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PINE BLUFF REQUESTS $105M

By Amy Riggin/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 10:10 AM CST

Pine Bluff Mayor Carl A. Redus Jr. said Tuesday that the city has been working closely with U.S. Mike Ross’ office to determine the amount of federal stimulus money it will receive and how to spend it.

Redus told board members at a meeting of Pine Bluff Downtown Development Inc. that the city had requested $105 million in funding for various projects. About $40 million is for infrastructure projects.

A staff member of Ross’ office is expected to contact Redus and other city officials next week to determine “what category everything will fit into.” Redus said all of the stimulus money — a total of $787 billion that was signed into law by President Barack Obama last week — will be distributed through federal and state agencies.

Gov. Mike Beebe has said he expects the state to receive at least $2.1 billion from the federal stimulus package, but U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor has said the state’s take could be at least $4 billion, depending on some competitive grants.

“It’s going to require all of us working diligently with our legislators and governor to make sure ... we get our fair share,” Redus said, referring to not only the city of Pine Bluff but all of Jefferson County and Southeast Arkansas. He said he wanted to make sure the region is “not forgotten.”

“It’s moving along,” Redus said of the process.

State Rep. David Rainey of Dumas represents District 11, which covers portions of Desha, Jefferson and Lincoln counties. Rainey said in a recent interview that he believes the crux of economic development is road construction. He also thinks his district needs more resources for education, housing and health care.

“Energy efficient housing, especially for the poor, would be just a wonderful addition to our area of the state,” Rainey said.

Beebe on Monday said the state may be able to direct money from the federal stimulus package to retrofit public schools and colleges to make them more energy efficient. He also said federal officials reassured him that the state will be able to use money from the federal stimulus package that was geared toward replenishing cuts in education.

“They made it fairly clear the money can be used for other education purposes if you don’t need to replace cuts,” Beebe told reporters in a phone call from Washington, where he was for the National Governors Association’s winter meeting. “They don’t want any new construction with it, but modernization and there’s a real opportunity for weatherization, greening, doing a lot of deferred maintenance and things that hadn’t been done both in K-12 and higher ed.”

Rainey said the need for broadband Internet access is great as well.

“To address that deficiency in our state would be outstanding,” Rainey said.

One infrastructure priority that the city has, Redus said, is the renovation of Pine Bluff Municipal Airport.

“The airport is a primary initiative,” he said.

Renovations will include work on the hangars, the terminal and development of surrounding land for a possible industrial park.

Redus said $400,000 already has been earmarked for public safety. Although the funding can’t be used for “brick and mortar,” Redus said the city is looking into the possibility of renovating or remodeling an existing building and adding technology components.

“My preference is to stay in the downtown area,” he said.

He noted that the Pine Bluff Police Department is planning to move out of The Pines mall and into a new space at 511 Commerce Road. The city has a 12-month lease agreement at a cost of $16,873 with Smithwick Construction & Real Estate Inc.

Obama told the nation’s governors that $15 billion from the stimulus package would be available within days for state Medicaid programs. Beebe has said he wants to use the stimulus money to help pay for $58.4 million in Medicaid programs that face the possibility of going unfunded next year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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