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Mayors Make Pitch for Piece of Stimulus Pie

City chiefs plug $90B worth in infrastructure projects to Obama

By Gabriel Winant, Newser User

Posted Dec 1, 2008 10:51 AM CST

(Newser) – For American mayors, economic crisis means a chance to hit up the feds for a buck, Politico reports. The US Conference of Mayors has compiled a list of 4,600 projects that would create 261,000 jobs in 154 cities; the plan currently totals $90 billion, but an official said cities could easily get $180 billion as Barack Obama ups federal spending to create jobs.

The mayors are hoping not to lose control of the process to congressional earmarks. Says a spokesman, “Right now, they’re fighting on Normandy Beach, and we’ve got to get bullets there.” They’re counting on having an in with Obama, who has consulted with the mayors of Los Angeles and Chicago, and is considering Miami’s Manny Diaz for the cabinet.

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New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg refers to charts while explaining his budget plans for fiscal 2009 at a City Hall press conference, Nov. 5, 2008. (AP Photo)

Philadelphia's Michael Nutter is one of three big-city mayors who asked the federal government to use some of the financial bailout to assist cities. (AP Photo)

The mayors of Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., respectively%u2014from left, Ron Dellums, Gavin Newsom and Chuck Reed%u2014are among the city leaders who stand to gain from a chunk of federal... (AP Photo)

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How do you get money on the streets and how do you get people back to work? You don’t do it by creating a new law that takes three months to get passed. - Tom Cochran, chief executive of the mayors' conference

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Mayors Make Pitch for Piece of Stimulus Pie