Last modified: Sunday, January 11, 2009 2:19 AM PST Our Opinion: Leaders could have packaged projects instead At first glance, the meeting regarding potential economic stimulus funding for local projects Thursday in Ontario appears to be one where plenty of progress was made. At the conclusion of the session, area leaders decided to bundle key projects and send them on to Oregon U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden’s office. The projects will be bundled according to category, and an explanation of each project will accompany each bundle. The good news about the whole issue revolves around the fact that so many different leaders were on hand to debate and discuss what projects should be priorities. And it makes sense, up to a point, to send a number of different projects forward to Sen. Wyden simply because of all the unknowns regarding the stipulations that will be tied to the potential stimulus money. For example, right now, there are no guarantees the money will be approved by Congress. Still, it is unfortunate the list of potential projects could not have been narrowed down to one, two or even three main ventures. Or, even better, a plan to combine — or link — two or three projects together for funding would appear to be sensible. A good example would be on the education side of the proposed stimulus criteria. A realistic plan would be to find a way to link the proposed Treasure Valley Community College science wing with needed improvements to the Ontario School District’s infrastructure. Or link a project in Ontario with one in Nyssa or Vale. Sending a large bundle of projects with explanations is hardly going to make the decision by Wyden and his staff any easier. In a sense, our area officials know, or should know, which projects are the most viable, and they should choose them and make a recommendation for Wyden. Simply sending a large chunk of possibilities sort of secedes reasonability. It is a safe blueprint, but perhaps now is the time to throw caution to the wind and aim higher. None of this is meant to unfairly criticize those officials that convened to debate the potential projects for funding. The meetings were, and are, a good idea. But the goal should be to make the decision-making process easy for federal elected leaders. Not harder.