Hours after Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) issued a report outlining – in his opinion – 100 projects that are earmarked unnecessarily for federal stimulus funding that included improvements to the 14th Street Skatepark in Long Beach, Councilmember Robert Garcia issued a statement in opposition. In an editorial published today, the Press-Telegram said, “the 14th Street skateboard park deserves its relatively modest share.” The White House also issued a point-by-point rebuttal of Coburn’s report, playing on the title of his original text with the title “A Second Look At A Second Opinion.” The White House’s stance on the 14th Street skatepark reads as follows:
96. A California skate park will get a $620,000 “facelift.”
Response: MISLEADING. This project would be funded under the CDBG grant
program, and no CDBG grants have been awarded yet.
The acronym CDBG stands for Community Development Block Grant, a program run by the Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) that aims “to address a wide range of unique community development needs.”
The park lies in Garcia’s 1st District. His statement is published in full below:
“The Long Beach 14th Street Skatepark is an essential recreational facility for young people in one of the most vulnerable and densely populated areas in the country. Residents have strongly advocated for the park for many years. The park will bring jobs and an improved quality of life to Long Beach, and offer positive activities to youth who might otherwise be left to fend for themselves on the streets. I’d like to personally invite Senator Coburn to visit our community and to tell the kids who want and need this park why he wants to take it away from them.
Despite Senator Coburn’s very visible opposition to federal spending on everything from bridges and wilderness protection to medical research and alternative energy, his state receives about $1.36 for every dollar it pays in Federal taxes, while California gets back just 78 cents on its tax dollar. In fact, Oklahoma receives from the Federal government approximately 1,000 dollars more per person on average than does California. This is just more evidence that Tom Coburn is out of touch and that his grandstanding about the stimulus bill is worse than irrelevant – it’s patently hypocritical.
This is a park we can all be proud of, and I’m proud to let Senator Coburn know that it’s going to get built whether he likes it or not.”
The City Manager’s office also issued a statement in opposition yesterday, which included excerpts of Garcia’s statement and more. This paragraph provides a short history of the planned improvements:
The Long Beach City Council unanimously approved the 14th Street Park expansion on June 2, 2009 after passionate testimony from the community about the need for this park expansion. The project utilizes Community Development Block Grant funds to expand a 3,000 square foot Skate Park in one of the lowest-income and historically high-crime areas in Long Beach into an 8,000 square foot park at a cost of $620,000. The project is shovel ready, creates 10 full-time construction jobs, and can be awarded within 120 days from the date the funds are made available.
The release points out that the City of Long Beach has already accepted nearly $23 million in federal stimulus funding for various projects, and that it expects to receive more than $53 million when all is said and done. Click here to read yesterday’s article and lively discussion concerning the issue, and be sure to vote in our Poll Question on the homepage: How do you feel about the 14th Street Skatepark using federal stimulus dollars for improvements?
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