Keeping track of Phila. stimulus money, not a one man job

Hundreds of millions of dollars in federal stimulus money is coming to Philadelphia, and keeping track of the funding is no small task. Up until recently, the man in charge of tracking the money was Philadelphia Sustainability Director Mark Alan Hughes. But he stepped down last week.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in federal stimulus money is coming to Philadelphia, and keeping track of the funding is no small task. Up until recently, the man in charge of tracking the money was Philadelphia Sustainability Director Mark Alan Hughes. But he stepped down last week.

Listen:
[audio: 090622lfstimulus.mp3]

According to the city’s website, as of June 2nd, Philadelphia has been allocated $885 million dollars in stimulus money. Mayor Nutter’s Press Secretary Doug Oliver says someone is tracking it.

Oliver: Some of the functions of looking at the stimulus money and having a sort of a coordinated front with respect to those funds are now situated currently in our Managing Director’s Office. And I don’t mean to suggest that it will rest with the Managing Director’s Office, it’s just where it is for the time being.

Oliver says no final decision has been made on how to distribute the responsibilities of the former Sustainability Director, or of Commerce Director Andrew Altman, who leaves at the end of June. Oliver says the work could be distributed internally or there could be a new hire. He says an announcement on both positions could come by the end of the month.

More information:
You can track where the stimulus money is going in Philadelphia at Phila.gov/Recovery.