The New and Improved EDC is already working its magic. Amazing! Bill Greenwood says there will be 250 new jobs in Clallam County by "next spring." I'll say it again: Amazing!
Only, uh...Hmmm...Now that I think about that statement, I realize that, uh, it isn't really news. It's a hope, it's a wish, and it's a little vague. It also doesn't seem to account for any jobs that may be lost between now and "next spring." Let's say that 300 existing jobs disappear between now and "next spring," and that 250 new jobs actually do roll out. That would still be a net loss of jobs, right?
Also, and this is the most damning thing, Bill...If what you're saying does come true, then all this growth would be springing out of a period in which the EDC has been distracted, in transition. In other words, this is all happening without the "help" of the EDC. In other other words, Bill, you could say that your own prediction is an argument against the need for your organization.
If you're right. And if you're still around and employed yourself "next spring."
How strange that just a while ago he publicly touted all these new companies moving here with all their new jobs and that was not proprietary, but now these new magical 250 jobs are proprietary. Was it just a sales pitch to get more funding? When I told him I was moving my company because of the Ports extortionist way of doing business he never gave a rip. Hmmmmm. In my 23 years of being in business here I have never seen the EDC help make anything happen except pad their own pockets with their own jobs.
ReplyDeletePlease note how very vague this prediction is. I can understand that individual businesses wouldn't necessarily want to pre-announce their intentions to hire. That could cause all sorts of potential headaches. I get that.
ReplyDeleteBut I don't get why you'd say something like this without offering some general idea of the areas you're talking about (industrial, tourism, education, etc.), unless of course, it's because you're just blowing a whole lot of smoke around.
We'll see.
When John Calhoun told me the Port was going to play hardball with me and raise my lease rent by circumventing my existing lease he said they were rolling in dough from the log exports and could easily finance a legal challenge. So I read with joy that the Ports revenues were dropping like a rock because the Chinese are cutting back the log purchases. Funny how the Port didn't show any concern for the loggers, scalers, truckers, equipment operators, businesses that supply fuel and equipment, restaurants.......nooooo.......only them. But I guess it doesn't matter because they all got their bonuses and raises.
ReplyDeleteI hope Bill Deadwood isn't counting as new jobs when Westport moves to the old Walmart.
ReplyDeleteMemo to all "leaders" working on "economic development" in Clallam County:
ReplyDeleteDo not crow about your achievements BEFORE they happen. We are not all actually riding mag levs and trams around town and to the movies downtown, because these things HAVE NOT HAPPENED YET.
The Lincoln Theater is still for sale. These jobs do not exist. Let's stay grounded in reality, shall we?
More of the same old, same old hogwash and wishful thinking from another of the dopes in charge. Big pronouncements like this are so incredibly counterproductive, both on a functional level, and on a psychological level for local residents. Promises, promises, promises, and the happy talk dream always turns into a nightmare of disappointment.
ReplyDeleteWe do have resources here. We do have a nice location. We could be more thriving, if we did things differently. But the powers that be aren't comfortable with different, as they make clear every chance they get. Some might pay lip service to the 21st century, but then they go right back to bashing unions, wanting to undo environmental protections, etc. (See the right-wing laundry list given to the Charter Review folks for consideration for examples.)
Cronyism was the order of the day here for decades, and it kept enough of the town afloat for a long time, so that people didn't squawk too much. But now those same cronies are absolutely sinking what's left of the ship, and they aren't able to even acknowledge that, yet alone do anything about it. So they do what they have always done, and try to find a scapegoat, when the real culprit can be found be simply looking in a mirror.
To sum up, if the people here aren't working, it's because their leaders aren't working.
Your third paragraph nails it. That was my thought as I read the article. As far as airlines go, if we build it, they will come. Thus far we've given them no reason to be here. Neither leisure, tourism nor medical needs has generated enough passenger traffic to make their business plan work. It's such backwards thinking to say we need the airline FIRST in order to support economic development.
ReplyDeleteHey, Happy Birthday today to the PDN! It was first published 99 years ago today.
ReplyDeleteToo bad they haven't updated their business model since then, or acknowledged that it's the 21st century. But hey, Happy Birthday!
It does seem strange, this "good news" all came about without raping the opportunity fund or the taxpayers for funding. If they can keep up this pace then no need for added funding. Of course this could be just pie in the sky wishfulness. The EDC wants to remain relevant long past their relevancy--if ever they were relevant. With this cast of egos making up the new board there is no way anything can come out of it except a continuation of all the old policies that got us to where we are now. The timber interests control the EDC and will do so as long as there is a living tree in the county. Green Crow president is the new president of EDC. He is also a past president of EDC. Count the number of timber interests on the EDC and you know where this is headed. Send in the saws.
ReplyDeleteRadio Shack is closing its' Port Angeles store. Wallgreen is closing 200 stores, and it is not beyond belief that the Clallam stores will close.
ReplyDeleteGot a tally going?
Do new panhandlers count as new jobs?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anonymous 5:49 am. What's amazing to me is all the PUBLIC MONEY, people, time and resources invested by the Port and EDC for so, so long and still NOTHING HAS HAPPENED and NOTHING TO CROW ABOUT. At least those silly tram, mag-lev people are losing their own money and time if they fail and not all that money which came from the publics wallets.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how many times we've done this song-and-dance. Jobs are coming! Jobs are coming! Followed a few months later by no jobs, but a request for more money. We've heard about the green manufacturing plant in Carlsborg, the six (?) new businesses coming to Port Angeles, new business opening in Walmart, now the Port is claiming 1,000 jobs in five years and these guys are claiming 250 jobs.
