Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Maybe The Pulse Should Stick to Comedy
If you stroll through the Web site of our latest Chattanooga weekly, you'll find a great example of its divergent talents: You really shouldn't miss the gut-bustingly funny spoof of the article in the TFP today extolling the wonders of its new blog.
But, please, guys, stick to the tongue-in-cheek comedy and stay away from the economic development news. In this week's print edition, there is an article that has the breathless feel of a big scoop. Except, it's, um, not even close.
Anyone who has followed the Project Pinetree happenings at Enterprise South would know that Chrysler has not even been among the names seriously considered since Chattanooga started ending up on short lists. Kudos to Aaron Mesh for getting the story right about the drama that happened in Savannah/Pooler between Chrysler, Georgia's Economic Development Department and other fine state agencies with great employees. Here's the thing: when Chrysler bailed on a major plant in Savannah, they made it clear that they just weren't going to build a big plant. And Chattanooga is on the short list for a major, Tier I plant. It's clear that while Chrysler has been shopping in the South, something on the scale of Enterprise South isn't what they are looking for.
Unfortunately, though, that isn't the worst part about the piece. Aaron makes a big deal of calling the three other companies who are known to be looking to expand, and tries to parse the meaning of their words. This is a silly endeavor of the highest proportions.
All of these negotiations are conducted in secret. Secret because the companies don't want to show their hands on manufacturing plans to their competitors, and secret because states don't want to reveal their incentive packages to other states just to be one-upped. It would be very unlikely that the PR person who talks to mid-size alt-weeklies would be involved with these kind of negotiations to begin with, and a denial even if they did is standard form.
This is all a long way of saying: Sorry, Pulse, but there's just no news here. But hey, those comedy bits on your blog really are priceless!
But, please, guys, stick to the tongue-in-cheek comedy and stay away from the economic development news. In this week's print edition, there is an article that has the breathless feel of a big scoop. Except, it's, um, not even close.
Anyone who has followed the Project Pinetree happenings at Enterprise South would know that Chrysler has not even been among the names seriously considered since Chattanooga started ending up on short lists. Kudos to Aaron Mesh for getting the story right about the drama that happened in Savannah/Pooler between Chrysler, Georgia's Economic Development Department and other fine state agencies with great employees. Here's the thing: when Chrysler bailed on a major plant in Savannah, they made it clear that they just weren't going to build a big plant. And Chattanooga is on the short list for a major, Tier I plant. It's clear that while Chrysler has been shopping in the South, something on the scale of Enterprise South isn't what they are looking for.
Unfortunately, though, that isn't the worst part about the piece. Aaron makes a big deal of calling the three other companies who are known to be looking to expand, and tries to parse the meaning of their words. This is a silly endeavor of the highest proportions.
All of these negotiations are conducted in secret. Secret because the companies don't want to show their hands on manufacturing plans to their competitors, and secret because states don't want to reveal their incentive packages to other states just to be one-upped. It would be very unlikely that the PR person who talks to mid-size alt-weeklies would be involved with these kind of negotiations to begin with, and a denial even if they did is standard form.
This is all a long way of saying: Sorry, Pulse, but there's just no news here. But hey, those comedy bits on your blog really are priceless!
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