My profound gratitude to you for republishing this story.

My colleagues and I — who burned up a lot of our years opposing the unnecessary destruction of OKC Union Station with everything we had — stand today on the verity of our charges and assertions, now sadly borne-out by ODOT’s ugly work.

Yes — ODOT admits “$700 million,” but the project is not finished — and the price of replacing what was mindlessly, treacherously destroyed is as yet unknown. True price is pretty well certain to top $1.5 billion — here in the land of “all of these conservatives.”

What are they “conserving?”

It wasn’t Oklahoma City’s historic, long standing landmarks. It wasn’t wasn’t “the last, grand, capital-city rail passenger center in the West with all its original train-handling space intact.”

It certainly wasn’t “taxpayer dollars,” as Utah Ernie Istook likes to say.

Nor was it our former wealth of irreplaceable rail connections to places like Tinker AFB and Will Rogers Airport from downtown.

What WAS “conserved” was the place of ODOT’s cadre of favored-highway-contractors at the public trough — oh, yes — and the well-deserved reputation of OKC leadership to trample the poor and minorities.

Meanwhile, despite all the hoopla, not one thing of practical benefit to the working people of Oklahoma has changed in OKC over the last 20 years — except the loss of readily, cheaply-convertible rail transportation options that would have been of immense benefit to us all.

Keep on telling the truth, friend. Oklahomans need to hear it.