PHILLIPS: All right. Let's talk about how your stimulus money is helping or not helping across America. We're going to the local level here, talking with three mayors. The mayor of Laredo, Texas, Raul Salinas, also Mayor James Baker of Wilmington, Delaware and Elkhart, Indiana, Dick Moore joining us. Three cities, three mayors, three stories about your money.
Thanks, guys, for being here.
Mayor Salinas let's start with you just because most recently we did the story about the last little bookstore in Texas. You know, it's been tough. You've had to deal with the literacy problem and then we hear that you're losing your bookstores. Has the stimulus money helped you at all with regard to fighting the illiteracy problem?
MAYOR RAUL SALINAS, LAREDO, TEXAS: Well, while I'm very disappointed what happened with the bookstore in Laredo. We've been working very hard to get petitions. The reason the bookstore was closed was not because of Loredo economy, it was closed because of business decisions with the corporate headquarters.
But we've had a number of petitions, but I don't think that's had an effect. But I am very confident that in the near future that we will have a new bookstore in Laredo because there's a lot of enthusiasm. We're on the border. But maybe we can find a way to maybe get some stimulus money. But what we have done, we received over $209 million and that's going to generate and has generated 700 jobs for us in Laredo.
And that's important because it has a ripple effect. When we got two major projects, one was a mobility program at Quatro Vientos (ph). We also, $48 million for a utility plant, Jefferson Plant in Laredo. Those are creating like 700 jobs, those projects. And that's important because it has a ripple effect on other commercial businesses. So it's very impacting.
We have a very good economy in Laredo. Our unemployment is at 8.6 while other cities along the border, for instance, McAllen is 11.2 unemployment, Brownsville at 10.5. So we have been very, very fortunate and the money that we have received has been very positive because it is stimulating jobs and is helping us for infrastructure purposes. PHILLIPS: OK.
PHILLIPS：好的，让我们来探讨一下刺激基金怎样起到帮助或者未起到作用。我们现在看一下当地水平的情况，我们将与三位市长对话。德克萨斯州拉雷多市的市长Raul Salinas，特拉华州维明顿市的James Baker和印第安纳州Elkhart市的Dick Moore。三个城市，三位市长，三个关于刺激基金的不同故事。首先感谢大家的参与。
Salinas市长，让我们先从你开始。因为最近，我们讲述的故事就是德克萨斯州最后的小书店。你知道，形势非常艰难。你们必须解决识字问题，后来我们听说你们的书店正在不断倒闭。在解决识字能力问题方面，刺激基金有没有对你们起到帮助呢？
RAUL SALINAS，德克萨斯州拉雷多市的市长：对于拉雷多的书店发生的情况，我感到非常失望。我们已经非常努力地发出请求。这些书店关闭的原因不是由于拉雷多的经济，而是由于这些公司总部的商业决策。
但是也有一些情愿根本没有产生影响。但是我相信，在不久的将来，拉雷多一定能够出现一个新的书店，因为群众非常有激情。我们处在边境位置，但是或许将来我们可以获得一些刺激资金。但是我们已经收到了2.09亿美元的资金，这在拉雷多将创造和已经创造了700个工作岗位。
这是非常重要的，以为这会产生连锁反应。我们设立了两个重要的项目，一个是Quatro Vientos的可变项目，另外一个是价值4800万美元的公用设施厂，拉雷多Jefferson Plant。这些项目将创造700个工作岗位。这是非常重要的，因为这会对商业活动产生连锁反应。所以，影响非常大。
拉雷多的经济非常好。我们的失业率是8.6%，而其他边境城市，例如麦卡伦的失业率是11.2%，布朗斯威尔是10.5%。所以，我们已经非常非常幸运了。我们收到的资金起到了积极的作用，因为这笔资金帮助刺激就业，帮助了我们的基础设施建设。
PHILLIPS：好的。