January 16, 2008

Congressional cash for Bristol?

If a town of 8,900 in Alaska can get $350 million for a bridge to nowhere from Congress, city leaders figure that Bristol ought to be able to tap into the same budget earmarks system to help get funding for downtown revitalization.
Mayor Art Ward said he’s asking Bristol’s congressman to seek $2 million for downtown and $1 million for flood control efforts in the city.
Ward said that U.S. Rep. John Larson, the East Hartford Democrat who represents the 1st District, “feels he can be very beneficial to Bristol.”
“It’s something we can avail ourselves of,” the mayor said.
Ward said that collecting money through the earmark system can take many months, but it will be worth it if the process leads to more money for Bristol.
Earmarks generally refer to congressional allocations of specific amounts of money for a narrowly defined item – a teapot museum, the repair of a specific building, the construction of a new stretch of highway.
While some earmarks make national news because of the seemingly ridiculous nature of the spending – such as the bridge in Alaska that would provide access for 8,900 people to an airport on a nearby island – most are the routine stuff of government.
Ward said that he’s not sure how the $2 million for downtown would be spent.
But, he said, it could perhaps be used to pay for the streetscape improvements eyed for Main Street.
Getting Larson’s backing for flood control efforts in Bristol could put the initiative to combat flooding along the Copper Mine Brook and Pequabuck River on the fast track.
Army Corps of Engineers officials have told the city that assistance from a congressman can help speed up the measures they can take to lend a hand to control flooding.
Congressional budgets are theoretically completed before the federal fiscal year begins on October 1 so the city likely won’t know for certain until fall whether any money is included for its projects.

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Alway nice to ask for funds during an election year.
Larsons office was approached for Flood assistance a year ago.

Anonymous said...

Hey arty , give ME 3 million dollars and I'LL try to figure out something to do with it .

Talk about big ones ....

It might be time to hide the key to the liquor cabinet .

Anonymous said...

Don't hold your breathe.

Anonymous said...

..."It might be time to hide the key to the liquor cabinet." Wow, how incredibly clever...bet you keep the whole trailer park in stitches! If you don't have anything intelligent or constructive to say, please spare us your wit...

Anonymous said...

10:33am - get a job - learn to read and it might even be a paid job, if you have to think it might even be for minimum wage, seek training - oops, not happening, stupid.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
10:33am - get a job - learn to read and it might even be a paid job, if you have to think it might even be for minimum wage, seek training - oops, not happening, stupid.

January 17, 2008 10:50 PM
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Ward said that he’s not sure how the $2 million for downtown would be spent.

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Yoo Hooo ..... Artie clearly has no clue what to do w/ the money if he gets it .... I , however suspect it will end up in some union pockets . :-(

Anonymous said...

.....10:27am - and if ward had stated that the money was going to be used for a specific purpose, you would have said that he was off base by not being flexible in allowing the monies to be used for multi-purposes.
I am truly starting to believe that a degree from "MORON UNIVERSITY" has become the major qualification for posting on this site. Guess that you should be recognized for graduating "magna cum louder."