Publication Date: Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Federal well could run dry
Federal well could run dry
(February 16, 2005) President's proposal would have local impact
President's proposal would have local impact
(February 16, 2005) by Bill D'Agostino
If approved by Congress, President Bush's federal budget proposal unveiled last week would cripple two federal programs that aid Palo Alto's crime prevention, help build affordable housing in the city and, especially, support social services.
Predictably, Palo Alto politicians were extremely critical of the plan.
"The devastation that is created by these random acts to cut the budget, and at the same time asking for $88 billion to fund a war, is just idiocy," Palo Alto Mayor Jim Burch said. "Plain and simple idiocy."
The largest single hit would come from the elimination of funding for the Community Development Block Grant program. The city received $929,440 this year to allocate as it wishes. Among the funds' targets in 2004-2005 are nonprofits and city programs that build affordable housing, provide homeless services and aid Mexican day laborers.
"If there were any deeper consideration for how to balance this budget, it wouldn't be on backs of the poor," said attorney Chris Kelly, who sits on the city's CDBG advisory committee.
Nationally, the CDBG program gives $4.7 billion to numerous localities. Bush has proposed consolidating its funds, along with 17 other programs, to create one new $3.7 billion program.
"I'm not sure if Palo Alto would receive any of the funds from the new program," said Eloiza Murillo-Garcia, Palo Alto's CDBG coordinator.
Supporters of Bush's plan, like the Heritage Foundation, argue the CDBG program provides too much tax money to rich communities. But Palo Alto critics said such funding is a lifeline for locals living in the economic margins.
"Everybody has a responsibility to step up," Kelly said. "This is an attempt by the federal government to abdicate that responsibility."
The Palo Alto Housing Corporation is consistently awarded one of Palo Alto's CDBG grants. This year, it received $41,173 for support of residents in the extremely low-income Barker Hotel and another $22,300 for other supportive services for residents in its low-income housing.
"It's been a good source of money," said Marlene Prendergast, the corporation's executive director. "It would be a shame to lose it."
Another local hit from Bush's budget would be the extreme reduction of the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program.
Last year, the Palo Alto police department received $100,000 from the program to purchase, among other items, a bar-coding system for evidence collection, replacement motorcycles for traffic cops and a laptop computer for sexual assault investigations.
In the past, the police department has gotten funds to purchase bulletproof vests and enhance homeland security training.
"It lets us purchase equipment and do extra programs that we would not be able to do with our regular budget," Capt. Brad Zook said of the grants. If the program ended, "It's going to stop local police departments' ability to be creative and service the community appropriately."
Bush has proposed decreasing the funding for the COPS program from $499 million to $22 million.
Staff Writer Bill D'Agostino can be e-mailed at bdagostino@paweekly.com.
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