Re: Brownfields, lotteries and equity

[Emery Graham <"egraham"@ci.wilmington.de.us>]

Ray,
It seems that there is a source of funding for remediating brownfields that
continually gets overlooked: potentially responsible parties and their
insurance companies, and community reinvestment act initiatives. I understand
the discomfort with approaching the private sector on the basis of being
responsible for one's actions. I understand the standard response of not being
able to prove responsibility for the violations; I understand the defense
using the indeterminateness of statistical theory; at the same time I
understand the substance of "common law" and justice.

Why not spend the time using the tools , goodwill, and intellect available to
fashion a "win-win" situation for all parties. If we look at Federal, State,
local government resources; insurance loss reserves, Community Reinvestment
Act funds in aggregate we might begin to frame the volume of monies available
for the task. Maybe the crucial lack here is "organization," "integration,"
and "coordination" of resources.

Emery

Raymond P Scattone wrote:

>         It might help to take a look at the existing literature that has
> been looked at regarding state lotteries as funding mechanisms in general.
>
> I have read reports regarding some of the southern states in the US and
> they are somewhat disturbing.  Think about it---who buys lottery tickets?
> It's not exactly an equitable way of funding---it disproportionately hits
> the pockets of the poor and working classes.
>
>         If the goal is to acheive targeted funding---some sort of
> environmental tax on polluting activities would be a better method.