Austin eyes stimulus piece of the pie

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The City of Austin is feverishly working to get its piece of stimulus pie. Austin City Manager Marc Ott sent a memo to council members and staff Thursday saying he believes Austin is eligible for 51 of the 200 programs under President Obama's recent stimulus package passed in February.

Among the programs are community housing grants, art projects and transportation initiatives. In the memo, Ott said he is organizing a massive staff effort to identify deadlines, spending requirements and reporting requirements for Austin to receive stimulus money. Austin has been eyeing stimulus money even before Obama signed the package into law.

In February, transportation directors for the City of Austin identified five projects they believed could be eligible for stimulus money. Those recommendations include $6 million to track congestion patterns around town using TxTags, $5 million to install variable message board signs and $1.5 million for a citywide asphalt overlay project.

The city is also requesting $800,000 for Web access to more than 200 arterial traffic cameras. It is unclear whether the public would have access to those cameras.

"The receipt of federal dollars will allow the Public Works and Transportation departments to accelerate backlogged work, increasing the amount of 'work on the street' and creating additional contract and job opportunities," said Austin Transportation and Public Works officials Howard Lazarus and Robert Spillar in a February memo.

Ott has asked the Austin City Council to organize a legislative committee, which is a council committee of the whole. He said it would review and provide quick approval to the stimulus projects. However, he said he does want public input.

"Consistent with council's focus on full community engagement, we plan several efforts to ensure that our community is involved in the process," said Ott in the stimulus memo.

The City of Austin has set up a Web site to answer questions about the stimulus package.