At the blog of Prof. Lester Hunt I discovered Stimulus Watch, a site dedicated to keeping an eye on "'shovel-ready' projects in cities around the country that the mayors would like to see funded". And Mayor Dave is looking for $243,239,800 in handouts from the Feds.
While I'm certainly in favor of repaving streets in need of it, we are in a recession and I must question whether building a public market is a truly critical and pressing need for Madison and its economy. $18 million for a public market when there are oodles of farmer's markets around the city? Cieslewicz is asking for $2 million to build train stations (plural!) to service a high speed rail line when Madison is not even served by passenger rail. I'm all in favor of our fair city having intercity passenger rail service, but can't we wait until the ink is dry on some Amtrak paperwork before we start accepting the money? What happens if Madison gets that $2 million but Amtrak never comes our way? Perhaps there should be some strings attached to guarantee the money is used for its intended purpose. If we get the money but not the trains, then we should give the green back to the Feds.
If Madison gets a boatload of cash and starts building things, are we also going to expect the Federal government to pay for their upkeep? And it doesn't seem like any of the jobs that these projects will supposedly create are long-term. You get some folks to create more storage space at the Streets East maintenance shop and lay down some astroturf at Breese Stevens Field – then what do those people do? Sit on hold with the DWD for a couple weeks again while seeking unemployment compensation?
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