I'm actually embarrassed to post this but WOW, I'm so glad the stimulus passed the house so we can upgrade our skateboard parks here. And god knows we need a snow making machine, its freaking Minnesota the same snow is here from November through April.
I had to run on a treadmill tonight planted in front of a tv (because the ice rink was being used). Anywho, my man Hannity was mocking this so I had to come home and dig it up.
Here's the group's list of 10 Worst Economic Stimulus Requests Made by Minnesota Cities and its take on the projects:
10 – Shorewood, $300,000
Tennis court improvement and rehab -- A backhand shot from a prosperous southwestern suburb that should be vigorously returned by taxpayers.
9 -- St. Paul, $2.1 million
Western Avenue reconstruction, "including bike facilities, traffic calming elements" and "public art" -- An artful attempt to have patrons, a.k.a. taxpayers, underwrite the collaboration of St. Paul public works engineers and artists in creating fun sculptures, playful signs, "traffic calming elements" and bike facilities.
8 – Burnsville, $50,000
Greenhouse gas tracking program -- How exactly does a city-run greenhouse gas tracking program stimulate the economy?
7 -- St. Cloud, $150,000
Street sign upgrade program -- The state has mandated that street sign lettering be 150 millimeters for capital letters and 113 millimeters for lower-case letters. A case of a city government asking the federal government for funds to comply with a state government mandate to replace signs that were already pointing the right way and doing the job.
6 – Hanover, $750,000
LED streetlight conversion -- How many years’ worth of city electric bills will it take to pay off the $750,000 cost of changing the bulbs in this city with an estimated population of about 2,500?
5 -- St. Louis Park, $3.5 million
New water meters for St. Louis Park residents -- The city wants to open the federal tap to give 12,800 water customers new water meters and install remote meter-monitoring equipment.
4 – Roseville, $1.5 million
New clubhouse and maintenance shop for city golf course -- Roseville's city-run Cedarholm Golf Course, a 9-hole, par 3 course, lost more than $800,000 between 2000 and 2007 (years inclusive). Why should all taxpayers be asked to "chip in" even more money at this losing enterprise?
3 – Burnsville, $550,000
Nicollet Commons water feature rehab -- Burnsville expects taxpayers to open the federal floodgates for a $550,000 upgrade for the water fountains and sculptures in its highly touted town-square-style park.
2 – Duluth, $6 million
Spirit Mountain snowmaking and maintenance facility -- This multimillion-dollar snow job attracted national media attention to Duluth.
1-- St. Cloud, $750,000
Skateboarding Park -- Ever since a local entrepreneur closed the doors of his skate park in 2006, enthusiasts in St. Cloud have tried to raise a quarter of a million dollars to start building a huge state-of-the-art skate park "plaza." The city even agreed to carry donors' debt for four years, but donations -- to use skateboarding terminology -- continue to "grind" along well short of their goal. So the city has done a "kick turn" and asked taxpayers to foot the bill for the entire project. Taxpayers need to become familiar with another skateboard term and "grab" their wallets.
