Stimulus Boom Towns-$850 billion, Where Is it Going?

The Obama Administration is looking at an $850 billion stimulus package. This money is to be spent over two years. That is a lot of steel and concrete! We will see if he can line up the votes to get it through Congress, but I would bet a dollar to doughnuts that it passes.

So Yahoo! posted the five cities that are asking for some nice slices out of the stimulus package.

Top 5 Biggest Stimulus Requests

1. Miami, Fla.
Projects: $3.4 billion
Jobs estimate: 55,355

2. Sacramento, Calif.
Projects: $2.8 billion
Jobs estimate: 8,895

3. Philadelphia, Pa.
Projects: $2.6 billion
Jobs estimate: 24,527

4. Los Angeles, Calif.
Projects: $2.4 billion
Jobs estimate: 4,936

5. Albuquerque, N.M.
Projects: $2.3 billion
Jobs estimate: 5,181

One key thing to watch is if Obama waives the Bush administrations ban on federal funding for project labor agreements. If so there will be lot of work in Los Angeles that is covered by thier PLA.

And the State Funding Stops for 2000 Projects

The budget battle continues and public works projects in the state are the most recent casualty. According to the San Francisco Chronicle:

State financial leaders halted funding Wednesday for at least 2,000 public works projects in California, including school construction in every Bay Area county, carpool lanes in Sonoma County and on the Sunol Grade, and affordable housing in San Francisco.

The decision came as state officials failed to solve an expected $40 billion budget shortfall through mid-2010. California's state government, which could run out of money by the end of February, now can use those funds for other expenses.

It is amazing to see our state in such need. As the Obama Administration is discussing the upcoming stimulus package, I wonder if the funds will go to new projects or if they will provide funds for projects that have started.

Here are some of the wish lists that have started to form:

Riverside County
San Diego County

List of Public Works Projects that Will Lose Funding is Published

The crazy California budget battle is going to really hit home for many communities in California soon. If the state can not come up with a spending plan, the public works projects that are dependent upon bonds approved with funds approved in 2006 could screech to a halt.

State Treasurer Bill Lockyer posted the list of projects here.

The list is 67 pages long and includes hundreds of projects!

We are talking about school programs, highways, water projects and hospitals in every corner of the state.

The LA Times article discusses the impact to the LA community and the SacBee article talks about the statewide perspective.