Published: July 24, 2008 11:00 pm            

OUR VIEW: State's Spaulding delays are inexcusable

Six months ago we were told the money was approved to knock down the rest of the old Spaulding Fibre plant on Main Street in Tonawanda.

Call us crazy, but when news comes down in February that the money is on its way, it shouldn’t take six months — more than half a construction season and counting — for it to arrive.

Looking for a spectacular example of how New York state gets in the way of progress, well you found it.

This is taxpayer money, not some private sector investment. The money came out of the pockets of every taxpayer in this community. Last time we checked it didn’t take six months for the state to cash an income tax check.

Like tax bills that never seem to go down and utility bills that always go up, so too is this true: Getting the money you’re promised from the state for a project of supreme importance to a community is like trying to get blood from a rock.

No one understands the mechanisms for how this money is distributed. It’s probably languishing in a bank account somewhere accruing interest and dust, waiting to be spent. One thing we can tell you, though, is this process sure isn’t built for speed. Money for projects that are time and weather sensitive should be given first priority. And no community should have to wait half the year or more to cash a check that politicians couldn’t wait to announce was on its way.

Residents in the neighborhood were promised that the work would resume this summer. Now that the time has arrived, no one on the local level has been given a nickel, much less a clue of when they will.

Good news, John Q. Public! Take six months to get the mortgage payment in the mail. Pay those school taxes whenever you feel like it. The cable company can wait until you’re ready and the grocery store will happily send you the bill, due at your convenience.

Apparently that’s the law of the land in New York, right?

We’ll put this in some language these red-tape wielding bureau-cant’s will understand: Give us our money.

        

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