Means testing public benefits

Our friend at The Overhead Wire commented on the parking piece about the Columbia Heights retail center that the money wasted on building a parking structure that is half used could have been used on other priorities, such as affordable housing.

I mentioned the transit benefits story from Miami yesterday because I found it interesting, but appropriate, that the University of Miami would means test the provision of transit benefits, providing 100% benefits to people making $35,000/year, but only 50% of the same benefit to people making more than $50,000/year. But no one commented on that piece.

Now if we could figure out how to do means testing between Abe Pollin (Washington Wizards), Ted Leonsis (Washington Capitals), Victor McFarlane (DC United), Theodore Lerner (Washington Nationals and plaintiff against the DC Government over purported delays in opening the baseball stadium, see "Nats Demand $100000 A Day For Unfinished (?) Stadium," by the very prolific Marc Fisher of the Washington Post) and Dan Snyder of the Washington Redskins, a deal for which seems to be on the horizon judging by comments made in the past by Mayor Fenty and Councilmember Jack Evans...

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I have a list of journal articles I want to write over the next few years and one is about the difference between "building a local economy" and "economic development." Comprehensive Land Use plans for municipalities have what are called "elements" or focused sections that are subplans of the "master plan."

But I argue that building a local economy, focusing on overall return on investment as a result of public investment, looking at the data and effects in a myriad of nuanced ways (maybe like the social audits that are done in England, evaluating the social, economic, and environmental impacts of business activities), is fundamentally different from opening the checkbook for any developer or entity that asks for money--that usually is what "economic development" ends up being.