San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders is scheduled to visit Washington DC this week. He’ll be meeting with lawmakers to try to persuade them to send stimulus money directly to the region. KPBS reporter Katie Orr has details.
The Mayor anticipates the San Diego area will see some money from the federal economic stimulus package. But not as much as local planners had been expecting. Sanders says he’s going to Washington to try and make sure any money that does come this way is sent directly to the city or the San Diego Association of Governments.
Sanders: If it goes to the state, we don’t know what will happen to that money. It’s just a dangerous situation with the state right now. They’re cash poor, they have none. And who knows what will happen to any money that goes through there. Plus, a cut comes off that immediately, usually 20 percent for administering it. Where it can come to SANDAG or the city of San Diego and we can handle it much more effectively.
Sanders says SANDAG proposed projects totaling about 7.5 billion dollars that the region would like to see funded. He says most could be started in about six months.
Katie Orr, KPBS News
