I have an ARRA project right outside our house. There was money to repair sidewalks - deal was the homeowners paid for material and ARRA paid labor. I got our whole side of the block on board and our terrible torn-up condition 60+ year old sidewalk got done. There was one contractor ramrod who had aspirations of being a minister and doing child outreach programs. There was one old mason who knew how to work with concrete. There were half a dozen kids, nearly all of whom had had run ins with the law.
I thought what I saw looked great. A couple working people got jobs and 6 mini thugs got to learn either what manual labor was like, urging them toward a more cerebral path, or a useful introduction to a trade. All the kids seemed proud of the work they were doing - at one point my gal saw some of their peers slouching down the road and giving them some cr*p as they went by. The working kids pointed out that THEY were making money, which led to the slouchers asking how to get on the program. Mnoey spent to pay for the kid's labor was spent, as far as i could tell, fast and locally - a lot of sodas and such from the local stores got bought. Local concrete plant sold concrete. Local rental companies rented some gear.
Result: kids going to school ride on the sidewalk rather than in the street, our block looks much better, the neighbors had a bonding experience and ended up with a good looking sidewalk at about a third the regular cost. A couple building tradesmen had work, 6 delinquents made money and were probably too tired to go out and do some crimes. Local stores had some money flow through their tills. I'm sure as with any big dollar program there is waste - but my direct contact with ARRA was totally positive and I was impressed.
