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Riverwalk, Streetcar, USF Get Funding In Budget

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By BILLY HOUSE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 20, 2007

WASHINGTON - Tampa will get $300,000 for a new segment of its Riverwalk and $1 million to extend the TECO Line Streetcar System to the central business district under a huge spending measure given final passage Wednesday by the U.S. House.

Millions of other dollars in funding sought by Tampa Bay area members of Congress will go to items ranging from a University of South Florida program to deal with childhood obesity to new police computers for Plant City to construction of a Polk County Community Center.

Passed by the Senate on Tuesday night, the package blends the budgets of 14 presidential Cabinet departments into a huge 3,565-page bill totaling $555 billion in spending. It also includes $70 billion to fund the Iraq war well into next year.

President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law.

Critics say the measure contains too many "earmarks," items inserted by lawmakers for pet projects in their home districts that some say drive up the costs of federal government to taxpayers.

One Washington-based good-government group, Taxpayers for Common Sense, says it so far has found in the bill at least 8,983 earmarks worth $7.4 billion. Combined with 2,161 earmarks worth $7.9 billion in the approved defense spending bill, the group says that totals 11,144 earmarks worth $15.3 billion this year.

"This represents a reduction over previous years; this is a good start for taxpayers, but Congress still has a long, long way to go before earmarks get to manageable levels," said Ryan Alexander, the group's president. The group estimates that Congress has cut back on earmarks by about 25 percent from two years ago. Congress says it has reduced earmarks by 40 percent, and the Bush administration says it's closer to 15 percent.

"Over the next several months, we are going to find all sorts of buried treasure for special interests littered throughout the bill," said Alexander.

The $300,000 to construct a new segment of the Tampa Riverwalk was requested by Rep. Kathy Castor, a Tampa Democrat.

She also got the $1 million for the streetcar system to extend from the convention center to the central business district.

A few other local projects funded in the bill at the request of Tampa Bay area members of Congress:

• $136,000 for the Plant City Police Department for new digital and computing technology to help in the collection of evidence - requested by Rep. Gus Bilirakis, a Republican from Palm Harbor.

•$695,000 for the Pinellas County Forensic Lab - requested by Rep. C.W. Bill Young, a Republican from Indian Shores.

• $564,000 for Temple Terrace Phoenix House, which provides therapeutic intervention for teens with low-severity substance abuse - requested by Castor, Bilirakis and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.

• $200,000 for construction of the Polk County Community Center - requested by Rep. Adam Putnam, a Republican from Bartow.

• $446,000 for aquaculture in Florida, California and Texas - requested by Rep Ginny Brown-Waite, a Republican from Brooksville, Nelson and others.

• $3.9 million in operation and maintenance funds for Tampa Harbor, to fund "Cut G" section of the main channel, shoaling needs in Port Sutton and emergency shoaling at Alafia Channel - requested by Nelson and Martinez, backed by Castor.

• $536,000 for the University of South Florida Childhood Obesity Initiative, a College of Public Health program - requested by Castor.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at (202) 662-7673 or bhouse@tampatrib.com. Keyword: March on Politics, for an expanded list local projects receiving funding.

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