March 08, 2009 12:00 am The federal government's invitation to local governments to list projects they'd like to see funded as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act set off a tsunami. Counties, cities, villages and townships across the state inundated the feds with requests for everything from water and sewer main repairs to crumbling bridges, roads and sidewalks. It was, when viewed from afar, an astounding testament to just how deep in the hole we are as a nation, state and region and to just how far we've allowed the nation's critical infrastructure to deteriorate. In Grand Traverse County, requests for infrastructure upgrades from just Traverse City and the county totaled more than $40 million. Every one of those, viewed on its own merits, was worthy: $6.8 million to Traverse City to build the long-planned Boardman Lake Avenue; $1.75 million to the city to replace the crumbling Front Street Bridge and overhaul the south Cass Street Bridge; $750,000 to reconstruct Eighth Street and $350,000 to fix the failing Kids Creek culvert under Wadsworth Street; $4.35 million to Grand Traverse County to widen Three Mile Road; and $2 million from the county to resurface Hammond Road. The Village of Kalkaska, population just more than 2,000, came up with $9.4 million in requests, including energy-efficient street lighting, wireless Internet and sewer lift station upgrades. But its short list of big-ticket items showed just how great its most basic needs are: $1.86 million to replace old cast-iron water mains; and $1.68 million to build a new septage receiving facility. Flooding the process with wish-list requests that everyone knows don't stand a snowball's chance in Hades is probably not the most productive exercise. But it tells a wider story that must be recognized -- the nation has put off the heavy lifting for about as long as we can, and there's more of it than we can imagine. The state of Michigan, even after being told park upgrades were unlikely to be funded, submitted requests totaling more than $200 million for park projects anyway, almost 10 percent of the $18 billion earmarked for the entire state. A local parks wish list shows this isn't just an effort to pad state coffers. One of the restroom and shower buildings at Traverse City State Park that needs work dates back to the late 1920s, another the 1940s. Statewide, parks need new water and sewer systems, restrooms, roads and much more. The chances of the state funding any of those efforts is essentially nil. As critical as the need is for road and bridges, regional wish lists show that Michigan's education system is just as stretched. Some of the requests make one wonder how the schools cope now. Bellaire wants $200,000 to connect John R. Rodger Elementary to the village sewer system; Forest Area High School and Fife Lake Elementary need new roofs for $154,215; and Kingsley wants a new elementary school building for $9 million. No matter what one thinks about President Barack Obama's stimulus proposal and its mind-numbing price tag, there is simply no denying that the nation needs a moon shot-type effort to rescue itself from an infrastructure crisis that is only going to get worse. In Michigan, the need for an infusion of cash -- and the resulting jobs -- is even more critical. Just since Nov. 1, the state has received 213 notices of mass layoffs affecting nearly 29,000 workers. At any other time that would be the kind of shock that could put a state and its economy on its heels for years. Here, it's just more of the same. It will be up to every government worker and every elected official to ensure that the money that eventually comes Michigan's way is used as wisely as possible. The state expects to get a short-term gain of 25,000 jobs; leveraging that infusion, such as paying to retrain laid-off workers, will be up to the state and local governments. Michigan needs this as much as any state. We're only going to get one chance and we better make it good.
—
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.