Is Industrial Development good for us?
Bleak reports about the local economy, disguised, journalistically, as a good news / bad news piece. According to the Star News (Good news and bad news this week for local economy, 10/25), though lower gas prices may be helping our pocketbooks, other things are dropping as well, like local businesses that have been around for decades (Wilson’s), employment rates in the county (~93%), and other indicators of economic well-being. Reporter Wayne Faulkner points out that in the past the area has had a better outlook than the state and the larger surrounding area but that now we’re fairing no better. So we’re all being pinched in the same vice.
The counterpoint comes from Scott Satterfield, who runs the “Committee of 100″ that was instrumental in attracting Titan Cement to the area in a back-room deal that started three years ago, and has involved the county commissioners and at least 4.2 million dollars in tax incentives to the giant cement company.
Satterfield says that in addition to dirt cheap oil prices, the fundamentals of this economy are strong because the Committee has had such as flurry of inquiries recently. To Satterfield and presumably to the reporter, a bright future for the region is axiomatic with a portfolio of interested clients of the Committee of 100, which is also known as Wilmington Industrial Development (wilmingtonindustry.com). What’s not discussed, and what seems worth talking about to me, is whether unflagging interest in industrial development of the region is really a good sign for this area. My sense is that industrial development may be rather more scavenger-like than beneficial: When an area struggles to prosper with white collar jobs, retail and services, and other work that capitalizes upon that area as a unique place, with an educated and innovative workforce, the heavy industries draw up close to the fire ring looking for scraps.
Is industrial development, in the long term, not inversely related to real prosperity for a region? Is industrial development not a kind of lowest common denominator, a last ditch effort?
Doubtless Satterfield and his Wilmington Industry have done a hundred good things for the area, macro-economically speaking. This area needs jobs; it needs industry. But the Titan application and the rosy prognostications of Satterfield in this article exemplify what’s wrong with the Committee of 100, and that is that, in their closed-door dealings, they operate on assumptions we don’t share, or get to ratify.
Do we want more industry? Do we need it? Are there alternatives to heavy industry? What are the trade-offs?
These questions should be put instead to the “Committee of 100,000″ that is New Hanover County and its neighbors.
Well said, Ian, and you raise some provocative questions. To me, the most cynical part about Mr. Faulkner’s article is the concluding sentences:
“So, take a drive on Sunday. It promises to be beautiful.”
It’s this type of carefree attitude that at least in part has placed America’s economy in grave danger. We should not be taking joy rides because the weather is nice. On the contrary, we should think twice about selfishly wasting money and precious resources.
If this crisis teaches us one thing, it should be that we need to make sacrifices today in order to bring about positive change for tomorrow.
Titan Cement is an economic band-aid that will be peeled away only to reveal a wound that festers until the entire community is there to heal it.
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Very curious Ranald; is Mr. Faulkner so out of it that he couldn’t even end his article by saying get out and walk or ride a bike because the weather will be pleasant? Agreed, it’s this type of selfish behavior we need to challenge, and challenge repeatedly.
It was beautiful here today in northern California, easily mid-80’s. After walking to a morning yoga class my husband and I walked our dog for an hour, stopping at a locally-owned hardware store to buy an under $10 item. After returning home I next walked to a supermarket to buy a few items for dinner. After that we bicycled together to our Oxbow Public Market, a single place to purchase a variety of items from a diverse collection of about 30 vendors. We’re certainly fortunate to be able to do this in our town, comparable in size to Wilmington, NC, and now we often shop like this on a daily basis.
We were always fairly active but not to long ago we challenged ourselves to do in-town errands, where possible, without the use of a vehicle. The price of gas could go back to $.50 per gallon but we will not surrender our new, healthier, dare we say, smarter lifestyle.
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[...] also sadly because I wanted to avoid offending a noble cause with unsolicited commentary. It was a recent post about the question of industrial development that has prompted my curiosity in this meditation. And that’s just what this is – a few random [...]
Obviously, no one here has ever heard of irony.
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Wayne, I share your sense that the comments focus a little narrowly on your sign-off. Or let’s say they departed from that sign-off into some other area, whether it was intended to be ironic or not.
Reina’s comments in particular combine sanctimoniousness with some real straw-manning (i.e., “so out of it”, “selfish”) — But then maybe the comments themselves are a sort of caricature? Not sure.
Irony can mean never having to say you’re sorry. AND it can make interpretation very difficult. :-/
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Wow, Wayne, I apologize profusely for misreading your concluding paragraph. But that was some seriously nuanced irony.
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