Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, Sacramento State President Alexander Gonzalez and a number of Sacramento’s top regional leaders met Monday to discuss how the city and the university will work together on future stimulus projects.

The proposals were announced to inform Congress how federal stimulus money could be spent in the Sacramento region.

“It’s simple,” Johnson said. “We need to create jobs. Our nation is facing one of the most economic difficult crises in our lifetime. Just in the month of December alone, 4,700 people lost their jobs in our region.”

Some of the most-noted projects included road maintenance, levee repairs in Natomas and funding for projects at Sac State.

“Our projects are shovel-ready and hammer-ready,” Gonzalez said when discussing the need for these stimulus projects to be geared towards college students. “They just need to be student ready.”

Some of the projects Gonzalez announced include updating the school’s science equipment and refurbishing Del Norte Hall, the site of the old bookstore.

Johnson said that regional leaders would do as much as possible for students, in terms of student employment and facility improvement, but cannot say what will happen.

“We have to see what the dollar amount is,” Johnson said. “Until the money comes out, it’s hard to predict.

It is estimated that the proposed renovation of Del Norte Hall, which would house new classrooms and academic facilities, would cost about $7.5 million. Johnson estimated that the renovation would create 213 jobs.

Gonzalez asked the federal government for about $1 million to purchase modern science lab equipment, saying that it will give students the skills they need to find jobs after graduation.

“If you really want to strengthen the economy,” Gonzalez said. “You need an educated workforce.”

Susan Peters, the Sacramento County Supervisor representing District 3, proposed other stimulus projects, including several road maintenance projects.

Included in her proposals was a $35 million project to expand Hazel Avenue; a $52 million project to update the Highway 50 interchange at Watt Ave.; and a $16 million in general road maintenance county-wide.

Peters estimated the projects would create approximately 10,000 jobs.

Another project Peters presented was phase two of the Natomas Levee Project, which will update and secure Sacramento’s levees. She said that the $90 million project would fix the most vulnerable levees in north Natomas.

Johnson added that the flood protection project would create more than 2,000 jobs.

Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce President Matt Mahood said that thousands of projects have been proposed but information on other projects will be released as funding from the federal stimulus package is allocated and dispersed.

Manhood said that a full list of the proposed projects would not be released now because “we don’t know what the final projects will be.”

Gonzalez said that all of these stimulus projects will inevitably create jobs for graduating students.

“Our students are everywhere,” Gonzalez said. “Look at construction management majors; these will be students who will be working on these projects.”

“History has shown us that the best way to energize an economy is to produce a talented and competitive workforce.” Gonzalez hopes that the federal stimulus package will represent that sentiment.

Michael Mette can be reached at [email protected]