The Journal Gazette's Sunday Perspective section presented what was probably meant to be a comprehensive look at downtown redevelopment. But the effort seemed a lot like the downtown initiatives themselves -- isolated looks at individual projects, without any sense that an overall vision is in play. A baseball stadium is problematic. People living downtown is a pretty good idea. Replacing a boring bridge with a cool (!) one (!!) is an exciting idea!!!
The most remarkable passage in the three pieces is this, from the bridge editorial:
Does the $4 million represent yet another pork-barrel project that drains the federal coffers? Most likely. But once the money is designated, it would be foolish to give it back.
Think about that a minute. Sucking up money and passing it around like meth or crack to a drug addict is a horrible idea that goes against just about everything this country was founded on and stands for. But, hey, we've got ours, and just try to pry it out of our addicted grasp. Most likely? Sheesh. If everyone felt like that . . . but, come to think of it, they do.
