Just when you thought the CV Link could not be any more of a clusterfuck, today we learn that $24 million in state funds that were supposed to go towards building the project, have been taken away due to some sort of error on an application, according to the Desert Sun.
What exactly the error was, well, not surprisingly CVAG, is not making it all that clear:
CVAG Governmental Projects Manager Erica Felci said the error was “not something we did intentionally” and declined to assign any specific blame. The agency, she said, had submitted all the data that it believed was necessary and later worked with the state to correct the application.
In a separate statement, she said the agency respected and agreed with the commission’s decision to lower their application score and was confident that “CV Link will be a strong contender in the second round of funding, which will be recommended by regional officials in January.” She also noted that the news won’t delay construction because the “funds from this cycle are not available for use until at least 2019.”
And while CVAG is not saying much, there is this little nugget in the newspaper:
Veronica Garibay, co-director of the Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability in Fresno, told The Desert Sun that the scoring of the grant application was based in part on whether disadvantaged communities would benefit because of the project. The application that CVAG wound up submitting, she said, did not include census tracts for more affluent areas along the pathway.
Whoops.
The money will now go to 5 other projects in different parts of California.
The past year has seen both Indian Wells and Rancho Mirage fight to keep the proposed path out of their cities. We also have no idea who will pay for the maintenance for the path if it is ever constructed or where, exactly, the path will even be built.
Needless to say, this project is being run really well.
