Loading ...
COLUMBIA DROPS $10,000 ON DRAG QUEEN PERFORMANCE — CRIME, CORRUPTION STILL MAJOR PROBLEM
With violent crime, homelessness, gang activity, domestic abuse,corruption and various other things running rampant in Columbia the city council has decided to allocate $10,000 taxpayer dollars to the South Carolina Gay and Lesbian Pride Movement which said it will use that money on their September festival, the Free Times reports. Much of that funding will come from a hospitality tax and go toward paying drag entertainer RuPaul.
The hospitality tax, a 2 percent levy on prepared food and drink, goes toward supporting tourism in the city. [...]
Mayor Bob Coble says he is pleased that the city is presenting a welcoming image. “Columbia respects people of all walks of life, and this diversity is our strength,” Coble says.
From a financial standpoint, Coble says having an open and accepting community is important if the city wants to be competitive in the global economy. [Free Times]
You know what else is important? Not getting mugged or having your property stolen because the $10,000 that could have paid for an extra police officer to patrol the streets at night for a third of the year was spent on a drag show.
But just like the “So Gay” campaign, it’s only a few thousand dollars, supporters say. No big deal. Chump change.
Forget that it could have been put to use in about 500 million better ways that would bring about desperately needed changes. And forget that the city budget is loaded with BS handouts like this and the nearly $500,000 allocated by a member of city council to HIMSELF.
Nope, saving lives apparently isn’t PC-enough anymore.
Note: The first loud-mouthed New Englander that has never lived in Columbia and had their car broken into, their house robbed, their friends attacked at gunpoint and on and on because there aren’t enough on-duty police officers who comes on here calling me a bigot or homophobe is banned for life.
So in order to apply that reasoning consistently, shouldn’t you be objecting to every single government expenditure which does not directly work to prevent “their car broken into, their house robbed, their friends attacked at gunpoint and on and on?”
Yet the only common thread between the two you’ve recently brought up is…
That all have very poor or completely non-existent oversight.
We should re-name Columbia city hall as “Hog Wallow Central” considering how much pork comes out ot there.
I am from Massachusetts and you sir are an idiot. I have lived in Columbia for 8 years. There seems to be a lot of gay people here, more then I saw in mass. If this funding comes from taxpayer money, whats the big deal? As long as the money spent on this gay festival is proportionate to their tax contribution relative to straight people who cares. Let them be gay, more ladies for me. And if you can’t protect yourself, you are a fag.
SC Nixes “So Gay” Ad Campaign
I smell a coverup.
http://www.wsav.com/midatlantic/sav/news.apx.-content-articles-SAV-2008-07-14-0021.html
Hey South Carolina
If any Gay Brits show-up send them north, to Rhode Island
CASH MAKES FRIENDS
Sample our “Northern Hospitality” …and low crime rate “FBI Stats”
Fabu-Lance …Newport Rhode Island
I don’t care if it is gay or straight…forget about entertaining us and set about to provide basic services!
Instead of Ru-Paul…how bout buy a damn calculator so you can balance the checkbooks. The leadership of this town ought to be in jail…
Yes, you wouldn’t want gays and lesbians to come to Palmetto and spend any money here, would you? That would be horrible!!!
McLovin’ you forgot one thing. The moneys you are talking about are statutorily forbidden from being used on what you are griping out. Read the statute. Additional police forces ain’t in there. And it was a conservative General Assembly that passed that statute. Maybe we should spend the money on reading and critical thinking education programs for adults like yourself. It will bring in more tourists — all the folks that won’t visit here because they thing we’re a bunch of backwoods dolts. Even better, instead of playing armchair politico, why don’t you run for office and change things? It is a small enough town its possible.
Since I am an SC native who has lived in Columbia and had friends held up at gunpoint, I’m qualified to respond I suppose. Your post is inflammatory and ridiculous– hospitality funds cannot be used for operating expenses or for staff. Any journalist should know that.
It’s a one-time allocation, whereas this mystical 1/3 of a police officer is hired indefinitely at a salary, plus benefits, plus overtime, plus equipment, plus training .. which adds up to a real cost of about $100,000 annually. Hospitality funds are designed to be used for these purposes — to be given to community groups and other organizations to have festivals to attract people (of any gender, race or orientation) to Columbia to spend their money in restaurants, hotels and bars. That will in turn generate more (gasp) hospitality funds to be given away next year.
[...] group that has spent their way into a $9 million budget shortfall with $1.6 million phantom hotels, $10,000 drag queen performances, and $3,000 “team-building” retreats. Posted in Around SC, Top Story [...]