Stall stimulus: There's little in it for city of Yakima

Ever wonder what the term "shovel-ready" means? At Yakima City Hall, the feeling's mutual.

City officials complained Monday that Yakima's cut of the $787 billion federal stimulus package -- just $3.7 million for the entire county -- will be next to nothing even though the city is ready to break ground on several projects.

They said they bought into the idea that state and federal government officials were looking to fund infrastructure that was permitted and ready to move forward.

City Manager Dick Zais, as well as City Council members, believed that having shovel-ready projects would push them to the front of the line.

"'Shovel-ready' has turned out to be something of an amorphous term," Zais said.

City officials had hoped that having "shovel-ready" projects would count for something in Washington D.C. and Olympia, where federal money is being parceled out.

But formulas and criteria have changed, city officials complained.

"It seems like the stimulus package is not going to stimulate much in Yakima," Mayor Dave Edler said.

The paltry figure is seen as jeopardizing construction of a railroad underpass on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, the second half of what's been touted as perhaps the biggest public works project in the city's history.

The city is $8 million short of full funding for the $42 million project, which is expected to get under way this summer when crews break ground on the first of the two underpasses, on Lincoln Avenue.

City officials had hoped to make up that shortfall with federal stimulus money. Without it, they said, construction of the MLK underpass could be in trouble.

"It's going to be a tough row to hoe," said Michael Morales, the city's deputy economic director. "We've already pretty much tapped into all the funding sources."

Also at risk, at least for now, is more money for ongoing sidewalk repairs in downtown Yakima as well as $2.5 million needed for the expansion of Nob Hill Boulevard.

The city needs to widen the road from 48th Avenue to 72nd Avenue to accommodate the surge of traffic that is expected when the new West Valley Wal-Mart opens later this year. The giant retailer is paying for some, but not all, of the widening.

Despite the potential for traffic snarls, the new Wal-Mart will help offset a recent 4 percent decline in the city's sales tax receipts. If the trend holds, budget cuts won't be far behind.

Zais sought an offset of his own by noting that other public construction projects not dependent on the federal stimulus money are moving forward.

Topping the list is the $12 million expansion of the historic Capitol Theatre. Also in the mix this year are major repairs to the Nob Hill railroad overpass and several road projects, including a rebuild of the intersection at 16th and Washington avenues.

That project is part of the larger extension of the Valley Mall Boulevard, which itself is the subject of a $33 million roundabouts-and-realignment rebuild at the Interstate 82 interchange.

The Valley Mall interchange project is being done by the state Department of Transportation. According to Morales, the state is using federal stimulus money instead of gas tax money, as previously planned.

* Chris Bristol can be reached at 577-7748 or cbristol@yakimaherald.com.

EDITOR'S NOTE -- The headline on this story has been corrected to "city of Yakima."