After a flurry of stimulus spending, questionable projects pile up

By: Susan Ferrechio
Chief Congressional Correspondent
November 3, 2009 

The $787 billion stimulus bill was passed in February and was promised as a job saver and economy booster. Here is where some of the money went:

- $300,000 for a GPS-equipped helicopter to hunt for radioactive rabbit droppings at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state.

- $30 million for a spring training baseball complex for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies.

- $11 million for Microsoft to build a bridge connecting its two headquarter campuses in Redmond, Wash., which are separated by a highway.

- $430,000 to repair a bridge in Iowa County, Wis., that carries 10 or fewer cars per day.

- $800,000 for the John Murtha Airport in Johnstown, Pa., serving about 20 passengers per day, to build a backup runway.

- $219,000 for Syracuse University to study the sex lives of freshmen women.

- $2.3 million for the U.S. Forest Service to rear large numbers of arthropods, including the Asian longhorned beetle, the nun moth and the woolly adelgid.

- $3.4 million for a 13-foot tunnel for turtles and other wildlife attempting to cross U.S. 27 in Lake Jackson, Fla.

- $1.15 million to install a guardrail for a persistently dry lake bed in Guymon, Okla.

- $9.38 million to renovate a century-old train depot in Lancaster County, Pa., that has not been used for three decades.

- $2.5 million in stimulus checks sent to the deceased.

- $6 million for a snow-making facility in Duluth, Minn.

- $173,834 to weatherize eight pickup trucks in Madison County, Ill.

- $20,000 for a fish sperm freezer at the Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery in South Dakota.

- $380,000 to spay and neuter pets in Wichita, Kan.

- $300 apiece for thousands of signs at road construction sites across the country announcing that the projects are funded by stimulus money.

- $1.5 million for a fence to block would-be jumpers from leaping off the All-American Bridge in Akron, Ohio.

- $1 million to study the health effects of environmentally friendly public housing on 300 people in Chicago.

- $356,000 for Indiana University to study childhood comprehension of foreign accents compared with native speech.

- $983,952 for street beautification in Ann Arbor, Mich., including decorative lighting, trees, benches and bike paths.

- $148,438 for Washington State University to analyze the use of marijuana in conjunction with medications like morphine.

- $462,000 to purchase 22 concrete toilets for use in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri

- $3.1 million to transform a canal barge into a floating museum that will travel the Erie Canal in New York state.

- $1.3 million on government arts jobs in Maine, including $30,000 for basket makers, $20,000 for storytelling and $12,500 for a music festival.

- $71,000 for a hybrid car to be used by student drivers in Colchester, Vt., as well as a plug-in hybrid for town workers decked out with a sign touting the vehicle's energy efficiency.

- $1 million for Portland, Ore., to replace 100 aging bike lockers and build a garage that would house 250 bicycles.

Sources: News reports, Office of the Senate Minority Leader, Office of Sen. Tom Coburn

Hell I would have done that for free :-)

Our current elected officials need to be kicked out.  How can they possibly say they are serving the country when they let sh*t like this happen?

"Let it happen"? They openly encourage this $hit! THAT's why they need to be kicked out.

Vote Independent.

Someone check my math and make sure I'm also expressing these numbers correctly.

The total from the list above is appx. 77 million, or 77,000,000.

That total is being compared to the stimulus of 787 billion, or 787,000,000,000.

Which means this post, while full of large-seeming numbers, is actually criticizing the way about one hundreth of one percent, or .01% of the money was spent.

Doesn't that seem a little petty and trivial?

The article says, "here is where some of the money went"...not all.

I don't think $77 million should be wasted, period.

Sin_City_Warrior:

The article says, "here is where some of the money went"...not all.

I don't think $77 million should be wasted, period.

I agree that 77 million shouldn't be wasted.  Some of those projects seem a little dubious.  I'd like to see the justification for each.  I'd also like to see some data showing how much of this money went to workers and/or created jobs.  I'm sure some of the $11 million for the Microsoft bridge went to private contractors and construction workers, for example, which is a good thing.

I'm just saying that this is a miniscule drop in the bucket, and anyone looking for runaway government spending should probably look elsewhere.

 I just read this morning that in Oregon, 3 of the 4 jobs created with stimulus funds were government jobs. Way to stimulate the economy took the unemployment level from something like 11.5 to 11.9. Based upon my stint as a government employee, 3 of the 4 that were already working weren't doing anything already.

NorCalWarrior:

- $219,000 for Syracuse University to study the sex lives of freshmen women

Hell I would have done that for free :-)

Disclamer I can only dissapoint one woman at a time but I will get around to all of you in due time ! 

Washingtonwarrior:

 I just read this morning that in Oregon, 3 of the 4 jobs created with stimulus funds were government jobs. Way to stimulate the economy took the unemployment level from something like 11.5 to 11.9. Based upon my stint as a government employee, 3 of the 4 that were already working weren't doing anything already.

And that's how it starts, Communism.

Damon:

Which means this post, while full of large-seeming numbers, is actually criticizing the way about one hundreth of one percent, or .01% of the money was spent.

Doesn't that seem a little petty and trivial?

No, not at all.

Washingtonwarrior:

 I just read this morning that in Oregon, 3 of the 4 jobs created with stimulus funds were government jobs. Way to stimulate the economy took the unemployment level from something like 11.5 to 11.9. Based upon my stint as a government employee, 3 of the 4 that were already working weren't doing anything already.

Damon:

I'm just saying that this is a miniscule drop in the bucket, and anyone looking for runaway government spending should probably look elsewhere.

Are you aware a person in the military can be administratively discharged for a series of trivial offenses?  I mean little things that by themselves would normally just result in a hand slap if anything a all.  It's called a pattern of misconduct.  The items listed in the OP show us a pattern of misconduct.  That's a real good place to start looking.   

If $77 million is "only" .01% of the stimulus money then there is way too much stimulus money in the first place.  

You better rethink that petty and trivial comment. There may be many people on this board that disagree with you on a whole host of issues but I would imagine that few think you're an idiot. If you seriously believe that one cent of government waste, mismanagement, stupidity as a whole is acceptable or "petty and trivial" it makes you look pretty odd. But if you think that bills that were rushed through the legislature so huge in scope and grandeur that nobody even took the time to read them, were signed by the president who was in such a hurry to get it done that he had to fly out of state just to sign them and after all of that, it's trivial and petty to spend "OUR" money on any of this crap then you're nowhere near as intelligent as I gave you credit for.Under that logic, the fed should have asked for 500 trillion dollars because as long as you keep the percentage of waste low, a lot of people don't care what the dollar amount of waste is.

Do you think somebody else wasting your money is trivial and petty?  Really?  Seriously?  Can I waste some of your money for awhile?  I'll tell you where to sent the check. What could be more fun that wasting somebody elses money, especially when they don't care or even mind?

Damon:

Which means this post, while full of large-seeming numbers, is actually criticizing the way about one hundreth of one percent, or .01% of the money was spent.

Doesn't that seem a little petty and trivial?