Sullivan-County.com Flying High since 1998.

White's Mill still Waste of Tax Dollars

by Lewis Loflin

  
  

Built in the 19th century White's Mill fell into disrepair and was largely abandoned in the 1970s. Local politicians cooked up another scan to tap redevelopment dollars - or in this case transportation funds.

If you're confused why transportation funds are going into a completely non-transportation project welcome to the corruption capital of the world. Not reported was thousands of dollars from local taxpayers. Economic development grants from the Tobacco Commission were used for a library in Damascus Virginia at the other end of the County.

Started in 2001 the White's Mill Foundation has since collected a $486,000 federal grant administered through the Virginia Department of Transportation to fix up the old wreck. In 2011 politicians managed to pilfer $43,000 from the Virginia Tobacco Commission an agency rocked by scandal and corruption which led to jail time for an ex-governor.

Apparently even after all of this pork they will be seeking more money I'm sure from taxpayer coffers. The scammers behind this nonsense claim it will draw 10,000 visitors a year. Total nonsense they must've bought another study from the Weldon Cooper Center.

But one can go there and buy a bag of cornmeal. When asked how many jobs this is supposed to create no answer was forthcoming. Reference Bristol Herald Courier June 26, 2015.

Quoting Ed Barlow before the Sullivan County Chamber of Commerce,

"Seniors create low-wage service jobs. They tend to withdraw from working, and they generally don't create new wealth. A retirement community strategy has long-term negative economic consequences unless there is a diverse economic base of other employees around it...A significant component of your economic future in Sullivan County is recruiting Hispanics, making sure they get highly educated and integrated into the community."

In 2011 Bristol-Tri-Cities was ranked number 5 in the 10 poorest cities in America by www.DailyFinance.com.




 


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