New Industries

Does anyone have any ideas on how to attract CLEAN industry to Union County? Do we have a ready and willing workforce to attract any new industry?

Isn't that call center supposed to be a 98% sure thing... if we just pour a few million into it on faith?

roboblogger2 wrote:

Isn't that call center supposed to be a 98% sure thing... if we just pour a few million into it on faith?

The call center will only happen if ELDO gets the grant to fund it. SEVERAL other cities have applied for the same grant. The city doesn't plan on putting one penny into the funding.

Just Wondering wrote:

Does anyone have any ideas on how to attract CLEAN industry to Union County? Do we have a ready and willing workforce to attract any new industry?

Actually we ought to be courting dirty industy. Nobody else wants it we already have a lot of it and dirty in 2009 isn't the same dirty that was around in the 1959.

The funding for the Call Center is coming from the tax that was added, by vote, for economic grwoth.

roboblogger2 wrote:

Isn't that call center supposed to be a 98% sure thing... if we just pour a few million into it on faith?

I was thinking along the lines of higher paying jobs coming from clean industries. The call center is planning on part time employees for the most part and, yes, the city and state are really doing nothing to entice this enterprise anyway. I have been here for seven years, drove through the industrial park etc., and cannot understand what happened. I was dismayed when a convicted felon, Jack Reynolds, ran his mouth the other day ref to bringing in industries. Mr. Reynolds, in my opinion, is a worthless piece of crap who can buy his way out of anything. A business leader he is not. He did not build his business, it was already built and running for him.

You<ll stave on their wages.

There should be a six flags. Six flags over El Dorado.

Yay!

We could have El Dorado themed rides like "The De-moralizer" or "The Ty Peace Log Flume Adventure".

Just Wondering wrote:

Does anyone have any ideas on how to attract CLEAN industry to Union County? Do we have a ready and willing workforce to attract any new industry?

How about you take a bath.

In all seriousness, you would think with all the industries around the South Arkansas area whose business deals primarily with natural resources, some sort of research consortium could be set up in partnership with SAU and UAM (maybe even La Tech as well) to discover new and clean ways to use those resources. There is no reason this part of the country should not be in the forefront of researching alternative energies, bio fuels, algae oil, etc.

"CLEAN OR GREEN" is a scam to try to get more money from consumers. There is not such thing as a true "GREEN" INDUSTRY...WE SHOULD WORK ON GETTING JOBS PERIOD! GREEN IS THE NEW "RED".

EL Champo wrote:

There should be a six flags. Six flags over El Dorado.
Yay!
We could have El Dorado themed rides like "The De-moralizer" or "The Ty Peace Log Flume Adventure".

Thats a good idea champ

Well wrote:

In all seriousness, you would think with all the industries around the South Arkansas area whose business deals primarily with natural resources, some sort of research consortium could be set up in partnership with SAU and UAM (maybe even La Tech as well) to discover new and clean ways to use those resources. There is no reason this part of the country should not be in the forefront of researching alternative energies, bio fuels, algae oil, etc.

is there a football game between SAU and UAM in El Dorado this year? If you can get them to play ball here why not bring them together on the biofuel project?Start this idea of a research consortium while the two universities are here.

Without pass-thru Interstate Highway access, Eldo is stuck in a time warp.

The interstate highway will bring corporate headquarters, white-collar office workers, tourism and theme parks, universities and research centers, and, of course, tons of gawd-awful yankees with their row houses and gated neighborhoods who make you pick up your dog's poop and put it in a baggie or be fined $1000; and tow you car out of your yard if it isn't sitting on a concrete driveway.

Take your pick; comfortable laid-back time-warp or hot-wired prosperity and social dysfunction.

Spider wrote:

Without pass-thru Interstate Highway access, Eldo is stuck in a time warp.
The interstate highway will bring corporate headquarters, white-collar office workers, tourism and theme parks, universities and research centers, and, of course, tons of gawd-awful yankees with their row houses and gated neighborhoods who make you pick up your dog's poop and put it in a baggie or be fined $1000; and tow you car out of your yard if it isn't sitting on a concrete driveway.
Take your pick; comfortable laid-back time-warp or hot-wired prosperity and social dysfunction.

