What the Stimulus package means for Thornton Colorado

President Obama will come to Denver to sign the stimulus package at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science on this coming Tuesday.  The stimulus package contains a number of provisions designed to help real estate, both residential housing and commercial, recover from the slump that has occured nationwide.  Colorado's share of the stimulus package amounts to 1.97 billion dollars.  That is a massive influx of funding into the state.

What is surprising is how much of the money is being channeled to real estate or infrastructure products in Thornton, CO.  While Colorado Springs, Colorado receives the lions share at 1.3 billion dollars, Thornton, CO is the recipient of the second largest amount of funds in the state at 487.7 million dollars!  Some of the real estate infrastructure improvements that will be funded by the stimulus are listed here at Stimulus Watch.

While I'm very happy that some of the funds are being directed to the north Denver Metro area of Thornton.  An area that has lagged by some spending measures relative to the improvements south of the city, I'm concerned with the execution of the projects.  Will they be competitively bid?  What will the oversight be regarding 'sweetheart' deals to preferred contractors?  Will the whistleblower provisions be enforced should corruption be uncovered?

Time will tell on the effectiveness of the package and the jobs and financial benefit for the city of Thornton, but it looks like a significant amount of federal money is coming this way.