Washington Post - Rural Aid Goes to Urban Areas

Rural Aid Goes to Urban Areas

USDA Rural Development Program Helps Suburbs, Resort Cities

By Gilbert M. Gaul and Sarah Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, April 6, 2007; A01

PROVINCETOWN, Mass. -- In a few weeks, artists, lawyers and bankers will begin arriving here for the busy summer season on high-speed ferries that take 90 minutes to make the trip from Boston. They will land at a recently refurbished municipal dock that was built with the help of a $1.95 million low-interest loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

A few blocks away, the Provincetown Art Association and Museum has used nearly $3 million in grants and loans from the Agriculture Department to add gallery space and renovate a historic sea captain's house. A short drive back down the Cape, the department is financing a new actors theater in Wellfleet and recently awarded a grant to a garden center in Hyannis to build a windmill.

Although Cape Cod is only a short trip from Boston and Providence, R.I., and is home to some of the wealthiest beach towns in the United States, to the Agriculture Department it meets the definition of rural America. That means it qualifies for aid originally intended for farmland and backwoods areas that were isolated and poor, struggling to keep their heads above water.

"Provincetown is many things to many people, and to USDA we're rural," said Keith A. Bergman, the town manager. "We'll take it."

He isn't alone.

On Martha's Vineyard, the USDA guaranteed a $4.5 million loan for the popular Black Dog Tavern. The loan, which has since been repaid, was to refinance the tavern's mortgage and expand Black Dog's retail clothing stores. On Nantucket, where the population swells to the size of a small city in summer months, the Agriculture Department provides rental subsidies for families priced out of the local market.

All told, the USDA has handed out more than $70 billion in grants, loans and loan guarantees since 2001 as part of its sprawling but little-known Rural Development program. More than half of that money has gone to metropolitan regions or communities within easy commuting distance of a midsize city, including beach resorts and suburban developments, a Washington Post investigation found... read the full Washington Post article online at - www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/05/AR2007040501895.html?referrer=emailarticle.

... editor's note... remember, we will be finishing the transition of the Blog for Rural America to the Center for Rural Affairs redesigned website next week. Look for the Blog for Rural America at www.cfra.org from now on. Thank you, john

Post a comment here or contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

Nebraskans - Stand Up for Rural Entrepreneurship

You have an opportunity to make a difference on a bill to strengthen rural Nebraska through support for small business and beginning farmers.

LB 177 would improve the Nebraska Micro Enterprise Investment Tax Credit (see details below). It provides a 20 percent investment tax credit up to $10,000 for owner-operated businesses with five or fewer employees. But one critical element was eliminated in committee.

The total tax credits for all microenterprises in the state would continue to be limited to $2 million per year, on a first come first serve basis. Once $2 million in tax credits are claimed, all subsequent applications are denied. Meanwhile, tax credits for big businesses are uncapped at a cost 50 - 60 times that amount.

Please call or write your Senator today using the contact information provided at -
http://www.cfra.org/take_action/alerts/ne_micro. Urge them to support LB 177 to improve microenterprise tax credits. Most importantly, urge them to amend LB 177 to remove the $2 million cap on total credits.

If we can afford over $100 million annually for big business, surely we can afford more than 1/50th of that amount for small businesses that have been the backbone and true economic engine of Nebraska's economy, especially in rural communities.

Under current law, the microenterprise tax credit applies only to new investment in plant, equipment and employees. Under LB 177, the credit would also apply to health insurance, legal services, advertising and professional fees. In agriculture, the credit would be targeted to beginning farmers and ranchers. It would also be available for diversification into nontraditional enterprises such as agritourism and specialty crops.

Please find your Senator's contact information at the links above and under the title of this post and then write or call your Senator today!

Post a comment here or contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

Nebraska Legislative Update

NEBRASKA LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Halftime!

by Jon Bailey, Center for Rural Affairs, jonb@cfra.org

-- editor's note... the following is excerpted from Jon Bailey's weekly legislative update, to receive a full copy of the update just send me an e-mail - johnc@cfra.org...

March 13th marks the halfway point of the 2007 session. The halfway point of the session is also the deadline for Senators and committees to designate Priority Bills. All Senators and committees designated their Priority Bills by March 9. These designations are important because Priority Bills will make up the bulk of legislative issues that will receive attention during the second half of the session.

Bills Update

Any bill designated a Priority Bill will also have a “P” attached to its number (for example, LB 123P). The chief sponsor of the bill is listed in parentheses. The words Support or Oppose after a bill description indicate where the Center for Rural Affairs has taken a position on the bill.

As bills are killed in committee or become law, they will be deleted from the update.

Rural Development

LB 232P (Dubas) – Modifications to the Building Entrepreneurial Communities Act that was adopted in 2005. The bill is awaiting committee action. Sen. Karpisek designated this as his Priority Bill. Support
LB 498 (White) – Establishes the Business Partnership in Rural Education Program to use donated business tax incentive tax credits to raise funds for projects related to educating students for economic development needs. The bill awaits committee action. Sen. White designated this as his Priority Bill.
LB 567 (Louden) – Establishes the Recreational Liability Act; generally exempts private landowners from liability for the public use of property for recreational purposes. The bill awaits committee action.
LB 609 (Carlson) – Establishes the Nebraska Recruitment Promotion Act, a $100,000 grant program to communities, counties, or regions losing population to develop marketing and promotional materials. A hearing was held on March 5 before the Business and Labor Committee.

Agriculture

LB 69 (Hudkins) – Modifies the state value-added agriculture grant program. The bill was advanced to General File on March 7 by unanimous vote of the Agriculture Committee. The committee amended the bill to omit a proposed 25% set-aside for specialty crops.
LB 46 (Hudkins) – The bill was advanced to General File on March 7 by unanimous vote of the Agriculture Committee. The committee amended the bill to substitute a grape assessment mechanism similar to other commodities.
LB 313 (Natural Resources Committee) – Requires those required to obtain permits for animal feeding operations to comply with the Engineers and Architects Act; it exempts small and medium animal feeding operations. The bill was approved on Final Reading on March 1 by a 31-0 vote and signed into law by the Governor on March 8.
LB 515 (Stuthman) – Would eliminate certain planning and zoning commission public hearings, specifically for conditional use applications by livestock operations. On March 7, the Agriculture Committee voted 7-0 to Indefinitely Postpone (kill) this bill. Oppose
LB 516P (Agriculture Committee) – Establishes the Corporate Farming Policy Advisory Council. The bill is awaiting committee action. The Agriculture Committee designated this as one of its Priority Bills. Oppose
LB 633 (Dierks) – Modifications to the Competitive Livestock Markets Act regulating livestock production and marketing contracts. The bill awaits committee action. Support

Education

LB 234 (Dierks) – Would reestablish Class I schools reorganized or dissolved after November 30, 2005. On February 28, the Education Committee Indefinitely Postponed the bill by unanimous vote. Support
LB 658P (Raikes) – This is the Class I bill advanced by the Education Committee. Speaker Flood also designated it as his Priority Bill. The bill would allow for the creation of new Class I school districts anywhere in the state through a reorganization and election process instituted by individuals or groups of individuals.