Fresh Loaf

Number of Georgia jobs created or retained by the national stimulus package: 23,879

Estimated number of jobs created or retained nationally by stimulus money: 1 million

Current Georgia unemployment rate: 10.2 percent

Georgia unemployment rate at the end of 2008: 7.5 percent

Current national unemployment rate: 9.8 percent

Amount of money allocated to 18 Georgia agencies by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: $3.2 billion

Amount of that allocated money spent by those agencies so far: $702 million

Amount of money spent per job created or retained across the state: $29,380

Georgia’s median income for an individual: $40,760

Sources: AJC.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau

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Amount of federal stimulus dollars allocated for Georgia transportation improvements: $1.1 billion

Of that $1.1 billion, amount Georgia will spend on road construction and maintenance: $932 million

Amount of federal stimulus dollars earmarked for MARTA: $63 million

Amount the state of Georgia contributes to the operating costs of MARTA: $0

Number of other states that don’t allocate funding for their major public transit systems: 0

Atlanta’s rank among the country’s most traffic-congested metropolitan areas: 3

Number of cities whose residents spend more time commuting than those in Atlanta: 0

Percent likelihood that an Atlanta driver will express road rage if cut off: 14.4

Rank of Atlanta when it comes to seven cities surveyed for rude drivers: 1

Sources: AJC.com, Atlanta Business Chronicle

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After reading a New York Times story this morning about federal stimulus transportation money going disproportionately to rural areas, I started Googling Georgia’s stimulus spending.

According to Georgia’s Stimulus Accountability web site, Georgia roads are getting nearly $7 in federal stimulus cash for every $1 going to state public transit.

State roads are getting $932,000,000 in federal money. Public transit in Georgia is getting $135,309,588.

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Georgia roadbuilders — well, Marietta, Ga.-based C.W. Matthews, in particular — had something to smile about yesterday. Gov. Sonny Perdue, flanked by newly elected Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Vance Smith and U.S. Deputy Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari, made the smoggy skies rain with Obamabucks on Tuesday as he kicked off the Peach State’s first foray into stimulus spending.

On Tuesday state and federal transportation officials gathered in Hapeville to celebrate the first stimulus-funded road project to go under construction in metro Atlanta, a repaving expected to pump $940,841 into the Georgia economy.

The project is to pave 4.2 miles of Ga. Hwy. 3, a commercial corridor in Clayton and Fulton counties near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Contractors said work is scheduled to begin Monday night.

C.W. Matthews scored the project because it is God.

Now, you can argue about the stimulus all day long. Hard truth though is that it’s here, so you best spend it wisely. And a new study by self-explanatory think tank Smart Growth America and its partners says, whoa, Georgia’s made some good choices in how it spends the cash.

The rest of the country? Meh.

(more…)

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