Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Mikulski: spending your money with disregard for common sense

Barbara Mikulski is pushing for legislation that will put computers and "libraries" (whatever that entails) in affordable housing complexes. This legislation will allow $400,000 to be spent on such facilities in Howard County, but it is part of a $42 billion spending package.

The federal funding would pay for the design and construction of the community rooms as well as any equipment, according to Mikulski.

“First, Senator Mikulski did a tremendous job in pushing this to the forefront for us,” Spann said.

“Our aim is to equip these places with libraries and computers so they can access information but also have the opportunity to advance themselves.”

The bill next moves to the Senate floor for a vote, which hasn’t been scheduled.


Is it just me, or is this just a waste of money? We already have ridiculously well funded libraries in this county. Do the residents of these affordable housing complexes in Howard County not own cars or have access to Howard Transit other means of transportation that could get them near near a library? Shouldn't that be the first thing that a steward of public money would check before spending it?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

More wasteful spending from Democrats. Un-freaking-believable! They say there is no way to trim spending, then they go out and pull this crap. No wonder we can't get tax breaks. The County should politely turn this down. Why do we need special libraries for these housing developments? Democrats buying off voters by spending our hard earned money as if it were unlimited. If Mikulski thinks it's a good idea she could hold a fundraiser for it instead of reaching into our pockets yet again.

Anonymous said...

This is exactly why affordable housing should NOT be located in Western Howard County (as so wisely suggested by Barbara Russell). Affordable housing, for it to be truly affordable, must be located near transit and/or services.

If the developments in question are marooned without access to libraries, then perhaps better transit connections - to libraries, jobs, health care, etc.- would be a better investment with a larger payoff, for the county and the residents.

Anonymous said...

Great point Anon 9:09. Your second paragraph should have been Stacy Spann's response to this plan from Mikulski.

Instead, Spann's response showed that he is not in touch with subsidized housing residents. He would rather give needless praise to a prominent democrat.

Anonymous said...

Comments on local blogs have dropped to a drip. Can we move from these topics that were covered in the immediate past?

Ideas:

Nationally: What's with the offshore drilling polls - Do most Americans really believe drilling/big oil is the answer? Are people really that short sighted?

Have you seen the T Boone Pickens ad?

Locally: Superintendent of schools just got a huge salary increase - seems untimely. And what about teacher pay in Howard? Why so high for the hours worked and the relatively calm student body? Do they give up their summer jobs now that their pay is on scale with full-time workers?

Hyper local: Should Columbia have a mayor?

Should Ellicott City have elected seats to jockey for county support?

And there's lots more to say about the unneighborly neighbors targeting a woman for her yard waste/decor.

Anonymous said...

And, will HOAs continue to nix energy conservation by banning clothes lines, windmills, solar panels, wood piles?

Anonymous said...

anon 8:00 - agree

anon 9:09 - agree/yes

f.m. - agree

anon 7:23 - yes/yes/yes/yes/no/agree

anon 7:25 yes

o.k. all points were made, responses provided, just as in years past. Can someone record this so we don't have to repeat the same old, same old, next year???