Are we capable of efficiently executing stimulus projects?

[dkf]

Seattle's 'green jobs' program a bust
By Vanessa Ho, Seattlepi.com
Story Updated: Aug 16, 2011

Last year, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn announced the city had won a coveted $20 million federal grant to invest in weatherization. The unglamorous work of insulating crawl spaces and attics had emerged as a silver bullet in a bleak economy – able to create jobs and shrink carbon footprint – and the announcement came with great fanfare.

McGinn had joined Vice President Joe Biden in the White House to make it. It came on the eve of Earth Day. It had heady goals: creating 2,000 living-wage jobs in Seattle and retrofitting 2,000 homes in poorer neighborhoods.

But more than a year later, Seattle's numbers are lackluster. As of last week, only three homes had been retrofitted and just 14 new jobs have emerged from the program. Many of the jobs are administrative, and not the entry-level pathways once dreamed of for low-income workers. Some people wonder if the original goals are now achievable.

"The jobs haven't surfaced yet," said Michael Woo, director of Got Green, a Seattle community organizing group focused on the environment and social justice.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/127844048.html?m=y&smobile=y&c=y

[Cool Logic]

1. I imagine that money does come wrapped up in an array of heavy-duty red-tape,

Even so, I would take the money. Subsequently, I would very carefully unwrap it and return the undamaged red tape.

Then, I would be equipped to proceed with some unfettered stimulation...

[TheKentuckian]

2. Is it a bust or has the plant not sprouted yet?

I don't know but it doesn't prove or disprove if we can execute a stimulative project.

Either way it is anecdotal.

[dkf]

3. But we talk about how inefficient tax cuts were as stimulus...

If money still hasn't been spent years down the line isn't it even less efficient?

This is what makes me question the big infrastructure projects that we think will save our economy. If we can't even get relatively small jobs like retrofitting done, how can we sell infrastructure as stimulus for a recession?

We aren't prepared enough to use these types of projects as needed.