Tulsa World
By JIM MYERS World Washington Bureau
Published: 8/4/20102:23 AM
Last Modified: 8/4/20104:11 AM
WASHINGTON — Oklahoma, which usually earns praise for how it has handled highway projects funded by federal stimulus dollars, drew a hit Tuesday from the state's junior U.S. senator.
Republican Sen. Tom Coburn, in a report co-written by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., tagged a sidewalk project in Boynton as one of those "questionable stimulus projects that are wasteful, mismanaged, and overall unsuccessful in creating jobs.''
The Boynton project took the No. 10 spot on a list of 100 projects cited by the senators, even though it came in at slightly less than $90,000.
Others carried price tags totaling millions of dollars.
Citing a number of sources, including news articles and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation's own website, the report said the Boynton project was to replace a quarter-mile of 5-year-old sidewalk that led to a ditch.
It also cited concerns expressed by local residents over the financial problems faced by the public school system.
Questions raised over the contractor on the sidewalk project also were covered by the report.
ODOT officials, who have defended the Boynton sidewalk project in the past, did so again Tuesday, suggesting that critics have a misunderstanding of why the sidewalk had to be replaced... FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Wed, August 4, 2010
by Crystal Drwenski