Decisions have consequences – not just at the personal or corporate level but governmental as well. While some towns have tried to do all the right things, some have failed – some many times over.
So while people decry “corporate welfare” (and I agree – no subsidies to ANY company), we should also be doing the same thing at the governmental level. To wit, educational funding whereby a number of towns are clamoring that they all need to be bailed out by others. “It’s about the children!” Volinsky screams.
Well, as Brian W points out here (at Call Them Nazi’s – That’ll Stop ‘Em!), a lot of times, it really is about the adults – and not holding them accountable for their failures (emphasis mine):
I’ve said this before, but it deserves repeating (IMHO):
Most of the time, these things have to do with poor decisions, frequently made long ago.
In the late 1980’s, Data General wanted to build a facility, and searched for good places in NH (since they wanted to poach Digital, Apollo, etc employees). They decided on Allenstown, at the intersection of Rt 28 and Route 3 – between Granite St and School St. Allenstown made it as hard as they could for DG to build, because everything they brought forward would “ruin” their “small town character.” DG decided to build in Hooksett instead.
Soon after, Allenstown joined the Claremont lawsuits, seeing as they were “property poor.” But the reason they were property poor had been because of their decisions to keep their “small town character.” We are still paying for that. And, because that was one of the most desirable intersections in the state, it is now an ugly set of utility buildings: Rite Aid, Family Dollar, a bank, a gas station, their “new” police station.
You can give them every benefit – some of them will still squander what they have. Others will figure out creative ways to do things for less money.
This is the kind of information that citizens need to both be mindful of AND make known to others. Otherwise, this cycle will never stop. Companies can go bankrupt and a few readers will point out that Data General, DEC (your’s truly a former alumnus), Apollo and all of the other minicomputer and workstation companies are gone so what’s the difference now?
The answer isn’t a particular set of companies – it IS more of having the mindset to be nimble and attractive to companies that say “May I come in and add value to your town and area?”. Why SHOULD we be willing to give welfare to Allenstown, Claremont, et al for making bad decisions?
We shouldn’t. After all, their voters put those into office that made the bad decisions (sometimes multiple times) – they are complicit but still have their hands out.
And that should not go unnoticed.
