Thursday, September 13, 2007

Should the Feds pay for safe routes to schools?

It’s not often that I agree with a JT Editorial Board commentary, but occasionally it does happen. The editorial staff is suggesting that the federal government should not be doling out funds to create safe walking routes to schools, and I agree.

It is primarily the responsibility of the parents to teach their children how to safely cross streets; remember when we were taught to look both ways? Hey, this is not rocket science and we certainly do not need waste federal tax dollars to assist parents in teaching their children some common sense!

For those communities that will be using federal funds to determine where sidewalks be placed, the best place for crossing guards, etc, I have a question. Isn’t that more the role of LOCAL government? If your community (like mine) doesn’t have sidewalks, isn’t that the responsibility of my local government?

Why should a taxpayer from Missouri be funding a study to determine the best walking routes for children from Wisconsin and other states? Our federal government spends way too much already; couldn’t the $612M be better spent somewhere else?

No comments: