O’Neill: Guaynabo proves failure of Special Communities program
The municipality of Guaynabo exemplifies the failure of the Special Communities Office, Mayor Héctor O’Neill said Sunday as he criticized former Gov. Sila Calderón, who railed Saturday against La Fortaleza legislation to restructure the program.
“Guaynabo is an example of the fiasco of the so-called Special Communities,” O’ Neill said. “In this municipality, Calderón placed nine signs at a cost of $5,000 each in the same number of communities, but the investment on works was zero dollars and zero cents.”
O’Neill, who head the Mayors’ Federation, added that “contrary to the publicity fanfare of a fantasy that depleted Government Development Bank funds and started liquidity problems for that institution, Guaynabo’s municipal government invested $9 million of its own funds in the nine rural communities of the city, almost simultaneously during the period when the central government amused itself putting up signs.”
The Guaynabo mayor said the Special Communities Program obstructed the development of projects in many other towns, too.
“It interrupted social housing we wanted to develop,” he said.
He also predicted that after the restructuring of the program into an advocacy office it is “going to do real work, without fanfare and effectively benefit all residents.”
Calderón had denounced Gov. Fortuño’s proposal to repeal the program as a “tragedy.”
Fortuño responded that the $1 billion program for the poor created false expectations and that the services could offered through the advocacy office or any other office.
On Sunday, Calderón continued her crusade against the repeal stating in a press release that the reasons for it were “incorrect,” and that, after her term ended in 2004, there was $1 billion in the Special Communities trust fund.
“All funds had been assigned and most projects had begun,” she said. “I don’t know why some of them were cancelled or not done incorrectly after I finished my term as governor.”
She said politics should not contribute to the elimination of what she considered to be a historic achievement for tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans who live in impoverished communities.
“It’s totally untrue that we created false expectations to create public works without funds to carry them out,” Calderón said.
She suggested that Fortuño and legislators hold public hearings that include those affected by the reform and stressed that the repeal would have serious legal repercussions because more than10 statutes that benefit disadvantaged citizen would be affected.
Calderón insisted that the repeal would affect almost half the population. Official statistics state that 45 percent of Puerto Ricans live under the federal poverty level.
“[The repeal] would eliminate a law of comprehensive development conceived carefully and after in-depth studies,” she said. “[Fortuño] aims to substitute it with an advocacy office that benefits the government instead of providing a framework of collective action.”
“Guaynabo is an example of the fiasco of the so-called Special Communities,” O’ Neill said. “In this municipality, Calderón placed nine signs at a cost of $5,000 each in the same number of communities, but the investment on works was zero dollars and zero cents.”
O’Neill, who head the Mayors’ Federation, added that “contrary to the publicity fanfare of a fantasy that depleted Government Development Bank funds and started liquidity problems for that institution, Guaynabo’s municipal government invested $9 million of its own funds in the nine rural communities of the city, almost simultaneously during the period when the central government amused itself putting up signs.”
The Guaynabo mayor said the Special Communities Program obstructed the development of projects in many other towns, too.
“It interrupted social housing we wanted to develop,” he said.
He also predicted that after the restructuring of the program into an advocacy office it is “going to do real work, without fanfare and effectively benefit all residents.”
Calderón had denounced Gov. Fortuño’s proposal to repeal the program as a “tragedy.”
Fortuño responded that the $1 billion program for the poor created false expectations and that the services could offered through the advocacy office or any other office.
On Sunday, Calderón continued her crusade against the repeal stating in a press release that the reasons for it were “incorrect,” and that, after her term ended in 2004, there was $1 billion in the Special Communities trust fund.
“All funds had been assigned and most projects had begun,” she said. “I don’t know why some of them were cancelled or not done incorrectly after I finished my term as governor.”
She said politics should not contribute to the elimination of what she considered to be a historic achievement for tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans who live in impoverished communities.
“It’s totally untrue that we created false expectations to create public works without funds to carry them out,” Calderón said.
She suggested that Fortuño and legislators hold public hearings that include those affected by the reform and stressed that the repeal would have serious legal repercussions because more than10 statutes that benefit disadvantaged citizen would be affected.
Calderón insisted that the repeal would affect almost half the population. Official statistics state that 45 percent of Puerto Ricans live under the federal poverty level.
“[The repeal] would eliminate a law of comprehensive development conceived carefully and after in-depth studies,” she said. “[Fortuño] aims to substitute it with an advocacy office that benefits the government instead of providing a framework of collective action.”
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