After a flurry of stimulus spending, questionable projects pile up

By: Susan Ferrechio
Chief Congressional Correspondent
November 3, 2009

The $787 billion stimulus bill was passed in February and was promised as a job saver and economy booster. Here is where some of the money went:

- $300,000 for a GPS-equipped helicopter to hunt for radioactive rabbit droppings at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state.

- $30 million for a spring training baseball complex for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies.

- $11 million for Microsoft to built a bridge connecting its two headquarter campuses in Redmond, Wash., which are separated by a highway.

- $430,000 to repair a bridge in Iowa County, Wis., that carries 10 or fewer cars per day.

- $800,000 for the John Murtha Airport in Johnstown, Pa., serving about 20 passengers per day, to built a backup runway.

- $219,000 for Syracuse University to study the sex lives of freshmen women.

- $2.3 million for the U.S. Forest Service to rear large numbers of arthropods, including the Asian longhorned beetle, the nun moth and the woolly adelgid.

- $3.4 million for a 13-foot tunnel for turtles and other wildlife attempting to cross U.S. 27 in Lake Jackson, Fla.

- $1.15 million to install a guardrail for a persistently dry lake bed in Guymon, Okla.

- $9.38 million to renovate a century-old train depot in Lancaster County, Pa., that has not been used for three decades.

- $2.5 million in stimulus checks sent to the deceased.

- $6 million for a snow-making facility in Duluth, Minn.

- $173,834 to weatherize eight pickup trucks in Madison County, Ill.

- $20,000 for a fish sperm freezer at the Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery in South Dakota.

- $380,000 to spay and neuter pets in Wichita, Kan.

- $300 apiece for thousands of signs at road construction sites across the country announcing that the projects are funded by stimulus money.

- $1.5 million for a fence to block would-be jumpers from leaping off the All-American Bridge in Akron, Ohio.

- $1 million to study the health effects of environmentally friendly public housing on 300 people in Chicago.

- $356,000 for Indiana University to study childhood comprehension of foreign accents compared with native speech.

- $983,952 for street beautification in Ann Arbor, Mich., including decorative lighting, trees, benches and bike paths.

- $148,438 for Washington State University to analyze the use of marijuana in conjunction with medications like morphine.

- $462,000 to purchase 22 concrete toilets for use in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri

- $3.1 million to transform a canal barge into a floating museum that will travel the Erie Canal in New York state.

- $1.3 million on government arts jobs in Maine, including $30,000 for basket makers, $20,000 for storytelling and $12,500 for a music festival.

- $71,000 for a hybrid car to be used by student drivers in Colchester, Vt., as well as a plug-in hybrid for town workers decked out with a sign touting the vehicle's energy efficiency.

- $1 million for Portland, Ore., to replace 100 aging bike lockers and build a garage that would house 250 bicycles.

Sources: News reports, Office of the Senate Minority Leader, Office of Sen. Tom Coburn

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/After-a-flurry-of-stimulus-spending_-questionable-projects-pile-up-8474249-68709732.html

- $219,000 for Syracuse University to study the sex lives of freshmen women.

seems wasteful, they could easy find a person who would do it for free.

Well, if they got 'em to vote, might as well get motha' fuckin' paid while they're at it.

Wow.

Give me HALF that money and I'd do all those projects and live like a king with what's left over.

That comes out to less than $79million.  Where's the rest of it?

Dibs.

this is just a synopsis of the questionable projects.

Tell me again why I get up and go to work everyday?

Yay! We needed that overpass.

they couldn't afford it.

the argument was that it benefits the people of Redmond more than the people of Microsoft.

Well then the fine folks of Redmond should have paid for it.

The govt needs to tax YOU to pay for this crap.

yep.  I know of several just in my region.  

This list isn't even the tip of the iceberg.  The federal government put heavy time constraints on the construction/infrastructure projects...construction had to begin within 60 days of award.  That means lots of old projects, that were studied up to and including 10 years ago, had the PE/design phase completed and categorical exclusions for environmental impact statements.  Lots of the road and bridge projects were on old obsolete structures that, prior to the newly constructed adjacent highway being built, may have been necessary.



NWTN has a bridge that was razed and then rebuilt (at ~$750k).  It sees 3 cars per day (ADT=3).

Furthermore, Energy Efficiency Block Grants were made available recently.  $100k per application, no local match requried (100% grant).  Must be used on energy efficiency retrofits for town halls or street lighting.  Solar panels on a 60 year old structure? suuurrre.  Only cities and counties may apply (or 501C3 owned by city or county).  


In a nutshell:
Yes there's been waste.  And yes, you're going to see even more.

Is that what they're working on right now in the median of 520 with the pillars?

As a resident of the area, I completely agree.



yes

Pork barrel projects. Re-election gimmicks. What a sham.

Imagine putting this one on your resume...



Microsoft doesn't have $11 million in readies?  Who'd have thought?



They couldn't find one guy willing to do this at no cost?



It doesn't snow in Duluth, MN?



At that price they could have bought eight decent used ones.



A chest freezer wasn't good enough?  How much do they need?



So people will just go somewhere else to jump.



At $21,000 per toilet, I hope that includes installation, TP, and a personal valet to wipe you afterward.



So average $35,500 per car.  Who the hell gives a $35k car to a student driver?  I'm betting that sucker doesn't last a year.

Any idea how wealthy Ann Arbor is?  They most likely already had money set aside for that project.

Carmel, IN also got stimulus money.  They are the wealthiest city in IN.

If I decide to not pay my taxes this year what happens?

Money well spent!

Take

Your

Fucking

Mits

Off

My

Money

...I'm already freaking broke

$787 billion stimulus bill
We could have used all that money to raze Detroit and ship off the inhabitants to Cuba for some free health care, and probably had some change left over to search for the radioactive rabbit shit in Washington.

< the surprised look on my face

"- $430,000 to repair a bridge in Iowa County, Wis.,"



only one that makes sense

unfortunately typical