I agree, we do need to steward the people's money. We also need to look for ways to spur the economy away from the petrol economy we currently have. I'm not advocating this particular project, but am advocating that the cut-only approach to fiscal management within the state is not sustainable, nor appropriate for long-term success. One cannot simply cut one's way out of debt. We need a strong balance of revenue and cuts. One could also argue that the bulk of the projects you've mentioned were doomed to failure due to size and complexity that the leaders of our state never envisioned while a project in the vein that Thompkins has proposed has a much smaller economic outlay for completion than these others -much of the infrastructure is there already. Though, again, I don't know that this specific plan is the right one, but I do value that some of our politicians appear to be looking at the economy as a whole, not just a budget and how to chop our way out of debt with a machette.