Kokomo Leaders Prepare For Presidential Visit - TheIndyChannel.com
25
ALERTS
'Career criminal' suspected in teen's death
Kokomo Leaders Prepare For Presidential Visit
Obama, Biden To Tour Plant, Greet Workers POSTED: 6:59 AM, Nov 19, 2010
VIDEO BY PN.MLOISELLE Show Caption +SHOW CAPTION
New details were released Friday ahead of a planned visit by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to Kokomo next week. Obama and Biden will fly into Grissom Air Reserve Base on Tuesday and will visit the Chrysler Groups Indiana Transmission Plant II where they will take a tour, greet plant workers and give brief remarks. A White House release said the Recovery Act and the administration's auto restructuring plan have helped in Kokomo's economic recovery. A new plant that makes components for hybrid cars recently opened with money from the stimulus bill. Chrysler also has invested $300 million to retool and modernize a transmission plant in the city. Howard County's unemployment rate has dropped from more than 20 percent to around 12 percent, but that's still about 2 percent above the state average. Residents told 6News' Norman Cox on Friday that despite the gains, the area still needs more jobs. "There are a lot of families in this community that are still hurting," one woman said. "We still need some more jobs right now. It's on its way, slowly but surely," another resident said. Mayor Greg Goodnight said he agrees with the president that Kokomo is back. He said the city has done a lot on its own, but he gives great credit to the auto bail-out and, to a lesser extent, the general stimulus package. http://www.theindychannel.com/news/kokomo-leaders-prepare-for-presidential-visit[11/20/2014 8:47:46 PM]
Kokomo Leaders Prepare For Presidential Visit - TheIndyChannel.com
"Kokomo's been very good to the automotive industry and the automotive industry's been very good to Kokomo," Goodnight said. "We've had a lot of success, and I really felt like we needed the opportunity to prove ourselves again." Michael Harris, chancellor of Indiana University-Kokomo, said he agrees that the bail-out helped, but said there were other factors. "Chrysler could have not called back the employees that they called back and the unemployment would have been higher," he said. "The big question is, how is Kokomo going change as the economy and the region is going to change as we move into an economy of knowledge, economy of innovation?" Harris also credits a coalition of area leaders that has been working to diversify the economy, along with Gov. Mitch Daniels for working to make the state more hospitable to business. Obama last visited Kokomo in April 2008. Print this article Back to Top
AA
A
A
0
SHARE ARTICLE �
�
�
�
AROUND THE WEB Firefox's New "Forget" Feature Makes it Easier to Eliminate Traces of Where You've Been (Engadget)
Parents Greeted By Police After 2-Year-Old Toddler Throws Tantrum on Plane (WhatToExpect.com)
What the Keystone vote tells us about the Democratic Party (Washington Post)
25 Biggest Decorating Mistakes to Avoid (HGTV)
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/kokomo-leaders-prepare-for-presidential-visit[11/20/2014 8:47:46 PM]