It’s not every day that you hear Ivy Taylor quote Jack Nicholson.

But that’s what happened last month toward the end of the mayor’s visit with the San Antonio Express-News Editorial Board. My colleague Josh Baugh asked Taylor about a proposed land bridge that would connect the east and west sides of the 311-acre Hardberger Park, which currently are divided by Wurzbach Parkway.

Taylor laughed and recalled Nicholson’s famous line in “Terms of Endearment,” when Shirley MacLaine’s character revealed that she loved him and demanded a response: “I was just inches from a clean getaway.”

Taylor said former Mayor Phil Hardberger had taken her on a tour of the site and made a pitch for the city to include $15 million in 2017 bond money for the land bridge, which not only would provide a safe crossing for people and wildlife, but would spare park visitors from having to drive three-fourths of a mile from one side of the park to another.

Taylor’s reaction was tongue-in-cheek, but it reflected a serious (if publicly suppressed) discomfort at City Hall: discomfort both with the the price tag of the bond request, and with the thought of blocking the pet project of a revered former mayor, for a popular park that carries his name.

While no one on the council has publicly voiced objections to the project, there have been private grumbles that $15 million is a lot of public money to commit to an idea that its skeptics view as admirable, but hardly essential, given that the park has managed to thrive for six years in its divided state.

For her part, Taylor maintained a noncommittal position but could not hide her concerns about the cost.

The land bridge would be the second major Hardberger Park-related bond expenditure by the city in a decade. After Hardberger dramatically saved the old Voelcker family dairy farm from private development in 2006 with the city’s purchase of 107 acres, the 2007 bond program included a $33.5 million commitment for the purchase of an additional 204 acres. That allocation represented more than 40 percent of all the parks-related money spent in the 2007 bond.

The projected overall cost of the land bridge is $25 million, but the Hardberger Park Conservancy is hoping a city commitment for $15 million will help the conservancy leverage the rest of the funding from private sources and/or the county.

Betty Sutherland, executive director of the conservancy, said the park has raised more than $1 million in private donations, and is paying for all the bridge’s design work.

“There is not another bridge anywhere in the United States, and really not anywhere in the world, that’s exactly like ours,” Sutherland said. “Every time we’ve done a major presentation, with all the major boards, everybody loves it and says, ‘We want to build this.’”

Hardberger Park straddles Districts 8 and 9 on the North Side, so it’s no surprise the most enthusiastic council support for the project comes from District 8 Councilman Ron Nirenberg and his District 9 colleague, Joe Krier.

A decade ago, as president and CEO of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, Krier encouraged Hardberger to have the city purchase the Voelcker property, on the grounds that it was a “once in a century” opportunity.

“I told him, 100 years from now, no one is going to ask, ‘What did this cost?’ Everybody is going to say, ‘What a brilliant move to get this,’” Krier said.

Krier argues the same big-vision, long-term thinking also should be applied to the bridge, which he believes will become an “iconic” attraction to people from all over the world.

Nirenberg has been something of a Hardberger protégé, with the former mayor backing Nirenberg during the 2013 District 8 race, and continuing to offer support and guidance since then.

“Parks are a core service of the city. We need more of them,” Nirenberg said. “With Hardberger Park, the conservancy keeps a running tally of where visitors come from, and they’re from all over the city, and in fact well beyond the city — in some cases overseas.”

No one would dispute the citywide nature of Hardberger Park’s appeal, or its importance in an increasingly populated city with limited open space.

Ultimately, however, the bridge issue may come down to what makes the council feel more uncomfortable: saying yes to shelling out $15 million or saying no to Phil Hardberger.

An earlier version of this column credited Councilman Joe Krier with approaching Phil Hardberger in 2006 with the idea of the city acquiring the land that ultimately became the park. Krier merely encouraged Hardberger to make the purchase.

ggarcia@express-news.net

Twitter: @gilgamesh470