Earlier this week we posted here about the need for Middletown to be fully prepared to take advantage of public works grants that will be forthcoming from the Obama administration.
Obama has already indicated that they will be looking for "shovel-ready" projects which will create jobs, move the country toward alternative-energy and transportation, foster sustainability, and help repair a crumbling infrastructure.
We've already had a few suggestions, which we will highlight in a future post, but one response, from Common Council member David Bauer, suggests that Middletown may be left out in the cold.
A report published this month The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities suggests that the state already has just more than 1300 such projects reported by 94 municipalities, with project costs at just $2.6 billion. These are projects which are all ready to go, except for funding.
Unfortunately, Middletown has not listed any projects with the CT Conference of Municipalities, yet.
We urge our town leaders to consider how Middletown can take advantage of the public works dollars that will become available in the early days of the Obama administration.
There are components of Middletown's infrastructure that are desperately in need of improvement. My top pick would be roads.
ReplyDeleteMany roads are in terrible condition, full of potholes and shoddy repairs. This might be the sort of project that would fall into this type of funding. The town could also benefit from a comprehensive tree-planting plan. Construction of parks and acquisition of open space are also worthy. How about re-development of our Connecticut River waterfront?
It would be great if we can make use of any such federal funding that may become available.