Mayors Want More Stimulus Funds for Cities

Today's roundup of stimulus coverage:

The Washington Post's "Recovery's Missing Ingredient: New Jobs" is today's must-read. "With many forecasters projecting unemployment to remain above 10 percent next year and not return to pre-recession levels of roughly 5 percent for years after that," writes reporter Michael A. Fletcher, "Obama is likely to be confronted with defending the effectiveness of his economic policies as the nation endures its worst employment situation in a generation."

Mayor Roy Buol of Dubuque, Iowa, told Radio Iowa last week that mayors attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors were "trading tactics on how to secure money from the federal stimulus package." One tactic mayors appear to have undertaken is pressuring the administration to review formulas used to distribute federal funds. The current method doles out money to the states, many of which have chosen to spread funds statewide by funding a lot of small- to mid-size projects. The Los Angeles Times reports that Vice President Biden "has been holding private conference calls on the stimulus with elected officials from around the country, some of whom have been telling him the metropolitan regions are losing out to rural areas in the competition for stimulus money." 

If California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget cuts go through, warns New American Media (a collaboration of ethnic news organizations) in a news analysis, the state stands to forfeit billions of dollars in stimulus funds that supplement existing state programs.

Here's a different approach: Contractors hired to renovate a local public-housing project -- funded in part by the stimulus -- in Columbia, S.C., must also hire several local public-housing residents, according to a new requirement set by the public housing authority's director. Before donning hard hats, the residents must go through a mandatory eight-week training program. The State has all the details.

Looking for a job? One of the latest features at Yahoo!hotjobs is "7 Lucrative Jobs from Obama's Stimulus Plan." The list includes a cost estimator and a loan officer.

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