Guarino’s keeping an eye on Greensboro City Council member Robbie Perkins.
Perkins is chairman of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, which oversees transportation planning in Greensboro. So he’s been in the news a lot lately as state and local officials try to remedy the noise problems along Painter Boulevard.
Guarino draws this conclusion:
But then, we learned last week that Perkins was at the meeting held regarding Painter Boulevard. He was advocating that city taxpayers pay to repair the damage that had been created.
So let us understand. Roads and other public projects are best if they are pro-development. They are to be viewed through this prism.
When development interests dutifully capitalize upon the existence of new roads, and adverse impacts result such as noise, it is the duty of the local taxpayer to pay for the amelioration of those impacts. Use the taxpayers’ money to keep the system churning.
In fact, according to this worldview, there is no higher use of public dollars than the promotion of private real estate development. That is why we are to support road construction bonds, roads like “Painter Boulevard”, and also Greenways.
With that in mind, one sentence in today’s article on a possible $114 million transportation bond blew me away:
City Councilman Robbie Perkins said there also had been discussion of including about $1 million in housing bonds, but keeping the city’s transportation network on track is the overriding need now.
That Perkins recognizes the city’s transportation needs are a top priority is but little comfort when discussing a large bond package that, by the way, could include $34 million for greenways and $25 million for “streetscapes.” But the fact that the city would even consider $1 million in housing bonds is not a comforting thought at all.
Is there no end to government’s wish list?
