Our Attempt to Stimulate

In a meeting with officials at Queen Creek earlier this week, we had a brainstorming meeting, of sorts, in how our municipality can gain capital funds from the recently passed infrastructure stimulus bill. I can't say that I was surprised when one individual stated we were simply wasting our time. Some seem confused, so he handed us a large stack of papers filled with equations and project categories associated with each potential project. Having looked over the equations, those municipalities that would gain funds from the stimulus bill are those who have high minority populations, high rates of poverty, high levels of foreclosures; basically, the Phoenix-area would gain a majority of the funds allocated to Maricopa County.

So did we end the meeting? Nope, though it would make sense to do so. But rather we need to fill out endless forms and waste tax-payer monies on filing for projects in which we will never gain funding. Why? Because we don't want the constituents to ask "why didn't you apply for stimulus money?!" [insert scene of angry people carrying fiery torches, pitchforks, and a person with a goat here] You get the idea.

The question I have is this: when will the citizens realize that they must keep themselves educated on how their tax dollars are utilized? If it were me, I'd be much more angry with my municipal leaders if they were wasting valuable time building a paper-trail to nowhere rather than seeking out ideas/projects that actually have a snowball's chance in Hades of materializing.