Should federal
money collected for harbor maintenance be used to pay for harbor maintenance?
We sure think so:
As much as
pundits and politicians might like to say otherwise, there is almost nothing
clear-cut or straightforward about our nation’s spending problems. Managing a
nation of more than 300 million people with a federal budget now approaching $4
trillion a year is a monumental task of nuance, judgment calls and hard
decisions.
But sometimes
the intent of government budgeting seems so heart-breakingly simple that it’s
just all the more frustrating when that intent is ignored.
Tuesday’s editorial is on that most
perennial of subjects, a new highway to the area:
It’s easy to become cynical about the
prospects for any new highway to the Grand Strand. After all, we’ve been
promised one since the 1980s and have yet to see it materialize. But while
proponents of Interstate 73 – or any new road to our area – may seem locked in
limbo, there are a few bright spots on the horizon.
Sunday’s editorial urges lawmakers to
act sooner rather than later to address our state’s crumbling infrastructure:
South
Carolina’s roads are crumbling beneath us, and ignoring the problem
will not make it go away. Action is needed soon -- this year, this month --
because the cost to fix our roads rises with every day that passes. And it will
mean tough decisions that require substantially more funding, not just
leftovers and scraps that are found here and there.
Not convinced? Read through the report
on South Carolina’s road system put together for the state and issued in
December by a diverse group of transportation experts. It’s only 13 pages long,
but it sets out in stark detail the enormous challenges facing our state and
the almost total lack of solutions in the works to meet those challenges.
Two years ago, as Myrtle Beach was considering selling the
naming rights to local landmarks in a bid to raise money, we urged caution,
hoping that any efforts would be limited perhaps to only athletic facilities
and not as a wholesale tactic that would unduly cheapen our city. Our editorial
specifically picked out the boardwalk as an attraction that should be left out
of any such considerations.
“The boardwalk,” we wrote, “has been
such a success that it would seem wrong to cheapen it with corporate
sponsorship: It’s Myrtle Beach’s
boardwalk; this city built it, not any company; and there should be no
confusion about that.”
Sunday’s editorial offers the
editorial board’s thoughts on the presidential election:
Few things about this presidential
election have lent themselves to unambiguous, clear decisions, despite what the
campaigns and their diehard supporters might like us to believe. Neither of the
major candidates is a miraculous savior or unmitigated fiend. Both stand before
U.S.
voters with significant high and low points, and nobody has managed to leap to
the fore as the obviously better choice.
For proof, you need look no further
than the latest polling data. We give our fellow Americans credit for being
fairly smart and invested in the future of this nation, and as such, if the
decision on picking our next leader were an easy one, we wouldn’t be coming
down to the wire with two candidates that are still neck and neck.
Saturday’s editorial shares our
recommendation for who should be the first representative from our new 7th
Congressional District:
Color us frustrated, exasperated and
disappointed.
After having high hopes for Democrat
Gloria Bromell Tinubu, who has many of the qualities necessary to succeed in
Congress, her recent behavior has revealed enough of her character to sour us
on her campaign.
It’s tempting to support the Georgetown County referendum to raise the county’s
sales tax. The money would pay for long-needed and overdue dredging of the Georgetown port, a
project we have long supported. And paving roads, building parks and expanding
libraries are all attractive ideas.
But we can’t quite bring ourselves to
get behind it. It’s not that we don’t like the projects. But we never managed
to get quite comfortable with the reasoning for the tax, the list of projects
or its length. And while we won’t think badly of Georgetown County voters if they do approve
it – and we’ll enjoy its results as much as anyone else – we can’t bring
ourselves to recommend a tax we don’t wholeheartedly support.
Tuesday’s editorial points out that
we’re in the process of picking a new DOT commissioner for our district and
urges legislators to get the right one:
The deadline to apply to become the
new 7th Congressional District’s first S.C. DOT commissioner comes on Friday,
and it brings with it some mixed feelings. On one hand, it’s a chance to get
one of our own in the seat and highlight local road priorities, getting them
higher up on the list for state and federal money. On the other hand, we’ve
long pushed for ending the current parochial system of a legislatively
appointed Department of Transportation Commission altogether, in favor of a
statewide approach that relies less heavily on the input of regional
commissioners interested primarily in furthering their own local needs.
Saturday’s editorial is the first of
a two-part look at economic development incentives and whether they’re a good
idea. The first looks at them from a national and state level.
Do we need to use economic incentives
as bait to lure new businesses to our state? Is it the best use of our public
money? Proponents say the tax breaks and grants are important tools in the
quest to bring more jobs to the area. Opponents condemn what they see as
government picking winners and losers without any accountability for how the
money is spent. Who’s right? Perhaps both. What is clear, however, is that at a
minimum the entire process could benefit from increased oversight and
transparency.
The practice, which leading incentive
researcher Timothy Bartik has referred
to as “legalized bribery of the rich,” has gotten more attention of late as
Horry County Council and local economic developers have ramped up their efforts
to rope in new companies. Local leaders have embraced the idea of paying for
jobs as a vital and cost-effective means of securing new employers. And there’s
some evidence that it can work on the local level. But the landscape looks much
different from higher up.
Sunday’s editorial urges some more excitement
and interest on the state level when it comes to wind energy:
“We’re just watching the turbines go around.”
– North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce CEO Marc Jordan, on the latest
action in the region’s wind energy initiatives.
What happened to the state’s
excitement about wind energy? After what had been a strong, united effort a few
years ago to push into the forefront of the emerging industry, the state effort
has largely stagnated.
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