barrel projects using the Senate rules. Projects that he couldn’t stop, Coburn included in his oversight reports.
Coburn’s Wastebook 2008 included 65 examples of outrageous spending worth more than $1.3 billion, including the $812,000 in 2024 dollars spent on the bike center.
Key facts: When the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed on Aug. 1, 2007, killing 14, the government acted swiftly. A bipartisan group allocated $234 million to build a replacement bridge that opened at the end of 2008.
The tragedy did not teach officials an obvious lesson in allocating resources wisely. The Federal Highway Trust Fund, used to repair deteriorating bridges, was almost out of money. But six days after the I-35W collapse, the Senate voted 80-18 against fixing bridges and roads by taking money away from bike paths.
That opened the door for the Freewheel bike center to open in May 2008 within walking distance of the ruined bridge.
Amenities
The rest stop featured two kinds of showers: the normal kind and “bike showers” for cleaning equipment. Other amenities included a “bike valet” with indoor parking and a barista serving mixed drinks.
In September 2008, the Department of Transportation announced that the Federal Highway Trust Fund was bankrupt.
Since then the government has been forced to transfer $275 billion from other sources to keep the fund solvent.
Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com.
Summary: Public money should be used to address life-threatening issues before putting the money toward valet parking.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.
This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.
Adam Andrzejewski (say: Angie-eff-ski) was the CEO/founder of OpenTheBooks.com. Before dedicating his life to public service, Adam co-founded HomePages Directories, a $20 million publishing company (1997-2007). His works have been featured on the BBC, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, FOX News, CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), Forbes, Newsweek, and many other national media.
Today, OpenTheBooks.com is the largest private repository of U.S. public-sector spending. Mission: post "every dime, online, in real time." In 2022, OpenTheBooks.com captured nearly all public expenditures in the country, including nearly all disclosed federal government spending; 50 of 50 state checkbooks; and 25 million public employee salary and pension records from 50,000 public bodies across America.
The group's aggressive transparency and forensic auditing of government spending has led to the assembly of grand juries, indictments, and successful prosecutions; congressional briefings, hearings, and subpoenas; Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits; Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports; federal legislation; and much more.
Our Honorary Chairman - In Memoriam is U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, MD.
Andrzejewski's federal oversight work was included in the President's Budget To Congress FY2021. The budget cited his organization by name, bullet-pointed their findings, and footnoted/hyperlinked to their report.
Posted on YouTube, Andrzejewski's presentation, The Depth of the Swamp, at the Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar 2020 in Naples, Florida received 3.8 million views.
Andrzejewski has spoken at the Columbia School of Journalism, Harvard Law School and the law schools at Georgetown and George Washington regarding big data journalism. As a senior policy contributor at Forbes, Adam had nearly 20 million pageviews on 206 published investigations. In 2022, investigative fact-finding on Dr. Fauci's finances led to his cancellation at Forbes.
In 2022, Andrzejewski did 473 live television and radio interviews across broadcast, major cable platforms, and radio shows. Andrzejewski is the author of The Waste of the Day column at Real Clear Policy. The column is syndicated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of nearly 200 ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates across USA.
Andrzejewski passed away in his sleep at his home in in Hinsdale, Illinois, on August 18, 2024. He is survived by his wife Kerry and three daughters. He also served as a lector at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church and finished the Chicago Marathon eight times (PR 3:58.49 in 2022).
Waste of the Day articles published after August 18, 2024 are considered posthumous publications.
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