City of Mobile Supports "MainStreet Economic Recovery" Project

Jan 15th, 2009

Mayor Sam Jones and the Mobile City Council are supporting the U.S. Conference of Mayors in their MainStreet Economic Recovery Package being put forth before President-Elect Barack Obama.

Mayors are reporting that in 641 cities of all sizes in all regions of the country, a total of 15,221 local infrastructure projects are "ready to go." These projects represent an infrastructure investment of $96,638,419,313 that would be capable of producing an estimated 1,221,677 jobs in calendar years 2009 and 2010. These are the cumulative totals of projects, required funding, and jobs to be created that have been reported in the three surveys of cities conducted by the Conference of Mayors.

Mayors believe their plan responds to President-Elect Obama’s goal of creating 2.5 million jobs to spur the national economy.

Below is a breakdown of the projects being requested by the City of Mobile, and the economic development and job projections accompanying each:

SCHOOLS – Total Budget: $360,000,000 – Total Jobs: 25,000

The City of Mobile’s public education system is provided through the Mobile County Public School System, which is the largest school system in the state of Alabama with over 100 public school buildings. The schools system is one of the largest employers in our municipality and in this past year has had to lay off more than 100 teachers, administrators and support personnel. The City provides significant financial support to the school system and recognizes the direct link between a healthy public school system and the development and retention of a strong workforce. There is a direct link between the area’s economic tax income and the budgets available for public schools. All economic stimulus provided at a local, main street level will impact the available tax income for public schools. Specifically related to school system construction and educational facilities improvements, for the Survey period (2009-2010), we have sixty-four (64) school facility projects ranging from minor to total renovation, school additions and new schools “ready-to-go.”

WATER – Total Budget: $178,310,000 – Total Jobs: 320

The Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners has identified within this document ready-to-go sanitary sewer infrastructure projects totaling $178,310,000. These projects vary from repair and rehabilitation to full replacement of existing gravity sanitary sewer infrastructure to combat sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) caused by: 1) storm water and ground water infiltration and inflow (I&I); 2) blockages due to defective pipe and root intrusion; and 3) pipe collapses. Also identified are rehabilitation and upgrades to sanitary sewer lift stations as well as new construction projects for process structures needed to better treat and manage wastewater for the protection of public health and the environment. Much of the sanitary sewer system in Mobile has reached its design life and is in need of renewal. Many of the proposed projects are within our older inner city communities where deterioration of sewer infrastructures is the most severe. Much of the sanitary sewer conveyance system is beneath roadways. When the sanitary sewer is renewed, it provides benefits to all adjacent infrastructures including the streets that lie above it.

PUBLIC SAFETY: FIRE-RESCUE – Total Budget: $86,750,000 – Total Jobs: 1,000

At the present time the current condition of Fire Rescue facilities, equipment and staffing are in need of significant improvement across the board to comply with comply with the recommended requirements of the Insurances Services Organizations and the Commission on Fire Accreditation. These include Renovation and replacement for aging facilities; Equipment upgrades and replacement; Adding staff to complement existing facilities and needs; Staff training; Public outreach; New facilities, equipment, and staffing in recently annexed areas of our growing municipality.

ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE – Total Budget: $500,000 – Total Jobs: 120

Main relocation and renewal for the EADS/Northrop Grumman facilities that will be built on the Brookley Industrial Complex. This will entail renewal of several miles of 12" , 8" and 6" cast iron as well as various sizes of steel piping on Brookley as well as Broad St and Michigan Avenue, depending upon the infrastructure adjustments made to accommodate the size of the facilities and ancillary businesses.

ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE – Total Budget: $2,941,300 – Total Jobs: 441

Multiple Relocation, Renewal, Refurbishment Projects to maintain and upgrade existing gas transfer infrastructure.

ENERGY: "Re-powering an Electric Utility Coal Unit with 100% Biomass" – Total Budget: $100,000,000 – Total Jobs: 193

The City of Mobile and Alabama Power Company, (A Southern Company), are dedicated partners in economic development, workforce development, strategic planning and active growth of this community to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The City supports the study and feasible implementation of alternative and renewable energy operations to best meet a sustainable future for our region. As a part of the normal resource planning activities of the company; Southern Company and Alabama Power Company continuously investigate the potential for expanded use of renewable resources in power generation. In particular, the company is currently engaged in conducting several feasibility studies to evaluate the technologies, biomass resources, and economics of converting one or more of its existing coal units to 100% biomass, a renewable resource. This project’s size is estimated to be 70 - 80 megawatts (MW), requiring an annual fuel supply of 700,000 - 800,000 tons of biomass. Selected Alabama Power plant sites are being evaluated as a part of these feasibility studies, including the primary electrical generating facility for Mobile, the Barry Steam Plant. The feasibility study is scheduled to be complete by mid-2009. Results of the study will be evaluated for biomass resource availability, technology efficiency, environmental performance, and economic viability. The construction schedule (including environmental permitting) would start in October 2009 following feasibility study approval and construction is estimated to take 24 months.

