Posted on 03/24/2022 10:47:47 AM PDT by poconopundit
Rivian, a recently gone public electric vehicle company supported by the Biden administration and in which Leftist Billionaire George Soros recently invested a huge sum of money is trying to drop a massive car manufacturing plant in the middle of a retired community east of Atlanta. Citizens are angry at Governor Kemp and other politicians who are attempting to fast-track this project in total disregard of the rights of local citizens. To fully explain all that’s wrong with this Rivian auto plant "deal" — and the likely motives of Kemp and his cronies for supporting it — will require 2 or 3 Free Republic vanity stories. This is the first of those stories where the key focus is on the terrible impact this plan is having on the people in the quiet community of Morgan County, Georgia. Click the image below to read its contents full screen. |
Imagine you and your spouse have retired to a quiet Georgia county 40 miles east of Atlanta. Indeed it was precisely that big city’s metro area traffic, noise, and suburban sprawl you aimed to escape by settling in the county. A few years back, the community leaders sat down and approved a 20-year plan for your county that emphasized lots of green space, conservation, rural living, and modest development. Then a few months ago, along comes a California firm from Silicon Valley named Rivian, a startup electric vehicle company who aims to drop a massive car manufacturing plant in the middle of your retirement paradise. And to your outrage, the Georgia state governor Brian Kemp thinks this car factory is his ticket to boasting “I created 7,500 new jobs in this state” for his upcoming reelection. Further: Kemp and other local government conspirators are fast tracking the approvals for this plant like it’s already a done deal — with very little transparency over the deal’s specifics and too short a citizen review time. In fact, the 2,200-acre development is scheduled to start building in the summer of 2022. This is the “Jobs Scam from Hell” that citizens of the small city of Rutledge in Morgan County, Georgia are facing right now. And the citizens are fighting hard — through lawsuits and loud voices — to keep this new auto plant from coming in. Why Rutledge Citizens are Up in ArmsRutledge residents are generally not opposed to electric vehicles. The issue they have is the radical change a large manufacturing plant would bring to their community. Georgia Broadcasting Organization (GPO) published a fine story a few weeks ago detailing the Rutledge fight fromn a citizens perspective. Here's a summary of their analysis in a story entitled Rutledge vs. Rivian: Morgan County residents fight development of massive manufacturing plant. |
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What is Suburban Sprawl?If you live near Atlanta, Georgia, you know exactly what "suburban sprawl" means because it envelopes your life. Even if you live inside Atlanta's city limits, it impacts you immensely as people take flight to the suburbs, lowering the inner-city taxpayer's ability to pay for infrastructure maintenance, police, and other essential services. |
In fact, Greg LeRoy, a foremost watchdog in city and state economic development says, “Atlanta is arguably the worst-sprawling metro area” in America.
I got that definition reading LeRoy’s beautifully written and researched book, The Great American Jobs Scam: Corporate Tax Dodging and the Myth of Job Creation (2005). The book goes a long way to explaining the highly complex corporate-relocation and siting-a-new-factory scams that pit American cities and states against each other – and cause serious harm to taxpayers and their quality of life. Click the image at right to learn more about the book. |  |
The Long Range Damage of Suburban SprawlBeyond the specific objections Rutledge citizens have over the Rivian car plant, LeRoy documents many other problems that Suburban Sprawl causes:
In a few weeks we'll publish a second vanity story on the Rivian issue, and it's there we'll analyze Rivian's shaky business model and explain the corrupt reasons Governor Kemp and other politicians favor this deal. Finally, in tribute to the good citizens of Rutledge, we offer the following poem as a rallying cry. Good-bye, Suburban Sprawl. I'm Going Home! |
| Good-bye, Suburban Sprawl! I'm going home: Thou art not my friend, and I'm not thine. Long through thy weary traffic I drive; A river-ark on the ocean brine, Long I've been tossed like the driven foam; But now, Suburban Sprawl! I'm going home. Good-bye to Flattery's fawning face; | I am going to my own hearth-stone, Bosomed in yon green Rutledge hills alone, A secret nook in a pleasant land, Whose groves the frolic fairies planned; Where arches green, the livelong day, Echo the blackbird's roundelay, And vulgar feet have never trod A spot that is sacred to thought and God. O, when I am safe in my sylvan home, |
“Grandma and Grandpa upset over new jobs” isn’t a very compelling story.
