US mayors want their share of the stimulus

[WBU ALUM]

Mainstreet Economic Recovery Report

The 607 page report makes such ridiculous requests as:

- $1 million to upgrade the Los Angeles County Convention Center elevated "catwalk" for cameras and lighting
- $350,000 for an Albuquerque, NM fitness center
- $94 million for a parking garage at the Orange Bowl in Miami, FL
- $4.5 million for Gretna, FL to bottle water with recyclable bottles
- $35 million music hall of fame in Florissant, MO
- $3.1 million for a swimming pool in Tulsa, OK
- $80,000 for a tennis facility in Santa Barbara, CA
- $6 million to renovate the beach at Surfers Point in Venice, CA
- $1.5 million to reduce prostitution with education programs in Dayton, OH
-$5.7 million to improve a cruise ship terminal in Puerto Rico

More waste and debt for the taxpayer to finance.

[banpaeng]

Sounds like standup projects to me except for Dayton OH. That might be a laying down project.

I have to ask, did you really expect them to do anything intelligent?

[TJ]

State and local governments are searching closets and basements for old project plans that couldn't be funded during the boom years. They are now the State's answer for fixing the ailing economy. Insanity!

Does this provide a clue as to why stimilus programs do not improve a national economy? State stimulus programs are designed to buy votes and reward the agents of the State, all at the expense of the taxpayers who go ever deeper in debt.

[aznyron]

WBU after the quake in LA in 1994 MLK day I was there and the lines for free food were miles long
now I want to say I was NOT on that line but people who had enormous wealth were on that line and I was talking to a Glendale Cop who was assigned to keep it orderly told me. / but I have to agree with you it is sad when they just don't give a dam about the country it just me me me me me me but remember that starts at the TOP and trickles down they want it before the needy get it because they pay taxes
and the needy don't that there logic and sick minds

[JimboPSM]

It may be a ridiculous shopping list of what the Mayors may want, but that does not mean that it will be what they actually get approved.

In light of an exceptionally clear statement that I saw and heard on TV yesterday by President Elect Obama on banning all earmarks it will be interesting to see what may or may not actually get approved.

Clear statements by politicians are rare but when they do occur it makes it much easier for the electorate to hold them accountable if they fail to deliver.

I found a copy of it as a YouTube video on the “RealClearPolitics” website; it is included in the first YouTube video on this page:

• http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video_ ... _gaza.html

[WBU ALUM]

With earmarks being the pork spending slipped in by Congressmen at the last minute without debate before the House or Senate, I expect that semantics will play a roll in getting many of these projects approved since they won't fit the true definition of an 'earmark'.

We'll see.