The urban mayors have their wishlist ready.
The N.C. Metropolitan Mayors Coalition released a list today with $2.8 billion in infrastructure projects they said could be started immediately.
The list includes new buses for the city of Raleigh, fire stations in Greensboro and Cary, light rail enhancements in Charlotte, a public library renovation in Chapel Hill, and repairs to sidewalks, water and sewer lines and parks around the state.
The group said it hopes to persuade the state and federal government to direct some of a planned economic stimulus package to local government.
"Our goal in releasing this list is not to advocate for individual projects, but to show cities' ability to deploy the stimulus money quickly on important local infrastructure projects," said Rocky Mount Mayor David Combs, co-chair of the coalition's economic development committee.
The nonpartisan coalition was founded in 2001 and represents the state's 26 largest cities.
Update: The list does not include a request for $20 million in Community Development Block Grants for a "minor league baseball museum" in Durham that was included in a wishlist from the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
That project and others have been criticized as pork by some critics.
Correction: The group recently changed its name from the N.C. Metropolitan Coalition.
Document(s):
mayors-list.xls
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Re: N.C. mayors release stimulus wishlist
Face it, politicians just don't care if we, as individuals, go broke paying for all the stuff they want to waste money on. And they seem to think we're dumb enough that they can justify almost anything just by labeling it "infrastructure."