In December, the city of Lewiston made its wish list. Not for Santa, though, but President-elect Barack Obama, whose campaign promises of economic stimuli sent visions of more than sugar plums dancing in the heads of local leaders.

The list is vast, with about 50 items costing more than $66 million. It’s a roster of everything a city needs: a bus washer, sewer projects, security cameras, wiring, stairwells, paving work yawn. But most of the projects are drier than dust.

Which is why the list, though complete, remains lacking. Instead of a Christmas list, Lewiston compiled a Saturday morning “honey-do” list. Aside from some park projects, including Kennedy Park improvements the council already shelved, the list is devoid of fun.

This doesn’t mean they’re unworthy. Far from it. But what the city needs and what the city can use are two different things. There is a paucity of creativity on this list. Children don’t ask Santa for socks and underwear; Lewiston has done the municipal equivalent.

And there are good reasons not to.

The first is opportunity. Obama’s economic stimuli will be historic, given the historical economic disaster it seeks to solve. This is a time for bold strokes and bolder action, neither of which applies to new Lisbon Street light wires or a bevy of sewer overflow projects.

The idea should not just be accelerating work that must be done anyway – in the normal course of municipal affairs – but conjuring big ideas with lasting effects that could, perhaps, improve the economic fortunes of the community.

If this is not done now, then when?

The second is impact. Sasha Issenberg, writing in the Boston Globe recently, talked about the new realization among urban planners that aesthetics and leisure opportunities – the fun stuff, in other words – deeply correlates to sustained economic growth, housing prices and quality of life in metropolitan areas.

“Beautiful and charming cities draw a crowd, while the featureless and unattractive wilt like wallflowers,” writes Issenberg. His article draws upon a paper by two economists, Gerald Carlino and Albert Saiz, that measured 150 U.S. cities against 15 specific factors of appeal.

Their finding? Those cities with distinct “consumption amenities” fared best, regardless of the traditional economic yardsticks, like manufacturing output or transportation infrastructure. Lewiston prides itself about the latter, but is in chronic shortage of the former.

Bold, creative thinking with this proposed stimulus could change that, and with it Lewiston (and Auburn’s) long-term economic and community visions. (What would $50 million do to jump-start dormant downtown plans, for example?)

At the center of this crisis is a hopefully-once-in-a-generation chance to dream big and ask for everything a city could ever want. Because, in the scope of this stimulus, one never knows.

They might just get it.