PORT HAS FEWER MARITIME JOBS AFTER EXPANSION; AGENCY SAYS OK

[Sherman A1]

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) - A Mississippi Gulf Coast port has fewer maritime jobs now than it did before a $570 million restoration and expansion project funded by a federal grant.

But the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says the state is complying with job-creation requirements. The Sun Herald reports Republican Gov. Phil Bryant is calling the project a success.

Mississippi Development Authority pledged to create 1,300 full-time maritime jobs at the Port of Gulfport in exchange for money HUD provided for economic development after Hurricane Katrina, which struck in 2005 and damaged the port.

HUD had long questioned whether the port was meeting job goals, but said in a June 25 letter to MDA Executive Director Glenn McCullough that the concerns have been satisfied.

http://www.mpbonline.org/blogs/news/2019/07/03/port-has-fewer-maritime-jobs-after-expansion-agency-says-ok/

This sounds very much like the Reagan era "Ketchup is a Vegetable" method of accounting.