Cleveland Real Estate News

That is a question running through my mind after reading the somewhat in depth and very interesting article in today’s Washington Post  on Ohio’s lobbying efforts to get stimulus package two monies.

1) if monies are given directly to Governors, will monies within the states go where they can create jobs and fix infrastructure or could they wind up being (essentially) state deficit bailouts?

2) The article implies we are not ready to fix the Inner Belt Bridge. Monies need to be spent in a certain time frame to be helpful yes? This quote from the Post article.

But Mayor Frank G. Jackson is focusing on his four biggest priorities, most notably a new Inner Belt highway bridge with a $350 million price tag.

“If we don’t tend to it soon, we’re facing the prospect of closing it down for a year to repair it. That’s unacceptable to us,” said Ken Silliman, the mayor’s chief of staff.

Yet Silliman said preparations are incomplete and no dirt could be turned for at least two years, much slower than Obama has in mind.

Does this mean we can’t get anything done on the Inner Belt Bridge more quickly? Why is that? Is there a technical reason? And does it mean we could miss out on monies to do this very expensive project, when ‘missing out’ is something we seem to do way too frequently in NE Ohio? Did it take Minnesota two yrs to start rebuilding their bridge once it collapsed?

3) PD article outlining Governor Strickland’s budget released today. I’ll have more on that in another post but thought you’d want to read it here.

Peace Out – 3C