More on incentives
Greensboro City Council member Sandy Carmany on the proposed incentives for a new shopping complex in northeast Greensboro that would contain a Wal-Mart:
"Does the city really need to be paying incentives to attract this type of development and its lower salaries? The response our city attorney received from the Institute of Government when she consulted them about this proposal was, "Yes, it's legal, but why would you WANT to do it?" My sentiments exactly!"
Comments (5)
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What on Earth are these people thinking? All you need to give Wal Mart an incentive to build another gargantu-box is put up a big enough chunk of land for sale. It's like waving a red flag in front of a bull.
I agree with Sandy. If we are to improve the city's economy, we need to set our sites a little higher than Wal Mart and any other pittance-paying companies. We're on the road to 3rd world status around here as it is. Sheesh!
Posted on June 2, 2005 4:15 PM
I am beginning to believe that there may be more to this story than is immediately evident. It seems so illogical that a person like Dr. Linder would have access to an incentive even though he is not the prospective employer.
My experience is that this type of unusual arrangement is not likely to occur due to sheer randomness, or by chance. It is not likely that every Greensboro resident would have access to this type of claim against the city treasury. How did this proposal germinate and receive such a high level of consideration?
Posted on June 2, 2005 4:55 PM
Joe,
Councilman Robbie Perkins championed Dr. Linder's cause.
In this morning article by Matt W., Robbie said he will take the heat on this but he feels it is the right thing to do for East GSO.
Living near Carolina Circle I'm a bit torn on this, but as Allen says... it just doesn't feel right.
Posted on June 3, 2005 8:36 AM
David, I saw that article also, and that answers at least part of the question. But this seems an inappropriate use of tax revenues; and Wal-Mart will profit mightily from that location regardless of the $300,000 from the city. It would reflect a pittance to them in the long run. Whether they choose to proceed and work the complexities out with the real estate is their call.
This fails the sniff test. Allen and David, I think you are absolutely right to observe that this doesn't feel right. And my experience is that, when something doesn't feel right, it probably isn't.
Posted on June 3, 2005 10:31 AM
Burlington Industries, Cone Mills, and Guilford Mills are 3 examples of Greensboro based companies that have all felt the wrath of WalMart's imported apparel practices. Remember when WalMart first came to town and all of their stores had signs up pointing out how many of their products were from local suppliers? They took those signs down didn't they?
In a city that had 1,000's of employees displaced from their jobs thanks to WalMart, Greensboro now wants to give them $300K?
Posted on June 3, 2005 12:33 PM