A cool idea: City may split air conditioning costs to ensure TG Missouri expansion, by Daniel Suddeath (Tribune).
The New Albany Redevelopment Commission is proposing to help keep a local industry’s employees cool in order to create more jobs in the area.
This week, the board submitted a plan to dedicate up to $150,000 toward the installation of an air conditioning unit at TG Missouri Corp. — which is located at 5331 Foundation Blvd.
The company is headquartered in Perryville, Mo. and also has a location in Kentucky.
Speaking on behalf of TG Missouri, Kathleen Crowley of the area Chamber of Commerce group One Southern Indiana said the industry is looking to expand and the New Albany outfit is competing against the Kentucky and Missouri locations.
New Albany is a state of mind … but whose? Since 2004, we’ve been observing the contemporary scene in this slowly awakening old river town. If it’s true that a pre-digital stopped clock is right twice a day, when will New Albany learn to tell time?
Saturday, August 28, 2010
It's a nice pun, but "cool" is not the word that comes to mind.
At a time when locally owned, independent businesses are struggling to maintain solvency, anyone care to explain what's particularly "innovative" about New Albany forking over $150,000 to an out-of-town company at the behest of 1Si?
The devil's always in the details, but I do not as a matter of principle oppose investments like this. It could be a wise move that brings jobs to New Albany.
ReplyDeleteBut I agree 100% with Mr. Joshua that there needs to be a systematic approach to how the Commission decides where these investments are made.
Let us not forget Robinson-Nugents and the incentives the City provided, but they still skipped town and left us holding the bag.
ReplyDeleteHelp me understand.
ReplyDeleteWhy are you against the investment, so that the whole operation doesn't pick up and leave town- and instead, would stay here and create additional jobs in addition to the saved ones?
I understand the hesitation if there's only a chance that they'd stay and not a definite, but if it's a condition of keeping the operation here (and, potentially consolidating other locations here) why would that be a horrible thing?
150K for Dalbyditioning, and all I got was this lousy patio.
ReplyDeleteWait ... that was the other guy, wasn't it?
To me: Spend money on infrastructure for all, cool. Pave the road at the undustrial park, cool. But Help someone pay for AC? Not so sure.
I guess everyone was too busy worshiping Adolf Beck this weekend to think about free markets and the proper, eh, constitutional role, of gov't. in said "free" markets.
ReplyDeleteFor local and state gov't entities to use tax money to compete with other small towns in a race-to-the-bottom give-away to private economic entities (AC anyone?) is certainly, from my point of view, a big reason we have bankrupted our gov't treasuries over the last 30 years.
I pay taxes for the commonalities we all need to share like infrastructure. When we have a minimum standard of public safety and infrastructure, maybe then decent schools, only then is it imaginable that elected officials start playing "pick the winner" with other peoples money.
Alas, we have more people on the payroll downtown helping to facilitate these welfare payments to private economic entities than we do protecting us residents from slumlords and drug dealers.
Totally corrupt.