Letter to the editor: Cementing a dismal economic future

From me in this morning’s paper:

As a local software developer I completely reject the idea, put forth by Bob Warwick and others, that allowing the Titan Cement company to pollute the air and water, drain our aquifer, manipulate our legislative process, mislead our citizenry and then ship its profits out of the country positions us for a better economic future or represents in some general way a “pro-business” view. I am enthusiastically pro-business and I can’t think of anything more harmful to our actual prosperity than this.

I am one of literally thousands of “information economy” workers who live and work here in home offices and small offices, who’ve settled in the area for its eclectic charm, for its genuinely friendly, engaged people, for its outdoor activities, and above all for the area’s natural beauty.

Even if the estimate of 160 jobs that Titan holds up weren’t debunked so easily, as it has been by UNCW’s Craig Galbraith and others, the number represents a trivial fraction of the losses the industry would bring long term to high-tech jobs, to a large local financial and service economy, to outdoor livelihoods going back generations, and especially to emerging lower impact, higher tech opportunities. We are building these opportunities right now. “Cementing” our role forever as a heavy industrial corridor for the Southeast is nuts environmentally, and it’s nuts economically.
Ian Oeschger
Wilmington