Dataset of the Day: Silly & Wasteful Stimulus Projects or Poor Research?

I came across an interesting article on CNN.com the other day. The article, Napa Wine Train in middle of stimulus fight by Randi Kaye, talks about a wine train tour in Napa, CA that is under heat for being on a report by Republican Senators Tom Coburn and John McCain. This report lists the top 100 “wasteful” and “silly” stimulus projects from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The project is now known as the “Stimulus Waste Express” and has ranked the Napa Valley Wine Train #11 on the list.

A question from this ranking arises though, Is this stimulus project truly stimulus truly “silly” and “wasteful”? What is interesting about this project though is that no stimulus money is being spent on the wine train. Instead, it is being used to for a flood control project in the area. The wine train tour happens to be in the way of this project and some of the tour’s tracks and bridges need to be altered. Company officials from the wine train are now upset and believe that Senators Coburn and McCain did not fully do their research.

Below are a few maps that were created in Maker! that display the locations of these supposed “wasteful” & “silly” stimulus projects. They include such projects with titles like, “Repaved Georgia Road . . . Getting Repaved Again”, “School District Splurges on iPod Touches”, and “Controversial Helicopter Program Gets Stimulus Boost”. (note: not all projects on the list were mapped because they spanned over multiple locations)

#maker_map_13250 {width: 100%; height: 400px;}

View full map

Maker.maker_host=’http://maker.geocommons.com’;Maker.finder_host=’http://finder.geocommons.com’;Maker.core_host=’http://core.geocommons.com’;
Maker.load_map(“maker_map_13250″, “13250″);

#maker_map_13251 {width: 100%; height: 400px;}

View full map

Maker.maker_host=’http://maker.geocommons.com’;Maker.finder_host=’http://finder.geocommons.com’;Maker.core_host=’http://core.geocommons.com’;
Maker.load_map(“maker_map_13251″, “13251″);

After reviewing these maps I can say that I do believe some of these projects do seem silly, but I do feel that some should not be qualified as silly or wasteful. Take a look for yourself and see if you feel these projects will help us as we go through these difficult economic times.

Also, to see more data and maps about stimulus projects across the country, search the term ‘stimulus’ in both Finder! and Maker! By doing this you will come across more helpful information in your search to discover more about stimulus projects and the state of the American economy.