“Washington passes tax breaks for corporations, but there is no special interest looking out for us.” These are not my words. These are the words of a local Brunswick business owner who recently appeared in a political commercial to speak out against companies getting free handouts from those in positions of power in government. The implication is clear that there are two sets of rules. One set of rules for those who get favors and rules for the rest of us.
As political ads go it is a pretty good one.
But at the same time that the ad was making its way around the airwaves, a handout, a freebie, was winding its way through local government to land on the doorstep of Wild Oats and its owner, Becky Shepherd. The same business owner who appeared in the ad that is quoted above.
Wild Oats, the bakery and café currently in the Tontine Mall, is in line to receive a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) of $500,000 pending a public hearing on Tuesday, September 8th.
For those that are unaware, the CDBG is a program that provides money from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to be passed through state and local government hands in order to fund things like affordable housing, anti-poverty programs and infrastructure programs. The program has been around since the Ford administration and has, over the years, handed out a hefty amount of grant money to entities in the state of Maine.
According to data from the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, in Brunswick, since the program’s inception, there have been 27 grants awarded. Those grants have funded things like the rehabilitation of the Tedford Shelter and downtown infrastructure projects. They funded redevelopment at Brunswick Landing and renovations of public housing locations.
In the 45 year history of the program, the amount set aside for Wild Oats ranks it as the number two grant in regards to money spent of any project in Brunswick. Number two out of 27. The average amount of the grants given out in town was less than $193,000. Or about 38% of what Wild Oats may receive.
Could it be that someone was looking out for a special interest? I don’t know.
If we look at the total list of CDBG grants that have been given out in 40-plus years for projects in the entire state of Maine, the grant for Wild Oats would come in at about number 76. That is 76 out of almost 3,000 grants.
What were some of the projects that were ahead of Wild Oats at the state level? There were sewer department upgrades. There were infrastructure improvements. There was the creation of senior housing spaces. There was a project to replace 100 year old water lines in some towns. There was even the rebuilding of the Eastport Breakwater and Pier. In many cases, large scale projects that benefitted whole towns or regions. Very few of the grants in the top 76 benefitted a single company. Wild Oats would be an exception.
During a meeting of the Town Council in August, a question was raised about what the grant would be used for by Wild Oats. It was explained by the Town’s Economic Development Director that the CDBG is, “…fully based on job creation”. The grant would be tied to the hiring of 17 new employees. However, the original application for the grant specified that the grant would be used to purchase machinery and equipment for the location that is being built at Brunswick Landing. The hiring of the new employees over a two year period only helped the company qualify for the grant.
I am sure that the Town Council will approve grant after the public hearing. There is really no reason not to approve it. And maybe Wild Oats is deserving of this grant. Maybe they need it, but should the owner of the company be reaching out with one hand for free money when chastising others for doing the same thing?
Sounds like the same sort of double speak we have grown accustomed to hearing from say, Washington. You know, the place Becky Shepherd railed against.
If you are going to live in that proverbial glass house, don’t go throwing stones, or in this case, don’t go throwing scones.
Jonathan Crimmins can be reached at j_crimmins@hotmail.com
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