Mesa charities ask the government to steal money for them!

We are told the purpose of government is to do things the private sector can't do. But in ALL these cases mentioned in this article the private sector can do these things with out any help from the government.

It sounds like this is just a welfare program for private charities. I suspect the private charities get votes for the government rulers in exchange for the pork they receive.

Source

Mesa Council committee agonizes over charity grants

Members struggle with social agencies' requests

by Gary Nelson - Dec. 23, 2010 02:51 AM

The Arizona Republic

If you listened carefully, you could translate the parched language of bureaucracy into a community's cry of pain.

During two meetings totaling more than three hours this week and last, a City Council committee agonized over dollars and cents being requested by cash-strapped social-service agencies - and the city itself - to deal with some of Mesa's most urgent needs.

The money comes from Uncle Sam in the form of various grants. The biggest pot of money is Community Development Block Grants, a 36-year-old program aimed mostly at housing and economic development.

This fiscal year Mesa got $3.4 million from CDBG, and the time is at hand to decide how next year's $3.7 million will be divvied up.

Requests totaling more than $6.8 million were reviewed by the Housing Advisory Board and Economic Development Advisory Board. Their recommendations went to the council's Community and Neighborhood Services Committee, which didn't exactly break out the rubber stamps.

Mesa's Economic Development Office, for example, wanted $500,000 to renovate the city-owned building at 51-55 E. Main St. in hopes it finally can be sold, possibly for use as a restaurant.

The economic-development board trimmed that request to $350,000, and the council committee trimmed it further - all the way down to zero.

Councilmen Dave Richins and Dennis Kavanaugh said they weren't comfortable using CDBG money for the project right now, especially since the coming of light rail in a few years might make the property far more attractive to developers.

For the same reasons, the committee also scratched Mesa's $400,000 request to rehab the former Tri-City Community Services building at 225 E. Main St.

One victory for Mesa's Economic Development Department: $115,000 to fund a position dedicated to downtown.

One of Mesa's premier social-service agencies also took a few lumps.

A New Leaf originally sought $750,000 for plumbing repairs at its La Mesita family shelter on West Main Street. The housing board bumped that down to $450,000.

The council committee settled on $380,000, telling A New Leaf President Mike Hughes that it's not enough just to repair the 60-year-old La Mesita buildings but that the shelter should be expanded, perhaps doubling its 30 units.

At one point, council member Dina Higgins questioned La Mesita's long-term viability, noting that it's on the path of the light-rail extension and could be a prime candidate for redevelopment.

Hughes rejected that idea, saying his agency already has heavily invested there and that clients need access to Main Street's transit system.

"To suggest we should vacate that and use it for something else - I think that would cause many, many problems," Hughes said.

Some agencies came out of the meeting in better shape than they started.

The committee recommended the West Mesa Community Development Corp., for which Richins used to work, receive its full $90,000 request for basic funding, as well as four other grants for specific projects. The housing board had rejected the $90,000.

Housing Our Communities, another bedrock Mesa institution, would receive $40,600, as opposed to the recommended $10,600, to help people stay out of foreclosure.

The committee figured Housing Our Communities could do a better job at that than a Phoenix-based, union-affiliated charity that had asked $25,000 for the same purpose.

The committee's recommendations will go to the full City Council early next year.