New York City slumlords are getting stimulus money [1], reports the Daily News. According to the paper, millions of stimulus dollars have gone to landlords whose properties have serious housing code violations, from broken elevators to cockroaches to flaking lead paint. The stimulus money is not contingent on making needed repairs. City Councilman Bill de Blasio told the Daily News that the landlords in question “certainly shouldn’t be getting stimulus money.”
Poll results released Sunday found a majority of Americans believe the stimulus isn’t working [2]. The USA Today/Gallup poll found that 57 percent of respondents think the stimulus is having either no impact on the economy or making it worse. Only 18 percent of respondents said the stimulus has improved their personal situations. The Obama administration declined to comment on the poll results, USA Today reports.
Stimulus money won’t create as many jobs in Corpus Christi, Texas, as the federal government predicts [3], Jason Alaniz, the city’s intergovernmental relations project manager in charge of stimulus projects, told the Caller-Times. Federal formulas suggest the $200 million going to Corpus Christi will create nearly 2,000 jobs, but Alaniz called that figure “severely inflated.” The paper reports that stimulus money has created 450 jobs there and saved at least four.
Are you tracking the stimulus? ProPublica has set up a mailing list for reporters covering the stimulus, and you’re welcome to join [4].