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News-Sentinel.com Your Town. Your Voice.
Opening Arguments

Navistay

Is this a good idea?

The city of Fort Wayne has hired a consultant from South Carolina in an effort to make a stronger pitch to hold on to 1,000 or more jobs at the Navistar design center.

[. . .]

The contract with Williams calls for him to be paid up to $95,000 for helping in the “Navistay” effort.

[. . .]

 Retaining his services sends a message to Navistar, Williams said: “The mayor and others are pulling out the stops and trying to put together a team that will make a difference.” Williams he would help tailor a package of incentives to the company's needs and requirements.

I know keeping those 1,000 jobs is important, that they are good-paying jobs, that Navistar and Fort Wayne have a long history -- all the reasons the city has for pulling out all the stops. But I can't help thinking that this looks more than a little desperate on the city's part and that the real message the company will be getting is that it can now get anything it asks for, no matter how outrageous. Or am I being too quickly negative? If Navist

Comments

tim zank
Wed, 06/30/2010 - 8:13am

Why on Earth would you need a consultant? Seriously, aren't there enough people already in the administration that know how to fill a wheelbarrow with money?

As the old saying goes, "we've already established what you are, now it's just a matter of haggling over the price".

Bob G.
Wed, 06/30/2010 - 1:59pm

Tim:
Hey, you're forgetting that JUST this month, the current administratioon has CREATED THIRTEEN THOUSAND private sector JOBS!!!
(aw, yeahhhhhhh).

Now, if you divvy those jobs up between ALL 50 states, that breaks down to about TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY jobs created PER STATE (that's 260)...!!!
Now THAT is progress(ivism).

Change we CAN believe in...huh???

;)

gadfly
Wed, 06/30/2010 - 6:34pm

Hold on just a minute, Bob G. To do the "job creation math" correctly, you must first subtract 411,000 temporary Census workers.

As for Navistar, Illinois has already made the first move to keep the company in the state and to facilitate the movement of headquarters operations from Warrensville to Lisle. Governor Quinn has signed legislation that would expand a corporate tax credit to include Navistar, potentially saving the engine manufacturer $60 million over 10 years.

However, Navistar has said that this move within Illinois is not about the consolidation of employees.

tim zank
Wed, 06/30/2010 - 6:38pm

Gad...sounds like we'll be needin' a bigger wheelbarrow.

john b. kalb
Wed, 06/30/2010 - 8:11pm

I thought that City Council was going to have to approve all these "consultant" hirings ion the future. What happened to that??? IT SURE LOOKS LIKE IT'S ABOUT TIME TO TURN OFF THE SPIGOT!!!

Lewis Allen
Wed, 06/30/2010 - 11:00pm

It's a crapshoot. If Navistar stays, it would look like a genius move. If not, then, it's money down the crapper.

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