For Annapolis Mayor Ellen O. Moyer, environmental projects and public safety are the top concerns when it comes to requesting funds from the economic stimulus package.
"I'm going to choose those that would have long-lasting implications for positive change," Moyer said.
Her "wishes," which total more than $75 million, include projects that are under way and have been passed by the city council.
Among those that Moyer gives highest priority are the projects that would have the broadest impact on city and state residents. The Annapolis EZ program, for example, is a loan program that helps residents retrofit their properties with technology such as solar panels that would allow them to increase energy efficiency. The program is a private-public partnership, one that Moyer said is the first of its kind in the state.
"We've developed an innovative program that no one else has yet," Moyer said. She asked for $2.65 million for the project.
Moyer requested $11 million to move utility lines underground on several streets in the city's historic district.
"If we get the money, we can do it now," she said.
The mayor would also like to see the city's roads repaired and maintained. The price tag is $1.8 million.
"We have 94 miles of roads to pave, and some of them need a lot of work," she said. The program Moyer is most eager to start is a nutrient-reduction program, a model initiative that would allow the city to test a new technology that takes nitrogen out of water. Moyer hopes the $329,000 technology can be used in a lagoon in Back Creek that contains oysters.
The water would be tested regularly to see whether the nitrogen is removed and whether oysters could eventually be safely farmed.
"I think it has broader implications for the health of the bay," she said.
PROJECTS
Baltimore: 38 projects
Public safety: $12 million
Schools: $78 million
Streets/roads: $113 million
Water: $121 million
Annapolis: 16 projects
Energy: $17 million
Public safety: $19 million
Streets/roads: $2.8 million
Transit: $2.4 million
Water: $36 million
Source: U.S. Conference of Mayors
