I recently attended the U.S. Conference of Mayors Water Council meeting in Schenectady, N.Y. The concluding session of the meeting included presentations by the Albany staffers for New York Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand (both Democrats) and Rep. Paul Tonko (also a Democrat). These three individuals got "hammered" on the subject of "shovel-ready" projects.The mayors in unison complained that no way could a typical community react that fast to get stimulus money. They said that projects had to be designed and bid, so unless they had a project potentially on thernshelf, they were unable to take advantage of shovel-ready stimulus funds. Surprisingly, the three federal government staffers agreed that the term "shovel ready" was a misnomer. It was also discussed that of all the stimulus money that was provided, less than 1 percent was made available for water projects. All of this is certainly in contrast to the general media discussion of stimulus money.
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