TRIPPIN'

Looks like the Feds found some problems in the way CEO was administering Federal grants within the City. The City followed up, so as not to be caught with their pants down (sorry for that disturbing visual image). After all, who's minding the store? Franco has the story, or what looks like just the beginning of the story.

Now we expect the blame-game to begin. We'll wait and see how this shakes out. It does underscore what is likely a nationwide problem. How many cities have had the same problem? How much of our money was involved? Why do these programs seem so unwieldy, so complex, so laced with bureaucratic nonsense? More to the point, was there nonsense above and beyond the typical problems faced by these agencies? We've all learned that just because this administration says it's so, don't necessarily make it so.

Harry wants to bring these grants "in-house", to be administered by the city. In theory, we think it's an idea worth pursuing. In practice? How many people will they hire to 'administer' the programs? What will they be paid, how much in pensions, benefits etc? What percentage of the grants will go to administering the programs as opposed to actually filtering down to the people who are supposed to be getting the money? Will they hire experts or hacks? Right now it looks as if approxiamately $480,000 will go to administer $580,000. Not a very good bang for our buck! We are willing to reserve judgment.

In fact, regardless of any "problems" with CEO (Harry's hand-picked agency) or TRIP, a good argument can be made that this is an experiment worth trying.

Has they City actually reviewed all relevant documents? Frankly, we just can't trust an administration so bent on concentrating power in it's beefy fingers. What they say and what's true may be quite different as it so often is with this crowd.

As an aside, how many of the people eligible for this aid (regardless of who administers the program) are eligible for a mortgage?