Mayor Sheila Dixon is urging President-elect Barack Obama to consider an economic stimulus package that includes $326 million for local ready-to-go projects she said could create more than 2,000 jobs in Baltimore.
Dixon and about 20 other mayors met with Obama in Chicago Thursday and asked him to approve a $90 billion “mainstreet” economic stimulus package that could create nearly half of the 2.5 million jobs Obama has said he would like to see created over the next two years.
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For complete list, go to www.usmayors.org
“This is where the rubber meets the road,” Dixon said. “I was encouraged by his response and understanding of the roles of mayors in urban cities. We all have so many initiatives we feel could help move forward his agenda.”
Baltimore’s 38 projects identified in the plan range from rewiring traffic signals to renovating school elevators to streetscape improvements. An updated stimulus plan, released Friday by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, says projects in 641 cities alone could generate well over 1.2 million jobs and could be completed by 2010.
Dixon said she and other mayors met for two and a half hours with Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett about the president-elect’s proposed Cabinet-level Department of Urban Policy. Dixon said mayors want stimulus funds to flow directly to cities, bypassing the state.
But last week, Gov. Martin O’Malley sent a letter to the state’s federal delegation with a similar list of projects that are “shovel-ready.” Like the city’s, O’Malley spokesman Shaun Adamec said the list focuses on roads, tunnels and bridges.
“The governor’s hope for a stimulus package is largely centered around infrastructure, which is state responsibility,” Adamec said. “In that regard, the state obviously has experienced its own budget issues as a result of the national downturn. The governor as a former mayor has always been committed to not balance the state budget on the backs of municipalities.”
An economic stimulus plan — which some project could total $775 billion or more — depends on ready-to-go projects like the ones identified by Dixon, said Darius Irani, economics professor at Towson University. Infrastructure involves higher-paying fields such as engineers, electricians and construction workers, he said, who have more disposable income.
Building water, sewer, road and telecommunications systems also help plan for the next generation, he said.
“We need to spend a significant amount of money, but we need to do it smartly,” Irani said. “It’s the construction jobs that are really going to be important.”
