"Shovel Ready Project" Defined & Blank Checks

I'm waiting for the big on-line database for the Obama Shovel. It will show taxpayers where and why future generations are in debt bondage. Where did all the money go?

Apparently, some is already asking that question.

Irresponsibility of blank checks
Monday, December 29, 2008 3:11 AM EST

Quote

CNN examined the 11,391 proposals from 427 cities and found more than just "vital" projects, including $4.8 million for the Providence, R.I., zoo, $1.5 million for a water ride at a park in Miami, Fla., $20 million for a baseball museum in Durham, N.C., and $1.5 million for a prostitution-abatement program in Dayton, Ohio.

$3.5 million for artificial turf and $350,000 for trolley buses in East Lyme; $225,000 for a skate park in Fairfield; $300,000 for two solar panels for Glastonbury; $200,000 for LCD projectors for New Fairfield schools; and $5 million for an indoor shooting range in New Haven.

...$225,000 for the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Art Center in Old Saybrook; and $80,000 for a bandstand in Plainville; $13 million for a pool and community center for Putnam; $1 million to fix docks in Sherman; $1.5 million for "streetscape and traffic calming" in Rocky Hill; $15 million for turf replacement, $4 million for a "fuel cell absorption chiller" and $48,000 for foreign-language lessons for police officers in Stamford; $5,000 for a fire hydrant in Vernon; $8,800 to repoint bricks at Washington's police station; $450,000 for softball and cricket fields and tennis courts in Waterbury; $800,000 for "beach nourishment" in West Haven; $200,000 for a "golf halfway house" in Westport; and $4.9 million to replace solar panels and pay "residual expenses" in Windham.

I wonder how many jobs prostitution abatement will save? Create? What about "residual expenses"...how many jobs is THAT worth? "Beach nourishment"?

Quote

...fiscal irresponsibility is the predictable outcome when mayors and first selectmen are handed blank checks. Just like legislators.

What a mouthful. I wonder how I get included? Where can I send my shovel ready projects for government funding? Maybe redistribute the weath to include the average citizen on Main Street? My hand's been out for months. Still waiting for that check in the mail.

How many of these are "needs"? How many are "wants"? How many are just plain silly?

http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2008/12/29/opinion/388424.txt

jmho