Council Continues to Shunt Infrastructure Funds to Non-Profits

It's another Metro Council Meeting Tuesday, which means it's time to bankroll some more non-profits with local taxes.

Metro Council members requesting discretionary funds are still not able to bring themselves to spend anything on sidewalks, parks, libraries, or any other government service that helps the community. In what looks like more cronyism, five resolutions are up for council vote tonight, and every one of them would send more tax dollars to private non-profits

• $5,000 for Nashville Inner City Ministry, Inc. (Ronnie Greer; opposed by the Metro's Legal Eagles because of Establishment problems).
• $25,000 for Senior Citizens, Inc. (Jim Forkum, Brenda Gilmore, Greer, Diane Neighbors, Adam Dread).
• $22,250 for Continental T-Belles Track Club, Inc. (Gilmore, Jamie Isabel)
• $10,000 for Bellevue Exchange Club Foundation, Inc. (Charlie Tygard)
• $5,000 for Education Equal Opportunity Group, Inc. (Walter Hunt)

Earmarks in this hit list include a laptop computer, lighting upgrades for a private ballfield, and dinner theatre performances here.

These requests will push the total amount of tax dollars going to non-profits over $300,000, while nothing has been spent yet on public infrastructure. Still no public outcry or ground swell of opposition against this revenue dump.