Looking for stimulus funds? Look no farther than V&M

It’s a popular pastime in some quar- ters to denigrate the federal stimulus bill as a waste of money that accomplished little or nothing.

Politicians and economists on both sides of the issue can argue about whether the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 worked.

One side says that if the stimulus act had worked, unemployment would be below 8 percent. The other side says that if the bill had not been passed, unemployment would be 11 percent or higher.

Such arguments are as conclusive as those over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

Whatever the philosophical arguments might be, the Mahoning Valley will begin seeing one concrete result of the Recovery Act very soon.

On its third try, Youngstown managed to get an acceptable bid for the railroad construction and relocation project at V&M Star, where $650 million is being invested to expand the pipe mill.

Two previous attempts to hire a contractor were foiled. The first time, the bids were too high. The second time, the apparent low bid was deficient in that it omitted a significant part of the work that had to be done.

Finally, a done deal

As Charles Shasho, Youngstown’s deputy director of public works, predicted, the third time was the charm. Last week Youngstown’s board of control approved a $14.1 million contract with Great Lakes Construction of Hinckley for the rail project. An $800,000 contract was also approved with MS Consultants Inc. of Youngstown to provide construction engineering, quality control and oversight for the project.

Just as the overall effect of the stimulus program is subject to interpretation based on political leanings, there are those who disagree as to whether the railroad project would have been a deal breaker for V&M’s parent company, Vallourec. There are only a handful of people who could actually answer that, and many of them are in Paris.

The bottom line is that the railroad work will begin in August, and those stimulus dollars will pay suppliers for materials, wages for the workers and, presumably, a profit for the contractor. Like the other work that began months ago at V&M, it provides an immediate and needed boost for the local economy. And when the V&M project is completed, it will provide a long-term benefit to the area.

People are still free to argue over the value of the Recovery Act, but those who drive by V&M Star (and especially those who pull into its parking lots and go to work) see at least one local effect every day.