Mayor and the Truth about Marion

Quote from Fox News report on Marion.

"At a recent city council meeting in Marion Indiana, city leaders argued over how to spend the surplus cash in the budget. Its not a problem municipal and state governments typically have during a recession, figuring out how to spend, instead of how to make cuts. Marion leaders are trying not to be typical. Losing a major employer in 2004 was a strong incentive. "We lost our Thompson consumer plant which made...television components. Unemployment shot up to near 17% and we just figured it was time to go to work." says mayor Wayne Seybold. Going to work, meant using a "doing whatever it takes" mentality, to lure new business to the city of 30,000 people. Seybold met with company leaders around the United States and in China. Over a 5 year period, city leaders have coaxed over 400 businesses to collectively invest over a billion dollars in Marion. But probably the biggest coup was convincing General Motors not to pull out of the city. Tax incentives helped seal the deal.

GM has a large stamping plant in Marion, and a similar plant in the nearby city of Mansfield, Ohio. With GM needing to downsize, a battle of sorts emerged over which city would get to keep the jobs. Marion won, which means hundreds of GM workers will soon be calling the central Indiana city home. "In the midst of a recession its typical that the growth in one sector, the growth in one regional economy and the increase in jobs there will come at the expense of the contraction in economic activity and contraction of jobs in another " says Indiana Wesleyan professor Tom Lehman. "That's why we're not jumping up and cheering real loud about this, because we know it's at the expense of somebody else." Seybold says Economists determine those cities nationwide that tend to be on the winning end of the fight for growth, are the ones that have a more educated workforce, a greater diversity of population and local amenities that attract culture and arts. As the economy improves, experts say, there will be less of a need to pit city against city. Growth in one place could then lead to growth in another." (end of Fox quote)

The facts that we the unemployed citizen know about Marion is that there is still 17-30 percent unemployment. We welcome new business, but rue the loss of so many locally owned businesses. Drive down the by-pass, or other business roads. There are many empty shops.

Families with long term unemployment are suffering. Our city's answer is new business. New business does not help, if we lose old in the process. But that is wisdom, and this city with its IWU influence will not listen to such negative reports. So while the city council gives themselves and the Mayor raises, they lay off other workers to balance the budget. Then FOX news reports we have four million in reserve. This whole piece at Fox was just another Seybold whitewash.

But with IWU screaming; "Rah rah Wayne", and the Chronicle Tribune continuing in their quest to make Wayne's words scripture, we have little chance of converting people to the truth. Truth is, this city is broken. It will not get fixed without repentance unto the kingdom. The men who run this local government are bewitched by their own self-aggrandizing and hubris.

Although I understand the City Council wanting a raise, I do not believe it was wisdom in a depressed city. So the Mayor knows this; all you have to do is say "Marion is doing great", and then you can get more of the down trodden taxpayers money. Then you lie and say: "Taxes are reduced", (Seybold state did that) while employing new town and local taxes, trash tax, and the LOIT, and thereby you can claim reduced taxes while putting actual tax increases into effect. (inventiveness in doing evil comes to mind here) This City Council is a in the tank with the all that is in the Mayor's heart.

Oh yeah, how about rehiring the laid off workers with your surplus in the the budget.

How can this lying Mayor/government look us in the face, as we view closed business after closed business, and say; "all it well in Marion? Go to the unemployment office on Monday or Tuesday and find out the real story.

Or you can check out more lies at Fox. Or if you have a passion for lies, just listen to the next Seybold press release. Or Obama's for that matter.

http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/10/17/its-city-vs-city-in-the-battle-for-jobs/