Monday, March 16, 2009

Patrick's Photo-Op

Remember these?

The State Budget Swindle

Governor Guts State Services

Pigs at the State Trough

A Slow Saturday Special: Statehouse Slush Fund

Start calling back and cutting there first! Please keep those things in mind (and the tax hikes) as you read the propaganda piece, I mean news report.

"Patrick to launch affordable housing effort; Will make use of foreclosed homes" by John C. Drake, Globe Staff | March 16, 2009

Governor Deval Patrick today will launch a statewide effort to turn foreclosed homes into affordable housing, and will break ground on a major bridge project as part of a push to show that state and federal money are going to work to repair a fractured economy.

Patrick plans to describe the new housing program in an event with US Representative Barney Frank in New Bedford, a city that has struggled with the effects of foreclosures. The state's Department of Housing and Community Development is giving a $300,000 grant to the nonprofit Citizens' Housing and Planning Association.

Here the state is wasting and shoveling away millions, and yet they are scrounging for a few hundred thousand for housing. I'm sick of it, readers. Every day.

The association will serve as a clearinghouse to connect bank-owned foreclosed properties with local community organizations that will purchase the homes, upgrade them, and make them available for use as affordable housing for low- and middle-income families, said Joe Landolfi, Patrick's director of communications.

Landolfi said state money would not go directly to the purchase of homes. Boston previously launched foreclosure prevention and mitigation efforts, which include buying foreclosed homes for use as affordable housing. But Landolfi said this is the first such statewide push in the nation to convert foreclosed homes into affordable housing.

From there, the governor will meet with Mayor Thomas M. Menino to break ground on a $125 million project to replace a 73-year-old drawbridge over Chelsea Creek connecting Boston and Chelsea. This will be the first project to launch out of a $10 billion state capital investment plan to fix crumbling roads and bridges. The bridge replacement has been on the books since 2007 and will create an estimated 150 jobs.

Patrick is planning to make stops across the state over the next two to three months announcing other job-creating projects made possible through the state's share of funding from the federal Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act, through state grants, and through the state's capital spending program. In addition to infrastructure and housing projects, the governor will be announcing funding for healthcare, education, and technology investments.

Yeah, what's the CARBON FOOTPRINT on all his TRAVELING AROUND so he can SELL how GREAT HE IS? And TAXPAYERS will be FUNDING IT ALL, too, huh? Yeah.

"Governor Patrick feels strongly that the primary focus of government in this serious economic downturn is to do everything we can to secure the state's economic future," Landolfi said. "That means doing whatever we can to create and sustain jobs and opportunities for Massachusetts citizens and businesses to regain their economic footing."

The state last week announced the first highway projects - road resurfacing and sign replacements valued at $30 million - funded as part of the state's $437.9 million allocation for highway projects. While the state is gathering information from the federal government, the state is expected to receive $6 billion to $9 billion in federal stimulus funds to launch construction projects, stave off teacher and police officer salaries, and address the housing crisis.

Yup, the feds to the rescue, blah, blah, blah, blah.

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I'm tired of agenda-pushing garbage, can you tell? I've got other things I must attend to today!