At the last round of City Council, County Council, and County Commissioner meetings, a few of our courageous elected officials questioned why taxpayers are being forced to spend so much money on “economic development.” That’s a very good question, indeed. In the last 20 years Crawfordsville and Montgomery County have spent $4.5 million on a Commerce Park, $5 million on a building in the Commerce Park, $16 million on a fiber-optic network, almost $1 million on the Courthouse parking lot, $2.4 million on the airport runway extension, over $1 million on Montgomery County Economic Development corporation, and $120,000 on Amtrak subsidies. In each instance we were promised economic prosperity is right around the corner. When it didn’t work, millions more were spent. And now there are plans to spend another $18 million on Downtown Revitalization.
