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A new conservative outcry over federal waste has a familiar target: a nearly million‑dollar federal grant that paid for sidewalk work on Del Rosa Drive in San Bernardino. The Economic Policy Innovation Center put the story on the map with a report calling it a “million‑dollar sidewalk slab,” and county documents confirm a $961,000 Carbon Reduction Program grant was accepted for the project. So yes, your tax dollars have a concrete story to tell — and it’s time someone read it aloud.
What actually happened: the facts in plain terms
San Bernardino County accepted a Carbon Reduction Program (CRP) award of $961,000 routed through regional agencies to install roughly 0.33 miles of sidewalk on Del Rosa Drive. County records list the total estimated project cost at $1,085,000, with a required local match of $124,000 from county gas‑tax revenue. The award shows up in board materials and regional prioritization documents, and the county’s public works office has posted photos and updates about Del Rosa‑area sidewalk work.
Why critics are screaming “boondoggle”
The EPIC report flagged the Del Rosa award as emblematic of CRP money going to small pedestrian projects instead of dramatic carbon cuts. The headline beats were predictable: “million‑dollar sidewalk.” That line lands because a roughly $1 million federal grant for a third of a mile of sidewalks sounds, on its face, expensive — and it makes for a great meme. Critics point out the optics: a lot of federal cash spent on a relatively short sidewalk segment while Washington talks big about emissions reductions.
Price tag math you can use at family dinners
Do the math: 0.33 miles is about 1,742 feet. The CRP grant of $961,000 works out to roughly $552 per linear foot; the whole project at $1,085,000 is about $623 per linear foot. Those aren’t tiny numbers. Taxpayers deserve to see the line‑item justification for those costs — and an estimate of how many car trips or pounds of CO2 the sidewalk is expected to eliminate.
Program rules matter — but so does common sense
Here’s the inconvenient truth for both sides: the federal CRP explicitly allows sidewalks and pedestrian facilities as eligible uses when they support reduced vehicle miles traveled or better transit access. So the Del Rosa project can be perfectly within program rules while still looking politically tone‑deaf. Rules don’t erase poor prioritization or sloppy optics. If agencies want to funnel CRP dollars into active‑transportation projects, they should show the numbers that prove the carbon benefit, not just post a smiling ribbon‑cutting photo.
What should happen next: transparency and accountability
Local officials owe the public a clear explanation. San Bernardino’s Department of Public Works should publish the application materials, the emissions or mode‑shift estimates used to win the CRP award, and the exact map of the CRP‑funded segment (so we don’t confuse this award with separate Del Rosa work done earlier). Regional agencies that approved the grant should also show their scoring and why this project beat others. If the math holds up, fine. If it doesn’t, taxpayers deserve refunds — or at least better projects next time.
Call it what you will — federal program rules, local discretion, or plain old Washington largesse — the Del Rosa sidewalk is a useful test. Either this was a reasonable investment in safer, greener streets, or it was another example of money getting spent because a bureaucratic checkbox said “eligible.” We should demand answers, not headlines. And while we wait, someone please explain why a few hundred feet of concrete now costs as much as an adult midlife crisis.
