I'm flabbergasted at how much Covid/Stimulus money is still floating around at all levels of government, and how it is being spent. Wishlist projects are being funded, either directly or indirectly, because of the surplus funds.
Lehigh and Northampton executives jointly announced that they're purchasing 40 air monitor stations to be spread out across Lehigh Valley. When I grew up during our postwar boom, I could see dozens of smokestacks emitting 24/7. Some old stacks remain, but they are just idle monuments to our industrial past. Even our smoke now is imported, currently from Canadian forest fires.
Those concerned with air quality can go to the weather gimmick on the right sidebar of this blog's web version. Simply click on the current temperature, and the app will open with details, including air quality. Excuse my blog promotion, an app is also on your cell phone. The data come from the monitors at LVIA, which is close enough for any practical purpose.
photo pilfered from O'Hare's Ramblings
Government always finds ways to spend our tax dollars but never ways to save it. In this they are always proud, as we see in this photo.
ReplyDeleteI worked in government service for several years. "Use it or lose it" is the adage which applies for unspent funding.
ReplyDeleteThis is a tremendous waste of money. It is buying things that local government would never spend their “own” money on.
ReplyDeleteIt is a failure of every level of government to properly account for their spending. What possible tie-in to Covid could this spending have?
Where will the excess money to compile the data, maintain and replace these monitoring stations (as they wear out) come from? Surely our “leaders” are setting some of this windfall aside to deal with those future costs, right?
Proponents argue these monitoring stations will be used against the proliferation of warehouses in our communities. This, by the way, is not a county issue. It’s one for local municipalities to deal with, since they control the zoning.
ReplyDeleteAnd let’s be real, if local politicians really wanted to stop warehouses there are plenty of ways to do it already.
What is lacking is the political will to stop them. In the end, local politicians continue to approve more warehouses because it will bring the additional tax revenue they need to cover their irresponsible spending.
It’s a vicious cycle that won’t be stopping anytime soon.