Where has all the money gone, oh where is it being spent and who authorized its being spent? That is a question that you the taxpayer here in New Jersey should be asking your local, state and national politicians/officials.
A good example is the recent announcement by Governor Chris Christie on Tuesday November 29th that a major renovation of the State House is going to be done. Yes I know that nothing has been done to it since 1950, but has not the state been doing any maintenance to the structure at all?
With this announcement over $300 million will be spent and I do mean well over the estimated amount. Where is all this money going to come from and can we afford to have this work done at this time?
Our statehouse was built in 1792 and is the second oldest continuously operated statehouse in America. Governor Christie called on people to “really look what this place looks like.” He further said that the deteriorated building “shouldn’t be the symbol” of the state. Christie went on to say, “I think this is a good day for us and the state to acknowledge that this building is a treasure. It was passed down, literally, by our founding fathers.” Governor Christie called on people to “really look what this place looks like.” He said the deteriorated building “shouldn’t be the symbol” of the state. The plan is for a four year renovation of the entire executive portion of the building.
When the Assembly and Senate chambers were update in the 1990’s, why wasn’t the building looked at as a whole and not in parts? The politicians seem to have forgotten that you have to not look at the Statehouse in sections, but as one building and take care of the whole building, instead of doing repairs/renovations piecemeal.
It is time to realize that we can not and should not allow our state politicians and officials to think in terms of borrowing our way out of situations. It just does not work and makes things worse instead of being a solution it makes New Jersey earn an even worse bond/credit rating, which in turn makes it more expensive to borrow money.
Why don’t we have a non-profit fund raiser and also at the same time go to the Federal Government for a matching funds grant to make the necessary repairs? I do not know the answer as to why not, but I do know that the deeper in debt the state gets into the worse off we the taxpayers are going to be.
That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike
