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Velázquez suggests spending parking garage money on hurricane relief

By WALT WILLIAMS, Chronicle Staff Writer

A former candidate for the U.S. House is asking Bozeman to give up $4 million in federal funding for a parking garage so it can instead be used to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.


 In an e-mail sent to the Bozeman City Commission, Tracy Velázquez of Bozeman said that given the scale of the disaster, she doesn't think the city can in good conscious keep the money when it is desperately needed elsewhere.

"I think every city in America should look at what they can postpone or do without for now," she said in an interview Friday.

Velázquez is vice-chair of the Montana Democratic Party, but she stressed she was making the request as a private citizen, not on behalf of the party.

"They don't even know I've done this," she said.

Her request came the same day Gov. Brian Schweitzer signed an emergency proclamation pledging Montana National Guard troops to help in relief efforts, if they're needed.

"The Montana National Guard stands ready to assist with the catastrophe and will respond immediately if requested," he said in a prepared statement. "This is a horrible catastrophe and Montana will help in every way we can."

Velázquez believes Bozeman can help by giving up $4 million for a downtown parking garage earmarked in a transportation bill recently passed by Congress.

She likens it to the rationing during World War II, when people pulled together and gave up everyday necessities to support the war effort.

"We need to look at this as a national crisis, not a New Orleans crisis," she said.

With billions of dollars in damage and possibly thousands of people dead, Hurricane Katrina has already been described as one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history.

Congress approved $10.5 billion in emergency aid Friday.

Money for the parking garage, on the other hand, has been criticized as pork-barrel spending. Among its detractors is the New York Times, which pointed to the garage as an example of unnecessary government spending in an editorial last year.

Velázquez, who works in downtown Bozeman, said she hasn't taken a position on whether the garage is needed, a debate that started long before the disaster. She admitted in her e-mail that she would appreciate a covered parking garage in the winter, but she sees it as a non-essential item given the current crisis.

She intends to make her request before the Bozeman City Commission when it meets Tuesday.

Walt Williams is at wwilliams@dailychronicle.com

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