Stimulus Dollars Assigned to the South Suburbs

In a prior post, I noted the project requests from the South Suburbs in Cook County. I wrote:

Mayors in Illinois made a request totalling $3 billion, representing all the requests in the state listed in the report. But the villages of County Club Hills, Dolton, Flossmoor, Hazel Crest, Markham, Robbins or Steger were absent from these requests.

Now we get our first indications of where recovery money is actually going in the South Suburbs. Recovery.org is using federal contracts to track recovery dollars, and found these IDOT projects funded for the South Suburbs:

Recovery Funded Projects in COOK

Reconstruction, Intersection Improvement, Lighting, Utility Adjustment
PHOENIX (IL), HARVEY (IL), MARKHAM (IL)
Illinois Department of Transportation
FEDERAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY SPENDING. IDOT Proposed Projects for American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. District 1. State Highways. COOK COUNTY. Route/Street: US 6, 159TH ST. Location: I-294 (TRI-STATE TOLLWAY) TO ILL 1 (HALSTED ST) Miles =2.33. Impr...
Project Type: AdvanceNotice
Estimated Value: $21,110,000
Estimated Jobs: 274

Resurfacing
DOLTON (IL), CALUMET CITY (IL), CHICAGO (IL), SOUTH HOLLAND (IL)
Illinois Department of Transportation
FEDERAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY SPENDING. IDOT Proposed Projects for American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. District 1. State Highways. COOK COUNTY. Route/Street: I 94, BISHOP FORD EXP. Location: 130TH ST TO US 6 (159TH ST) Miles =4.29. Improvements: RES...
Project Type: AdvanceNotice
Estimated Value: $8,900,000
Estimated Jobs: 116

Bridge Deck Overlay, Bridge Joint Repair
CALUMET CITY (IL)
Illinois Department of Transportation
FEDERAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY SPENDING. IDOT Proposed Projects for American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. District 1. State Highways. COOK COUNTY. Route/Street: BURNHAM AVE, FAU 2943. Location: OVER STATE ST, RRS & GRAND CALUMET RIVER. Improvements...
Project Type: AdvanceNotice
Estimated Value: $4,960,000
Estimated Jobs: 64

Construction Engineering
CHICAGO (IL), CALUMET CITY (IL), DOLTON (IL), SOUTH HOLLAND (IL)
Illinois Department of Transportation
FEDERAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY SPENDING. IDOT Proposed Projects for American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. District 1. State Highways. COOK COUNTY. Route/Street: I 94, BISHOP FORD EXP. Location: W OF M L KING DR TO US 6 (159TH ST). Improvements: CONSTRUCT...
Project Type: AdvanceNotice
Estimated Value: $2,000,000
Estimated Jobs: 26

Bridge Deck Overlay
OAK FOREST (IL)
Illinois Department of Transportation
FEDERAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY SPENDING. IDOT Proposed Projects for American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. District 1. State Highways. COOK COUNTY. Route/Street: I 57. Location: AT 167TH ST. Improvements: BRIDGE DECK OVERLAY. Est. Cost: $1,000,000. Ci...
Project Type: AdvanceNotice
Estimated Value: $1,000,000
Estimated Jobs: 13

Resurfacing
HOMEWOOD (IL)
Illinois Department of Transportation
FEDERAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY SPENDING. IDOT Proposed Projects for American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. District 1. State Highways. COOK COUNTY. Route/Street: DIXIE HWY, FAU 2843. Location: GOVERNOR'S HWY TO 183RD ST Miles =1.08. Improvements: RESURF...
Project Type: AdvanceNotice
Estimated Value: $900,000
Estimated Jobs: 12

Resurfacing
HOMEWOOD (IL), EAST HAZEL CREST (IL)
Illinois Department of Transportation
FEDERAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY SPENDING. IDOT Proposed Projects for American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. District 1. State Highways. COOK COUNTY. Route/Street: 175TH ST, FAU 1618. Location: GOVERNORS HWY TO DIXIE HWY Miles =0.75. Improvements: RESURFACI...
Project Type: AdvanceNotice
Estimated Value: $420,000
Estimated Jobs: 5

Construction Engineering
CALUMET CITY (IL)
Illinois Department of Transportation
FEDERAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY SPENDING. IDOT Proposed Projects for American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. District 1. State Highways. COOK COUNTY. Route/Street: BURNHAM AVE, FAU 2943. Location: OVER STATE ST, RRS & LITTLE CALUMET RIVER. Improvement...
Project Type: AdvanceNotice
Estimated Value: $400,000
Estimated Jobs: 5

Signing (New)
DOLTON (IL), CALUMET CITY (IL), CHICAGO (IL), SOUTH HOLLAND (IL)
Illinois Department of Transportation
FEDERAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY SPENDING. IDOT Proposed Projects for American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. District 1. State Highways. COOK COUNTY. Route/Street: I 94, BISHOP FORD EXP. Location: 130TH ST TO US 6 (159TH ST). Improvements: SIGNING (NEW). ...
Project Type: AdvanceNotice
Estimated Value: $175,000
Estimated Jobs: 2

data generated at 6:30am on May 21, 2009

According to the site, there have been 81 projects funded in Cook County valued at $318,260,019.00 of recovery dollars. Of these, there are 9 projects (or 11%) valued at $39,865,000 (or 12.5%), generating 517 jobs in South Suburbs (and Chicago in related projects).

Again, we find that the villages of County Club Hills, Flossmoor and Hazel Crest are absent from these projects. As we learned during the campaign, this was deliberate on the part of the outgoing mayor of Flossmoor. Even if the need exists (which it does), the defeated mayor choose not to focus on stimulus money, believing instead that Flossmoor would benefit more by his long-time interest in the blighted TIF district he declared on Volmer Rd. Of course, those lots have been vacant for years (much of it more than 10 years) and no one believes that large tracts of land will be developed in the midst of the worst recession since World War 2.

Which may be why Flossmoor voters soundly rejected his candidacy.

Otoh, the H-F school district not only chased -- but has received -- stimulus money to help fund building on the H-F High School campus:

Non-Recovery Funded Projects in COOK

High School Addition and Remodeling of Science Classrooms
Location: Flossmoor, Illinois
Industry: Demolition, Salvage, and Excavation, Contractor - Electrical, Construction - Educational Buildings, Contractor - Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning, Refrigeration, Construction - Hospitals and Medical Facilities, Research and Development Facilities, Construction - Industrial, Warehouse and Animal Care Facilities, Contractor - Plumbing and Piping, Construction - Renovation, Rehabilitation and Historic Preservation

There's a lot of irony to these desperate results given the fact that the mayor rudely lectured the superintendent after the community rose up against the outgoing mayor's request to sell alcohol at retail across the street from H-F High. For context, it is appropriate to note that no retail outlet in Flossmoor currently sells packaged liquor. The outgoing mayor sought to make the location across from the high school the first in the village -- something that residents didn't take too kindly to...