Two articles in the past few days about earmarks just make me think Norwalk goes about the funding process in a dysfunctional way. The Hour reported on the Norwalk Transit District’s inability to get state matching funds for a federally funded project to upgrade the bus hub on Burnell Blvd.

The contretemps outlined in The Hour via a series of memos, is fascinating. Schulman, via The Hour says he can’t get the federal funds because he doesn’t have the state matching funds of $400k. The DOT commissioner says that the federal funds flowed directly the Transit District, meaning Schulman already has them, and that the DOT never provides matching funds for local transit district projects.

Hrmm, could it be that the because the bus hub doesn’t fit into the the intermodal variety, the DOT wants nothing to do with it?

And then there’s the request of $400k before the State Bonding Commission for the $400k that supposedly is in process too.

Meanwhile the House of Representatives Thursday according to Jim Himes, D-4, passed a bill delivering earmarks for all, but here are the Fairfield County earmarks according to the Advocate:

• $250,000 for Darien to develop new affordable housing

• $175,000 for in-car camera technology upgrades for the State Police,

• $500,000 for the Courage to Speak Foundation, a drug-prevention non-profit in Norwalk.

• $500,000 for demolition of the Congress Street Bridge in Bridgeport

• $1.8 million towards rebuilding it Congress Street Bridge in Bridgeport

• $700,000 for Bridgeport’s Total Learning Program, run by ABCD Inc.

• $2 million for the second phase of the Stamford Urban Transitway, a commuter road linking Atlantic and East Main Street

• $2.4 million for the Bridgeport Intermodal Transportation Center, which links rail, local and interstate buses, ferry service, taxicabs and airport shuttles.

So out of federal dollars, nothing for Norwalk really. Yet there’s some substantial need for an intermodal transit hub in Norwalk, since Norwalk contains the Danbury rail spur that services Wilton. There’s even plans in the work, which is so far under the radar, the only reason I know about it is because we have a zoning commissioner that is assigned to study committee. Check out www.sonorailstudy.org.

This leads to the bigger questions. Why are we building anything at Burnell Blvd. when the smart thing to do is create a real transit hub at the South Norwalk train station that serves our regional mass transit needs and connects our downtown and office park areas efficiently? Why is Congress funding Norwalk earmark dollars to the Courage To Speak Foundation when there’s no evidence that this anti-drug program does anything substantiated to reduce drug use by students. A short review of local news stories of drug ring busts that service New Canaan high school students should stand as evidence numero uno that these types of programs are useless.

In the end, the saga of the Burnell Blvd. will continue. And on this latest spending bill it is right to conclude that� Norwalk got nothing. The larger question will just hang out there.