UPDATE: Readers have been flooding my box with complaints about the cost, the lack of public scrutiny. But the projects' many supporters ask: If these projects aren't started, what projects will get built in Pennsylvania this year?
EARLIER: The lame-duck administration of PA Gov. Ed Rendell today listed the final round of General Assembly-approved Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) giveaways to developers and nonprofits distributed all over the state, from Pittsburgh and Erie to Philadelphia and its suburbs, with plenty of projects in small cities and rural counties in between.
These projects will be funded from the state's recent $600 million bond issue, and from expected future bond sales under new Gov. Tom Corbett, says Rendell spokesman Gary Tuma, who called them "investments" in the Commonwealth's economic development. (He notes that, per person, Philadelphia ranked around the middle among the 67 Pennsylvania counties, for per-capital spending "during the Rendell Administration.")
I wrote earlier about last-minute projects in the City of Philadelphia here and here.
Here's some of the larger projects in the suburbs, and links to the statewide lists, which includes smaller suburban projects as well as larger ones in Philly:
New RACP grants awarded, pending matching funds (hit link, see all):
$6 million for River Station at Downingtown
$5 million for renovations at the Cheltenham Shop-Rite
$2 million for St. Mary's Medical Center, Langhorne
New RACP funds released (hit link, see all):
$5 million for the Lansdowne Theatre and Central Business District
$4 million for Springfield Road Plaza and Plaza II in Delco
$3 million for a Widener University Academic Facility in Chester
$2 million for the Valley Forge Corporate Center "revitalization"
$2 million for Godiva factory in Bucks County
$2 million each for township athletic facilities in Darby and Lower Makefield
$2 million for the developers of the former Franklin Mint site in Delaware County
Two suburban projects not on the current list: millions the General Assembly approved for developer Dennis Maloomian's Village of Valley Forge shopping center proposal, and for developer Albert "Moose" Greenfield's Valhalla luxury housing development in in Wallace Township, Chester County. Greenfield declined to comment.
Un-freakin believable!!! Rome burns while Nero fiddles!— dogman5- The Franklin Mint? Are they still in business?— JerryCurlan
- When you say he gave "last gifts", do you mean with his money or ours? If I steal a $100 from you, giving it to my friend who kicks back $10 - is that what you call a "gift"? Sounds more like the corrupt political spending that Fast Eddy is famous for, and which the Inky regularly endorses.— Beethoven987
- We all saw how Gov Rendell spends our money, I have to wonder if he is that careless with his own!— BigE
- Wasn't Fast Eddie the one saying that we have a budget shortfall and we need to raise taxes? And here's all this money being thrown around. Hey Rendell, if you had this money laying around to give away, why not pay off some of that debt!— ChuckPip
- $5mm to renovate a Shop-Rite? There are so many things wrong with this I don't even know where to start.— knicks84
- Your link did not include the $42 million Rendell wants to give to Akers to build ships that have no buyers. Estey is involved in this.— junethe4th
- and yet pa has nomoney for hsr or bridge repair.— dreinterests
- Joe, I really wish you had run the lists of city projects and suburban projects at the same time. The differences are telling. The projects in the city are mostly related to museums, culture, arts, education, and economic development. The suburban projects appear to be mostly government backed cash for strip mall projects. But of course, we can expect people to be angry at the money used to develop the city becuase....well...we don't really know why.
My bigger problem with this post and with other things you've written is that you seem to assume that public projects are wasteful without even assessing their possible benefit. You seems to have bought into the "pork" rhetoric of conservatives, which is oversimplistic. That's a shame because without big public projects, some of which went overbudget, we wouldn't have any major cities, airports, highways, railroads, universities, museums, I could go on and on and on.— CCcomment - Actually, I amend that last comment. There are some worthy-looking suburban projects. I've got nothing against the burbs, I just think investment in urban spaces reaches more people.— CCcomment
- If you're a regular reader of this column in totality, you'd know that Joe is balanced in his reporting.— MikeP
- CC, I should think it's the responsibility of the people in state government who fund these projects to demonstrate they will actually create jobs and be worth the public investment. Should be required pre-approval, no? I know from your recent comments on another post that you are blandly accepting of Philadelphia's economic mediocrity, you don't think we should stand comparison with Boston or San Francisco. You're also fine with our dependence on hospitals and colleges, even though ours are in trouble because the region's private economy is stagnant and they don't have enough patients or students to sustain growth. Sounds like things are fine for you & you're not worried about the rest. You sure you're not a PA politician? June, this article is about the RACP program, we wrote about the Aker debacle last week. Mike, you're generous. Thanks all.— distefj
Shop Rite renovations? Godiva Project? Franklin Mint? Valley Forge Corporate center? Shopping Plaza's? Why are these private companies all getting public taxpayer monies? Skinny Ed is greasing all his buddies with HUGE corporate welfare payments right before leaving office. What, no dough for TastyKake???— The Monk
Capital is on strike in the USA. Corporate America takes the money out of our nation in the form of accumulated capital from profits and builds up Brazil, China, India, anywhere but here, where they come from. If banks will not lend and corporations will not reinvest, I will not allow ridiculous ideologues to agitate for the liquidation of America by Americans. As a sovereign nation, we will simply invest the money raised from the public to keep business growing. You do not get to have an opposing opinion, that the United States of America can be dissolved like a joint stock corporation whose time has come and gone. The point of our sovereignty as a nation is the institutional power to preserve our social order in the face of any threat, military or economic. The Democratic Party and Gov Rendell especially, are demonstrating strategic pragmatism, to keep the jobs, and companies afloat until a more stable economic environment is established. That is the primary role of government, not to go out of business like some cheap rug dealer or obsolete industry. Those that think otherwise need to change their attitudes in order to help rebuild from the mess we are now in. The sovereignty of our government is absolute, not subject to the temporary insanity of limited government factions who are rebranded anarchists with stock portfolios.- I am glad that Rendell listened to the politicans and citizens of Wallace Township and did not fund the "Playground for the Rich", Valhalla Brandywine. Thanks to all the people who signed the petition to Rendell asking him not to fund this project.— Tim.J
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