Monticello receives $4.2 million grant
Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Governor Ron DeSantis brought his motorcade road show to town earlier this week in a visit that was partly award-presenting ceremony, partly political theatre.
Jokingly calling himself Gov. DeSantis-Claus and comparing his visit to Christmas in April, the governor on Tuesday afternoon, April 5, presented City of Monticello officials with a $4.2 million grant for the extension of sewer service to the I-10 and SR-59 interchange at Lloyd.
The money, the governor said, would allow for the installation of 11.8 miles of sewer lines from Monticello to Lloyd, as well as the addition of three lift stations in-between the two points.
The award, the governor noted, was part of the $75 million that the legislature had appropriated for the Florida Jobs Growth Grant Fund, which is designed to promote public infrastructure and workforce training across the state.
The sewer extension project, he said, should spur economic development, attract new businesses as well as allow existing ones to expand, and create jobs.
The check-presenting ceremony occurred towards the end of a well orchestrated if seemingly freewheeling presentation wherein the governor touched on many of his favorite political themes and came close at times to resembling a campaign pep rally.
The governor touted Florida as a free state and boasted that it enjoyed the biggest budget surplus in the history of the state. Florida’s employment rate, he said, was higher than before Covid, and its economy was humming along, despite Covid and the current inflation, which he called the worst in decades.
The governor took shots at the Biden administration, blaming its mismanagement for the current inflation and saying it would lead to a recession if it weren’t brought under control. Thankfully, he said, Florida had strong sustainable economy, thanks to the decisions of its leadership.
The governor cited New York as the state closest in size to Florida. Yet Florida had three million more people, half New York’s budget, and better roads, schools and colleges, without raising taxes, he said.
“They have higher taxes and they waste a lot of money,” DeSantis said of New York.
New York also, he said, made people wear facemasks and muzzled even toddlers. And if parents spoke up for their children in New York, they lost their jobs, he said. Which was why so many people from New York and other mask-wearing states were moving to Florida, the governor said.
New York also defunded its law-enforcement, with increased crime the result, he said.
“Crime there went through the roof,” DeSantis said.
He called New York’s a failed experience that hadn’t provided protection for its more vulnerable members, whom he said needed law enforcement the most.
“We in Florida stand by our law enforcement,” DeSantis said, citing the $1,000 bonus that he approved for law-enforcement officers and emergency service workers in 2021. And it was his plan to grant another bonus, he said.
“I am going to approve another $1,000 bonus for police offers for a second year in a row,” DeSantis said, getting applause from the roomful of people in the courthouse annex.
He had just, in fact, signed a bill giving anyone who signed up for law enforcement a $5,000 bonus upfront, the governor said. Florida’s goal, he said, was to recruit and retain law enforcement officers.
His administration, DeSantis said, was also protecting the rights of parents to raise their kids and it would continue to do so. Parents, he said, had a right to curriculum transparency. And the schools, he said, needed to focus more on reading, writing and the basics such as civics, so that that kids could learn about the founding of the country and its form of government.
Not all kids should go to college, the governor said. A lot of students in fact were overburdened with debt and ended up getting degrees that led nowhere, he said. If kids wanted to go to college and get an Ivy League education, that was all right, he said. But kids shouldn’t end up with a millstone of debt around their necks because of a degree. They should be able to able to attain the skills they needed to earn a good living right in high school, he said.
DeSantis said he wanted to expand the manufacturing footprint in Florida so that this country wouldn’t be dependent on foreign countries for essentials, as had been the case during the early days of pandemic, when personal protection equipment had to be imported from China.
The governor continued in this vein for about 25 minutes, before ceding the podium to State House Representative Jason Shoaf and Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Executive Director Dane Eagle, each of who spoke a few comments. The governor then posed with city officials as he held a huge facsimile check of the $4.2 million being awarded to the city.
Following the check presentation, the governor spoke again to the packed audience at the annex and answered a few questions from reporters before leaving the premises, accompanied by his aides and security people. All along the way to his vehicle in the parking lot, the governor shook hands and pose for photos with some of his more ardent supporters.
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