JC make $85M Stimulus Request (Johnson City, Bristol: neighborhood, construction, elementary school)

[rccrain]

Per stimuluswatch.org, here is a breakdown of the JC request:

-street milling and resurfacing Johnson City TN 0 $10,000,000 Streets/Roads

-sewer interceptor line replacement and upgrade Johnson City TN 0 $7,000,000 Water

-sewer lift station upgrades to increase capacity and structural integrity Johnson City TN 0 $7,000,000 Water

-water transmission line replacement and upgrades Johnson City TN 0 $1,500,000 Water

-water treatment plant improvements Johnson City TN 0 $1,500,000 Water

Keystone Neighborhood Revitalization/Community Center Johnson City TN 0 $15,000,000 CDBG

King Creek Flooding Mitigation Johnson City TN 0 $15,000,000 CDBG

Bristol Highway Bicycle/Pedestrian Trail Johnson City TN 0 $10,000,000 CDBG

Construction of new fire station Johnson City TN 0 $2,000,000 CDBG

Winged Deer Bicycle/Pedestrian Trail Johnson City TN 0 $530,000 CDBG

Construction of new Fairmont Elementary School to replace existing school Johnson City TN 0 $16,000,000 Schools


Is King Creek the cause of flooding problems in downtown JC? It would be great for our local economy if we could solve that issue with the stimulus money.

I don't see anything for ETSU...

How likely are we to get the full $85? Do you see anything as wasteful? Is there another project you would have added? (A subsidy for fresh seafood... )

[mbmouse]

Sounds good but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for stimulus money for reasonable items that would not only create jobs to accomplish these but to see long term jobs/economic impact due to the infrastructure that can provide for more smart building. You see, none of these support any special interests. They actually make sense to spend on with tax payers money. So I would say we won't ever see it.

[rccrain]

Would I be correct in assuming these guys would be responsible for luring money this way?

Senate*
• Steve Southerland (R-1)
• Rusty Crowe (R-3)

House of Representatives*
• Kent Williams (R-4)
• David Hawk (R-5)
• Robert Ford (R-6)
• Matthew Hill (R-7)

[jabogitlu]

Ouch, so cynical, mouse! You're probably right, though.

I think these are all very wise requests (especially Fairmont Elementary, King Creek Flooding Mitigation, and sewer upgrades), but... Keystone Community Center/Revitalization?? The place is the armpit of Johnson City. I mean I guess that's good but they can't even get the bike/walk trail finished from downtown to ETSU (a total of, what, 2-3 miles?)

[rccrain]

I emailed my reps (Ford and Crowe) at 4PM concerning "getting our share of the pie". I got a response from Ford's office in 20 minutes:

Mr. Crain,

Thank you for contacting us. Rep. Ford is already working on seeing that any funds that are allocated will be properly sent to our district. In fact, we will be meeting with Governor Bredesen the first week of March to be certain this occurs. Thank you so much for contacting us and please keep in touch.

Best Regards,

Michelle Hale
Legislative Assistant to Rep. Dale Ford
Tennessee General Assembly
202A War Memorial Building
Nashville, TN 37243

[jabogitlu]

Doesn't really have that much to do with this thread, but as far as public works goes I noticed in downtown they've overlayed some of the sidewalk corners (like, where two sidewalks meet at an angle) with a faux-brick pattern. It's pretty neat, seems to be more or less focused around the downtown library. I noticed that it stopped as soon as I hit Buffalo/Water St. (I was on Roan).

[SarahSal]

Jab, They've done some of that same brick work in the center of downtown too.. Yes, it does look quite neat but in the process they took away a whole bunch of parking spaces on Spring Street - and everyone has known for a long time that downtown really needs parking. Never understood why they did that after there'd been parking there for more than a century! (We have pics from long ago showing now-ancient cars). Someone said it was to make it much easier to get fire trucks in there - but in 15 years we may have maybe seen a fire truck there once or twice. In the process too, those who used to park there daily now have to scramble to find a spot.

As to the stimulus money - I've been in favor of it for the most *essential* and worthy projects (like crumbling bridges and roadways - and flooding) - and containing the creek that flows underground through downtown is certainly that. But, having just heard the city folks say that JC is in good shape financially, it seems that perhaps there are communities in much worse shape than JC that desperately do need those dollars. I hope the stimulus works but that the projects that do get approved *are* in fact necessary ones. President Obama has stated quite pointedly he will not tolerate communities using the money for purposes that do not meet certain criteria.

[jabogitlu]

I think he really won't, but I hope the people that are going to be overseeing funds allocation are as respectable and trustworthy as he is.

[rccrain]

"Road closures included Market at Hillcrest, Whitney and Kiwanis park along with closures at the intersection of Austin Springs and Princeton as well as the intersection of Main Street and Belmont.

Many downtown merchants were able to put sand bags in front of entrance ways to stop as much of the flood waters as possible, some businesses could be seen with water washing up and into the door jams along Main street."
http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/News...e.php?ID=70471

King Creek is still killing us. Any change Mr Bredesen throws us some stimulus for this as it would seem to be the PERFECT stimulus project.

[jabogitlu]

That picture's crazy. The insane thing is, this isn't a one-off occurrence. I'll grant that the Market/Hillcrest closure was a rare occurrence, but the fact that a city of 65+/- inhabitants regularly floods throughout (Austin Springs-Princeton is a long way from Main Street!) is VERY BAD.

Idiot government.