Executive

Waste of the Day: Michigan Could Use Broadband Funds For Paintballing, Monster Trucks

Michigan is getting $1.5 billion from the federal treasury for high-speed Internet, but has been sharing it with private entertainment venues.

Published

5 months ago

December 8, 2023

Adam Andrzejewski

Waste of the Day: $42 Billion Internet Investment Goes to Wealthy Areas

The $1.5 billion that Michigan is getting for high-speed internet service is meant for places like libraries and community centers, but private companies including a trampoline park, a monster truck rally center, a Hell-themed paintball facility and 13 NASCAR or drag-racing speedways could be getting funds as well.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration is allocating the $42.5 billion for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program to the states.

Waste of the Day: Michigan Could Use Broadband Funds For Paintballing, Monster Trucks — Waste of the Day 12.08.23 by Open the Books

In its guidance, NTIA states that the funding should go to “gigabit connections to community anchor institutions such as libraries and community centers that lack such connectivity,” Citizens Against Government Waste reported.

It allows each state’s funding proposal to include its own definition of “community anchor institutions,” which are supposed to connect unserved and underserved communities.

In the Michigan High Speed Internet office proposal for how it will spend the money, it includes in its definition of community anchor institutions, 10 private zoos, five of which don’t meet the “standards for animal welfare, care, and management” required for accreditation. It also includes 75 stadiums and sports centers — including more than 40 that are privately owned, like major league venues including Ford Field, Comerica Park, and Little Caesars Arena, which offer free Wi-Fi at their own expense.

“The misuse of public funds to subsidize private recreational facilities, private zoos, and stadiums amounts to little more than corporate welfare,” CAGW said. “These businesses have funded and can fund their own broadband buildouts and expansions without taxpayer support. Taxpayers should not be asked to subsidize these private, for-profit businesses and divert BEAD funds away from bringing broadband to unserved Michiganders.”

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.

Adam Andrzejewski

CEO at OpenTheBooks.com | Website | + posts

Adam Andrzejewski (say: Angie-eff-ski) is the CEO/founder of OpenTheBooks.com. Before dedicating his life to public service, Adam co-founded HomePages Directories, a $20 million publishing company (1997-2007). His works have been featured on the BBC, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, FOX News, CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), Forbes, Newsweek, and many other national media.

Today, OpenTheBooks.com is the largest private repository of U.S. public-sector spending. Mission: post "every dime, online, in real time." In 2022, OpenTheBooks.com captured nearly all public expenditures in the country, including nearly all disclosed federal government spending; 50 of 50 state checkbooks; and 25 million public employee salary and pension records from 50,000 public bodies across America.

The group's aggressive transparency and forensic auditing of government spending has led to the assembly of grand juries, indictments, and successful prosecutions; congressional briefings, hearings, and subpoenas; Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits; Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports; federal legislation; and much more.

Our Honorary Chairman - In Memoriam is U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, MD.

Andrzejewski's federal oversight work was included in the President's Budget To Congress FY2021. The budget cited his organization by name, bullet-pointed their findings, and footnoted/hyperlinked to their report.

Posted on YouTube, Andrzejewski's presentation, The Depth of the Swamp, at the Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar 2020 in Naples, Florida received 3.8 million views.

Andrzejewski has spoken at the Columbia School of Journalism, Harvard Law School and the law schools at Georgetown and George Washington regarding big data journalism. As a senior policy contributor at Forbes, Adam had nearly 20 million pageviews on 206 published investigations. In 2022, investigative fact-finding on Dr. Fauci's finances led to his cancellation at Forbes.

In 2022, Andrzejewski did 473 live television and radio interviews across broadcast, major cable platforms, and radio shows. Andrzejewski is the author of The Waste of the Day column at Real Clear Policy. The column is syndicated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of nearly 200 ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates across USA.

Andrzejewski lives in Hinsdale, Illinois with his wife Kerry and three daughters. He is a lector at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church and has finished the Chicago Marathon eight times (PR 3:58.49 in 2022).