Obama Stimulus at Work

Now let's stop all the criticism of the Obama stimulus campaign. There's evidence to indicate that the money is being put to good use, albeit "good" is being used subjectively as reflecting the government's perspective.

According to this report, stimulus money upgraded a local intersection.

Just down the road is an intersection of two relatively minor state highways — an intersection that had already been widened and upgraded not that long ago. But that wasn’t enough. There is a big sign proudly giving credit to Obama for the most recent changes made.

The money was spent on re-doing that intersection by cutting and changing the traffic islands for wheelchair ramps and putting in walk-don’t walk signs – making it all handicapped accessible. That’s nice, and it sure looks good to government types and do-gooders.

So, what’s wrong with that? Well, there are no sidewalks, no cart paths , no trails…just no pedestrian access or need for such improvements at that intersection. No one walks or rolls his wheelchair there. It’s not accessible unless one has an all-terrain wheelchair! And, there are no adjoining subdivisions or planned construction projects for that area. It’s mostly farmland up and down the road.

For a wheelchair to get to the intersection, a handicapped person would have to drive to it. Then, he would have to pull his wheelchair out of the van and circle around and around the intersection…and, that’s as far as he could go!

It's not clear exactly how much stimulus money was spent on the "upgrade" -- perhaps only a couple million dollars. But what's interesting is the placement of the sign which credits Obama for the essentially completed project when stimulus money only provided for arguably-unnecessary enhancements.

Furthermore, it's been hinted to me that Obama stimulus signs have unceremoniously popped up at additional locations to take credit for other essentially-completed projects. Readers may want to relate their experiences in Comments.