Some stimulus projects raise criticism

WASHINGTON, June 14 (UPI) -- A handful of projects to be funded with U.S. stimulus money have drawn criticism from officials who say they would be a waste of money.

The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday the criticism comes as President Barack Obama pushes to accelerate the flow of federal stimulus funds.

In Minneapolis, for example, the City Council voted recently to spend $2 million on a vacant 99-year-old theater that developers want to convert into a center for dance.

Meanwhile, the City Council awarded less than $300,000 to a company that wants to open a solar-energy panel manufacturing plant that would create 360 jobs by 2011.

Minneapolis City Councilman Paul Ostrow opposed the theater project. He said it wouldn't create enough jobs to qualify for stimulus money, whereas the solar-energy plant "clearly fit the president's goals. ... It was a home run."

Another project, a six-mile stretch of guardrail in the Oklahoma Panhandle, is in line for $1.1 million in stimulus funding. Critics said spending money in a desolate area that shows no signs of a comeback is dumbfounding.

"They're not mowing the weeds, which are 2 or 3 feet tall," said Ted Graham, city manager in nearby Guymon, Okla. "They quit maintaining the lake in the park, so it would be a frustration if they spend a million dollars on a guardrail they don't maintain currently."