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Stimulus Shortchanges Cities

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Jul 9, 2009 7:43 AM CDT

(Newser) – Two-thirds of the country lives in big cities, but less than half of the federal stimulus’ transportation money is going to fix their often crumbling roads, the New York Times reports. States were allowed to decide for themselves how stimulus money was spent, and state lawmakers have a long history of spending disproportionately on less-populous areas, to please as many lawmakers as possible.

“If we’re trying to recover the nation’s economy, we should be focusing where the economy is,” says one Brookings Institute fellow. The nation’s top 100 cities contribute 75% of its economic activity. “But states take this peanut-butter approach, taking the dollars and spreading them around very thinly.” Still, there’s hope for cities; though 70% of the federal money went to states, 30% went to metropolitan planning organizations that haven’t yet filed all their projects.

New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine, left, stands in a group near exit eight of the New Jersey Turnpike, July 2, 2009, as he announces a $2.7 billion plan to widen one of the nation's busiest toll roads. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Traffic moves through Times Square, Feb. 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Pedestrians and traffic make their way through New York's Times Square, Friday, May 22, 2009. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

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Showing 3 of 3 comments

Snowleopard

Jul 9, 2009 6:38 AM CDT

oops ....don't *think populations...

Snowleopard

Jul 9, 2009 6:37 AM CDT

yeah, don't thing populations super concentrated in cities is going to be sustainable. at some point when the oil starts running out (50 years?) it's not going to be affordable to have food shipped halfway across the country, and people may have to start getting more of their food locally. hopefully this will mean a return to small local farms and more people involved in an agrarian lifestyle.

Mad

Jul 9, 2009 6:14 AM CDT

You know, if you boys in the Big City want to have some place to go when you escape the Big Shitty you'll be glad us country folks got to repair our roads too!

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Stimulus Shortchanges Cities

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Planned Undersea Tunnel Divides Germans, Danish

$7.2B, 12.5-mile endeavor would be Europe's largest infrastructure project

Obama Scrambles for Jobs Plan

But problem may be too big to fix

US Needs to Plow $2T Into Infrastructure

America has fallen behind Brazil, China, India

Ohio, Wisconsin Spurn $1.2B to Build Train Lines

Stimulus funds will go to other states

Schwarzenegger and Pals: Our Infrastructure Is Embarrassing

Bloomberg, Rendell, and Governator all want us to improve transportation

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OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

roadways • transportation • infrastructure • cities • highways • economic stimulus package

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

Planned Undersea Tunnel Divides Germans, Danish

$7.2B, 12.5-mile endeavor would be Europe's largest infrastructure project

Obama Scrambles for Jobs Plan

But problem may be too big to fix

US Needs to Plow $2T Into Infrastructure

America has fallen behind Brazil, China, India

Ohio, Wisconsin Spurn $1.2B to Build Train Lines

Stimulus funds will go to other states

Schwarzenegger and Pals: Our Infrastructure Is Embarrassing

Bloomberg, Rendell, and Governator all want us to improve transportation

About Us

Site

Newser By Users

Community

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More News

What is Newser?