Bice Disclosure Raises Need For Independent Ramp Collapse Probe

You hoped this sort of things wasn't coming, but there it is: a disclosure by Dan Bice that the Walker administration at the Courthouse has hired for $300,000, on a no-bid basis, a politically-connected firm to carry out inspections of County buildings in the wake of the fatal ramp collapse at O'Donnell Park.

I had had faith that the probe by the Sheriff would be competent, and maybe it is.

And I know that the DA's office is involved, which is good.

But when there is a fatal or significant accident in the transportation sphere - - an airplane, a train, a major highway pile-up and even the I-35W bridge collapse in Minnesota a couple of years ago, an independent agency - - the National Transportation Safely Board - - steps in from the beginning as an outside technical expert.

Because it's in the public interest to get all the facts and make sure there are no repeat tragedies anywhere.

Did anyone in County government look into that?

A parking garage owned by a public agency that is part of a road-and-bus system complex in a highly-trafficked area could easily fit into the NTSB purview.

That Walker and his people weren't smart enough or cautious enough to keep their contributor-linked contractors away from the entire disaster - - even its aftermath - -tells me that no one in county government is facing the full gravity of the situation.

This isn't a knock at the people carrying out the investigation - - it's really to make sure they have all the resources they and we the public need.

Time to get the NTSB involved.