This is getting mind-boggling....the money is BORROWED...all we are doing is sentencing our children to an economic disaster worse than the one we are currently in...
Dec. 18, 2008 - Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett on Thursday asked President-elect Barack Obama to consider funding $599 million in city infrastructure projects, from fixing streets and public buildings to erecting a new streetcar system and eight new libraries. Obama has asked the nation's governors for shovel-ready projects that could start quickly to stimulate the economy and create jobs. Gov. Jim Doyle responded last week with a list of $3.7 billion in highway, education, environment and energy-saving projects that could start by spring, and $10 billion in longer-term projects. The Milwaukee Common Council called last month for some of the federal stimulus money to come directly to the city. Barrett's list doesn't distinguish between short-term and long-term projects, but Patrick Curley, the mayor's chief of staff, said "the vast majority of them could go to contract fairly quickly." Some of the projects are in the city's 2009 capital budget, some are in its six-year plan and some - including the streetcar line and most of the new libraries - have been discussed but not planned in detail, budget chief Mark Nicolini said.
