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| Charlie Clark |
At the GBIC meeting, held in the BEDC Board Room at the ITEC Center, Hilts also announced that the city was on the verge of completing a GIS(geographic information system) to allow access to property addresses, voting districts, city facilities and more.
There were also updates by Hilts on the previously discussed Finnish foundry that is said to be considering a $200,000,000 facility on 75 acres to fabricate metal and ship to Monterrey, MX and, of course, SpaceX. Hilts fully expected to have a completed Environmental Impact Study released for Boca Chica Beach, but, because of concerns expressed by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, that report is not expected until Thanksgiving at the earliest.
Nevertheless, Gilbert Salinas of BEDC attended a meeting in College Station, Texas last week attended by several companies active in the space industry. According to Hilts, Salinas noticed that all of the companies at the seminar, unlike in the past, seemed to know exactly where Brownsville is. Hilts attributed this to the ongoing negotiations between the city and SpaceX.
Harlingen Envy? V.I.D.A. Makes Claims
One of the board members commented that the goal of the GBIC was to attract a company that would add infrastructure and create local jobs, not simply a retail outlet like the Bass Pro Shop, an obvious reference to a recently added Harlingen business. The same board member later commented that Harlingen had decided to no longer fund the V.I.D.A. and RGV Lead, two prominently funded GBIC favorites. In fact, V.I.D.A. had asked their funding be increased to $302,000 for the coming year.
V.I.D.A. earns its Brownsville taxpayer money by working with about 50 citizens currently on public assistance, guiding them to get an Associate Degree and eventually a job. V.I.D.A. claims to have had 43 "graduate" from the program last year, now off public assistance, holding down jobs at an average of $35,000 annually. While a V.I.D.A. counselor visits once a month with the prospective job holder, the trainees get together for group discussion three times a month.
Brownsville had a Toyota dealership for decades. But it went broke, hard to with Toyota. Might want to keep an eye on the port with your economic forecast as the Keppel people are building a huge shipyard that will likely replace the work done in Brownsville at Altamira, Tamaulipas in a joint venture with PEMEX. Will create 4,000 jobs. Why would you build a platform in the US when you can do it in Altamira for less than half? There is a ton of oil sitting out in front Tamaulipas. http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2013/10/04/pemex-singapore-keppel-to-build-shipyard-in-mexico/
ReplyDeletehttp://www.2b1stconsulting.com/perdido-discoveries-could-double-pemex-crude-oil-reserves/
One of the board members commented that the goal of the GBIC was to attract a company that would add infrastructure and create local jobs, not simply a retail outlet like the Bass Pro Shop, an obvious reference to a recently added Harlingen business.
ReplyDeleteIdentify that board member, if possible, please.
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ReplyDeleteFind a complete list of Toyota dealers in UAE, as well as items bearing the TOYOTA name, agents, and distributors, by using the UAE Brand Directory.
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