Stimulating Arlington
We’ve growled several times about Arlington County’s rank among the America’s richest counties, including September 25, 2009. Now comes the following news from the December 1-7, 2010 Arlington Connection (html. version and Adobe version, which contains two charts that are not in the .html version):
“Arlington received more stimulus funds per capita than Fairfax County or Alexandria, pulling in about $7 billion. That’s $1,210 for every man woman and child. And funding included a little something for everybody. There’s meals for seniors who are homebound and early childhood education programs for the young. In the classroom, there’s money for teachers and software. For those without health insurance, there’s money for immunizations. For the unemployed, there job training programs and childcare.
“As recently as September, county officials announced the most recent bit of largess — $500,000 in federal stimulus money — for the county to become one of the first communities in the nation to launch a large-scale conversion of its streetlights to energy-efficient LED lights. County officials say the conversion will reduce energy costs and be better for the environment.”
The Connection news story, written by Michael Lee Pope, includes more details in the following paragraph:
“The vast majority of stimulus money spent in Arlington went to the private sector. The largest stimulus check was cut to an Arlington nonprofit known as Experience Works, a charitable organization founded in 1965 as Green Thumb. Strayer University was one of the top recipients of stimulus cash, nailing down almost $14 million in Pell Grants. The county school system got about $10 million in stimulus money from the Department of Education. That money went to everything from special-education programs and early childhood education to help for at-risk children and upgrading computer technology in the classroom. The Arlington Police Department received $265,000 to purchase new equipment, and the Central Library was outfitted with solar panels. Last year, former County Board Chairwoman Barbara Favola announced $363,600 worth of stimulus funds to fight homelessness.”
What a great bunch of Congressional thinkers across the river? Arlington has among the highest “cost-per-student” rates in the nation, and Congress provides the county school bureaucrats with another $10 million in stimulus money. No wonder the country is near bankruptcy!