©2003 by Tomasz Sienicki

Communities have so many needs but have to balance those needs with the size of their respective coffers, as well as political considerations. Projects that take millions of tax dollars to see through will almost always be polarizing. Some communities have even been known to come together over fighting for or against costly government undertakings. Florida Governor, Rick Scott, recently refused federal funds for a high-speed railway for the state. It prompted passionate responses on both sides of the aisle and even a collaborative spirit from members of both parties to still try and find a way to get the system built.

While it’s nearly impossible not to politicize these types of issues or for them not to somehow trigger your ideological sensibilities, they often permeate those considerations. What do such issues mean for your employment? For your family’s well being? For your neighbor? For your environment? What are the potential cultural implications?

It’s easy to feel completely removed from even your local government’s decisions–to feel powerless and eventually grow apathetic. Unfortunately, that can often lead to not getting involved until after a decision is made that has adverse consequences for your life and maybe even that something was turned down that would have been beneficial.

What We Want to Know:

• Have you experienced a time when a high-dollar government project has brought your community together to work for or against it?
• What kind of things do you feel your community needs right now from the local government?

This post was inspired by a Red State article titled “Let’s Build a Railroad to Nowhere, for the Sake of Building a Railroad to Nowhere.” The article takes a one-sided, ideological approach to this particular issue, but nevertheless, got our wheels turning about the subject. This topic feels especially relevant with all of the federal activity surrounding Public Broadcasting funding. SOTRU makes no bones about where we stand on that. It’s too important fiscally, culturally and as a rich public resource. Contact your representative about this issue and tell them where you stand. You can also visit 170 Million Americans to learn more.

Tags: local government, railway, tax dollars

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011 at 11:38 am and is filed under Community Oriented. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.