Both of New York's US Senators, its Attorney General, the Erie County Executive, nearly all members of the Buffalo Common Council, the Baird Foundation, the Landmark Society, many other officials and organizations, and most of the public favor the Freschi-Lin signature bridge. The only elected officials of note who support the twin span are Mayor Anthony Masiello and Congressman John Lafalce. I can't understand Lafalce's position on this, since on most public interest issues he's been a pretty sensible guy. Masielo and Lafalce are now in an ever-thinning minority, so we needn't fret about them. The really puzzling question is why Brian Lipke and his supporters cling to and vigorously defend a design hardly anyone wants or likes.
Some people say it's all about money, but that's too simple.
Most of the people who are going to make money on this will make money whatever bridge design is selected. Not all, but most. The Authority's entrenchment began to make sense to me last week when I heard another PBA board member angrily tell a TV reporter that if people wanted a signature bridge they should have come up with the idea three or four years ago, that the board had invested a lot of time and energy working on the twin span and it wasn't right to just move on to something new now. No, it just wasn't right. Not after they'd done all that work.