Tag Archives: federal stimulus

City Council, City of Peoria

CSO improvements head wish list for stimulus funds

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On the Peoria City Council’s agenda for Tuesday is a “resolution establishing the City of Peoria’s highest priorities for stimulus package projects.” Here they are:

The City of Peoria’s highest priorities for stimulus package projects are as follows:

  1. Combined Sewer Improvement Projects as follows:

    a. Western Avenue Storm Sewer removal from Combined Sewer System. Estimated cost: $5.1 million.

    b. Glen Oak Avenue storm sewer removal from Combined Sewer System. Estimated cost: $1.2 million.

    c. Spring Street supplemental sewer. Estimated cost: $6.5 million.

  2. Various sidewalk projects including, but not limited to,

    a. Glen Oak School Impact Zone. Estimated cost: $475,000.

    b. Sidewalks at Kellar Primary School, Charter Oak School and Rolling Acres School. Estimated cost: $525,000.

    c. Lake Avenue sidewalk at Sheridan Village. Estimated cost: $90,000.

    d. Sheridan and Lake Intersection improvement. Estimated cost: $125,000.

    e. ADA Ramp Program. Estimated cost: $250,000.

    f. Liberty Park sidewalk improvement. Estimated cost: $100,000.

    g. Sheridan Road sidewalk improvement. Estimated cost: $230,000.

  3. Construction of Darst Street and Clark Street in the Southern Gateway Area. Estimated cost: $3.33 million.

Presumably, these are all “shovel ready” projects. My only thought is, we keep hearing that the total CSO project is going to cost at least $100 million, but the three CSO projects listed here total just $12.8 million. I guess I wish we could get more money for that project since it’s an unfunded mandate that’s going to be very hard for our city to afford.

But on the other hand, every little bit helps, and it’s pretty unlikely we would receive anywhere near $100 million from the federal government. So this sounds like a good list to me.

Museum Block, Nation/World, Peoria County

Did anybody not see this coming?

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From today’s Journal Star:

Museum backers hope the federal economic stimulus plan includes $4 million to construct an underground parking garage for the Downtown project.

Of course they do. Especially with Mr. LaHood as Secretary of Transportation, they probably feel pretty confident they’ll get that money, too. Nevermind the fact that we don’t need any additional parking for this project. Nevermind the fact that they haven’t raised their goal in private or public funding, indicating that there is not sufficient local support for this project. The latest spin on the project is to call it a “stimulus project,” designed to stimulate the local economy:

[Brad] McMillan said an agreement with museum representatives and Caterpillar – which wants to construct a $41 million visitors center next to the Downtown museum – said “100 percent” of jobs generated from the construction of the facility would come from “local construction” and trades.

“This could mean a lot of work during a tough economic time span,” McMillan said.

In order for the project to go forward, of course, Peoria residents would have to approve a .25% increase in the local sales tax. So, you see, a higher sales tax will be a good thing for the economy, because it will create 250 construction jobs. Let’s see, $24,000,000 in higher sales taxes, plus $4,000,000 in federal stimulus money, that’s $28 million for 250 jobs, or $112,000 per job.

So now, not only is this project an exercise in inefficient land use, it can also be poster child for inefficient use of public funds.