This morning's SF Chron headliner about $10B in Federal school aid stimulus got me thinking about how well the leaders of our Island paradise interface with our State and Federal representatives.
In my best Joe King "Thoughts on the Run" manner not too long ago, I found myself meditating about the toxic/Superfund situation out on the Point. I can't remember the numbers off hand and I'm too lazy to look up the specifics, but my best estimate is that whatever the Navy says is in the ground you can bet there's at least 5X more than they estimate. From a cost/resource standpoint, I'd start at 10X and work my way back from there. Let's just say there's more than we think out there and the estimate to clean it up is way more than we're planning for. I think we can all agree on that.
So as I gnashed my teeth on that one, I started thinking about our man in Congress "Pete" Stark. How often does our Honorable Mayor and City Council meet with Pete? And what about our Environmental Senator, Barbara Boxer. Is she helping? Does she know about the situation? The opportunity? The economic impact? DiFi? Are you there? Are our local elected officials actively working with our State and Federal representatives to pull down our fair share? Even Barbara Lee - she represents the district right next door! You think some of her constituents might be looking at some jobs on the Point (assuming we can ever get there)?
Why isn't AUSD highlighted in today's Chronicle article? Granted those funds are intended for building, special ed and other specifics, but why are we hiding in the background?
Del isn't advocating bridges to nowhere here, but this is how the system works. Fed money trickles down and if you're not in the face of your Congressperson and Senators, you're not on the radar. Where is our City Council on this? Are we burdening them with low level details and decisions that their hires can make?
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
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