Is there cause for concern about the arena's funding?

As members of the Youngstown convocation center board and city council attempt to define each entity's role in the $40 million downtown project, the certainty of the $25 million that U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. secured from the federal government has become an issue in the deliberations.
Last week, Claire Maluso, a member of the board and Traficant's economic development and community outreach representative in the Mahoning Valley, warned that the Bush administration could lay claim to the money if substantive progress isn't made in the near future in the development of the convocation and civic center.
Maluso pointed out correctly that the $25 million was approved by Congress on the strength of Traficant's relationship with the Republican leadership in the House and was not part of a budget request from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In other words, even though the money is funneled through HUD's Community Development Block Grant program, it is not included in the city of Youngstown's annual CDBG allocation.
Concern: Thus, without the traditional strings tying the $25 million to the city, there is cause for concern as to how secure it is. We have no doubt that Traficant would fight any attempt to take the money away from the convocation project, but with President Bush pushing to downsize the federal government and to implement his $1.6 trillion tax cut, every penny in Washington becomes the target of competing interests.
The Valley already has experienced the loss of federal money. Remember when Traficant's predecessor, Lyle Williams, was pushing for the construction of a federal building in downtown Youngstown and had secured $10 million for the project?
Williams was unable to get the project moving and then lost his re-election bid in 1984 to Traficant. During the transition, a member of Congress from California decided to make a bid for the $10 million for a courthouse in his district. It was only through the efforts of the 17th District's new congressman, Traficant, that the money was saved.
Even then, the General Services Administration decided that a $10 million project was not necessary and decreased the cost to $6 million.
Such is the way the federal government operates, which is why the convocation center project needs to become more than just a topic of discussion between members of the board and city council.