The long-awaited effort to cut spending in Washington, D.C. is having a positive effect in Jacksonville already.
It was announced from City Hall that $147 million in federal funds for the Emerald Trail would not be forthcoming, as the government strives to avoid even more crippling debt.
Just four years ago, the cost to build the trail was estimated at around $132 million. Like all government projects, it just kept growing.
What liberals envisioned was a 30-mile sidewalk through some of the worst neighborhoods in Jacksonville but rather than seeing it as a mugger’s dream come true they view it as the golden path Dorothy and her friends skipped along enroute to Oz.
Local media swoon over it as if people actually were going to walk the length of the trail. They say it will “connect” parts of the city already connected by streets and sidewalks.
It is “urban planning” at a ridiculous new level. The only saving grace to it is that it would involve cleaning up two major creeks in the area that are long overdue for repair.
You would think local officials would know by now that it is best to avoid falling into the trap of grabbing federal funds, which always require spending local funds as well. That is how we got the “Skyway Express” and its ongoing cost, with little benefit.
But politicians have no institutional memory.
Even if it were desirable, the Emerald Trail has to compete with other needs. The city needs a new jail, the sheriff says, and there are plenty of other projects lingering on the five-year capital outlay list.
In addition, the city foolishly has committed billions of dollars to replace septic tanks that are operating perfectly well.
At the same time the city was tearing out septic tanks, the county health department issued 657 permits to build new septic tanks in 2022-23. Why would they do that if septic tanks are hazardous to our health?
Mayor Donna Deegan seems bent on using local funds to replace the federal money but the better course is to trim back the extravagant plan to an affordable point.