PUBLIC SAFETY: LAW ENFORCEMENT – Total Budget: $15,571,000 – Total Jobs: 135

The City of Mobile’s immediate “ready to go” needs within Public Safety for Police budgeting are directly centered on increasing personnel in all areas, sworn officers, information and forensic specialists to integrate the latest in technology aides, and providing for public outreach programs. These needs include the support of the NIBIN-National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, better integration with the U.S. Marshall service and independent use of cell phone tracking systems currently not directly owned and available to our police force to track cell phones in homicide and drug cases, the ability to equip and man a Tactical Response Unit that requires twenty four hour coverage to respond to high risk search warrants and hostage situations that occur within the City of Mobile’s response area, division level response and care specifically for certain “types” of crime victims, i.e., Juvenile, CAC, Domestic Violence, Sex Crimes, etc, where we currently do not have such dedicated personnel, aerial patrol and response capabilities, and outreach programs for youth populations in areas of high risk as well as minority populations with Limited English Proficiencies (LEP).

Like many municipalities, the City of Mobile needs additional professional staff in the IT fields to maximize the benefits of today’s rapid development of computer network communications, high-speed data searches, and information sharing and analysis, wireless communication devices, and the continuing emergence of new applications of technologies for crime prevention, response, research and defense. Likewise, Mobile must add new forensic laboratory capabilities and lab technicians and medical professionals as these all play an increased role in the total capacity for police services.

Mobile sits in a confluence of transportation corridors from the Gulf of Mexico and southern hemisphere connecting with our Federal Interstate and Highways providing access in all directions. With funding, plans are ready to launch the Mobile Police Interstate Interdiction Unit to reduce the illegal activity that exists on the Federal Interstate System, specifically the I-10 and I-65 Federal Interstates which are among the top traveled routes in the national interstate system. This unit will also respond to activities on the less visible but highly used Federal Highways within the jurisdiction of the Mobile Police Department. The focus of this MPII Unit would be to decrease the amount of illegal narcotics that are trafficked within our jurisdiction. In addition to the narcotics crimes, the MPIIU would aid in the enforcement of Immigration Laws, by assisting the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, which documents the number of illegal immigrants that are found.
Mobile, Alabama has more than 300 years as a principal port city for North America. The Port of Mobile is currently the tenth largest port in the United States. Current international terrorism trends include the interruption of free-world maritime trade. The City of Mobile has plans ready to provide a Police Port Security Unit to increase security in the Port of Mobile. The implementation of this unit would provide a substantial measure of security for the maritime industry located in the Port of Mobile and provide greater integration with Department of Homeland Security requirements for port protection, security and defense.

PUBLIC TRANSIT – Total Budget: $13,000,000 – Total Jobs: 10

The City of Mobile has identified improved public transit as an immediate requirement for meeting the needs of a growing workforce that is housed within a mix of urban, suburban and rural areas within our surrounding region. The City of Mobile’s economic engine provides for a growing employment base drawn from adjacent counties and states. Currently, due principally to federal funding regulatory limitations, our public transit operator can only provide service within the municipal limits. And within those limits during FY08, our transit service provider, The Wave Transit, transported over one million passenger trips on its fixed route services. We have “ready to go” plans to increase awareness of public transportation and accommodate the growing need for alternate modes of transportation. These include operational service expansions that increase headway frequencies for existing fixed route structure (ex. 60 min interval to 30 minute interval) throughout our service area, and add transportation services to outside the impractical forced service limits to the newest steel production plant now under construction in the United States, ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA, LLC in rural Mobile County. Additionally, in our recently completed city master planning exercise, it was identified that our public transit service throughout our downtown trolley loop should increase its service with increased headway, improved downtown to midtown connections with new trolley services, improvements to bus stop conditions – adding benches, shade and trash amenities, and to improve public awareness of service options with posted maps, flyers, education programs and marketing and wireless information services. Budgeting for these plans in FY09 and FY10 is estimated at $13,000,000 including purchase of replacement and new rolling stock with ten (10) full time jobs to be created. Job creation does not include downstream multiplier effects.

