Mayors' infrastructure request full of pork, critic says

[IDemo]

(CNN) -- A report to Congress that requests $73.2 billion to pay for infrastructure projects around the country includes plans for a polar bear exhibit, an anti-prostitution program, a water park ride, zoos, museums and aquatic centers, CNN has found.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors went to Capitol Hill earlier this month with a report listing 11,391 infrastructure projects proposed by 427 cities. The mayors claimed the proposal would create 847,641 jobs in 2009 and 2010.

The more than 800-page document is titled "Main Street Economic Recovery: 'Ready To Go' Jobs and Infrastructure Projects."

"Our plan calls for investments that will stimulate our economy by quickly creating jobs, fixing our aging and crumbling infrastructure, increasing our global competitiveness, and further reducing our carbon footprint," Miami, Florida, Mayor Manny Diaz said at a news conference last week. Accompanied by other big-city mayors, he held up a copy of the hefty report to stress its importance.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/18/mayors.pork/index.html

Just a few of the "infrastructure" requests being made:

* $20 million minor league baseball museum in Durham, North Carolina;

* $6.1 million for corporate jet hangars at the Fayetteville, Arkansas, airport;

* $20 million for renovations at the Philadelphia Zoo;

* $1.5 million program to reduce prostitution in Dayton, Ohio.