News item — Illinois’ mass-transit agencies could lose up to more than $4 billion in federal money for capital improvements and service expansion programs could be doomed if Gov. Rod "Perfect Hair" Blagojevich fails to put more state dollars toward public transportation, two lawmakers warned Thursday.
U.S. Reps. Melissa Bean, D-Barrington, and Mark Kirk, R-Highland Park, sounded their alarm after hearing preliminary details of Gov. Blagojevich’s 2009 budget proposal...
Among the shortcomings, Ms. Bean said, was a plan to spend $1 billion over the next three years on improvement programs at the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace.
“That is $1.7 billion short,” she said... Illinois public transportation projects qualify for a total of $4.1 billion in federal funds for capital improvements, she said, but only if the state ponies up a total of $2.7 billion. The state has to provide 40% of the funding for each project in order to get the federal funds for the project.
“If we can’t find the additional dollars, we are going to leave the federal dollars on the table,” she said. “The money is there, but the money will be gone.”
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1 comment:
Can't they sell naming rights to his hair? or at least put a billboard on deres?
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