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ployees, right now.”

While David remains optimistic about Watertown’s man-

ufacturing base, he admits that some jobs have been lost

over the last several years. So he reports that, recently, the

city government has focused on ways to bring more new

residents and businesses to Watertown. It rebranded itself

with the tag line “Opportunity Runs Through It,” and it has

been organizing initiatives to make the most of its main,

natural attraction. “We do have a large asset in the city and

that is the Rock River,” he says. “It’s been used for recre-

ational things quite a bit in the past, but we think that,

especially in the downtown area, we can do more to devel-

op and capitalize on that river and the land along the river.

We want to improve the current River Walkway.We have

expanded it in two areas, and we have plans to expand it

into a third area. People like to walk along the river; there’s

Watertown, Wisconsin

a lot of kayaking and canoeing and fishing

going on. A private organization in town, Rock

River Rescue, has been working on stocking

quality fish in the river. So, all of a sudden, we’re

seeing all kinds of people coming and fishing

and enjoying the river.”

In addition, David says that the city has been

“very progressive and aggressive in improving

the entire city, but we’re especially looking at

the downtown.We’ve got a very large down-

town that is historically intact,” he states. “We’ve

got some beautiful buildings, down there, and

yet they do need some work. So, we are trying

to initiate some programs like a low interest

loan program to help businesses improve their

buildings and help store owners improve their

businesses.We do have a TIF (Tax Increment Fi-

nancing) district and we are going to capitalize

on that, also.We have had some development

along the river; we have had some proposals

That says a lot about our

community. If you were to

come toWatertown and

live and work in this com-

munity, there are many

opportunities. And it’s a

warm and accepting city.

Jaynellen Holloway

Watertown’s City Engineer