OK, how about some common sense stimulus funding.

I had modest hopes the federal government’s $787 billion stimulus package would at least provide a helpful nudge to our struggling economy.

But my hope is turning to disgust as I read about where all the money is going – such as nearly $100,000 for a UMass study on ancient Icelandic pollen.

The Patrick Administration, in charge funneling the federal dollars into the local economy, has certainly taken a lot of heat on this.

And, of course, some of the criticism is unfair given all the bureaucratic red tape and strings the federal money came all wrapped up in.

But let’s put all those excuses, legitimate or not, aside for now. For there are some pretty key projects that would boost the local economy and create jobs that are sitting there, gathering dust.

And bureaucratic mumbo jumbo aside, the fact right now is that the whole stimulus effort is crippled by a filling-the-potholes mentality.

So here’s my list of obvious projects someone in our brilliant state and federal governments should be paying attention to.

* Expanding Boston’s new convention center. A study is due out soon on the possible expansion of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. The expansion has been long contemplated and its going to happen. Why not do it now when construction costs are rock bottom, putting hard hats back to work and saving tens of millions for the state?

* Build a new regional headquarters for the FBI. The FBI has spent almost as long looking for a site on which to build a state-of-the-art fortress/headquarters for its local operations as it has been hunting for Whitey Bulger. Wouldn’t it be nice to see our local congressional delegation do something useful and put a little pressure on the feds to pick a site, any site, and start building?

* Get Harvard’s science complex in Allston rolling again. OK, so this smacks of welfare for the rich. But the fact is, Harvard’s now stalled science complex might simply be one of those transformational projects that rockets our local economy into the next era. And, right now, it’s not happening.

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