The old saying of “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me” may hold true for the citizens of Green Park who elected a new mayor and aldermen in April and now may find themselves with new officials but the same old problems.

The incumbents were thrown out of office due in large part to concerns over the ill-conceived Green Park Road project and the trash-hauling fiasco.

It appears that the Green Park Road project has not been killed, as hoped by many in the city, but has actually expanded. In some very preliminary research on the increased construction costs for road projects over the last two to three years, I’ve discovered that there have been significant increases in the cost of excavation, concrete and steel as well as diesel fuel that runs the equipment. I have sent my research cited from the Missouri Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Associated General Contractors of America to my Ward 1 officials and will state just one example, the MoDOT Approach to Program Management, which cites increases in materials from 2003 to 2006:

• Pavement concrete per cubic yard — 62.7 percent.

• All mixes asphalt per ton — 52.7 percent.

• Reinforcing steel per pound — 42.3 percent.

Taking just these potential double-digit cost increases for materials into consideration, it seems to me that the city of Green Park could find itself in debt from the first day of construction due to the fact that the granting agency’s dollar amount is fixed.

We will get not one more dime from them regardless of how much the final project eventually costs.

To add to this potential debt, the board is discussing acquiring property that will add hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional expenses for the city. How much of city reserves will go to a road that will surely encourage more traffic through a residential area? Yes, money has been spent on this boondoggle so far, but why should we throw good money after bad at a project that does not accomplish the intent of diverting commercial traffic away from Green Park Road and might bankrupt the city in cost overruns borne solely by the city?

Citizens of Green Park, do not forget this is your money. It did not appear in the coffers from the Good Fairy overnight and when it is gone, city officials will look to you to pay the outstanding bills remaining after the well has gone dry.

Of course, city officials still haven’t addressed the issue of instituting business licenses to regulate businesses in our community and to generate revenue. After all, why should the people who run a business for profit in the city of Green Park pay their fair share when the city can get the money from its citizens? Don’t let the city officials fool you twice.

Marilyn Broughton

Green Park