Ohio's Keith Kist: "Being out of work isn't a good thing; it's a relief to get back at it"

Ohio's Keith Kist was one of those Americans recently laid-off from work, but he was never a statistic to this Administration or to me. These folks are people, and I think about them more than you can know.

This DOT wants to help get these men and women back to work, and through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, we've been lucky enough to have that opportunity.

Today, Keith Kist is back to work on a stimulus-funded $16 million project underway to improve the taxiways at Cleveland's Hopkins International Airport. About the stimulus, Keith says, "I'm the perfect example that it's working. If this weren't happening, I'd still be at home."

Airport Director Ricky Smith, who recently toured Vice President Joe Biden around the new project, says the new taxiway will allow the airport to run more efficiently and move passengers more quickly.

"So, we're not just creating jobs," the Vice-President commented. "We're not just making work; these are critically needed investments. We should be doing this even if there weren't a recession."

We recently added to our Voices of the Recovery series a great video of Keith talking about his new job, and I urge you to view it for one of the great stories of this economic recovery.

As Keith says:

"Since I got the call to go down to the airport, it's been wonderful. When I got the phone call--knowing there's something waiting for you--it's just a good relief knowing that there's stuff going on to get us going, to get us back at it. Knowing that things are happening now, it makes a world of difference."

Well, Keith, you hit the nail right on the head. For all of you who have been hired back or held your jobs through the Recovery Act, and those of you still sitting on the sidelines waiting to get back into the game, that is indeed our goal: to make a world of difference.

Now, we've worked hard to do that, and we're not done yet.

Comments

[Michael E. Bailey]

The ARRA is a great program and the results from it will last for many years. ARRA is building the transportation system for the 21st Century. And many people are working today because of the ARRA. I remember going through the Los Angeles train yard on Metrolink two weeks ago to Union Station and seeing a long line of freight containers on flat cars going by on a nearby track. Someone is buying everything in the containers and someone is buying everything being unloaded and loaded on to a number of boxcars and tank cars on any number of sidings between Mission Viejo and LA Union Station. ARRA is putting money into workers pockets and that money is being used to buy manufactured products putting still more people to work. The LA train yard may look like just a collection of rails but it is worth multibillions of dollars because of all the products moving through. Our train went passed the Burlington Northern/Santa Fe Locomotive Servicing Facility at LA and it was busy with a lot of locomotives being serviced to pull trains to Chicago, San Diego, and Northern California. We went passed the Amtrak Locomotive Servicing Facility that was operating at full capacity with every track having an engine on it and the Amtrak Car Servicing Facility had every track occupied by cars and switch engines. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.