In these dire economic times, citizens are being asked to sacrifice in terms of taxes and city/state programs. The Mayor is asking for this, the Governor is asking for this and in the Legislature, at least Majority Leader Smith is on their side for this type of 'shared sacrifice.' With that, you would hope that the money the city and state does have, that they would spend and save it wisely. Unfortunately, the Authority in charge of Governor's Island development took a page out of Sarah Palin's book and lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
From PolitickerNY:
In 2007, the city-state agency charged with developing Governors Island, the 172-acre former Coast Guard base off of Lower Manhattan, bought a Martha’s Vineyard ferry for $500,000 to help open the island to visitors.
This morning, the vessel was sold by the agency on eBay. The winning bid: $23,600.
The auction closes a less-than-glorious chapter for the agency, the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, which is also facing major budget constraints (i.e. the state budget proposal doesn’t provide any money at all for GIPEC). When officials first bought the boat from the Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority, supporters of the island seemed rather pleased with the purchase, which would double its fleet size and allow for far more traffic (there's a smaller ferry that runs from Lower Manhattan to the island).
I understand that cars, boats, planes, trains, etc depreciate in value once used, but by that amount in less than two years is absolutely ridiculous. It just goes to show that while elected officials talk a good game about fiscal responsibility, their control over related agencies is practically non-existent. Now the winning bidder, r***7, has never purchased anything on eBay and no information is available. Well, lucky them and have fun with the boat sir or madam.
What really gets me though, is that the starting bid for this boat that cost the taxpayers $500,000 was a measly $10.00. Fiscal responsibility...the joke would be funny if it weren't such a sad state of affairs about how our government works.
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