Without any hat tip to Yours Truly, the mainstream media seems to be waking up to the fact that Metro Council is on track to earmark 100% of the $1.95 million in "Reserve Council Infrastructure Program" discretionary funds to private non-profits. None of the funds so far have gone to any actual public infrastructure. Council members use their own discretion, and I have yet to see any council debate over any specific request or on whether funding these non-profits is appropriate or necessary. The earmarks sail through.
The City Paper says that 3 or 4 council members (who get $48,000 each) promise to earmark some of the public funds for public projects. But with 40 council members, that is not a high rate of yield for actual infrastructure. Only one council member--Mike Jameson--has committed to letting his constituents decide; that seems fair since the taxes were collected from constituents in the first place. He is taking proposals from the neighborhood associations in his district. Still no word on how District 19's Ludye Wallace is going to spend his windfall, but he has not made any overtures around here that I know of.
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