on the cover / By Ryan Burns

Shovels Ready?

Digging up projects for Obama’s stimulus bonanza

(March 12, 2009)  “Be prepared,” goes the Scout Motto, and it’s good advice for government agencies, too. After all, you never know when a new president might decide to inject $787 billion into the economy. President Obama’s massive economic stimulus bill — the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) — has officials at every level of government, in every town, city, county and state, scrambling to assemble their lists of “shovel-ready” projects.

As a symbol for rescuing the most powerful economy in history from a Great Depression-caliber crisis, the shovel seems an unlikely candidate. Along with maybe the hammer, shovels are about the oldest tools in the shed. Nevertheless, “shovel-ready” has become the phrase of the moment, perhaps because the idea of a shovel is as easy to grasp as the tool itself, as opposed to the baffling concept of $787 billion.

GALLERY >

With the economy spiraling downward like a fighter jet caught in a flat spin, Obama has called for only those projects that can put people to work, like, yesterday. Nothing that requires environmental reviews, public comment periods or geological surveys — just start digging, for Christ’s sake. Elected officials, executive directors and business leaders have responded by hurriedly slapping bows on their dormant and preemie project proposals. Mayors, governors and city council-members; bankers, scientists and CEOs — all are hoisting their shovels skyward and pointing them toward Washington, D.C., hoping their scooped blades will be heaped with cash.

In Humboldt County the wish list includes rails and trails, marine terminals, renewable energy projects and new highways alongside simple upkeep chores for our roads, water and sewage systems. Viewed en masse, the cast of hopefuls conjures images of a brave new Humboldt, a Redwood Coast Futurama where trains and cruise ships supply goods and commerce to a bustling green metropolis; where sewage systems and public buildings are powered by the sun; and where the only thing lower than carbon emissions is the unemployment rate.

The reality thus far has been considerably more mundane. At last week’s Arcata City Council meeting, Mayor Mark Wheetley prefaced an update on the city’s stimulus pursuits with a droll warning: The chamber was about to hear “two of the most overused words in our language these last several weeks.” The words he was thinking of were “economic” and “stimulus,” but before he could say so, Environmental Services Director Mark Andre hazarded a guess — Shovel ready? Wheetley nodded: “You might be right,” he said. Fact is, you can’t have the former without the latter, and thankfully, Arcata has a number of projects locked and loaded, Andre said. Which is saying something. Finding projects that can get underway in mere weeks is a challenge anywhere, he said, but especially in a coastal zone.

Following application guidelines supplied by the League of California Cities (guidelines that change almost daily, by the way), Arcata has submitted applications for such humble projects as replacing water tanks and pipes, managing storm-water runoff in Sunny Brae, installing small-capacity solar panels here and there and fixing up a couple of roads. “Just to be clear,” said Public Works Director Dobie Class, “none of these are our dream-type projects.” But they’re shovel-ready, and at this point, that’s the sole criterion.

Eureka has assembled an equally practical wish list, full of projects that could be filed under “Jobs Somebody’s Gotta Do.” For example, the city hopes to build a “biosolids de-watering” plant to remove the liquid sludge from Eureka’s sewage, leaving what Eureka’s Deputy Director of Public Works Bruce Young described as a dry biosolid product. “It’s very desirable for agricultural applications,” Young said. “Around here, some of the lumber companies might want it for fertilizer or to apply in the forests [for trails].”

The city’s number-one priority also deals with wastewater. The Martin Slough Interceptor Project, which has been in the works for years, would streamline Eureka’s wastewater collection and transport system by routing all of Greater Eureka’s crap south to the Elk River Wastewater Treatment Plant. Currently, much of it travels from the southern end of town (no pun intended) to the north side and back again. The interceptor project would allow for the removal of 16 pump stations, and Young said, “We could put a shovel in the ground as soon as we could get a contractor on board.” Though the estimated price tag is $22.5 million, Young said the city only requested $15 million in stimulus funding, hoping their attitude of plucky resourcefulness would increase the odds of approval. “These are just pre-applications, though,” Young said. “If we’re invited back, we’ll ask for as much as we can get.”

1 2 3 4 5 NEXT PAGE >SHARE