Karas questions stimulus request

Mayoral candidate Pete Karas today called for the City of Racine to re-evaluate its stimulus dollar request and allocate them in a way that does not cause a loss of services and business to the City of Racine residents.

“I am deeply troubled that City government is proposing to use $36 million of valuable stimulus dollars to relocate the Racine Public Library outside the borders of the City of Racine,” said Karas. “The City of Racine government should serve the people of Racine and not pay tax money to move our valued library to a more inaccessible place.

“This is the wrong thing to do on so many fronts,” Karas notes. “The Library draws city residents and non-residents downtown and these people also frequent downtown businesses. How many already scarce dollars will be lost by our local businesses if these people are now heading to a library in Mount Pleasant?

“The people of Racine elect leaders to represent their interests and not those of our surrounding communities. As mayor, I pledge to put Racine first when making decisions that affect our residents and our local economy. Racine has so many more cultural offerings than our suburbs and we need to expand, not reduce them, if we are to continue to grow as an urban center of choice.”

Karas applauded the request for Racine Promise, a program that would afford a free college education to high school graduates, and several of the environmental initiatives.

“If we are going to be asking for millions of dollars of stimulus money, I would propose that these ‘green’ initiatives be expanded in the proposals,” noted Karas. “I would also like to see more infrastructure investment for such things as renewable energy programs and sustainable eco-friendly neighborhood projects.

Pete Karas is a former alderperson in Racine and is running on a platform of local jobs, safe streets, responsive government, and essential services.