With all of this talk, it’d be nice if the stimulus at least became a reality, else we’d have ourselves a major letdown…

‘Pork’ projects all about jobs, Hercules says
By Tom Lochner

Hercules is accustomed to receiving kudos in the national media for its “New Urbanism”-inspired planning philosophy. But lately the Dynamic City has been skewered over its portion of a “ready-to-go” list of infrastructure projects that the U.S. Conference of Mayors presented to Congress in anticipation of President-elect Obama’s economic recovery package.

Hercules’ wish list, recently trimmed from $152 million to $133 million, included a dog park and a duck pond park that a Wall Street Journal columnist derided as “pork.” Several other publications bashed Hercules while passing over a slew of $100 million-plus items in other cities — a $220 million convention center expansion in Anaheim, for example — among more than 15,000 “Ready-to-Go” projects in 641 cities nationwide totaling at least $96.6 billion.

Pittsburg, with $60 million in proposals, recently joined Hercules as the only two Contra Costa County representatives on the list. In Alameda County, Alameda ($68 million), Hayward ($135 million), Livermore ($135 million), Newark ($5 million), Oakland ($89 million), Pleasanton ($203 million) and San Leandro ($78 million) all have said they have projects ready to go.

“The media has chosen to focus on a few projects such as parks, exhibits and art pieces in an attempt to make their news stories more controversial,” the city of Hercules fired back in a news release. “The media has classified these projects as ‘pork’ and while we are honored they would recognize our wonderful community, they have failed to address the larger issue and purpose of the (‘ready-to-go’) report.”

“We’re talking about creating jobs,” Hercules Mayor Joe Eddy McDonald said this week. “That’s what’s behind the list.”

Implementing the entire “Ready-to-Go” list would create more than 1.2 million jobs nationwide in 2009 and 2010, the mayors group estimates. Hercules’ updated list promises to create 4,782 jobs. Building a $200,000 dog park, a line item on the earlier list, would create eight jobs; a $2.5 million duck pond park, 90 jobs.

“Some are condemning the park and recreation projects as a waste,” the city said, “but any job that puts someone to work is vital to both that individual [and] our community’s, and our nation’s, overall economic well-being.”

The “Ready-To-Go” list, available at www.usmayors.org, has 10 broad project categories: airports, Amtrak, community development, energy, city streets, housing, public safety, schools, transit and water. Projects should be completable within 24 months.

Hercules seeks $38.9 million to build the Sycamore Main Street mixed-use development; $19.2 million for intersection and arterial improvements; $16 million for a parking garage at a future intermodal transit center; $10.4 million for the New Town Center mixed-use development; $7.6 million to re-engineer ramps and roads at the Interstate 80-Highway 4-Willow Avenue maze; $6.9 million for wastewater, sewer and flood projects; $6 million for an Amtrak Capital Corridor station; $5.1 million for a roundabout at Willow and Palm avenues; and $4.5 million for park projects.

Pittsburg wants $22 million for a 70-unit teacher housing development in cooperation with Los Medanos College and the Pittsburg Unified School District; $15 million to restore the 1930s-era Enean Theater as a community center and performance venue; $9.5 million for a Marina Hospitality and Culinary Institute in cooperation with Los Medanos College; and $7 million to restore the historic California Theater.

The mayors conference’s “Ready-to-Go” list is but one vehicle that public agencies are riding in quest of federal funding. The Contra Costa Transportation Authority has compiled a list of projects from the county, all 19 Contra Costa cities and several transit agencies including BART, AC Transit, WestCAT and others that it forwarded to Caltrans, which is applying for federal funding. The list is available for viewing at www.ccta.net/assets/documents/APC/January~2009/14-JAN09APC.pdf

Cities across the nation also have approached their congressional representatives for help to capture federal infrastructure funds. Also passing the hat are nongovernmental groups as disparate as the American Shore & Beach Preservation Association, bicycle coalitions and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, whose “shovel-ready” list includes a $4.8 million request mostly to rebuild a polar bear exhibit in Rhode Island.