LITTLE ROCK — As the Clinton Presidential Center plans to celebrate its fifth year, it still has one big, rusty job left to do: Build a 21st-century bridge to North Little Rock.
Since the nonprofit group bearing the former president's name formally promised to renovate the Rock Island Bridge in 2001, it has spent millions of dollars fighting HIV/AIDS and poverty, and it has leveraged nearly $50 billion more from titans of commerce and philanthropy to fund do-gooder work around the globe.
But as it has transformed from a library-building enterprise into one of the world's most influential charities, the William J. Clinton Foundation has put off one of its first responsibilities: fix and open the century-old bridge to public use.
Now, after years of delay during which Pulaski County planned, funded and completed two pedestrian-bridge projects of its own, civic leaders are siding with local activists in pressing the foundation to make good on its word.
"The community in the greater sense of the word is interested in seeing this process come to completion," Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola said Friday. "I think anyone would admit that it's taken longer than anticipated."
In August 2001, Clinton stood before more than 1,000 people in east Little Rock to talk of the coming presidential center, with an artist's rendition to fill in the gaps. He spoke of the foundation's expected global outreach and the new public-policy school that would be on-site.
He also talked about the bridge, sharing his hope that it would soon become an internationally recognized landmark. The foundation dreamed of a promenade near the bridge, maybe with shops and a cafe.
Clinton added his own touches: "I would like to light it up at night," he said. "There is no place like this anywhere in America."
Since then, the foundation built and opened the library to great fanfare. It also renovated the Choctaw Railroad Station into the Clinton School of Public Service and began to work on a wetlands project just upstream from the bridge. And, thanks to a vigorous international fund-raising drive, it has paid off all its construction debts.
During the same time, Pulaski County started and completed the $12.5 million Big Dam Bridge, the popular pedestrian span that crosses the Arkansas River about 7 miles upstream from the presidential library. That bridge opened Sept. 30, 2006. The county also planned and finished a $5.8 million renovation of the downtown Junction Bridge, which opened for public use May 17, 2008, and has since served as the unofficial eastern anchor of the region's much-touted 14-mile River Trail loop.
The rusty Rock Island Bridge, which stands just outside the presidential center and helped inspire the design of the $165 million library and park complex, is supposed to serve that role. And the continued delay - which forces cyclists and joggers to take the Junction Bridge elevator or stairs - has frustrated trail advocates.
"The work they're doing around the world is marvelous and admirable. And you can't criticize it," said Gene Pfeifer, a longtime critic of the bridge delays. "But those initiatives weren't even envisioned when they made this promise. And you fulfill your first promises first, in my opinion."
Pfeifer was forced to sell his property to the city for use by the presidential center. He fought the city in court and lost. But he said his continued advocacy for the bridge completion is driven by other motives.
Pfeifer is an avid cyclist who donated other property to part of the North Little Rock side of the River Trail loop.
"I've long forgotten the library issue," he said, noting that regional cycling organizations, the Fifty for the Future civic group and others have sided with him. "This is about trails."
FINDING THE MONEY
In the proposal to lease - at $1 per year - the 28 acres on which it built the library and park, the Clinton Foundation promised to spruce up the span. It figured the job would cost $5 million and that the foundation would provide $4 million. The city would kick in $1 million.
The details were to be fleshed out later in a separate agreement between the city and the Clinton Foundation. No agreement has ever been made. But Little Rock has tried.
The city sent the foundation a proposal on Sept. 18, 2008. Among other things, it stipulated that the foundation would pick up any costs above the city's $1 million share. The draft put maintenance and operation costs on the city and other local governments, and it required the foundation to offer a project timeline by April 1.
The foundation never replied.
Foundation spokesman Jordan Johnson acknowledged the lack of response, but he added that informal discussions have occurred.
"We've been in constant contact with the city about the progress being made on identifying the funds to renovate the bridge," Johnson said. "They're well aware of what's going on."
He wouldn't elaborate, other than to say that the foundation is close to finding the money.
Over time, estimated costs of the bridge project have swelled as high as $13 million. Johnson said Friday that the estimate has now dropped to $10.5 million.
Little Rock still expects to pay its $1 million. The foundation says its commitment remains at $4 million. But Johnson added that it has paid an unspecified amount for several project studies, and those efforts won't count toward the $4 million.
'THESE THINGS TAKE TIME'
As the foundation turned its focus away from the Arkansas River and toward the rest of the world, it spun off several charitable initiatives to combat world poverty, climate change and disease. Clinton's sway over world and business leaders has secured $46 billion toward those ends, according to the foundation's 2008 annual report.
Its work doesn't come cheaply. The Clinton Foundation operates in more the 40 countries and hosts expensive annual get-togethers with the world's top philanthropists. Since promising the bridge, the foundation has spent more than $36 million on travel and fund-raising, according to tax records and its 2008 financial report.
Meanwhile, annual revenue has soared to nearly a quarter-billion dollars. And the foundation began this year with more than $144 million in cash and short-term investments, according to its financial report. More than $94 million of that is locked up for future HIV/AIDS medication purchases, and all but $3.6 million of the rest is earmarked for other, unspecified expenses.
Donors can designate their money for specific initiatives, including upkeep of the Clinton Presidential Center and a default - "Wherever it can help the most."
Johnson did not have a breakdown of how foundation contributions are designated, and he suggested that the foundation would not release such information anyway.
"The bottom line is we hold firm on our commitment to the $4 million," Johnson said. "The Clinton Foundation is an international organization. These things take time."
The city, meanwhile, bid for federal money from February's economic stimulus or the 2010 transportation spending bill. Neither effort worked.
Stodola said he's still hopeful that big announcements could come soon. He said the foundation has secured donations of both money and building material. And even if the city is pressing the issue more than in the past, Stodola said, the Clinton Foundation is committed to getting the bridge renovated, and done right.
"They've convinced me they're very sincere about getting this done," he said. "They're genuine about it."
Front Section, Pages 1, 13 on 08/23/2009