By Ozboy
In a comment yesterday I noted that our fabulous biz wiz Godfrey let another high tech company with a high payroll slip away to Layton while he was busy patting himself on the back over bringing another 5 man ski company headquarters to his high adventure fantasy town of Ogden. In the same article is another high tech outfit with 50 high paying jobs going to Layton. Apparently our globe trotting mayor was too busy unsuccessfully trying to entice some Mexican chichas outfit to Ogden to make a play for this serious high tech outfit that Layton scored.
Once again Layton's Administration kicks Godfrey and his "A" teams ass in the real world of economic development! Story here:
• Applied Industrial Technologies moving to Layton, closer to HAFBOgden gets a few "high adventure" crumbs falling off other cities tables while Layton, Orem, Draper, etc get the big companies with big payrolls.
To continue with my comment of yesterday, wherein I pointed out the complete incompetence of Mayor Godfrey in attracting and keeping high end employers in Ogden - I point out this info from this morning's Tribune Money section about California companies coming to Utah:
• California businesses lured to Utah by friendly business climateIn recent months there was the following:
• Adobe systems to build $100 million facility in Orem and hire more than 1,000 new employeesCompare that with the dismal record of the Wizard of Ogden:
• Twitter to relocate their data center to Salt Lake.
• Electronic Arts opens new plant with 100 employees
• EBay to build a $287 million dollar facility in Draper
• Oracle to resume construction of large data center which will create over 100 new jobs.
Hart Ski company to move 6 employees (no new local hires) to Ogden:
• Hart ski/snowboard company relocating headquarters, distribution operations to OgdenPerhaps this is why Godfrey & gang are the laughing stock of the Economic Development World!
14 comments:
It appears that the Ogden 2011 election is already heating up!
Can't really fault Hizzonah for the AIT move, I think, since the company moved to be close to Hill. Not even Hizzonah would propose moving Hill AFB to Ogden, which is evidently what it would have taken to keep AIT.
But your comments on the overall effectiveness of his job-recruitment efforts are, I think, sound.
Curm
The "closer to HAFB" most likely came from the company's PR department as the excuse for moving. Their old location was very close to Hill already, right under the landing pattern in fact. It is not like there is a lot of heavy equipment being moved around that would require being any closer than they were. In fact, they may well have been closer to Hill's west gate in their old location than they are now to the South Gate. In any event we are talking minor differences in distance between the two locations, not miles.
I think Oz's take on it is correct, Ogden's ED dept, along with the mayor, got out maneuvered on this one. They focused on chump change while the big bucks slid out of the back door.
Anon:
The FD has permission to burn two of the buildings for training purposes. Are you sure what you saw wasn't those two being prepped?
Do you think they would have moved to Ogden if we had a gondola?
Nobody in the Governor's Utah Economic Development Department will refer an out of state company to Ogden, because they all know Godfrey is a complete ass.
You people in Ogden keep electing him.
Deal with it.
Wonderful article Ozboy - very well done.
I note these quotes from the SE article.
""They did not consult with us before making their decision. I am sure they made their decision for business reasons that I am unaware of," said Ogden City Community and Economic Development Director Richard McConkie."
... for business reasons that he is unaware of. But Mcconkie is being too specific. For there are no business reasons of any kind anywhere that he is aware of.
"Layton did not provide AIT any direct financial incentive to make the move, Hart said."
And here we have Ogden handing out cash left and right. And what does it accomplish? A few of the companies that do business here get payoffs, and Godfrey gets a photo op. That's it.
And how about the Godfrey-covering headline,
"Applied Industrial Technologies moving to Layton, closer to HAFB"
Then, not until the second paragraph does the article say,
"Applied Industrial Technologies, formerly of Ogden, recently relocated to Layton"
A more eye catching headline would have been:
"Ogden Loses Major Employer to Layton"
With the first sentence:
"Ogden Mayor Godfrey's efforts to lure companies suffered a severe setback recently as another company left the city - this one moving to Layton."
Both of these changes would have sold more papers.
But the SE isn't trying to sell papers so much as trying to kiss up to Godfrey and run his propaganda for him.
Notice how over the past year, the gummint has borrowed more money than we have all paid in taxes.
Most Gummint Spending is Borrowed Money, Not Taxes
Let us look forward to the day that they dissolve the IRS, get rid of all taxes, and ALL government spending is paid for with newly created, borrowed money!
What a bright day awaits us all.
Comment bumped to front page
2:30 of unadulterated nonsense.
Monotreme,
Did you note the lisp in Abraham Shreeve's voice?
That, and his body language around Godfrey, explains to me, for the first time, what causes him to be so fond of the mayor.
It ain't about politics for Abe. No, it's something else altogether.
Searchlight is on again tonight. Was on last night too. How many more?
Counting:
The ordinance I think limits the number of nights a searchlight can be on. Call your Council man or woman, find out what that limit is, and ask whether this particular light is being monitored for compliance, and if so, by who, and if not, why not. They're your council members, or at least some of them are. Ask.
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