Kemp is decidedly compromised and has not served Georgia or the nation. He most likely has much to fear from a Trump WH.
It now appears the only candidate that can beat Kemp for the governor seat is leftist dem Stacey Abrams.
Georgia's only chance may be if it can put up a coalition of its very attractive but relatively politically inexperienced R candidates and produce one that can beat both Kemp in the primary and Abrams in the general election.
“Another Nimby
Since when did it become American to demand control of your neighbor’s property through a central government committee Comrad?”
Remember when all us conservatives were supportive of AOC getting the Amazon warehouse cancelled? Oh wait...
I seem to recall Ford divesting from Rivian right after it IPO’d, but I can’t be sure.
And if you happen to live on a large property, and the guy with an adjoining property decides to turn it into a Swap Meet, that will also be fine by you.
Rivian has an office (headquarters?) in Irvine, CA, about half a mile from my office. I’ve seen a few of their trucks.
“This attack on a $5B auto factory is the most retarded thing ever.0
...and, you live in California, so you’re used to getting kicked around without making a whimper. Obviously, those Georgians have something you don’t...balls.
Sure, that means I get to have a 24/7 liquor store as well. But you still would need a liquor license, which can cost up to a million dollars depending on the jurisdiction.
As for some guy setting up a flea market on my large property, I would either charge him rent or kick him off for trespassing.
The biggest pitfalls of freedom, is that the other guy has freedom as well....
And stories like these sort out the freedom lovers from the wanabees who are just leftists who state freedom as long as they approve the activity.
Zoning and land use was a Karl Marx idea, one of his 10 planks of communism. He would be proud of you comrade
Rivian took over the old Chrysler/Mitsubishi plant in Illinois that closed up in 2016, IIRC.
True libertarians believe in open borders which leads to left-leaning immigrants voting for big government and against libertarian policies.
True libertarians believe in letting corporations do whatever they will so long as it is not illegal. This leads to corporations becoming rent seeking monopolies and buying legislation that undermines libertarian values.
Libertarianism is thus self-destructive.
It also requires a large majority of the populace to be entrepreneurial which is something that history has shown to be a mirage. Either that or you need to allow lazy people to suffer and die, which is where welfare, orphanages, free health care, etc. all come from because people don't want to see others suffering and dying, and they don't want to directly pay to prevent strangers from suffering and dying. Thus Big Government.
Libertarianism does work well in science fiction though, so libertarians have that going for them.
It's also interesting to note that the Libertarian Party in America has gone lefty and woke, so there really is no place for "real" libertarians except to be anti-Trumpers in the RINO wing of the Republican Party. And yes, if you like Trump then you also like tariffs which means you're not a real libertarian and are just another socialist pretending to be a libertarian.
BTW, Noam Chomsky says that he is a libertarian. Isn't that interesting.
In its third quarter of 2021, Rivian Automotive's actual revenues where $1 million. Now look at how much the company was valued around the time of their 2021 IPO.
That’s a good point to make. Maybe taking over the site was a ploy to eventually take the company public. Looking at the substantial Illinois plant in the pic suggests, “This is a successful company.”
A county is zoned a certain way. If someone is proposing to zone a huge tract of land in a different way, the citizens have the right to vote on it and have a fair public hearing of their views.
Another point is that in a big project like this, the Jobs Scam expert Greg LeRoy estimates that the State tax breaks are likely to exceed $1 billion dollars. And that hurts every taxpayer in the State.
Yet Kemp has been cagey about what the incentives are. And I think we know why.
The best disinfectant is sunshine.
In a couple weeks I’m posting another Rivian story that looks at the financial impact to the State and how Kemp is continuing the practice of giving away the store.
Recall the Jobs Scam that Amazon pulled off a couple years ago regarding its “second Headquarters”. Often the Amazons of the world know exactly where they want to put a new facility and their intend to make a contest out of their selection while while squeezing the target city/state as much as possible.
Interesting, when AOC and Bernie Sanders balked at Amazon taking their Jobs Scam to New York City, that’s probably one issue where many FReepers could agree with them on.
There are many kinds of Corporate Welfare, of course. And Greg LeRoy estimated the damage of these Jobs Scams to be worth $50 billion a year in 2005.
