Anderson Politics

[dreinert]

An Anderson, Pickens, Oconee Alliance, I kind of like that idea. Anyone who's attended any of the Ten at the Top meetings has heard the smooze, think regional, but we all know what that means, more outside influences, even imported from Florida, drafting their "vision" and dictating where the money goes, and it always flows to Greenville. It's time to break up the old buddy system which put Greenville in the drivers seat, get rid of things like GPATS and Upstate Alliance. You're not going to get anywhere by playing ball with Greenville, you're only going to win by forming a block and competing with them.

[franklin]

The outsiders see this area as growing and they want to be in control of it rather than the local people. We need to fight against them.

[diamonddave]

Yeah Ralph, it's been 3 1/2 years, & I just learned that this has been started back. Yeah, and part of the neucleus of this alliance would include Tri-County Tec.
There's another thing, Hal Johnson, President & CEO of Upstate Alliance is reported to be at the head of the list that Nikki Haley would appoint to become State Commerce Secretary. It ain't hard to figure how a significant amount of industrial development along Anderson Co's stretch of I-85, as well as in Pickens County would cut potential use & toll revenue from the Southern Connector. This area being a bedroom to industries located in Simpsonville & at Donaldson Center is part of the scheme that Tim Brett & Richard Few had in mind when they conned investors into loaning the money to build the road. This crowd is very tight with UpstateAlliance, & if Hal Johnson becomes Commerce Secretary, you can figure what will happen afterwards. This, along with the bankrupcy matter having been dumped in the General Assembly's lap.
By the way, in the article that broke this story, Anderson Co. finance committee reported that nearly all the help recruiting the 1st Quality tissiue plant came out of Columbia, with virtually no help from UpstateAlliance, & this was 1 reason that they finally decided to pull out. Yet, you hear ads on the radio where Hal Johnson is congradulating Anderson's success in recruiting the plant. What are we supposed to conclude from this?
Oh yeah, good to hear from you, Drinert.

[dreinert]

I believe education is the key, the citizens need to be continually informed about what these groups are really up to, what their real agenda is, and the tactics they use to manipulate the people and achieve their "consensus". Having attended 3 of the 4 Vision 2025 meetings, and 2 of the Ten at the Top meetings, it's easy to see the machine at work. For the average citizen who maybe attends only one, if any, they don't catch on to the manipulation. These people are professionals, they're very good at what they're paid to do, the only way to counter them is for the public to be aware, and get involved. If the citizens fail to get off their recliners and get involved, write letters, push back, we are surely lost. It's that simple.
At the last PCTA meeting we voted to expand our public meeting schedule to 6 times a year, every other month, in an effort to get more information out to more people. So much is happening so fast not only in Pickens, but also all around us, things that will have major impact on our way of life. Our goal is to bring in speakers who are knowledgeable about the issues, are able to educate us so we can better understand what we are up against. Where previously we always held our meetings at the Farm Bureau building, we will spread these meetings around, in Six Mile, Pickens, Easley, etc, to be fair to all citizens. It'll be a challenge, we hope the public will respond. I'm excited.

[ralph33]

So much, so fast? Well, not when it comes to getting industries with enough good paying jobs into the Pickens area that over half its workforce doesn't have to commute out of county. For that you'd have to say, too little, too late.
The folks definitely need to educate themselves as to how & why that happened, & what to do about it if & when given the opportunity. Some talk about green jobs. Here's the definition of a REAL GREEN JOB:
Everyday, over half of Pickens County's workforce commutes out of County, in vehicles occupied only by the driver. Carpooling has been suggested, but often isn't practical. This is not because it was their choice, they've been forced to because of a miserable lack of industrial recruitmant combined with the massive closing of textile & apparel plants in the Pickens Area. This significantly contributes to air pollution & global warming.
A REAL GREEN JOB is a job located close to where you live. This is a short & simple definition, & that's all there is to it. An adequate amount of jobs spread out enough to be close to where most, if not all its workers live decrease the vehicle-miles driven, & thus decreases global warming. Hello!!!EPA!!!!!DHEC!!!!!Are you reading this?

[alexsaitta]

www.independentmail.com/news/2011/jan/03/anderson-county-school-board-debuts-consolidation/

This is an article about a survey that asked Anderson residents if they support their current five district school system?

I think the survey asked the wrong question, because it failed to consider the financial situation we are facing. The question should have been, if we combine all five districts into one, it will free up $xxx,xxx a year that can be used to save x number teaching jobs. Would you support a decision to do that?

That is the reality. Anderson schools are short money, so they need to save money that can be used to save teaching jobs.
If they asked the question that way, I think they would have received a different answer.

[dreinert]

Ralph, when it comes to jobs, I think we're fighting something that goes beyond Pickens County. For example, recently I was reading in an Information Technology magazine that OUR federal government was sending $30 million to Sri Lanka to train IT workers so American companies could take advantage of the cheap labor force there. Our own government, using our own money to train foreign workers to encourage American companies to send their jobs overseas. This is what we're up against, whether IT jobs, manufacturing jobs, green jobs, our own government is screwing the American citizens, and they're doing it with our own money. On top of that you have this administration pushing new lower NAAQS through the EPA, bypassing our legislatures, which will have a crippling effect on American industry, especially electric generation, raising costs for all, business and homeowner alike. But there are some nitch companies growing in Pickens County, for example Kongsberg Automotive on 183 is expanding, expecting to double in size this year and then double again in 2012, and they're hiring, well, through a temp agency same as all businesses do now days. Ray Farley and the county are working closely with them to insure they have what they need to expand, or relocate if they have to, right here in Pickens County. I'm not saying we can't do better, we need to do better, but it's getting harder and harder to attract business when you have your own federal government working against you.

