City Submits $3.2 Million Grant Request for River Enhancements and Recreational Trails
The South Crawford Street Trail to Nowhere Shows Up Again
Each year, the Dayton Development Coalition, asks communities to provide a list of projects or activities, that they believe is ripe for funding from the federal government. The communities dutifully put together a list of projects with the idea that when Dayton Development Coalition leaders and lobbyists go to Washington, their projects are fed at the trough.
When the Dayton Development Coalition put together their Dayton Regional Priority Development and Advocacy Committee process, the general idea was that it made sense for local communities to work together on projects of regional significance and talk to local lawmakers on those projects that would have the biggest impact on the Miami Valley. In practice, the idea has turned into a free-for-all where communities are putting forward fanciful projects that they believe is better funded by federal taxpayers, rather than their own community.
Perhaps there is no better example of this desire for federal largess than the City of Troy’s Great Miami River Recreation Connectivity Project. Unbeknownst to most people, city staffers put foward a grant application for $3.2 Million for this highly controversial project throuth the PDAC process. The project is has been discussed for removing the low head dam from the Great Miami River and adding more recreational trails to nowhere, often the objections of neighborhood residents.
This project reads as another grand scheme cooked up by bureaucrats to improve our community while reaching deep into the pockets of the nation’s taxpayers, while continuing to ignore some of the most pressing issues the community faces such as workforce housing, child care and transportation. Instead of creating innovate programs to move those needles, the City believes the next best federal investment in this community is another quality of life intitative.
The crown jewel of this boondoggle appears to be the South Crawford Street recreation trail. A pedestrian pathway that will no doubt revolutionize the lives of Troy's citizens, connecting them to... well, more of Troy. This $1.7 million stretch of concrete and asphalt is apparently so vital that it warrants its own line item in the budget, separate from the other "multi-use recreational trail networks" mentioned and had it’s own detailed cost estimate in the grant application.
Now, of course, let’s not forget that this same project couldn’t secure funding from the Ohio Department of Development’s special Neighborhood Revitalization Program through the Community Development Block Grant program last year.
Overall, the city assures us that this project aligns perfectly with Troy's Comprehensive Plan, which apparently identified the Great Miami River as an "underutilized natural resource." Heaven forbid a river be left to its own devices without being properly "utilized" for economic gain and the nebulous concept of "quality of life enhancement."
We're told that public forums in 2019-2020 showed "overall agreement" on the need for dam removal; granted some of these forums occurred during Covid lockdowns, a period of time where government meetings were held over zoom and public participation was more of an afterthought than a guiding principle.
Nevertheless, one can almost hear the thunderous applause of the dozens of citizens who attended these riveting sessions on hydraulic infrastructure. And naturally, community members were "excited" about potential improvements to the trail network. Because nothing gets the blood pumping quite like the prospect of new bike paths.
The economic impact of this project is, predictably, as murky as the Great Miami itself. While they don't directly claim job creation - a refreshing bit of honesty - they do hint at the potential for "trail tourism”; a tired phrase that again shows our community’s march to be an economy based largely on tourism. Yes, because nothing says economic boom like a few extra cyclists pedaling through town, no doubt pausing to marvel at the water tower at Herrilinger Park as they go down the stop and start South Crawford Street recreational trail.
In the end, the Great Miami River Recreation Connectivity Project stands as a testament to the art of government spending. It's a project that promises much, commits to little, and asks for a lot.
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How frustrating. Why does this project keep popping up? It MUST benefit somebody in the administration if they're pushing it so hard, it doesn't benefit anybody living around the area.
I think everyone can agree that Herlinger Park deserves updates. But what does that path do? Who benefits from that?
This feels like a case of follow the money, as in, who's pocket is it landing?
Who are the bureaucrats?