Town Needs the Basics, Gets a Skate Park

It's been nearly seven months since Congress passed the economic stimulus package. At nearly $800 billion, it's one of the largest expenditures in history.

But some critics say a lot of it's being wasted on frivolous projects, at a time when local governments are starving for cash. CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson follows the money to a struggling city in New England.

In Pawtucket, R.I., the fishing can be first-rate. But not everything is bountiful. The city is facing its biggest financial crisis since it was founded in 1671.

Just how bad are things in Pawtucket? Fifty-two city workers have been laid off. The budget is $7.5 million in the red. And unemployment is among the worst in the nation. In short, Pawtucket is on the verge of bankruptcy.

So when the 72,000 residents heard Pawtucket would be getting $550,000 in stimulus money, they might have assumed it would help with their deficit, layoffs or unpaid school bills.

Instead, they're getting this a skate park for kids.

City planner Michael Cassidy hopes a brand new skate park will be a safe place for young people to gather. He says it's been an objective since 2002.

But the plan has created an uproar. It's not that anyone's against a skate park; the city just needs other things a whole lot more.

"I was certainly hoping that we were going to get a little of it," said Pawtucket Fire Chief Timothy Mclaughlin,

Mclaughlin runs one of the busiest fire departments around. He says it defies logic to build a skate park while he's being forced to eliminate four lifesaving jobs.

"I don't think public safety was taken into consideration at all," he said.

He says the half million dollars would be enough to save those positions for a year with enough left over to make some overdue repairs to his fire stations.

But before you blame Pawtucket's leaders, they felt they didn't have much choice. The way Congress set up the stimulus program, local governments can't always spend stimulus money on what's needed most - even if it would save jobs.

Pawtucket had to find a "shovel ready" project that could go out for bid in 90 days.

Cassidy says he was left in a tough spot.

"If there was a way that I could use some of this money to bring back staff, I certainly would have tried to do that," he said.

The skate park has become so controversial that the city's trying to fix the image problem with an accounting shift. It'll use the stimulus money for another project - road beautification - and move that project's money to the skate park.

But that won't help the firefighters or the others in Pawtucket with so many critical needs - about to get the best skate park around.