Johnson City Hoping For Millions In Stimulus Funding

Johnson City Hoping For Millions In Stimulus Funding (Added: March 11, 2009)

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Johnson City Hoping For Millions In Stimulus Funding

Johnson City City Manager Pete Peterson will head to Washington, D.C., next week to ask leaders how the city's economic stimulus money will be delivered. Peterson says the city requested several hundred million dollars in stimulus funding that could be used for a half dozen "Shovel-Ready" projects.

By Nate Morabito
Published: March 11, 2009

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More than three weeks after President Barack Obama signed into effect the stimulus package, many area governments, including Johnson City, are still waiting on word of how much money they will receive. Johnson City City Manager Pete Peterson says the city requested several hundred million dollars in stimulus funding that could be used for a half dozen "Shovel-Ready" projects. Those projects include the widening of the Kingsport Highway from Boones Creek Road to Highway 75 in Gray, the alleviation of Downtown Johnson City's flooding problem, the renovation and expansion of part of the city's waste-water collection system, and the retrofitting of windows, doors, and lights at Freedom Hall and Science Hill High School.

If funding for some or all of those projects are approved, Peterson says the work will make an immediate impact.

"We feel confident that just the projects that we have mentioned will maintain and create several hundred jobs in the local area," Peterson said. "It really is going to help everybody from the guys that cut grass to the bakery to the shoe shops. That money will trickle down and will benefit everybody in the community."

Traco is among the Johnson City businesses that could benefit from local stimulus money. The company, which employs 195 people, makes energy efficient windows and doors. The business has already provided supplies for the city's green initiative in its other buildings.

"Any additional work that we can bring in here, helps keep my people working 40 hours, helps the team keep going, and the stimulus package, if it all works out for us, I'm hoping that we can add a few people," Traco Plant Manager David Mercer said. "Worst case is we work 40 hours a week with the people we got, best case, we work 40 hours with an additional workload."

Mercer and his employees are counting on the stimulus money to do its job.

"I'm just hoping the economy turns around and hopefully we're a part of that," Mercer said.

Peterson will travel to Washington, D.C., next week to talk with Tennessee Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker and Congressman Phil Roe. He hopes to return to Johnson City with more details about the city's stimulus money.