Published: January 04, 2009 03:32 pm      

Leaders coordinating economic stimulus requests

TULSA — Mayor Kathy Taylor is meeting with officials from surrounding communities to coordinate efforts for seeking funds from a proposed federal stimulus package.

President-elect Barack Obama plans to provide what could be a broad $1 trillion economic-stimulus package, including an array of infrastructure projects, creation of new jobs, tax relief to middle-class families and assistance to cover the soaring costs of education and Medicaid.

"While every community is likely to have specific requests unique to their community, we also wanted to come up with a regional request which would likely garner more support in the stimulus package," Taylor said.

Taylor met Friday with area municipal officials along with representatives from higher education institutions, Tulsa Public Schools, Tulsa Housing Authority, Tulsa Transit and Tulsa County. Tulsa's City Council on Tuesday will continue its discussion of specific city projects for consideration.

"It's important that our region really have a good showing. We have to have unique projects that affect the region and fit within the package criteria," she said.

Taylor also has talked with Gov. Brad Henry and Oklahoma's congressional delegation and its staff, "so that our region, in particular, can have a well-informed request."

Taylor said she intends to include the regional requests in Tulsa's package and use her seat on the U.S. Conference of Mayors to push a regional agenda. There is a Jan. 7 deadline to get project lists to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which will lobby for funding for municipal packages.

Taylor said some of the regional ideas that surfaced Friday included transit, recycling and work force education. Groups will work in the coming days to better define all of the projects that could be included in the package, she said.

Taylor said the transit discussion focused on an overall system that addressed both inner-city and regional transportation needs.

The group may look at an array of transit methods that would support the entire region.

"There needs to be public transportation that supports the work force, that gets people to jobs," she said.

Broken Arrow City Manager Jim Twombly suggested a regional recycling program, saying such an effort would not only create jobs, but would make recycling affordable for everyone.

Taylor said environmental impact is one of the criteria that the new administration is looking for projects that are sustainable and provide "green jobs."

Taylor said work force education was another issue everyone agreed is vital and will require assistance from institutions like Tulsa Community College and Tulsa Technology Center.

She said the goal would be to provide training ranging from construction education to welding that would create a work force to support the stimulus package projects.

Twombly said he was encouraged by the meeting because a number of topics came up that had been back-burner issues.

"This is an opportunity to talk about those issues and as a group agree that they do fit very nicely with what we believe to be the priorities of the new administration," he said.

Twombly also said it is a big benefit to have Taylor so active with the U.S. Conference of Mayors and through that have a connection to Obama's transition team.

"She hopefully will be able to have some stroke for our region and that can be a big advantage for us," he said.