The Rev. Ricky Burgess today announce he is donating all of his City Council district's discretionary funds to a philanthropic agency founded by African Americans.Councilman Burgess, who represents his Homewood neighborhood and other eastern communities, announced at a press conference today that $146,000 is being given toward a "Hope Fund" to be administered by the POISE Foundation. (P-G, Jim McKinnon)
Wait -- how will he be able to buy votes?
"For more than 27 years, the POISE Foundation has been supporting programs that add value to the quality of life of black Pittsburgh and the region as a whole," the Rev. Burgess said at the press conference.
"To our knowledge, this is the first time this has ever occurred. I'm excited about the possibilities and what it can mean for this community."
We suppose one could take shots at the POISE Foundation. Is it as reputable as the Rev. is making it out to be?
He said he will introduce legislation in council tomorrow to establish the Hope Fund with the leftover discretionary money from District 9's Neighborhood Needs Account. The $146,000 is what remains of a $1 million allocation 12 years ago by former Mayor Tom Murphy to each council district.
Each council district also gets $75,000 a year in Community Development Block Grants. The Rev. Burgess said his district's annual $75,000 allocation will be given to the Hope Fund.
If only all the city's CDBG money was apportioned so non-politically. The URA derives a great deal of its funding from CDBG grants, and the correlation between "neighborhood needs" and "URA board member needs" do not always perfectly overlap.
This is robbing Peter to pay Paul.
ReplyDeleteRobin Hood too!
The thing to do is to NUKE all the NEIGHBORHOOD NEEDS MONEY. That money came from the taxpayers (in dist. 9 and elsewhere).
It was one of Pittsburgh's worst moments and has lingered on and on.
If he wanted to do the right thing -- he'd ZERO out all his open accounts and insist as best he can that the others on council do the same. That would be open, honest, transparent and accountable.
"The thing to do is to NUKE all the NEIGHBORHOOD NEEDS MONEY. That money came from the taxpayers (in dist. 9 and elsewhere)."
ReplyDeleteOnce again, you're a Libertarian. Most Pittsburghers are comfortable with a portion of their tax money being distributed to each member of council for neighborhood needs, so long as their elected representatives act responsibly. This seems like a step in that direction. To say that he does not want to " do the right thing" because he does not refuse money that the taxpayers want him to have and use is an awful stretch.
I don't know much about this foundation - I wonder if the money really is going toward the needs of Council District 9. How will it be monitored? etc.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.poisefoundation.org/
ReplyDeleteThey seem pretty legit, and their financial statements are listed.
I simply have a problem with foundations making government policy, which seems to be happening more and more, especially in Pittsburgh. Letting the Foundation decide how to spend taxpayer money may seem like a good idea, but we elect people to do just that.
ReplyDeleteit was indeed noble and justified in order to restore some level of confidence of the people in dist.9
ReplyDeleteThey were rocked pretty hard when Carlisle went to jail, not to mention her abuse of her constituency while she was in office.
Yes, the elected take responsibility for allocating the money.
Burgess elected to place the money in trust to a respected non profit for the benefit of the district. It was a smart move to begin to build the trust with his constituency. Too bad it wasn't the whole million. It could have done some real good.
My big concern is any of this money going to be spent on "administrative costs", and "outside the City of Pittsburgh" ?
ReplyDeleteI hope we are not paying monies to Poise to administer City funds.
And I hope that all monies stay inside the City of Pittsburgh as well as District 9.
These neighborhoods have long been neglected by the fur coat wearing crowd. They need the money bad.
If nothing else, I would have given the money to the police to increase patrols, and target quality of life issues.
Anon 1:02 - "My big concern is any of this money going to be spent on "administrative costs", and "outside the City of Pittsburgh"
ReplyDeleteI would hope that as well. I would assume Burgess is acutely aware of not wanting to cheat his own constituents, and I hope that was all made clear with the foundation.
"If nothing else, I would have given the money to the police to increase patrols, and target quality of life issues."
My understanding is that quality of life issues are to be covered. I'm not sure you can use Neighborhood Needs money to increase police patrols.
Rev. Burgess did the most morally and ethically thing possible.
ReplyDeleteok, Poise Foundation, Anyone here know anything about it. Guess the African American community has charitable intitutions. Poise has beeen around forever. "Who dey?!"
you ask. Please , go to the wb site.
Any of da bloggers read the new Pittsburg Courier? Except when Lou Ransom (perhaps justifyably) rips a local pol to shreds. Hey bloggers what's missing in this picture? The AA community.
Burgess mad a awesome political statement today. hey is odds on favorite to be the 2008-09 Council MVP. he put a AA foundation front and center. He raised the bar on asset allocation for all of Council. he depolitisized asset allocations of public money.