Bridge giveaway: Missourians should be concerned about Katy Trail

By Jay Nixon

Think back to a time in Missouri when a governor, major philanthropists, civic leaders, state officials and landowners put aside political differences and personal gain and worked together for the good of the state.

Twenty years ago Gov. John Ashcroft and philanthropists Ted and Pat Jones led the effort to rail bank -- put aside abandoned railroad lines -- for the creation of what is now the 225-mile Katy Trail State Park.

As a young state senator, I stood in admiration of the leadership, creativity and selflessness of these state leaders, as well as property owners along the trail, who joined together to make this dream a reality. Today the Katy Trail is a state treasure attracting more than 300,000 hikers and bicyclists from across the world each year and serving as an economic engine that creates jobs for rural Missouri.

So imagine my surprise when I learned that the director of the Department of Natural Resources wants to give up the state's property interest in a portion of the trail to a large private corporation, creating a gap in the rail corridor that could jeopardize the future of the Katy Trail. The decision to give away the state's interest in the historic Boonville bridge -- the longest lift-span bridge in the world when it opened -- to Union Pacific does just that.

It is a shortsighted gift to a corporation -- given by an unelected bureaucrat, not by our elected representatives -- which comes at the expense of Missouri taxpayers and those who use and enjoy the Katy Trail. It also comes at the expense of the citizens of Boonville, who have been raising money to develop the bridge as a tourist attraction and who prepared a study showing that the bridge could be put into use as part of the trail for only about $1 million.

As attorney general, I have gone to court to prevent the release or surrender of the state's property interest in the bridge. Dale Whitman, a dean emeritus at the University of Missouri law school and a nationally recognized expert in property law, has said the state possesses a property interest in the bridge. It would be no more valid for DNR director Doyle Childers to give away the state's interest in the Boonville bridge to a private corporation than it would be for him to give away portions of Trail of Tears State Park to private interests.

Pat Jones, whose gift of $2.2 million was instrumental to the trail, recently stated, "Rail banking the complete rail corridor, including the Boonville bridge, was an important factor which led to our decision to give money for the Katy Trail." What kind of message does this giveaway send to a new generation of philanthropists considering the greater good of future generations of Missourians, including the retired founder and CEO of Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Jack Taylor, who has pledged $200,000 to save the bridge?

A bigger question remains: Why would the governor and DNR allow the destruction of a historic bridge and give away what is considered a $10 million asset to Union Pacific? And what happened to that time, not very long ago, when the leadership of this state placed the common good and the general welfare above the needs of corporate special interests?

Jay Nixon is Missouri's attorney general.