June 29, 2010. Evansville Courier & Press.
EVANSVILLE — The Vanderburgh County Commissioners will seek $150,000 for a new Metropolitan Evansville Transit System bus route that would serve the U.S. 41 corridor as far north as AmeriQual Group.
Commissioners Steve Melcher, Troy Tornatta and Lloyd Winnecke agreed tonight to include the proposed expenditure in their 2011 request to the County Council for spending the county’s annual allotment of riverboat money.
The money had been requested by Congregations Acting for Justice and Empowerment, which argues that such a bus route would help city residents obtain jobs and would expand North Side business leaders’ access to new employees.
Also as part of their requested allocation of riverboat money, the County Commissioners propose to boost by $100,000 an allotment to the Vanderburgh County Health Department’s dental clinic for the indigent.
The extra money for the dental clinic — from this year’s figure of $80,000 to $180,000 — and the $150,000 for a new bus route would come out of the initiative-based assistance program that provides child care assistance and other forms assistance to working families. That figure would be reduced from $420,000 this year to $170,000 next year.
Winnecke said the riverboat-funded programs benefit many of the same people.
“There are a lot of unmet needs in this community, and I think CAJE made a pretty good argument for (the new bus route), at least on a pilot basis,” he said.
