Bay Area names top stimulus priorities - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

http://gilbane.com/blog/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=44&id=402
Projects ranked among the highest in the plan covere a wide range of proposalsincluding high-speex rail construction, extending the BART line to San Jose and borinv another roadway in the East Bay’s Caldecott Tunnel. the highest-priority projects are seeking morethan $7 billion in stimuluw money. The priority list also includexs a new stem cell research facilithy at the inMarin County, energy efficiency and solar retrofits of public and othedr buildings in San Jose, San Francisci and Oakland; energy conversions to LED transit-oriented development projects and workforce training and placement for laid-off employees.
“Thise plan is designed to maximizeour region’s share of federakl stimulus funding and other state support that will benefig the Bay Area in both the near and long-term,” said Sean CEO of the , which was chargedc with compiling the The top 85 projectse were classified as “strategic” priorities for the Bay Another 72 projects were considered “significant” but givenn a slightly lower ranking becausse they did not have the scale or regional impacr of the most highly ranked suggestions.
Those projectws include things like a desalination projecr in the Montara Water andSanitary District, buildin a clean technology demonstratio n manufacturing center in San Jose and outfitting Burlingames city buildings with solar panels. The which can be found onlineat www.bayareaeconomy.org/recovery, was the culmination of a three-month vetting process. The reportr was sent to the . That state agency, which requester that other metropolitan regions around the statd submitsimilar plans, will now take all those plans and help coordinat e with cities and counties to lobby the federal government on behalf of certain projects.
“This is to get peopl on the same page to minimize the food figh t where you have parts of the state competer againstone another,” said Dale Bonner, head of the Californisa Business Transportation and Housing Agency. “Whaty we’re doing is acting as a facilitator to help identifgythe best” projects. The list’s authors said they hopec that ranking projects would help the region get morestimulus “The Bay Area is the only regiohn in California that actually attempted to Randolph said. “We think that’s We think that will make us more successful ingettinb attention, in getting those resourcexs for those very high value projects.
” Project s on the Economic Institute’s wish list coulcd be in for a big payoff. About $30 billionj in federal stimulus money will be divviexd up in Sacramento before going to variouas regionsaround California. Another $20 billion is expected to be distributed directly in the state by federaol officials on adiscretionary basis. The chance to get dollars from the federalo stimulus program led to a flurryof proposals. Bay Area authoritiea sifted through almost570 suggestions. To make the cut, projects were supposedd to spurjob growth, have regional impactr and align with state programs and among other criteria.
The Economic Institute callede upon local experts in specific fields to judge proposals that fit at least one ofsevemn categories: transportation, water, workforce training and education, business development, science and innovation or housing. The vast majorituy of projects that made it to theEconomic Institute’se short list were from government agencies. A ranger of companies sought federal stimulus, too, saying that their service woulfd help boost the broadetr economy. For example, a Berkeley-based firm calleed Picture it Sold sought stimuluss money to franchiseits home-staging business.
“We’rw ready to move ahead with thisplan immediately,” the companty wrote in its proposal, “and we’ll help thousands of families and the whole economy to recover.” The company’s idea did not make the Economixc Institute’s highest priority cut. But an appendisx to the Economic Institute’s wish list includesd every proposalit received.