[diamonddave]

To Ralph & drinert, you've both taken words out of my mouth, but not everything. Our government, both parties, have screwed us. Bush gave tax breaks that gave deductions for normal business operations to close plants & move overseas, & allow them to hide money in offshore bank accounts, as well as to avoid paying income taxes by having corporate offices offshore. Obama got in front of a TV camera during his campaign, looked at the American people, & said he would end tax breaks for companies to send jobs overseas. It hasn't happened yet.
Kongsberg doesn't excuse what's happened over the past 30 years, nor is it even close enough to take care of all that live in Pickens Co that wish to work in Pickens Co, although it is a move in the right direction. Alex made a post that between Nov 2007 & June 2010, Pickens Co had lost about 4800 jobs, & that's in addtion to the 10s of thousands in net losses of the prior 2 decades. That we need to do better is 1hell of an understatement.
As far as the overall business environment, Greenville Co has always been in the same predicament, but always seems to do better. Ever wonder why? Could it be that business people have run the show in Greenville Co, while manufacturing bigwhigs have run the show in Pickens Co? The desparity definitely shows. Just a reminder, for the most part, you've had Verne Smith representing Greenville, & Larry Martin representing Pickens. Look at who's signed their paychecks. That might give you a hint.

[ralph33]

To Dave & Drinert, I agree with both of you on 99% of the issiue, but, this is supposed to be about Anderson County issiues, & what you're getting into is primarily a Pickens County issiue. Sure, Larry Martin keeping industries away from Alice has likely kept industries out of northern Anderson & western Greenville Counties, particularly if he had a hand in schmoozing Carroll Campbell into keeping BMW out of the Anderson area, but you may be about to get off the subject.
A major issiue in Anderson is their intention to pull out of UpstateAlliance. They would like to form a separate recruitment alliance with Pickens & Oconee Counties, with a major part of that alliance being Tri-County Tec. This might not be such a bad idea, because nearly all of UpstateAlliance's recruitment has been between Greenville & Spartanburg, in a direction away from Pickens County. This makes transportation a major issiue with Pickens & Anderson County residents, and an insurmountable one for Oconee County residents. Anderson cites that they've had very little co-operation with UpstateAlliance with recruitment into the Anderson area, and each county in the alliance pays $50,000 a year to be a member. Pickens & Oconee counties have had the same results, & might do well to join in the move, even though Ray Farley might have a different opinion, just like Burriss Nelson.
Now if anything deserves our attention, this does, & it is an Anderson issiue, even though it includes Pickens & Oconee Counties.

[diamonddave]

Let me be the first person to come onto pickenspolitics.com and congratulate Anderson County for taking the jobs that were once at the OWT plant at Pickens. After all, there just weren't enough of Pickens County's workforce having to commute out of county as it was. Pickens County has to earn that status as a bedroom the hard and expensive way. Now those trucks delivering parts and workers from south of the border don't have to go 25 miles away from I-85 anymore, and with that empty building in Pickens, the city of Pickens can be more of a feeding trough for lawyers.
Way to go Burris Nelson and Ray Farley! Y'all really earned your 6-figure salaries this time.

[upset]

 The county has Alliance Pickens. How many people do the taxpayer have to pay to satisfy these groups that want us to do more recruiting. If AP is not successful, maybe we need to eliminate it and try another effort or replace those in charge of AP. But adding another one on top of AP seems redundant.

[diamonddave]

I read in the Greenville News that Pickens County had pulled out of Upstate Alliance. I didn' t know about this before I read it, but I did know that about 3 or 4 years ago, Anderson County Council wanted to pull out of Upstate Alliance because for the $50,000 a year that they were paying, they were getting no help with their industrial recruitment. Instead, Upstate was concentrating their efforts on the Greer and Golden Strip areas, and they'd had enough of that BS. I don' know what became of it, but in fact, they wanted to get with Pickens and Oconee Counties and form the Golden Corner Alliance. Now it's $55,000, and Pickens County Council concluded that they were getting no return for their investment.
Like you, I kinda have the same opinion about AlliancePickens, especially the $150,000 a year they're paying Ray Farley. In fact, the same point for pulling out of UpstateAlliance can definitely be used to elimate AlliancePickens.

[pickenscoresident]

Wow! Is his salary $150,000/yr? Serious guestion here.

[diamonddave]

Yes, $150,000! His salary was $120,000, probably the same as Burris Nelson. Then he was offered another job at $150,000 and rather than have him leave, our gracious County Council matched the offer. It was in the Easley Progress and Pickens Sentinel at the time.
Did we get our money's worth or what?(sarcastic question here)

[pickenscoresident]

I'm in the wrong line of work.

Thanks for the info Diamond Dave!

[diamonddave]

Come to think of it, this was about 10 years ago. It could be more than that today. Burris Nelson left around 2002, so it had to be 2 or 3 years later. Actually, Ray Farley was never the snake oil salesman that Burris Nelson was, not that he doesn't try. I've always wondered why they wanted somebody whose most notorious occurance while he was Economic Development Director in Anderson the first time around was losing the BMW plant to Greer. And the strangest thing is that now he's back at the same job.