Hamilton County Tax and spenders!

I saw this article in the Noblesville Ledger. Now I am all for mass transit and other infrastructure items that we may need now and in the future, but some of this is getting as crazy as Carmel concert halls. This same crew just bought an unfinished office building out by Home Depot for $1.7 million to free up parking and space in the government center. Oh ya it will also help all the folks going to the health department so they will not have to go thru security to get into our government meetings. Now we are going to spend local tax money on lobbying the federal government in all honesty for a bridge to no where. That's right a walking bridge to get from downtown across the river to arrive at, I guess the hospital parking lot. But then again there is also Councilman Steve Schwartz's business over on that side of the river. Hmmm, tax dollars are work by a political official who's business may benefit. I think at the least Mr. Schwartz should not be leading this effort. So much for the so called fiscal conservative Republicans running Hamilton County. Looking at the latest lobbying reports of late it sure seems like our local tax dollars are being spent very well by our cities and towns with big Indy Law firms for Lobbying services.

Peace and Enjoy.

June 14, 2008 County plans to lobby for federal funds for Riverwalk's Phase 2 By Chris Sikich Chris.Sikich@TheNoblesvilleLedger.com NOBLESVILLE -- County officials are planning a trip in early 2009 to Washington, D.C., to lobby for federal funds for the $2.3 million second phase of the Riverwalk project. Phase 1 should be complete this year, commissioner's assistant Fred Swift told Noblesville's downtown steering committee Friday at City Hall. That committee is in charge of revitalizing downtown, and members suggested the city become more involved in the second of the three-phase Riverwalk project. The Indiana Department of Transportation awarded the first-phase contract to Ohio-based Sunesis Construction for $961,981. That will create a walkway from the Hamilton County Government and Judicial Center to the county parking lot south of Conner, mainly to allow county employees to avoid crossing the busy road. Phase 2 will create a path from there to the Forest Park trailhead on Eighth Street, which in essence would finish a trail from Riverside Cemetery to Potter's Bridge. Mayor John Ditslear said he would like to join or sit in on Riverwalk committee meetings and go to Washington to show the city's support for the county project. Ditslear wasn't sure if the city would lend funding, saying he'd prefer to look for other sources first. He plans to contact Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., to see if they would help get funding for the project. The Riverwalk's third phase will develop the grassy area behind the judicial center into a park-like setting, and downtown committee members viewed that as a county project. County Councilman Steve Schwartz, who heads the Riverwalk committee, said by phone Friday that he's glad the mayor wants to be involved in the project, and Ditslear would be welcome at meetings and on the Washington trip. "This trail is just a huge asset," Schwartz said. "If you go up to Potter's Bridge, there are people up there all the time, and that's what we want downtown." Schwartz hopes to learn if the project will receive federal funding sometime in 2009. If it does, construction could start by early 2010. He said officials would have to think hard about funding the project locally, because that funding might be better spent on mass transit options that the Metropolitan Planning Organization is considering from Noblesville to Indianapolis in as soon as 3-5 years.