The city auctions always lost money. We'd get a small turnout of people bidding, and we had to hire auctioneers and pay city employees to handle the goods.

It is a good thing for you to have the power over your own money and your own future. And you're the one who cares about it the most. So we'd be very positive for those types of proposals.

In the old days, [the committee] raised small amounts of money, doled it out to people who didn't need it and sat back and waited to see who would win.

The amount of money people are willing to spend to stay here, it's a lot more than in the past.

The law says that when you give out Perkins loan money, you start with the people who are the poorest and continue backward. It's not much money, but it does go to our neediest students. They would be left hanging without it.

This is really about helping rebuild a community and have people not just give money, but goods and services. This is not a short-range, but a long-range project.