I was taking the kids out to eat at the lake (in this case, Lake Loramie State Park because it's the closest) to enjoy the day. Thankfully, I had not eaten, which meant I felt no need to hurl. However, I did have the sense to snap a couple of pics with my phone on the way home so I could comment (I was going to do something funnier, but the sign was my nauseating inspiration).And if you're blind, yes, the project is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as the Bullshit! package.
I guess the project must be paving the road that runs along the west side of the lake (I haven't invested any deep research time on this, just observation) for a grand total of two or three whole miles (as though I measure). And strangely, the road on the right isn't that much smoother than the old road on the left. Considering it's a tiny-assed (middle) finger of a lake, good for fishing and a little camping, and that's about it, it was probably one of those projects that could be funded in a gravy year (the end of future governor John Kasich's second term). But no, this one's getting the "stimulus" special.
And how stimulating it must be, considering the road crew to do this employs five whole vehicles (plus the asphalt machine, which was somewhere other than behind my thumb (I suck at taking pictures).I put that at maybe two dozen people put to work. And those would be people that would probably be working on another job if they weren't "stimulating" the economy by paving a somewhat worn but usable road.
Oh well, guess Governor Strickland didn't lose too much for supporting Hillary.
8 comments:
I must say I'm disappointed in how little oversight there is and how little planning was done to get the most bang for the buck with this stimulus.
I really wanted to see this money concentrated on new industry development and making the changes needed to attract back business from overseas.
So far, I think much of the money has been poorly spent.
I just think it's nice that Patrick can take his kids to a state operated park on a public road that's being maintained with public dollars. He probably saw a police car patrolling it on the way.
Damn government! How dare it provide a park Patrick and his kids can enjoy a reasonable distance from his home. A road to get there. And law enforcement to help keep him and his kids safe.
I imagine this little stretch of county road is referred to the "yellow brick road" around town...
Infrastructure is actually one of those things the government should be doing, but local roads should be done locally.
Runon (aka seenthelight): As I have had plenty of posts on health care (this ain't), I'm not going to let my comment section be turned in to your personal soapbox.
Rocky: This was the reason I was angry the moment the Bullshit! package (and before that, the Wall Street Dastardly Bastardly Bailout) was passed. Because I knew the bills were going to waste away, buy votes, and not really do what they were sold as.
101: It's a STATE park. The Bullshit! package funding is a FEDERAL pork bill. And the Bullshit! package was sold as (as opposed to deigned to) a way to stimulate the economy, not provide infrastructure.
Get the point (and possibly a clue).
Tao: That would require me to talk to people in Minster (local joke: they believe they are the center of the universe (damn Germans)).
Beth: I could even accept a little federal money for infrastructure in general (although the state should be able to pay its own way), if the source of those funds was sold as infrastructure. That's not this.
What those signs mean to me is that I will be sitting in construction traffic for the next hour and even if I turn down another street to avoid it, I see yet another sign.
Toad: That's one big reason to live in a small town: a traffic jam involves 3-4 cars and lasts a minute or two.
As for the specific road, they just make it 1 lane during construction hours. And trust me, there ain't much in the way of traffic.
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