Last week Manny Diaz and his U.S. Conference of Mayors decided to officially get in on the sweet, sweet federal government handout action and submitted a request for $73.2 billion for infrastructure programs in various states. CNN decided to take a closer look and found the plan has more pork in it than a British dessert. And Diaz doesn't come off too well defending the proposals.
CNN is particularly pissed off at components such as $4.2 million for a polar bear exhibit in Rhode Island, $6.1 million for corporate jet hangars in Arkansas, and a $1.5 million anti-prostitution program in Dayton, Ohio.
CNN pressed Diaz about the plan submitted by the group, of which he is president. He conceded he read most, but not all, of it, and that there's no way he would know the specific needs of all the cities and towns the group represents. Fair enough. He can't spend all of his time with this president-of-mayors gig; he has to run Miami, after all. He at least knows what was submitted for his own city, right?
Nope. The report requests $1.5 million for a new water ride at the Grapeland Water Park. When CNN asked, Diaz said he wasn't aware.
Still, a $1.5 million water ride sounds pretty friggin' sweet. To hell with the National Taxpayers Union, which is throwing a fit over the proposals. If Wall Street gets $700 billion, Riptide wants its water slide.
-- Kyle Munzenrieder
