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Post by diamonddave on Jul 14, 2015 23:58:50 GMT -5
I just thought of a good way for the city of Pickens to make money other than being a feeding trough for lawyers. In fact, it just might help Pickens County shed it's bedroom image. When OWT moves it's assembly operations out to that new distribution center in Anderson, fill the empty building with Confederate flags. I just read where the price jumped from $3.00 to $20.00 since they took it down in Columbia. That even beats what's happened with the price of eggs.
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Post by geraldgarrett on Jul 15, 2015 9:23:01 GMT -5
You probably couldn't get by with flying or selling a confederate flag that close to a bunch of lawyers, Diamonddave. Seems that a profession that was once noted for DEFENDING rights is now largely hellbent on taking them away.
Also, with all the changes and buyouts over the years, I have no idea who owns the old Singer property nowadays. For all I know, you might have to fly the ISIS flag to keep them happy.
Overall, I think it's an idea that deserves consideration. But in the long run, my read on our current City Council is that they'd prefer use that space for another grocery chain staffed by part-time adults on minimum wage and no benefits and 15 or 20 new restaurants staffed by sub-minimum wage employees on tips who prepare the food for everybody else, then go home and have Ramen noodles for dinner because it's all they can afford.
But, hey, the economy is recovering, right? Even the experts tell us it is, with all those jobs being created and the stock market holding its own. Who cares if the middle class disappears?
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Post by conservative on Jul 15, 2015 11:44:48 GMT -5
Gerald, you're right about the City's love affair with prepared food businesses. After establishing the 2% hospitality tax levied on them to fund a new recreation building 10 years ago, the City has refinanced that bond and every nickel coming in for as far as the eye can see. The Opening of a new fast food joint means a new credit line. I'm not smart enough to know if that's good Government but only time will tell if things like the Amphitheater and bike trails were worth the money spent in advance. Pickens has made a bet that tourism and leisure activities will provide a better reason to live in Pickens than nearby employment opportunities. It might prove true if Pickens County would have more success in attracting big employers for middle class employees. Or we could stop trying to grow the cost of living in Pickens Co. and build more roads to get back and forth to jobs in Greenville.
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Post by diamonddave on Jul 15, 2015 14:07:05 GMT -5
You probably couldn't get by with flying or selling a confederate flag that close to a bunch of lawyers, Diamonddave. Seems that a profession that was once noted for DEFENDING rights is now largely hellbent on taking them away.
Also, with all the changes and buyouts over the years, I have no idea who owns the old Singer property nowadays. For all I know, you might have to fly the ISIS flag to keep them happy.
Overall, I think it's an idea that deserves consideration. But in the long run, my read on our current City Council is that they'd prefer use that space for another grocery chain staffed by part-time adults on minimum wage and no benefits and 15 or 20 new restaurants staffed by sub-minimum wage employees on tips who prepare the food for everybody else, then go home and have Ramen noodles for dinner because it's all they can afford.
But, hey, the economy is recovering, right? Even the experts tell us it is, with all those jobs being created and the stock market holding its own. Who cares if the middle class disappears? Actually, I should have referred to them as TTI. I don't think OWT exists anymore, and although Singer still exists, it is not part of TTI. TTI's world headquarters is in Fort Worth, TX, and they do have an Asian division, with factories in China, and as if it were any big surprise, nearly all those Confederate flags are manufactured in China. Since Alice Manufacturing Company has it's own China connection, complete with imports stored in the mills that they've closed down, I'm certain that Larry Martin would be able to help some opportunistic entrepreneur place an order big enough to fill the former Singer building with rebel flags. And actually, Gerald, you do have a point. The former Singer building and property could be owned by an anonnymous third party. Case and point; despite what the name implies locally, Central Textiles is headquartered in Hong Kong. Surprised?
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Post by diamonddave on Jul 15, 2015 14:23:08 GMT -5
Gerald, you're right about the City's love affair with prepared food businesses. After establishing the 2% hospitality tax levied on them to fund a new recreation building 10 years ago, the City has refinanced that bond and every nickel coming in for as far as the ettrye can see. The Opening of a new fast food joint means a new credit line. I'm not smart enough to know if that's good Government but only time will tell if things like the Amphitheater and bike trails were worth the money spent in advance. Pickens has made a bet that tourism and leisure activities will provide a better reason to live in Pickens than nearby employment opportunities. It might prove true if Pickens County would have more success in attracting big employers for middle class employees. Or we could stop trying to grow the cost of living in Pickens Co. and build more roads to get back and forth to jobs in Greenville. Actually, now that I've given it enough though, maybe building that bicycle trail wasn't such a bad idea. Why not, since the Pickens Railroad could no longer operate at a profit. It's reached a point that if you live in the city of Pickens, unless you're a lawyer or Larry Martin, riding a bicycle is the only means of transportation you can afford to get to Easley. After all, it's hard for a railroad to make a profit when all of your shippers and receivers have closed down, and maybe someday, after you pedal that bike to Easley, you'll be able to catch a train to Greenville. You might even be able to get Amtrak to add a car to haul bicycles.
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upset
New Member
Posts: 37
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Post by upset on Jul 20, 2015 10:57:36 GMT -5
;)I see people riding the trail, but where is all the development? The trail doesn't make it to Easley.
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Post by diamonddave on Jul 21, 2015 21:57:11 GMT -5
The development is the 5 closed down textile mills along its route, 3 of which are owned by the company that's been handing out fat paychecks for 34 years to Pickens's most distinguished prominent upstanding citizen. Also, you also get to pedal your bike past a closed down concrete company, and if you're lucky enough to pedal by the closest mill at the right time, you get to see a Kohl's truck backed up to a dock picking up bed linnen from China to deliver goods bound for the store on the other side of Easley. And when you get to the Easley end, you can go left into town, or go right and see another closed mill once owned by the employer of the soon-to-be only non-lawyer in the city of Pickens.
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Post by diamonddave on Jul 29, 2015 1:05:42 GMT -5
I'd like to send a clear message to all the would be flat screen TV thieves that might be in a library trolling pickenspolitics.com on a computer. The only thing between Larry Martin's house and the Pickens City Police and Pickens County Sheriff's Department is all the lawyers on Main Street. Consider yourself warned.
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