 Congressional Budget Office Recommends Eliminating NHA
Starting
in 2011, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is recommending that the
National Heritage Area grant program be eliminated citing a number of reasons: Lack of demonstrated
results-oriented performance goals and measures Not using a competitive process
for awarding grants Lack of systematic processes for
identifying qualified NHA sites and recommending those to Congress for
approval Failure to track federal funding
or appropriateness of expenditures
But the biggest argument for recommending
elimination of the NHA grant program is that grant recipients have not become
self-sufficient.
Read more about the recommendations by the CBO on page 74 of the 2009 Congressional Budget Office - Budget Options. The volume is one of several reports the CBO
provides regularly to the House and Senate Committees on the Budget and
presents 188 options for altering federal spending and revenues. Volume 1 addressed options related to federal spending on
health care programs or to the nation's health insurance system. The second
volume presents options that involve other aspects of the federal budget and
aims to help policymakers in their annual tasks of making budgetary choices and
setting priorities. |
 Hidden Costs and Lack of Transparency Key Challenges with NHA
The Grassroots Institute
recently offered comments about the Hawaii Capitol National Heritage Area:
"While the National Heritage program has good intentions....its
implementation in Hawaii raises serious concerns regarding individual property
rights, government transparency, and the possibility of large hidden costs.
Although the federal program is intended to be a community-based effort to
protect areas recognized by the local population as culturally important, many
residents in the affected region had no idea about the city's plans until a
proposal had already been submitted to Congress."
In response to the article, the following comment was posted that may offer a
better solution to the Hawaii Capitol
Cultural Coalition (HCCC), the proponents for an NHA for Honolulu:
"All this begs the question: if the HCCC is so concerned about
"important areas like Iolani Palace" why don't they seek special
designation for individual buildings, land parcels, etc - Why this big swath of
control? I think I just answered my own question."
Read more in the article by David Jaress at The Grassroots Institute blog. |
Facebook Page Organized to Stop Hawaii Capitol NHA
Share this Facebook page with
other friends, family, and businesses that want to learn more about the NHA and
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