In 1969,
George Schlatter was riding high as the producer of the high ratings blockbuster,
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. So when Schlatter pitched a show to ABC that was like Laugh In only more so (with faster jokes, faster editing, and even more outrageous topical humor), ABC was willing to let Schlatter have free rein. The result was
Turn-On, a show that bombed so badly it was cancelled the very night it aired.
[more inside]
posted by jonp72
on May 6, 2010 -
43 comments
Now there's a time but I say none like now: After the eastern cantilever span of the
Oakland-Bay Bridge collapsed in the
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, CalTrans engineers recommended
replacing it with a
cable-stayed bridge. The estimated cost was roughly 1 billion and would be completed in 2003--that is, until the Mayors Brown got involved.
Then-SF-Mayor Willie Brown objected to the
new design, saying the abutment at Yerba Buena island would interfere with his planned condominium development. Brown coaxed the Navy--who owned the land on which the foundation would be built--into preventing CalTrans from performing soil-engineering tests, saying the new bridge wasn't safe, making references to
other bridge disasters, and interviewing engineers all over the Bay Area until he
finally found one who agreed with him.
Jerry Brown--
former governor of California and current mayor of Oakland--
voiced his opposition, calling the design a "bland viaduct" and proposing an international competition to design "a world-class bridge." When CalTrans told Brown his objections were a year late, he dug up an
old Frank Lloyd Wright design and asked CalTrans, "Say, can we
put trains on it, too?" The delays and design changes have increased the cost to over five billion, and its completion date is anyone's guess.
According to Governor Schwartzenegger, this is the Bay Area's problem, not California's. (Fine then! Can we have
our water back?) Fifteen years, two audits, and
one angry architect later, the questions remain: how and by whom will this new bridge be funded,
what will it look like, and
will it be finished when the
The Big One hits?
posted by fandango_matt
on Nov 29, 2004 -
18 comments