That's right they can't find their way here on a regular 4 lane.

So, maybe hope is all we have right now. But, we can always keep trying to make our city a better place to live. I,ve lived here 56 years. At this time i,m looking at retiring to north central Ar. Living conditions are safer and better. Yes I have family there. I go up ther on regular trips. Not alot of people in that area yet. Not much crime either.

Well wrote:

In all seriousness, you would think with all the industries around the South Arkansas area whose business deals primarily with natural resources, some sort of research consortium could be set up in partnership with SAU and UAM (maybe even La Tech as well) to discover new and clean ways to use those resources. There is no reason this part of the country should not be in the forefront of researching alternative energies, bio fuels, algae oil, etc.

Thank you, that is where I was trying to go when making the post....

EldoMasterBlaster wrote:

<quoted text>
Actually we ought to be courting dirty industy. Nobody else wants it we already have a lot of it and dirty in 2009 isn't the same dirty that was around in the 1959.
The funding for the Call Center is coming from the tax that was added, by vote, for economic grwoth.

We let ENSCO come into this cozy little village....can't get much dirtier than that.

EldoMasterBlaster wrote:

<quoted text>

The funding for the Call Center is coming from the tax that was added, by vote, for economic grwoth.

Two years from now the Chamber of Commerce will still be saying the same thing, "We're close to announcing something really big."

Don't hold your breath. The Call Center is a stall tactic for a do-nothing chamber exec. Time to move on.

I am back in town after 30 years of being out of town. It's sad to look at what is left of this town. Money in this town is just running around in a circle - it neither comes in nor goes out.

This town has always done things in "reverse". The Promise is great and it's a start. But lets be real. In four years when the first group of grads who do in fact graduate from higher education -- do you really think they will come back to El Dorado for $8,$9 or even $12 an hour. Better think again. We are just educating folks to leave, not come back. Just look back over the past 30 years at our population statistic - the trend is down and will continue down. That says our community leaders are not making any progress. This town will, at some point, just be another dot on the map.

We need an employment goal of xx number of $25 per hour jobs, xx number of $20 per hour jobs, xx number of $15 per hour jobs and a goal for just the general job base. Then we need to look at the resources we have here. An industrial park that has lots of manufacturing capacity. Cooper for example - so they do not make rubber parts for cars now. Maybe we should be looking at finding a company that would use that same type equipment for another product. Maybe we need to use that facility for an assembly line where parts are brought in from around the state or around the world, put together into a new product and shipped out so that dollars flow into the community not out of the community.

And the I-69 deal. Its great that it goes between El Dorado and Magnolia - lot of good it will do either of these towns. I drive here from Dallas. Do I ever stop at a city that is more than 100 yards from the interstate - the answer to that is "no". Hwy 167 in Louisiana looks like an interstate in places. Lets not take another 20 years to make that the I-69 and use it like it is an interstate. It's built and ready for use. Not use in 10 years or more.

The long and short of this is what ever happens will take lots of money and there are lots of places working to get the same jobs. Something unique needs to be put together so that 20 other locations are not in competition. I am not a the government giving lots of breaks to companys in return for employment - but - some money is going to have to be put on the table to make things move forward.

The people of this city need to step up to the plate and demand more and not settle for less.

Good luck,

Industry update from the UCIB as reported in the El Dorado News Times:

Lone Star Reel, is in the process of moving into the Prescolite offices with two employees at the facility now and two more expected by the end of the month.(2+2=?)

Dynamotive Energy Systems’ grant application failed to qualify, so the company will not be coming to the area.(shocking development)

A processing center to employ 100 people with college degrees chose to locate in Batesville instead of El Dorado.(lost to Batesville!)

UCIB continues to work with the proposed Call Center and still awaits a decision.(stay tuned, another Batesville)

"Always a bridesmaid, never a bride," The quotation sums up our efforts to bring good jobs into the area. Wake up citizens and ask the question,“Where is the leadership?”