Recordpub.com - Stimulus funds flowing into Kent: City gets millions from federal program

Stimulus funding sign on gougler ave.

By Matt Fredmonsky

Record-Courier staff writer

Millions of dollars in stimulus funds are rolling into the Kent area, at least according to the White House Web site created to track the money, Recovery.gov.

Ohio has received more than $5 billion in stimulus funds that have created more than 17,000 jobs, according to the federal database. Businesses and government agencies within Kent’s ZIP code alone have received or are set to receive about $25 million.

The funding is going to a myriad of local projects.

Kent State University has received one of the largest pieces locally of the stimulus pie. The federal government awarded the university 17 grants worth a total of about $5.6 million in addition to $285,000 in federal work study funds.

The Web site states those grants have “created or saved” 17 jobs. But the full-time equivalent positions for each grant do not amount to 17 actual positions “created or saved.”

Emily Vincent, a spokeswoman for KSU, said some of the jobs associated with the grants are pieces and parts of other existing positions.

“While others, like the work study, are new positions,” Vincent said in an e-mail.

The second largest local award is the $3 million grant to the Ohio Department of Transportation for construction of the new Fairchild Avenue Bridge. As of Oct. 30, that grant has created or saved 0.24 jobs, according to Recovery.gov.

Justin Chesnic, the acting public information officer for ODOT’s District Four, said the state agency has received the $3 million and is already paying it out on the project.

Chesnic said the project’s primary contractor, Canton-based Beaver Excavating, has not yet released how many jobs it anticipates the project will create or save. He added ODOT has already created 5,144 jobs statewide through stimulus funding.

“Come spring, once they get into the bridge building and relocation is when they might start turning their numbers over,” he said.

Kent Engineer Jim Bowling said the contractor is required to submit quarterly reports on the jobs created or saved, but he did not know which quarter the Oct. 30 numbers were for.

“I certainly expect the jobs report to increase,” Bowling said in an e-mail.

The Kent City Schools are also slated to receive a little more than $1 million as part of the state fiscal stabilization and education funds. And the Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority received $981,392 to maintain its Summit Street headquarters and replace the roof.

Aside from the bridge project, the city of Kent also received $81,000 in stimulus funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under the “cities recovery” category.

Gary Locke, Kent’s Community Development Department director, said the funding is supplemental Community Development Block Grant money and can be used for the city’s streetlight replacement project on Haymaker Parkway.

Locke said it’s difficult to determine if the funding will put the project contractor in a position to create new jobs, but he said the project could prevent layoffs.

“Ideally, the money puts people who are unemployed back to work,” he said. “It’s kind of hard to say exactly how it’s going to come out in the end.”

16.	Posted by CmdrKJon November 12, 2009
	I am glad to see that many are starting to see through this charade of stimulus. The funding, if used properly could have started growth. The bridge was going to be rebuilt in any event. Steering the money to that project was not doing anything to jumpstart the economy. Until people realize they actually have to work for something, instead of waiting for the government to hand it out, we are in for a world of trouble. If you really want to stimulate the economy, we need to promote business in the US. Enact a tariff of foreign product, to bring their costs to the level of what it will cost to make the product here. You can use those funds to subsidize healthcare, encourage manufacturing jobs to return to the US and ease the transition. In this country, we do not permit slave labor and there strict constraints on minimum wage. Many of the countries we are competing against for the manufacturing jobs do not have these constraints. Are we helping to develop these countries? No, with the wages these people earn they are still living in squalor with no chance for advancement. In many cases they are worked to death and then another is dropped into their slot. There must be changes, and give aways are not helping the situation.

12.	Posted by averagejoe5 November 11, 2009
	These aren't and never will be permanent jobs nor is this the intention. They aren't investing in nor creating a big consumer based type of industry in this country, ie the Auto companies or steel companies or rubber companies. Nor are they creating a business friendly atmmosphere except for their special interests. This is all being manipulated like puppets on strings. Where are the jobs of the future? Green jobs? Guess what, T.Boone Pickens announced the other day that he has a warehouse full of windmill motors available for sale. He is changing his strategy to Nat Gas in the Gulf of Mexico. Why can they drill for Nat Gas down there but not oil, like Bush wanted? This announcement would have shut down the rising gas pries in 2008, which would have prevented this hardship we are experiencing now. Could it be because Nancy Pelosi has a huge stake in the IPO of Picken's Clean Energy company? Was this a hoax to get elected or lack of experience or just BS telling the people what they want to hear, like the snake oil salesmen of the 19th century? When you decide to use gambling dollars as a way to fund schools instead of creating good paying long term positions or selling our fresh water supply our greatest asset then the people making the decisions need to be replaced. There is no talk about trying to attract big companies. Thus the union workers are out of luck, this is why the unions are trying to unionize $8 per hour jobs at Walmart and Marx and the govt is trying to pass a hokey healthcare bill. (Bill Clinton told the senate yesterday to not worry about what was in the bill, just pass it.) What a joke.