Waukesha County is the land of the Tea Party, huge GOP turnouts and representation in Congress by anti-government foamer Cong. Jim Sensenbrenner, (R-Fifth District) but a special federal financing plan is about to rescue a big apartment project in Oconomowoc.
I say, hooray. The region needs affordable, multi-unit housing, and this project through a city/federal/private investor financing arrangement will meet that very pressing need.
And this is exactly what government can and should do.
But tell me how the government haters out there, including, Sensenbrenner, can live with the double-standard and double-talk.
Remember that Sensenbrenner is already helping the City of Waukesha get eligible for a $100 million federal financing deal to defray some of the cost of its controversial and perhaps unaffordable Lake Michigan diversion, which means taxpayers far and wide will subsidize the effort.
Which is exactly the reason that Sensenbrenner and other Republicans and so-called small-government advocates have given for attacking high-speed rail and other federal programs that gather money from all taxpayers and route it to specific communities or projects that not everyone will use.
The hypocrisy is Onion-worthy.
Well, Jimmy... or should I say let them drink from their own wells JAMES?
ReplyDeleteYour friends say that if you don't help them with water, they will die.
You don't seem to care.
Please; comment:
The city is doing a good job right now supply compliant water.
ReplyDeleteWaukesha has been getting a steady stream of federal grants to help with the water situation, and that's appropriate. Whether the feds should pay 60% is another question, as the city fought the feds for years over the rules and delayed the inevitable.
History here - - http://thepoliticalenvironment.blogspot.com/2010/12/waukesha-about-to-enter-year-twenty-six.html
Some consistency from GOP leaders' about earmarks would be nice.
The argument of the government haters has no merit -- and never has had any. Sunday, The New York Times had a story about the hugely successful makeover of Times Square, a government-led project from start to finish. New York and Times Square may be symbols of capitalistic enterprise, but capitalism has always depended on government participation and leadership.
ReplyDelete