tells Obama to not only Fresno mayor Ashley Swearengin but to 60 other mayors in Friday morning meeting's with Obama and his Cabinet secretaries.
"If a federal agency proposes a project that will waste that money, I will not hesitate to call them out on it and put a stop to it," Obama said. "And I want everybody here to be on notice that if a local government does the same, I will call them out on it and use the full power of my office and our administration to stop it."
Swearengin agreed that "you have to be careful" in how new federal dollars are phased in.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, in an interview, likewise agreed that "cities must take care to spend the new money wisely and not fritter it away on "ridiculous" wish lists."
Let's hope they stay focused on this path.
It's not yet clear how much money Fresno or any other city will get from the 1,473-page stimulus bill.
Swearengin said she invited Education Secretary Arne Duncan to visit Fresno, and she reported getting a positive response.
Supposedly he said, 'E-mail me. I'm coming to California, and I'll stop on by,'