ReplyDeleteAnd where are all these businesses they are claiming? Will we actually see these jobs? Of course we know somejobs are coming, Harbor Freight and the sports bar are opening soon. That's hardly what we're constantly promised.
Politicians must really think we're stupid, easily placated by the same promise year after year. Someone please read them "the Boy Who Cried Wolf"?
Undoubtedly at least 20 of these jobs will be staff members at the new, restored Lincoln Theater. Maybe even 25 of 'em.
ReplyDeleteWhy not 100? It is such a viable community benefit.
DeleteThe nearly 1/4 of a million syringes passed out in Clallam County in 2014 should tell you all you need to hear. Get out! If not for you for your kids sake!
ReplyDeleteReally? Where did you hear that?
DeleteIt's official, at least according to Bill Peach, quarter million syringes exchanged in clallam count last year.
DeleteThough I don't have trouble believing the numbers, I do have trouble buying Bill Peach as a reputable source of information on the subject.
DeleteLet's do some "Fun with numbers", shall we?
DeleteLet's say a junkie gets high once a day, and uses a clean syringe every day.( The point of handing-out-syringes programs is to prevent the spread of diseases caused by "dirty" works, that then the tax payers have to pay for when they end up needing medical care)
One junkie, 365 days a year. 365 syringes. 10 junkies, 3,650 syringes. 100 junkies, 36,500 syringes. 1,000 junkies, 365,000 syringes a year.
So, to need to hand out 250,000 syringes a year, you would be servicing around 700 intravenous users of all kinds. The county has a population of around 70,000. So, about 1% of the population.
Lots of variables can be at play. Do they actually use a new syringe, every time? I don't know.
But, "Fun with Numbers" can help put things in perspective.
Let's remember that Clallam County has one of the HIGHEST opiate abuse rates in the state, as in, one of the top two or three counties. So it seems like the 250,000 might be a LITTLE inflated, but not out-of-this-world wrong.
DeleteIn theory. In Clallam County.
People inject all kinds of different things. Not just heroin. Given the numbers Anon 2:25 ran through, 250,000 doesn't seem high, at all.
DeleteOne stat : " about 6 percent of the household population aged twelve and older, use illegal drugs on a current basis (within the past thirty days)."
In Washington, and in Port Angeles, I'd say that number is way too conservative.
The current HIV outbreak in Indiana is the result of people crushing and shooting up pills of Opana - and then sharing needles. So when you think about that factor, meth, heroin, etc., there are plenty of things for people to inject - especially in economically depressed places like southern Indiana and Clallam County. And plenty of other health problems (and costs) besides just the drug abuse itself.
DeleteIf you are assuming that each junkie only shoots up once a day, and only procures one needle per person -- the math works, but hey, free dope kits....for all we know, these are an income generator for the dopes in the area.
DeleteThey'll quit doing it when the ploy quits working. They are still raiding the treasury and getting away with it so why change the routine?
ReplyDeleteYouTube Honolulu Rail Magnetic Levitation HB134 & SB19.
ReplyDeleteAs if Honolulu and Port Angeles are so similar? In what way? The size of the city? Weather? Reputation? Resources?
ReplyDeleteOh! I get it. They both have beaches.
People promoting hare-brained ideas like Dan's Fantasy Tram line, or Scotts' Lincoln Fantasy like to use examples of other places where what ever they are suggesting is successful. But, there is that word again: successful.
It doesn't help things to point to other communities that have a quality of life that draws people to it, instead of repelling new business endeavors. How many times have we heard of either new businesses interested in locating to Port Angeles, or of existing businesses that can't get new employees to move here, because of the "quality of life" in Port Angeles.
Think that through. That assessment encompasses everything. The beautiful location people like to tout. All the natural beauty people think is such a draw. That great, "historic downtown". The arts community. All of it. It doesn't cut the mustard when people from the outside evaluate what Port Angeles has to offer.
Despite what cheerleader Cherie Kidd would like everyone to believe. ( And, remember her comments saying she gets depressed when SHE returns to Port Angeles after time away.)
Recognize the situation for what it is. There is a reason a Ferrari sells for more than that old Ford Escort.
Looking out the window at the screaming winds, I can't imagine sitting on those new fake beaches. Who's idea were those, anyways? Dumb, dumb, dumb.
DeleteIf you take out the beaches, and the tourist attraction, Honolulu is actually a very poor place. The median income is $30k, with most people barely making full-time minimum wage, which until very recently was the Federal Mandated $7.25 an hour. Most of the hotel/hospitality service workers barely make $16k a year, but living costs are very high (from food, to housing). 1/3 of the population has limited education (with a higher drop out rate in high school than PA schools).
DeleteSo, yes, this area is like Honolulu, when it comes to being dumb, uneducated, and living on minimum wage.
That's what worries me about this push to make PA a tourist center. Yeah, it makes sense, but I'm worried it would simply turn into a place like Honolulu. I've read too many stories of towns taken over by the hospitality industry and by rich weekenders. Property taxes and the cost of living rise forcing people out of their homes, but wages don't so people can't move too far. It sounds like a real mess. What we've got here sucks, but I'm afraid it could go so much worse, especially with the lack of vision crew we've got running this place.
DeleteHow about creating and supporting a "local" economy? Stay tuned.
DeleteI wish the visitor's center would provide a one-question poll. It would read:
ReplyDelete"When you visit this area do you prefer to see live trees or dead ones?"
Then allow the answers to this poll dictate how we move forward into the future.
the fake beaches were another example of grant chasing. It's the only way we get our budget to (almost) balance. General fund, baby.
ReplyDeleteThis town is insolvent without grant chasing.