1. W-S mayor Allen Joines being named this week to the state's Economic Development Board (what is that???) by Gov. Bev "no-clue" Perdue.Heh...funny.
The comments in a Winston-Salem Journal article today apparently show how unpopular he seems to be around that town. This, coming in the same week as it was revealed that their minor-league baseball team (DASH) will not play in their new stadium this year because it won't be ready yet (hat-tip: Piedmont Publius).
City residents suspect the stadium simply has become a boondoggle.
Beware, the Dell and Dash man Joines crooking for good ole Bev now. That should make a good pair and clean the citizens clocks good with lots of losing propositions. "Local economic-development officials said that Joines' chairmanship would benefit the Triad.' just like it did the taxpayers with baseball and Dell investments!!!. What a joke!!Ouch!
Nothing like having "Tin Cup" Alan on your team. Rattling his cup, begging for tax dollars for pet projects. As for "green jobs", his first project should be the grass on the infield of the Dash stadium. Looks like a big dirt pile right now. Maybe he can make that green.
2. So if the honorable Allen Joines will be pitching "economic development," I wonder what he can do to attempt to save the gutted Hanesbrands, one of the so-called crown jewels of Winston-Salem. I swear, if that company lays off any more people, it will be the security guards looking for work.Local commentator Jim Longworth has some strong (and poignant) words about Hanesbrands in his column in this week's YES! Weekly:
But unlike Dell, which cloaks its layoffs in secrecy, Hanesbrands openly and unashamedly continues to fire Americans in broad daylight, and send their jobs to third-world countries. Last week’s announcement by Hanesbrands added particular insult to injury by not directing the layoffs to come from its foreign plants first, before further decimating the local workforce. And through it all, after two years of this unpatriotic crap, Hanesbrands management seems to be getting a free pass from just about everyone, which is very strange, given the anger most Americans feel toward greedy corporations these days. That Hanesbrands keeps profiting and pillaging in today’s post AIG environment is almost surreal. In fact, this saga has evolved into a full-blown morality play, featuring five distinct groups of actors: A-holes, apologists, apathists, academics and antagonists.Classic.
But Longworth goes for the jugular:
Among the apologists, Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce President Gayle Anderson is the most vocal. Anderson’s best apology to date was last week when she told Richard Craver of the Winston-Salem Journal that Hanesbrands continues to support the local economy with “leadership and volunteerism.” Leadership and volunteerism? First of all, corporate greed is not leadership; stripping retirees of their subsidized medical benefits is not leadership. Second, what exactly is the economic value in having thousands of unemployed volunteers living in the community? When it comes to apathy, no one excels better than the electronic media.
TV news departments continue to broadcast whatever lame, diversionary statement is made by Hanesbrands spokespersons without even taking time to challenge those statements. Yes, I realize that corporate-owned news gatherers are short on staff these days, and that a reporter is not supposed to render opinions, but that doesn’t justify not probing the story or the source.
1. Charlotte
2. Triangle
3. Triad...but people wonder why this area continues to play third fiddle?
E.C. :)
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1 comment:
Winston-Salem (and the rest of the Triad for that matter) is not a bad place. However, I get the feeling that a lot of people here tend to see the area through rose-colored glasses.
Is this some backwater that's culturally devoid? No, not even close.
Is this an area that's driving the world's creative class? Also, no.
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