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I'm going to guess what expert Greg LeRoy would say (and hope to get his perspective for my second story). Given what I've read in his book, I think he would probably say, a deal like this is not a good state investment. And the reasons would include these:
Let’s see…where to begin.
First, Alex Soros, demon spawn to his daddy, is heavily invested in Stacy Abrams. Now that his daddy and the family, more or less, own Rivian that means more Soros involvement in the state. As Schumer stated in November 2020 and January 2021…first we take Georgia, then we take the country…or something to that effect.
As someone that is from NY but has called Georgia home for the last 26+ years, I’d rather Soros, Schumer and the rest of them stay out of the state.
This means more Soros DAs and other politicians coming to the state. And for those that don’t know, like Reaganez Trump.Deplorable JimRed, there are places ripe for Soros influence. Mostly because of illegal immigration, refugees, and the states Open Door policy for any and every business to relocate here, just like Perry did in Texas.
So, pretty soon, if one isn’t there already, Soros backed politicians will be in two of what were formerly, the most Conservative places in the country, Cobb and Gwinnett County. Then they’ll be in Fulton, Dekalb, Douglas, Henry, Clayton, Rockdale, Dougherty, Richmond/Augusta, Chatham/Augusta…not to mention Governor(stacy abrams), Lt Gov, AG, SecState, etc etc.
Reaganez…..the most retarded thing ever….hmmmm….Communities/governments all over the world fight tooth and nail for this kind of investment…..hmmmmm
So, you have no problems with government officials bringing something to your community that you have no say in and could, in some cases, force you out of your home because you can’t afford to live there anymore?
Obviously, you’re a Kemp/GeorgiaRINO wet dream with the attitude of….you can’t afford to live here anymore, tough sh*t, move and we’ll find someone that can. Doesn’t matter to you that some of the folks that live in this area have been there for decades and retired there for a reason, that some of them have been there for generations dating back to the Confederacy and some are living in the houses they were actually born in. That stuff doesn’t matter to corporate giants like you. EFF the Little People, who needs them.
As for fighting for this investment….EVERYTHING was done in secret. NO public comment.
As for the 7500 jobs promised….poconopundit didn’t touch on it, but, the Kia Plant sits on 2200 acres of relatively, unusable forest land, between I85 and a CSX train track. Not exactly where you’d put anything but an industrial site, NOT, in the middle of beautiful farm land that has been growing hay, cotton and raising cattle for generations.
So, lets compare the two….knowing that the industry is dominated by robots and automation. So much so, that while working for CSX Transportation and escorting a Senior VP to the Kia plant years ago as CSX and Kia finalized a deal for putting their cars on CSX trains, one Senior VP commented that she “had never seen the car making process up close and how many jobs were lost due to the robots and all the automation”.
Kia Plant…..2200 acres….over 300k cars a year….Kia/Hyundai actually has a market share…….3000 employees…oh yeah, plant is in the middle of nowhere and Kia built/funded the construction of the needed police and fire stations and some other infrastructure, unlike what is going to happen in the Rivian situation.
Rivian Plant….2000 acres….1000 cars a year….ABSOLUTELY ZERO MARKET SHARE….CEO just resigned due to production issues…Amazon rescinded a100k order…and they’re promising-wait for it—7500 jobs. For those like you that have trouble with simple math, more than double Kia for a car that no one wants.
Speaking of the car, lets take a look at the company’s bread and butter, the pickup they’re trying to sell..
Starting price on Rivian pickup….$70k
Starting price on electric F150 and Silverado…..$39k
And I doubt it will be long before Dodge jumps in the mix. So, now the world has the Big 3, Tesla, Kia, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Porsche, Audi Volkswagen all making an EV of some sort….all with considerable and demonstrable market share competing for a finite number of batteries. Gee…I wonder who will get dibs on the batteries, first. Will it be the EV startup with no customers or will it be Ford, GM or Tesla?
