Las Vegas here. I’d offer free college scholarships for everyone. The scholarships would include a stipulation that if you move out of Clark County within 10 years of graduating, you have to pay the tuition back.
We got hit hardest by the housing bust here. Our population growth went from “highest in the nation” to “negative” in less time than it took to lay off the construction crews. We need more educated, middle-class people here. What better way to do that than by educating people?
I would go along with Wolfman’s ideas to continue the consolidation of housing in Detroit. But what I would do first is provide free training programs for home demo to the unemployed residents and pay them to do the demo. Money in their pockets, along with a vested interest in the revitalization.
After that, urban farming on a huge scale. Weekly boxes of food provided to low income residents, so they don’t have to worry about nourishing their families. I say this because based on my experience as a supermarket cashier, food stamps are used to fill bellies, not to buy the necessary amount of fruits and veggies. It would also help cover the working poor, who are not poor enough to qualify for government aid.
I’m just hoping the new mayor, Duggan, is as good as his word.
I think I’d give a million dollars to every resident, and then have them vote on what to do with the remaining 200,000,000.
I’d pay a good $200 million toward lowering the public debt of our little country, the Cayman Islands. That would allow government to maintain spending and yet start to reduce debt service payments. Savings on interest payments could be used to accelerate rate of debt retirement.
With the remaining money I’d remake Mrs Iggy’s city. She live is a very poor large city in Colombia. Jobs of any sort are the main issue. To tackle that let’s spend the rest on business development - straight upset up 80 businesses funding each with $10 million, and get to hiring locals. And since we’re not getting it any other way in this hypothetical, one of those businesses must be a bakery so we can have our cheesecake.
My town can go from the nicest family-orientated neighborhood to the ghetto in about 1 block or 2 of driving. So honestly, I’d fix up the ghetto and open up some more financial help offices for the unfortunate people that have to live there due to money problems.
Mass Transit. Like a poster upthread said, the mass transit situation where I live (in my case, Springfield, IL) is terrible. We have busses, but they don’t go to the suburbs (I don’t think they even go to the airport), they have limited weekend functionality, and even more limited night-time functionality.
I’m not sure how much a billion would help, however. Doesn’t Light Rail cost something like $1 million per mile? And I shudder to think about the cost of underground rail.
Failing a mass transit system, I think a billion would be enough to dig train tunnels underneath the city, thereby making all of Springfield’s rail traffic (I mean, heavy-rail, like cargo and/or Amtrak) underground. Reno, NV did the same thing recently.
Fresno, CA
Turn the fulton mall into the treasure it could be. Introduce forgiven loan plans for massive influxes of restaraunts, nightclubs, museums, small performing arts venues, art galleries, antique shops, and tons of subsidized housing/studio space for working artists. A designated person would wander the pedestrian malls dropping large tips to street performers to encourage their continued presence.
If you can permanently eliminate the snow and keep the temp above daytime 60 degrees, or help me with my SAD (it FEELS real, even they say it ain’t), I’ll move there tomorrow. Convince me on the War on Connecticut, I’m flexible.
Oh, and that Griffin family has to GO!
Since I don’t live in a city, I’m thinking county-wide.
#1 - education. I’m talking facilities, equipment, supplies. All buildings will be in good repair and all systems will function properly - especially climate control! Classrooms and labs will be well-equipped and state-of-the-art. Maybe also a magnet school for Trades - I’ve been told many schools no longer teach woodshop or metal shop or auto shop. Teachers will never have to dig into their own pockets to provide supplies for their classrooms or their students. And there will be scholarships for those who cannot afford to continue their education - if they’re accepted to a college or other educational program, they’ll get financial help.
#2 - I’m going to steal the public transportation idea. We have a bus system of sorts, but it has limited routes. I think it can be better. I’d have to work that out with the experts.
#3 - I’d like to see some kind of manufacturing plant around here, but not something that supports the Navy base - there are plenty of places like that. I’d like to bring in a business that offers good jobs at good wages and produces a great product. I’d have to work with experts on this one, too.
