The table may tilt so that public money slides into the hands of private interests yet again as Massachusetts opens its purse to receive stimulus funds for "shovel-ready" projects.
Whose shovel? This money may wind up in the hands of private developers whose big plan isn't suited to the present hard times, but who won't take the bad with the good like the true capitalists they claim to be.
Gov. Deval Patrick has long been pushing a $10 million grant to the developers of the Columbus Center project in downtown Boston. Meanwhile the state's roads and bridges are aging, a point Patrick has made loudly in his pitch for a 19-cent-a-gallon gas tax increase to maintain them.
So why give Columbus Center $10 million when even more than Massachusetts' share of the stimulus money is needed to repair roads and bridges and expand public transit in the state? Why make it more expensive for people to get to work while private developers get public money?
According to a recent article in the Boston Globe, "The governor wants to use some of the expected $5 billion to $6 billion for bridges, roads, and other construction near private development, but it would have limited impact if those builders can't move forward." Notice the phrase "near private development." What about other places, including rural areas?
The Globe goes on to quote Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Greg Bialecki: "We will have about $500 million in new road and bridge money. But admittedly, it would be a better thing if those dollars were a catalyst for private developers to build their buildings."
A better thing? Better than maintaining and improving public transit? Better than making roads and bridges safer, including those in less populous areas? It will be outrageous if, after the misuse of bailout money that's been tracked at financial institutions, more taxpayer dollars are sidetracked from rebuilding the nation's commons and turned into slush funds for private business.
