Thanks to a cool little government website, it's possible to see exactly where the funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 are being spent. In Uptown, nearly $6.5 million's been invested, and 9.53 jobs have been saved/created.
Click here to see the website -- hours of fun!
I was walking down the street and when I read this I almost ran into a pole.
ReplyDeleteSo most of the recovery dollars in Uptown went to Mercy Housing and CHA. Why am I not surprised?
ReplyDeleteheartland sure got a lot of $$
ReplyDeleteSorry - meant Heartland in my previous post, not Mercy.
ReplyDeleteMercy Housing: Under orders to clean up the mold and bed bug infestations in most of their buldings.
ReplyDeleteHeartland: Drug Central @ Leland and Racine.
CHA????????
If you play with this site, you will see that alot of money went to places like those all over the place. How does a $700,000.00 grant create or save 1.33 jobs?
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess it is only fair. Bush/Cheney give billions to the ultra rich and Obama/Biden give Billions to the ultra poor. (This is
ReplyDeletea very simplistic statement but accurate in a general sense.)
Of course, the people in the middle pay for it.
The only parties receiving stimulus funds are friends of Schakowsky.
ReplyDeleteThese appropriations are likely three times the size they would have received in a given year.
If you'd like, you can go ask the recipients how they used the funds, but according to the Feds it is ~$680,000 per job created or saved.
Are you tired of one party rule yet? Because you're just now getting that on the Federal level, but you know what it is like in Chicago for the last 50 years.
Jason, well your comment is simple I am having a hard time finding how its accurate. I am also confused what this has to do with Bush? The stimulus package is nothing but one large TIF fund. Why anyone in Chicago should be surprised about this is beyond me. The money went to supporters of the President and to various states/cities around the country most of whom were democrat. This is not the same thing as a tax cut which I am sure that is what you are referring to. Tax cuts do not discriminate against political parties. Those who get the tax cuts can spend the money anyway they chose. Bush was not the first person to give a tax cut and I have a hard time understanding what it is about tax cuts that some people hate. This is nothing but class warfare the same thing that goes on in this ward. The rich against the poor. Enough is enough!
ReplyDeleteNeil,
ReplyDeleteLike I said, my comment was simplistic. I was more referring to bank bailouts than tax cuts. Bush helped his supporters, Obama helps his.
again, still simplistic, but tax cuts really hurt social services that the state is obligated to provide.
I know these points can be argued, but since this is just a blog, I am not going to go there.
I guess it was the first thing to come to mind.
I am sure that the one thing we can agree on is that the recovery.gov stats don't make sense. And I am an Obama supporter.
Oh, btw... the Stimulus package is not a TIF fund. The stimulus package is nothing but printing money. TIF money comes from peoples property taxes.
ReplyDeletePrinting money... the most efficient government program.
Jason - it IS a TIF fund in that people in charge get to pick and choose who they reward with gov't money. Versus tax cuts which give people their own money back.
ReplyDeleteI'd also disagree on the stimulus package helping "ultra poor". Most money has been paid to unions which, are far from poor.
As for the bank bailouts... both Bush and Obama had their fingerprints all over it. Look who Obama nominated as Tres. Sec for crying out loud!
I am just going to withdraw my statement... it was kinda dumb...
ReplyDeleteHey nobody's perfect.
The CPS is now $1 billion in deficit, the CTA cuts buses and trains, our infrastructure is falling apart, but yet we give "recovery dollars" to non-profits like CHA and Heartland. How is that helping everyone "recover?" I'm not against non-profits, but the middle class is just getting screwed here (nothing new in Uptown though).
ReplyDeleteMy "hope" for Obama is quickly fading.
The Stimulus is largely a bailout for states and cities that spent their way into deficits. They have tax sources that are based on the flow of capital(sales tax, real estate transfer fees[ultra reliable these are]). As the recession kicked in you probably made adjustments in your budget. That condo suddenly isn't worth $150,000 per bedroom. Now it is $100,000 per bedroom.
ReplyDeleteAn aside, but $450,000 for a 3BR at Wilson Yard makes Holsten look like a genius.
Here's the interesting note. DeVry received a few million dollars from Stimulus, but they report creating 210 jobs. How did they do it?
DeVry and the CHA. Are they the same? What makes them different?
One is a dumpster. The other is an innovator.