21.   Financial observers fear that the same thing could happen to Arizona, raising the cost of financing on virtually any kind of public project.

22.   For landscape contractors, large public projects are more profitable, so they are reluctant to do small jobs for private homes.

23.   For Oldenburg and van Bruggen, an important part of any public project has to do with relating the artwork to its larger setting.

24.   Going forward, residential construction should get a boost from lower mortgage rates, while commercial and public projects should also see gains, he said.

25.   He may like their tax-free income, or he may just be a big fan of the public projects that municipal bonds finance.

26.   He said the artists selected had a track record of creating public projects.

27.   Investment in public projects and housing construction was generally strong nationwide, and consumer spending also was recovering gradually, he said.

28.   It is in some ways a small version of the World Bank, devoted largely to lending money for public projects.

29.   Kammrath said such costly public projects rarely pay for themselves.

30.   Municipal bonds are tax exempt, and officials wanted to limit the number of interest-earning tax-exempt bonds put in circulation to pay for the same public project.