Bleak year planted seeds for future
LIKE ANY YEAR, 2009
offered its good and bad, ups and downs, positives and negatives.
For many, it was a difficult year, a year of struggles and financial buffeting, as the economy continued its slow, sluggish rebound. Many spent much or all of the year out of work, fighting to save their homes, their savings, their livelihoods.
Businesses small and large struggled to survive the sluggish economy, hoping to hang on until a turnaround comes.
The weak economy affected local governments and school districts as well, as they were buffeted by the loss of income from both the state and federal governments as well as their other sources of revenue.
While some signs indicate we’ve reached — and passed — the bottom of the bottoming out, others — like employment — say we’re not tracking upwards just yet.
As with any recession, downturn or whatever you want to call it, it’s always easier to say when it’s ended after you’ve past the end rather than when you’re at the end. After all, you don’t really know you’re out of the woods until you’ve put the last tree behind you.
But there are some positive signs for Plymouth and Sheboygan County that better days are ahead.
The year 2009 brought a lease agreement between Morgan Aircraft and Sheboygan County for manufacturing space at the Sheboygan County Memorial Airport. Morgan plans to build its seven-passenger EM-J (extremely maneuverable jet) airplane, which can take off and land vertically and cruise at speeds of up to 425 mph, at the airport plan and projects employing up to 2,000 people at the plant once it is in full production, which officials say could be five years or so away.
In Plymouth, a long and arduous struggle finally resulting in the approval of new project proposals for tax incremental district 4 that could clear the way for the building of a major new manufacturing facility by AMworx in the next several years that is projected to provide hundreds of new jobs for the city. Other industries are also likely to be attracted to the city when the rail line from Plymouth to Kohler is fully restored, which will also save hundreds of existing jobs in Sheboygan Falls and elsewhere.
So, while there may still be clouds filling the economic skies, the first beams of light from a coming economic turnaround are being seen through the clouds — and we can all look forward to better days ahead.
At issue: Something or other Bottom line: Do something about it
