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Comments:
Tuesday - 2004-08-25 13:54:26 It's beautiful bikeable country out there--rural and peaceful two-lane roads. I was trying to figure out which bidder would less encourage sprawl between the hospital and Ypsi--AA.* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2004-08-25 14:03:51 There is just not enough info in that article to tell; it's really a pity that the AA News doesn't do a better job. For example, what do the developers mean by "mixed use"? Would there be anyplace for the people who would live there to walk to? Would any jobs be created in the mixed-use plan? What would the taxes be in both cases? Are property taxes higher than the Toyota taxes would be? What are the other benefits of having Toyota in the community (a couple people alluded to them being good neighbors; does that mean they donate to the local schools?). Would Toyota commit to staying longer than the 12 years during which they'd only pay 50% of the taxes? Would having more (maybe upscale) housing attract people who would end up paying a lot more in property tax? (that would be good for Ypsi). You can't tell anything from that article... It's so fluffy -- full of quotes but no substance.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-25 14:05:32 That's an astute comment and you're right. A table breaking such things down, at least, would be a bit more informative--this is, at second glance, a really lightweight story.* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2004-08-26 07:22:25 Ypsi could make a counter-offer to Toyota in an effort to bring them to Water Street. 50% abatement for 20 years, maybe. In order to consolidate, isn't Toyota abandoning sites in other places which had been granted tax breaks? All too often the MegaCorps find it less expensive to take down the tent and split rather than pay up when the bill comes due. The carrot-on-a-stick of jobs, too, rings hollow. More often than not, the workers are imported while the profits are exported.* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2004-08-27 12:35:01 Ikea decided they wanted to come to my fair city and our local paper did a really nice job of laying out all the issues, which included the question of whether and how many people from our community would be hired versus imported (a huge number, it turns out, and when I recently made my maiden voyage, every person I asked actually did live in town!), how Ikea would ensure that they were able to hire as many community-dwellers as possible (Our median -- median! -- income is less than $25K a year, and we have a 40% functional illiteracy rate; the solution was to offer free training courses at the local communicty college in the basic basics that people who've never been employed need to learn) how much traffic would be generated on Interstate-95 (a lot), and whether a landmark building would be knocked down to make room (no, although the building is, IMHO butt-ugly, albeit designed by some famous muckity-muck in the 60s). The local paper didn't just *report* on these issues, but they actually affected the outcome favorably by including early stories that put all the issues on the table, made the community care, which put pressure on Ikea, which made for a nice win-win for everyone. I don't think our newspaper staff is any bigger, and it covers all of the surrounding communities; I think the AA news should be able to provide such important coverage.* * * * * * * * * * * * add your comment: |