Mike Babb half-joked Tuesday that Whitfield County, Ga., used to be the carpet capital of the world.
The county commission chairman said the economy and down housing market has hit the floorcovering industry hard, noting Whitfield’s 12.5 percent jobless rate.
“We longingly look at Hamilton and Bradley counties,” he said, citing job generators such as Volkswagen, Wacker and Amazon. “We want to tie our shirt tail to them.”
Public officials from the 16-county Chattanooga area met Tuesday to hear an update about the regional growth program that is expected to kick off early next year.
The work on a regional plan, designed to cover growth over the next 40 years, will examine areas such as transportation, workforce, education, economic development and environmental sustainability.