Tell It Right….you might have a point, but I can add this….collectively if you were to combine all the federal law enforcement agencies and their personnel, there are thousands of government owned and issued vehicles. They cannot use EVs. Not possible. Perhaps the single biggest government entity for vehicles is the US Post Office and it recently told the administration that they will not be buying or using EVs for any reason.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/02/climate/postal-service-trucks-electric-climate.html
Trump.Deploable…..Another Nimby….amazing how folks that aren’t adversely effected by stuff like this dirty deal love to throw out cards like that. Almost like certain folks being able to throw out the race card or misogynist card when needed. You are 100% right about not being able to control your neighbor from selling their property, but the residents can control what is built there and what they will be FORCED to pay in the future. They have a say and can control what the Zoning Board says and does, as they are the ones that ultimately approve the permits. They are the ones that SHOULD have final say in ANY tax incentives or breaks given to a company, since it’s their tax money being given away.
But since you have no problems with stuff like that, how about you let your local government know, IN SECRET, that you’d love to sell your home and have it replaced with a strip club or cancer causing chemical plant. No worries. Lead the way.
But, here in Georgia we have politicians that operate in the dark. They tell the person interviewing them that they were elected to make decisions for their constituents and do not need constituent input. Just like the county commissioner in Gwinnett Cty did over the Rowen Project. Another deal done completely in the backroom, that no one knew about. One that will destroy the local area with traffic, congestion and sprawl. A project that one of those involved in it stated…WE KEPT THE DEAL SECRET SO WE COULD GET THE LAND CHEAPER. How awesome is that? Elected representatives keeping information so their constituents can get ripped off by a developer.
JimRed…here in Georgia the movie industry gets an $800,000,000 tax break. I don’t recall, as a Georgia voter, ever being given the opportunity to vote on that. Oh wait, the industry brings in jobs. The industry shopped their BS to other states, Georgia’s corrupt politicians bought it. The industry is in Georgia for the tax breaks and to take advantage of the stat’s Right To Work laws, so they don’t have to pay union wages like they do in California, NY and elsewhere. For some odd reason, they tend to film in only a handful of towns, which is odd. Most probably, damn near all, of the people hate it. And only some cases are the business owners that are forced to shut down, compensated for the intrusion.
So, 20,000 Georgians have their lives turned upside down, some will be forced to move as they won’t be able to afford living in there, the area is completely transformed from farm land to a concrete jungle because this fraudulent plant will be good for 10-11 million Georgian’s who couldn’t find Social Circle or Rutledge on a map?
Jobs….anyone that thinks there will be 7500 jobs created, in an industry that is so heavily automated it living in fantasy land. Anyone that thinks most of the jobs, other than the dude sweeping the floors, will go to the locals is living in fantasy land. All part of the plant to turn the place Blue. As pointed in the book, poconopundit, referenced, the jobs don’t materialize the way they’re promised. In other words, the juice ain’t worth the squeeze in this case. Especially when done with such secrecy.
There’s no place to put another beltway, I285. It’s been talked about for years. Not feasible.
Uncontrolled development and sprawl. Nothing more.
Go to Hall County. Family sells land, developer comes in slams up a subdivision. Developer isn’t responsible for anything more than a turn lane to get into the place. Traffic at the nearest, 4-way intersection with a stop sign, is an absolute disaster all day long, with no way to expand the road to alleviate the congestion. And even if they do, it leads to more congestion.
Newton County, Georgia...Porterdale...The Oaks Golf Course...owned by the Schultz couple. Nancy was on the county commission. She lost her seat. Her and her husband sold the course for $15million. Apartment complex on the way. Local zoning board DENIES the application, zoning change request and building plans. Zoning Board overturned by city council. I dare you to go to the intersection by the course. During rush hour getting to the light will seem like an eternity. And, there’s no way to expand the road.
Oh yeah...one more thing...half the golf course/future apartment complex sits in a flood zone. Didn’t think you could build in a flood zone or, if you did, get the requisite insurance, etc.
Where is there a Ford assembly plant in Georgia? The last one was in Hapeville, that is now the Porsche place.
Because the county ISN’T POOR, by any means.
It’s not an inner city neighborhood that has no one living in it, with decaying buildings, warehouses, etc.
For starters.
And absolutely nothing you say in your feeble defense would work.
Because like the local politicians that were part of this whole thing and dropped it on their neighbors, all control and further comment would go to and be addressed to the state. Where the local folks have no pull.
And in your case of the liquor store or flea market, if the state wanted it so bad, they would override any decision you made in the interest of “progress” and you’d be left with NOTHING, but charging folks $20 to park on your lawn.
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