By ED RONCO, South Bend Tribune Staff Writer
eronco@sbtinfo.com
Moving part of a rail line: 500 jobs.
Building two dams along the St. Joseph River: 475 jobs.
Getting enough federal money for those projects and scores of others: Everyone's job, according to a member of Congress.
With more than $800 billion in federal stimulus money on the verge of being released to state and local governments, mayors from across Michiana gathered Friday in Elkhart to hear U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-Granger, offer advice on how they can best capitalize on the money.
One person in the crowd compared the gathering to throwing a handful of feed into the middle of a chicken coop. But maybe it's more like fans clamoring for front-row tickets at a rock concert: Get in line early and be patient.
"We're in competition with every other city and every other county in the United States of America," Donnelly told mayors and business leaders from as near as South Bend and as far away as Kokomo. "We've got to bring our best game."
The best game, he said, includes having shovel-ready projects that can put a lot of people to work as quickly as possible.