…New York expands tech infrastructure

Brattleboro Reformer lays some blame here with Gov.Jim “Equals Jobs ” Douglas

Some perspective on plant layoffs

It’s not taxes, regulations, energy costs or attitude. New York chose to build an infrastructure for the future and the tech firms followed. Vermont — under the leadership of Gov. Douglas — has not.

Douglas spoke Tuesday about “the need to continue to further diversify our economy, encourage innovation and empower employers to create more and better paying jobs.” But these are just words. When it comes to making a real commitment toward doing these things, he and his administration have nothing to offer except tired rhetoric.

Douglas and the Vermont Republican Party can keep blaming the Democrats for the alleged anti-business climate, or they can come up with real ideas, backed by real money, to create the next big wave of creativity and innovation in Vermont. We’re betting they’d rather keep pointing fingers than come up with a plan.

http://www.reformer.com/reform…

It came quickly, it was to the point, it was simple and it was sound-bite punchy. The Pollina campaign’s shot to Douglas’s gut was picture perfect:

Pollina cited the 2008 “Summer Harvest” publication by the Agency of Agriculture in which Roger Albee, secretary of the agency, says that Gov. James Douglas “initiated” the “Buy Local movement” in 2003.

“This is ridiculous,” Pollina said during a press conference outside the Agency of Agriculture’s State Street headquarters Wednesday morning. “The idea that Jim Douglas founded the buy-local movement ranks right up there with the idea that Al Gore invented the Internet.”

The best thing about this is that it was an attack on Pollina’s terms. Sure it was technically a response to something from the Administration, but a response to something Douglas clearly thought would – once again – be left outside the political arena, and even if it was brought up in the context of a campaign, nobody would give a crap.

If you need proof that Pollina’s shot hurt, look no further than Douglas’s own administration, which ignores these sorts of attacks generally (especially from Pollina), but felt obliged to respond. Also note that reporters – who of late have felt the need to get a Symington quote on any election-related stories that include Pollina – didn’t bother to give her campaign a ring. It’s all Pollina.

Both campaigns should take note: even if this particular issue is forgotten in a week, the attack drew blood. Keep drawing blood and the particulars will matter less than a new picture of Douglas that gets steadily painted; that of an opportunistic, ineffective politician who is only interested in his own job security and will say whatever he thinks will help him towards that goal, whether or not its fair or even true.

And an extra note to the Symington campaign; you folks need to find a way to get your own shots like this in or you might find yourselves left out of the media playing field. Pollina still has no chance in hell of winning this thing, but I’d be willing to bet he picked up a few votes today – votes that otherwise would’ve gone to the Speaker.

So my wife found some rather inexpensive real estate real estate recently on the internet.  Here in a northern Vermont city, ten minutes away from where we currently live.  I called the realtor and made an appointment that evening to check the place out.  It was being sold as is, in need of TLC.  The realtor said it was a foreclosed property with a lot of deferred maintenance.  I naively thought to myself; needed new furnace, doors, windows, plumbing, electrical, probably even has a leaky roof.

The price, I wondered.  Between what the realtor said on the phone and some quick internet research, something was off.   The average price of just a lot in this city, was $50-60,000.  This was a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home for less than half that.  What would make the price of a home go down I querried, then I Googled.  

Damage to a house drops its price.  Foundation and roof issues are usually the culprit.  They’re also the two things that make a home not “structurally sound”, and the credit unions won’t give you a VHFA loan for it.  That must be it I said, there must be something wrong.  So I did more Googling looking up tips to spot a bad foundation and a bad roof.  

When we got there in the evening the realtor was really nice, met us in the driveway, and brought us right to the door of the house.  She was on her way to a wake, so I didn’t want to be rude and take all night.  This was our first mistake.  ALWAYS WALK AROUND THE HOUSE BEFORE YOU GO IN.  So we walked in.

It was the most beautiful little hundred plus year old city home.  As we entered the house I noticed the gap in the concrete block foundation immediately.  This and the crack on the inside wall were a dead giveaway.  Serious structural issues.  But we went in anyways, and it was filthy.  I mean the filthy like I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind, and will probably have PTSD and nightmares later on in life about!  Filthy.

It had potential, but needed a lot of work, and a lot of cleaning.  Then there was the basement, I opened the door to a ridiculously old light switch that didn’t work.  Stepped down the stairs to a cellar that on this side of the house had an old stone foundation, a dug basement.  The light found a very old furnace and most of the rest of the basement.  The ad?

Yes, the ad said something about a full walkout basement.  Not really wanting to venture further my mind had already been made up, wasn’t interested in the place.  We headed back outside to look at the yard.  It was the most beautiful city lot we’d ever seen.  It had a stream running down one side and along the back, with the backyard sloping to it.  We were commenting how hard it would be to eradicate all the invasive Japanese Knotweed, when we turned back to look at the house and saw the full, walkout basement.  

The crack I had seen in the house was no doubt associated with the fact that the backside of the house had no foundation save for some pressure treated 6X6 supports and sheets of plywood.  It looked like someone had undertaken to enlarge their basement themselves and hadn’t gotten very far.  They dug a hole so deep and far behind the house, water from the brook was seeping in.  The whole thing was wet, and eroding the foundation.  We shot around to the other side of the house and observed a 2×4 holding up the corner of the house.  So I thanked the lady for her time and we were on our way.

On the way home I said someone with the cash is going to come in and level the place.  Put in fill and concrete slab for a house and garage, and have themselves a nice place in the city.  

( – promoted by odum)

I’m not very optimistic about Vermont’s economic future.  According to Douglas’s latest, Vermont’s economic strength is in it’s “diversity”.    That’s a crock of crap, the biggest load of BS that’s ever been heaped upon our state.  Diversity?

We’re so reliant on tourists to pump up our economy it’s ridiculous.  No wonder we have no tax base and have to tax peoples property.  Driven around Vermont lately?   We’re a state of tourist trap after tourist trap, just about every road you take.  Can’t really blame people, it’s where the money is.  None of us certainly have any.

We’ve got artisan and specialty businesses galore, but how many people do they employ?  A couple at a whack.  Don’t get me wrong, they’re great, but we need employers who hire a lot of people.  We need employers who pay decent livable wages to Vermonters.  This is where Vermont is absolutely not competitive.  We’ve got a lot of educated, hardworking people who’ve had to settle for less.

How many employers are there in the thousand plus employee range?  Not including the state of Vermont, you’ve got what IBM, maybe Lockheed Martin?  Face it the only industry we have is our huge dairy farms, and who do they employ?  Mexican immigrants with questionable legal status, because they can’t find anyone else to work for housing and pathetic wages.

Smart directed growth is what Vermont needs, spread evenly throughout the state.  Not a bunch more service jobs that pay ridiculously low wages and force people to live paycheck to paycheck.  This direction starts from the top.  No, we don’t need all sorts of industry pumping pollutants into our air, water and soils, but we need something.  The governor should be seeking out environmentally responsible businesses to bring into the state.  

Better yet, look to accommodate local businesses and their growth needs.  Help businesses that employ Vermonters to grow.  Look at Unilever, opening a Ben & Jerry’s out west, look at Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, setting up shop in Tennessee.  We can’t even keep Vermont companies in Vermont let alone attract new ones!

The buck stops at the Governors office.  That’s where the direction of our state comes from.  Instead of taking credit for everyone elses work, and blaming failures on the legislature, we need a governor who can deliver.  We need someone who can not only keep jobs in Vermont but deliver us new ones.  After all the governor is not a spiritual figure head like the Pope.  The governor needs to do more than make appearances, and wave to crowds.   They need to do the work of the state, and work damn hard at it!