Tax dollars are spent equally throughout the City based on need. The district lines are drawn to meet the requirements of the Voting Rights Act, not to allocate community resources. For example, large sums of money can be spent downtown or at the coliseum that benefit all districts, yet are allocated to Districts 1 and 3 — and these areas used to be in Districts 2 and 5 until three years ago. In addition, most of the housing funds come from the federal government and are allocated based on a percentage of median income or some other measurement that reflects need. Historically, most of these funds have been spent in east Greensboro.
I served as the District 3 representative for 12 years and understand why the arguments are being made by the current district representatives. As a council, we need to focus on the overall good of the City, knowing that Greensboro benefits most from working together instead of fighting among district lines with statistics that can be manipulated to fit different political agendas.
Previously: Councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small, YES! Weekly and the Rhino Times.
No comments:
Post a Comment