If Sam Adams proposes anything less than a 12-lane bridge across the Columbia, he will be doing so for the sake of "appearances" and because of a "lack of substance," City Commissioner Randy Leonard told me last week.

Adams, who postponed a council recommendation on the number of lanes for the bridge three weeks ago ["Columbia River Confusion," News, Feb 5], has been working on a new recommendation, which he'll present to council on February 25.

A champion of that elusive "sustainability," Adams is now under pressure from environmental advocates and Metro Council President David Bragdon to nut up and recommend eight or 10 lanes for the crossing—along with aggressive tolling to prevent more lanes from inducing higher demand for the bridge. In the past, Leonard might have offered to work with Adams to broker a face-saving deal with Adams' opponents on the issue, like Leonard's buddy, Oregon AFL-CIO boss Tom Chamberlain, who supports a 12-lane crossing. But that was before the Breedlove scandal sullied their relationship.

A proponent of 12 lanes, Leonard points out that sustainability advocates don't have many hard numbers to bolster their arguments that fewer lanes will be better for the environment. Because of this, Leonard says he's become the target of "name calling" by groups like the Coalition for a Livable Future, when he's asked them to come up with statistics to support their claims. But Leonard has also thrown a confusing foil into his own argument, saying he's willing to spend the extra $100 million to build a 12-lane bridge and then stripe it for 10 lanes, if necessary.

It is arguable, however, that Adams' reputation as a sustainability champion is in fact based on "appearances" and a "lack of substance," to quote Leonard. And if Adams comes back to council next week with a 12-lane recommendation to placate Leonard, well, then I guess we can forget about the mayor's green appearances for the time being.

"My work on this project isn't about, 'Is my position the same or different than Randy?'" Adams insists. "My hope is that we can put something together that even Randy can agree with."

Right now, Adams seems to be damned either way. Leonard seems to be daring Adams to burn a bridge with him by proposing fewer lanes for the crossing, which is likely to cause a big city council bust-up, or to burn another bridge with his own cherished reputation as Portland's green emperor. Either way, Adams loses. And I strongly suspect that Commissioner Leonard knows it.