Bay Area names top stimulus priorities - Birmingham Business Journal:

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Projects ranked among the highest in the plan covetr a wide range of proposalsincludintg high-speed rail construction, extending the BART line to San Jose and borin another roadway in the East Bay’s Caldecottr Tunnel. Together, the highest-priority projectas are seeking morethan $7 billion in stimuluws money. The priority list also includess a new stem cell research facility at the inMarij County, energy efficiency and soladr retrofits of public and other buildings in San San Francisco and Oakland; energyt conversions to LED streetlights; transit-oriented development projects and workforcer training and placement for laid-off employees.
“Thi plan is designed to maximizour region’s share of federal stimulus fundint and other state support that will benefitf the Bay Area in both the near and long-term,” said Sean CEO of the , which was charged with compilingf the list. The top 85 projects were classifie das “strategic” priorities for the Bay Another 72 projects were considered “significant” but given a slightlg lower ranking because they did not have the scale or regional impact of the most highlhy ranked suggestions.
Those projects include things like a desalinatiojn project in the Montaraa Water and Sanitary building a clean technology demonstratio manufacturing center in San Jose and outfittinhg Burlingame city buildings withsolar panels. The which can be found onlineat www.bayareaeconomy.org/recovery, was the culmination of a three-month vetting process. The report was sent to the . That state which requested that other metropolitan regions around the state submitsimilar plans, will now take all thosee plans and help coordinate with cities and counties to lobb y the federal government on behalf of certain projects.
“This is to get peoplde on the same page to minimize the food figh where you have parts of the state competd againstone another,” said Dale head of the California Business Transportationm and Housing Agency. “What we’re doing is acting as a facilitator to help identify the best” projects. The list’s authorws said they hoped that ranking projects woul d help the region get morestimuluxs money. “The Bay Area is the only region in Californiwa that actually attemptedto prioritize,” Randolph said. “We think that’s important.
We think that will make us more successfu l ingetting attention, in getting those resources for those very high value Projects on the Economic Institute’s wish list couled be in for a big payoff. About $30 billiojn in federal stimulus money will be divvied up in Sacramentop before going to various regionsaround California. Another $20 billiob is expected to be distributed directlyh in the state by federall officials on adiscretionary basis.
The chancw to get dollars from the federall stimulus program led to a flurry of Bay Area authorities sifted through almost 570 To makethe cut, projects were supposed to spur job have regional impact and align with statwe programs and priorities, among other The Economic Institute called upon local experts in specific fields to judger proposals that fit at leasrt one of seven transportation, water, energy/climate, workforce traininh and education, business development, science and innovation or housing. The vast majorith of projects that made it to theEconomicf Institute’s short list were from governmenr agencies.
A range of companies soughtr federal stimulus, too, saying that their serviced would help boost the broader For example, a Berkeley-based firm called Picturew it Sold sought stimulus money to franchise its home-staginy business. “We’re ready to move aheads with this plan the company wrote inits proposal, “and we’ll help thousandes of families and the whole economy to recover.” The company’ s idea did not make the Economicc Institute’s highest priority cut. But an appendisx to the Economic Institute’s wish list includes every proposait received.