Editorials
Digging our troubled economic hole deeper
Hernando Today
Published: October 7, 2009
The issue: Repaving the Suncoast Parkway bike trail.Published: October 7, 2009
Our opinion: A total waste of taxpayer dollars.
County commissioners must have been blinded by the dollar signs in their eyes.
What other excuse could they have for giving the county's public works department the go ahead to apply for $1.27 million in federal stimulus money to resurface 20 miles of the Suncoast Parkway bike trail through Hernando County?
To even the casual observer, this is an incredible waste of tax dollars. Anyone who actually uses the bike trail knows it's ridiculous.
Not only does the bike trail not need to be repaved, it's in near pristine condition. While there may be a few rough spots that need to be repaired, it's simply foolish to spend $1.27 million on something that's in perfectly good shape.
It would be like getting your new car painted because of a parking lot door ding.
It's not too late to stop this lamebrain project. It's time the taxpaying public rises up to stop this insanity of spending millions, billions - heck, trillions - in federal "stimulus" funds simply because the government has the printing presses running at full speed and lawmakers are shaking the money tree.
The federal government is broke! How many more irresponsible bike trail stimulus projects is this country funding? We dare bet there won't be enough Golden Fleece Awards to go around.
Our children and grandchildren are going to have to repay this debt simply because our generation didn't want to be held accountable for our financial mistakes and the greed that perpetuated them.
That's not only wrong, it's immoral.
It's projects like repaving the Suncoast Parkway bike trail that got us into this economic disaster to begin with.
Does anyone honestly think that repeating these mistakes at twice the cost is actually going to get this nation back on secure economic footing?
A wise person once said, "When you've dug yourself into a deep hole, the first thing you do to get out is put down the shovel and stop digging."
Resurfacing the bike trial was advanced because it's a simple, shovel-ready project.
That pretty much says it all.
Put down the shovel, for crying out loud! There are plenty of other desperately needed projects that this money could be used for.
Otherwise, tell your 5-year-old to thank her future daughter for our new and improved bike trail, which will probably be in dire need of resurfacing when your granddaughter is old enough to ride on it.
Problem is, by then, there probably won't be any money available to repave it.
At least our generation got a smooth ride - even if was at our grandchildren's expense.