TRANSIT: Waterfront Terminal Complex – Total Budget: $52,000,000 – Total Jobs: 700

The City of Mobile continues strategic re-development of its downtown public waterfront with the next phase of The Mobile Waterfront Terminal Complex, an ongoing project dedicated to revitalizing alternative transportation throughout our region and engaging the public use and enhancement of a formerly blighted, brownfield riverfront. This next project phase includes “ready to go” construction of a 100,000 square foot facility facility - The Mobile Landing Maritime Transportation Center - that will include the hub terminal for a high speed passenger ferry scheduled to service the Mobile Bay area communities and link with land-side public transportation services at key ferry terminals around Mobile Bay. Planning, permitting and design are complete and facility construction plans have been approved. This strategic project has been partially funded through public and private collaboration covering two major elements of facility construction. There are additional funding requirements remaining to completely cover budgeted estimates for full construction and operational start up. The City of Mobile has placed a Construction Manager under contract for the facility element of this project – this is truly ready to go. With a complete facility construction budget of $ 23 Million, economic impact studies on terminal facility construction alone indicate an additional positive impact of more than $6,000,000 for Mobile’s economy with more than 450 new construction jobs created and then following a two year construction schedule, 80 permanent full time jobs will be created by the end of 2010. In addition to this terminal facility, plans have been prepared and are also in “ready to go” packages for additional parking structures and parking improvements, street improvements, and pedestrian bridges that will provide for access to this waterfront terminal complex from our downtown entertainment and business district which is separated from our waterfront by a busy four-laned at-grade arterial connector. Plans have been prepared, feasibility studies performed and regional alliances prepared for implementation of a high speed passenger ferry service originating from this facility complex. To fully engage these ready to go packages for the remaining waterfront terminal complex, parking and transportation improvements, pedestrian bridge and initiating two years of implementation activities for the passenger ferry service, funding is estimated at $52 Million with more than 600 construction jobs and 100 full time jobs estimated to be created in Mobile. Other communities around the Mobile Bay area have plans ready for their own ferry terminal facilities – the job creation multiplier effect of initiating this project is enormous. We take great pride in having this project on the burner and welcome the opportunity to present the job and economic benefits to be realized from this investment.

HIGHWAYS: Michigan Avenue Bridge – Total Budget: $6,240,000 – Total Jobs: 138

Built in 1941, The 224 foot long Michigan Avenue Bridge over CSX Railroad is a main north to south entranceway to the Mobile Airport Authority’s huge industrial complex at the former US Air Force Base, Brookley Field. Various large and small businesses operate from the Brookley Industrial Complex, with an employment base of more than 2,800. This aging bridge is vital to general and commercial /supply traffic. The latest bridge inspection report indicated severe lateral movement of the substructure, severe cracking and spalling of the superstructure. The bridge deficiency letter recommended a weight limit posting at 15 tons, with only light duty truck traffic. It also recommends replacement in one year, closure of the bridge if large trucks can not be kept off the bridge, or when the movement and cracking gets too severe. The project will involve replacing the six span concrete bridge with a new structure, along the same horizontal alignment, with basically the same typical section, but updated to meet current standards. Project Costs is estimated at $3,304,000 with 5 to 20 direct new construction jobs. One other bridge replacement project is in “ready to go” status along with multiple smaller streetscape improvement projects with project budgets totaling $2,240,000 with 53 new jobs. Total Project Budgets are 6,240,000 with 138 new jobs.

WASTEWATER – Total Budget: $36,000,000 – Total Jobs: 1,400

The City of Mobile’s Public Works Department has “ready to go” nineteen (19) infrastructure projects directly related to rehabilitating aging water and sewer infrastructure, complying with sewer overflow issues, and promoting source water protection. These projects have aggregate budgets totaling more than $36,000,000 and a total job creation impact - if all projects are engaged simultaneously - at approximately 1,400.

CDBG – Total Budget: $18,000,000 – Total Jobs: 216

The City of Mobile has established the Mobile Housing Board (MHB) to administer CDBG monies received as a part of HUD related and other federally applicable grants. Specific projects are nominated for approval through the MHB, Public Works Dept., and City Council. We have more than 44 projects planned and ready to go in 2009 – 2010, including the construction and improvements of public facilities, streets, and neighborhood centers; and assistance to profit-motivated businesses to carry out economic development and job creation/retention activities. The aggregate funding needs for these projects is estimated at more than $18 million and the construction related jobs created or supported are estimated at 216.

HIGHWAYS: Outer Loop Bypass – Total Budget: $293,000,000 – Total Jobs: 800

Planned as a part of the MPO's long range planning for transportation, this 21 mile, north-south connector will assist in reducing transit times, congestion and speed commercial throughput on municipal, state and federal roadways becoming increasingly impacted by a growing city. This $293,000,000 budgeted project, if initiated in 2009, will create approximately 800 jobs by end of 2010.

Total Budget = $1,075,409,050
Total Jobs = 30,473

The University of South Alabama Mitchell Cancer Institute and the Mobile Container Terminal are two great examples of publicly financed projects that created economic development and job creation in Mobile.