And if there’s anything left, I’d like something for fun - some kind of recreational facility that has no WiFi - just things to do with people - what a concept!! 
I don’t know how accurate that number is but at a million a mile, a billion would still buy you a thousand miles. You could (in theory) link Springfield via light rail to Chicago, St. Louis and Indianapolis with 500 miles left over for municipal local use and continued maintenance.
Re: Above, I was conflating light and high speed rail in its usefulness in connecting cities. Still, point remains that a million dollars a mile for light rail buys you a lot of rail for local use.
I would declare war on the hypothetical by starting with what I want and shoehorning it in to benefiting a particular city. The goals are research and technological development, US political change and aid to the third world poor. Something has to give and that would be the middle criteria. So I’d choose a third world university town and set up my aid program there. Also a sovereign wealth fund. My country would be democratic and have a smaller than average population, so I would have more ability to buy off the elites and politicos.
Googling, I suspect that I might have settle for a middle income country to pursue my goals of pseudo-democratic governance and research quality. But all are welcome to apply!
I don’t have a particular city picked out- it would be any of a great number where kids see violence, abuse, and drug use as “normal”- but my plan of attack would be to first implement free high speed internet access, then start some programs that take advantage of online classes. Give people an option other than public schools, then motivate them to use it by offering incentives for applying their new found knowledge.
The target demographic would be the youngest generation- most likely pre-teen, before their society has a chance to indoctrinate them with its own negative values. As with just about anything else that’s worth obtaining, there will be three major factors that will determine the success of such a program:
Motivation- probably the hardest to define and enforce, but also most likely the most important of all the factors. Kids need to learn why getting this free education is better than a life of crime or drugs. The majority of the money will probably be spent here, on advertisements and in-person canvassing, as well as providing the necessary jobs for graduates of the program; “teach a man to fish…”
Education- includes teaching the actual course material (online classes).
Ability- the overall affects of the program need to be monitored to prove that individuals who have gone through the necessary steps can indeed offer both themselves and their society more than they initially assumed.
I’d use half of it to build 50 000 new homes in my city (Cape Town) - Athena’s dollars go further here and can take 50 000 families from this to … whatever style of “not that” works best. I’m thinking sustainable architecture, built-in solar systems, walkable neigbourhoods, that kind of thing. Economies of scale and the abyssmal R/$ exchange rate make this affordable currently. I’d spend the balance on other facilities for residents to generate income, such as small factory spaces with low rents, and several FabLabs open to the public, 24/7.
I’d probably improve the transit system–we could use more routes on the north and south sides of town, not just down the center. This would be important if I wanted to use some money to attract new industries, as they often build on the north side of town or Rio Rancho.
I’d give some to UNM on the grounds it is used for educational needs only (we already have enough sports stadiums and the president has a nice house but the UNM library appears not to have bought a new book since 1972.)
Beyond that, there’s a need to improve and maintain the infrastructure. (People get tired of water mains blowing.) The public mental health system could use more beds and doctors as well as outpatient programs.
If that doesn’t use up the money I’ll build a huge wall between Albuquerque and Tijeras Canyon so we don’t get knocked down by the wind from October to June.
You’re allowed to choose another city, you know.
I’d use the money to bribe as many old white christians out of the political game as possible. I fear a mere billion would not last long.
I’ll go the Jello Biafra route and ram through/buy a law that requires everyone who works in the business district, between the hours of 9 to 5, be required to wear a clown suite. The rest of the money would be used to enforce it. (Cossaks on horseback, roaming the streets, bull-whipping violators).
Cape Town hosts the second oldest University in Africa. It’s a city of 3.7 million. South Africa’s population is 53 million: it’s not too large, not too small. Lots of room for good works. That’s where I’d direct funds. Also, since a little under a third speak English as a first language, I’d actually have a prayer of monitoring what goes on.
