XPost: pa.politics, pgh.opinion
From: nospam@verizon.net
On Tue, 26 Aug 2003 22:33:07 -0400, "Fetch, Rover, Fetch"
wrote:
>Gary J. English wrote:
>
>> In the waning days as Pennsylvania's Governor, Mark Schweiker went on a
spending
>> spree dolling out nearly $350 million in CRP grants, otherwise known as
"WAM'S"
>> or Walking Around Money.
>>
>> Less than five months after taking office, Governor Rendell orders a freeze
on
>> the CRP Grants in the middle of May, coninciding with the state's budget
>> deficit. Michael Masch, a Rendell advisor cites that, "A review is
necessary in
>> order to ensure that the limited available Commonwealth capital funds are
>> targeted to those projects with the HIGHEST POTENTIAL FOR IMPROVING
>> PENNSYLVANIA'S ECONOMIC OUTLOOK".
>>
>> A month later, the CRP Grants start to flow again. This time under the
control
>> of our new Governor, Ed Rendell. Since the mid-May announcement, Rendell
has
>> now released the following grants:
>>
>> 6/12/03......$ 8 -million Pittsburgh Children's Museum
>> 7/03/03......$15 -million Carnegie Museum-Dinosaur Hall
>> 8/16/03......$40 -million Erie Convention Center development
>> 8/22/03......$ 4 -million Hunting & Fishing Museum in Forest County
>> 8/23/03......$ 1.6-million Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum
>>
>> Fast Eddie seems to forget that there is a budget deficit! Do these grant
>> recipients, especially the Hunting & Fishing Museum meet the criteria of
>> improving the economic conditions in Pennsylvania? Rendell needs a little
>> reminder from all Pennsylvanians.
>
>personally - I am not opposed to:
>Children's, Carnegie, or Railroad museums; even in deficit times.
>
>hunting and Fishing museum??? what the hell is that for - the largest
>fish and/or dear ever caught???
>
>convention center - well.... this one I am on the fence about -
>
>in theory: a convention center will bring in outside $ to area as many
>of the users of the facility will be from out side the area. (this is
>why I am not as upset at the pgh convention center as the stadia).
>Bringing outside $ into a region is GOOD
>
>in practice: I expect (although I could easily be wrong) that a
>significant % of the 'outside' money would just be coming from other Pa
>areas - specifically Pgh.
Sorry Skip, I'll have to disagree with you on this one. Keep in mind, the
state
still does not have a budget as it was vetoed by Rendell. Then there is the
budget deficit to consider while Rendell is on a spending spree.
Yea, Rendell halted Schweiker's grants, only to reinstate them with a little
photo op and his check presentation ceremonies.
Gary J. English
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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