Gas tax figures and debate

File — Box: 1, Folder: 6

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: The papers, letters, studies, and manuals were collected by Lindgren during his years as the mayor of Fargo. There is a great deal of correspondence covering permit application, support and opposition of the bridge, flood management, and the numerous issues and concerns the construction of the bridge raised. The Papers are divided into five series: Overview, Correspondence, Legal, Manual/Studies and Bridge Company. The Overview Series provides an understanding of the bridge controversy. It contains newspaper clippings that detail the debate over the construction and the political efforts by the cities of Fargo and Moorhead to have the bridge built. Included is an article by H. Elaine Lindgren that documents the citizen protest movement and contains an excellent time line of events in the debate’s history. A letter by Lindgren provides an official’s view of the bridge debate. Meeting minutes are included because they show the decision making process of accepting or refusing the bridge plans and the efforts by the Bridge Company and private citizens to build or block the building of the bridge. The gas tax material is also included since the city proposed such a tax to fund the construction of the 12th Avenue bridge. The Correspondence Series covers a wide range of information. The permit application procedure is well documented and the behind the scenes efforts of citizens and city officials to impede or push through the application is also well documented. The citizens’ support and opposition of the bridge is covered. People were concerned about the impact on pollution, residential safety, and recreation the bridge’s construction would have on the surrounding area. City officials of Fargo and Moorhead had strong feelings about the bridge which is reflected in letters written between them. Exclusion from federal funding to help with flood damage repair and flood prevention measures promoted city officials and concerned citizens to contact FEMA about the bridge’s impact on Fargo’s status of maintaining federal funding. The Legal Series consists of agreements between Fargo, Moorhead, and the Bridge Company and lawsuits filed against and by the City of Fargo. Citizens Organized for Residential Protection filed lawsuits against the city to prevent construction of the bridge. The City of Fargo sued Cass County over bridge construction funds and the Fargo Park Board over the amount of land condemned for construction of the bridge. The agreement between Fargo and Moorhead was necessary since each city needed to purchase the right of way. The Public Hearing of September 30, 1983 is included because it was necessary for the Army Corps of Engineers to hear final plans and citizen concerns before making their judgment about issuing a permit for the bridge’s construction. The Department of the Army Permit is also included because it was a direct result of the public hearing. The Manual/Studies Series contains plans for the 12th Avenue Bridge, its alternatives, economic studies, traffic studies and flood studies. The Army Corps of Engineers used Moore Engineering’s plans to determine the flooding based on computer models. Residents in the area near the proposed bridge counted traffic over a twenty-four hour period on several different occasions to determine if the bridge was feasible. There is a manual published by the Coast Guard on how to apply for its bridge permits. The majority of the studies and manuals deal with the construction of the bridge and its impact on the FargoMoorhead area. The Bridge Company Series contains very little about the company itself but does provide some information about the company and its motives behind building the bridge. The Bridge Company sent its own studies and plans to the Army Corps of Engineers without the approval of the City of Fargo several times and later sent their plans to the city council, which is included in this series. In the early 1990s the Bridge Company was having a difficult time paying the taxes, investors and operating costs so they attempted to have a law passed in Bismarck that made them a tax exempt entity.