COMIDA: A String of Mini-Bailouts
Anyone catch this? Check out this from the City Paper, about COMIDA:
Corporate crybabies
The public can have its say at County Industrial Development Agency meetings, but only after the board does its business. | Until recent months, the public could ask questions about applications for benefits during the meeting. But that’s no longer the case. The only chance for comment is at the end of the meeting, after the board votes on the applications. The reason: business representatives are put off when their requests are questioned, COMIDA board chair Theresa Mazzullo said during a meeting last week. | “We want them to have a positive experience,” she said.
Seriously? So these companies who recieve COMIDA grants (from tax money we’ve paid) or COMIDA tax breaks (taking money out that could be used for the common good), also need to be protected from having their feelings hurt?
Are there occasional COMIDA grants that are an overall economic gain to the region? Sure. But when it’s used as a tool for give-aways, subsidizing profitable companies who lay off employees or outsource, it looks like a tool for Monroe County to give a bunch of mini-bailouts.
I’m more than happy to pay taxes when it goes to fund the common good, but now I can’t even ask questions about how that money is spent?
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