posted May 20, 2008
There have been several letters about the question of whether or not Volkswagen will locate here. One was a question posed that asked, what are we doing wrong? The answer is nothing. It is just that we are who we are and we live where we live.
The most ridiculous argument is that industry doesn’t come here because of a terrible school system. Our school system is adequate and a whole lot better than say China or Mexico or South Georgia or Alabama or Northern Mississippi. All of these locations have landed auto plants.
The people making this self-serving argument are the school worshipers who want more money to throw at a perceived "problem." There will never be enough money in the school system for them.
The real reasons that business people choose a location are tax incentives, cheap and available labor, inexpensive land and adequate infrastructure, and a lack of environmental problems. I can’t for the life of me figure out what advantage Chattanooga has in any of these areas. For example, Alabama and other states offer just as good or better tax incentives. The other huge factor, as with Toyota, is that Enterprise South site may have real or perceived environmental problems.
Another negative is the air pollution factor. Everyone, including our public officials and the Air Pollution Control Board, has done an excellent job bringing Chattanooga in compliance with EPA standards, but this compliance was made by the by the skin of our teeth. The problem is that in a matter of months because of the new, lower EPA standards, we will be out of compliance again. This is a huge, huge factor.
This megasite stuff is just hype for the public. Toyota picked Northern Mississippi when their "site" was just farm fields that had not even been purchased by the state yet. The fact that there are 20 or so mega sites around the country, including two in this state, is an indication that it is not a huge advantage.
I think that one of the biggest factors that has not been considered is that almost all of our public officials and the people working for the Chamber have absolutely no industrial experience. How could they know what people in industry really want? In my opinion, they have also fooled themselves into believing their own hype about being “second” in the Kia/Toyota sweepstakes. If you read the newspapers in the other locations that were being considered at the time, they thought they came in second too. Everyone can’t be “second.” If we lose again, I am sure that our press and public officials will say we were “second” again.
I hope we get Volkswagen like everyone else does, but hope is not enough. The chance of landing an automotive plant in this county is slim. Instead of hording all of the available land and "saving" it for the auto plant Holy Grail, we should be recruiting the back bone of our country, small business, to fill up Enterprise South. I hope I am wrong, but if we lose again, how long do we wait to be "second" next time?
Tim Price
jat-55@msn.com
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Writing is on the wall, listen to Zach.
1) "Enterprise South will eventually land a big fish"... in other words, not this time
2) "eventually it is going to happen. It is not a matter of if, but when"... in other words, not this time
3) "The Volkswagen delegation had previously visited a site in Michigan as well as one at Huntsville, Ala."... in other words, ES is 3rd on the list.
My money is on Alabama, they are hungrier and have better public schools, as Knoxville does. Minimum wage water park for East Ridge sounds like a winner to me.
Don Hauptman
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