West Memphis/Marion economic news

[Mith242]

Hopefully he's correct again on this. This will certainly be a nice boost for eastern Arkansas.

[Aporkalypse]

Hopefully he's correct again on this. This will certainly be a nice boost for eastern Arkansas.

[Mith242]

I don't know if you caught the Ark Business article about the UA Economists' observations for 2007 but it predicted continued strong growth in NWA and LR/NLR and said that 65% of the state's job's were created in NWA and 35% in LR/NLR. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see that means the rest of the state created no jobs. I'd imagine there were slight gains in Texarkana, Jonesboro, and Ft Smith offset by losses in the delta.

This plant could change those numbers all by itself. Using the "multiplier of 3" it would create 7500 jobs in East Ark, though admittedly some of the employees would come from TN and MS. Some would move to Crittenden Co, though, and this could really help the shift from rural to urban in Arkansas if many in the delta moved to Marion for work.

[Hankster]

I agree with Clobber I would think they would factor in the populations of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee.

[Aporkalypse]

If you use that logic, maybe Chattanooga should add the populations of Georgia and Alabama to Tennessee's for their bid. Both Alabama and Georgia are actively campaigning on Chattanooga's behalf. The combined population of those three states is about 20 Million.

[skirby]

The Associated Press reports that Toyota plans to put their new plant in Tupelo, Mississippi. Again air quality problems were cited as reason Marion was not chosen.

[Aporkalypse]

The Associated Press reports that Toyota plans to put their new plant in Tupelo, Mississippi. Again air quality problems were cited as reason Marion was not chosen.

[Mith242]

I didn't even know Tupelo was in the running. I wonder if Huckabee was still governor if that would have helped. He pushed really hard for it and also traveled to Japan.

[gillespietown]

I didn't even know Tupelo was in the running. I wonder if Huckabee was still governor if that would have helped. He pushed really hard for it and also traveled to Japan.

[mcheiss]

Supposedly the MS average manufacturing wage is $5000 less than that in Arkansas.

Tupelo snuck into this thing just two weeks ago and jerked it away from areas I would think would be much more competitive.

Somebody needs to hire their head of economic development and get him in Pine Bluff.

[Mith242]

It's not a suprise to me that Toyota picked Tupelo. But, i've talked to a lot of people who simply don't want a huge assembly plant in Marion. We are doing pretty well for a small delta town considering our population has boomed 10% over the last 5 years and almost 90% since the early nineties. We don't want to have a company owned town like some other rural auto towns that become ghost towns when the plants shut down.

Also, Marion's good side is that it's small and rural still; providing a nice country atmosphere. A major assembly plant woud destroy that side. Also these assembly jobs don't pay what they used to back in the heyday. $15/hr starting out isn't bad, but Marion would recieve a huge influx of working class citizens. There would also be a lot of cheap housing built to accomodate this. Anyway, that's my thoughts.

[Mith242]

Oh yeah we should all give a big thanks to Memphis and it's total lack of support for this plant. I think this could have had an impact on Memphis even though this was across the river. I hope everyone in Arkansas remembers this when Memphis wants some extra support for something.

[Aporkalypse]

Oh yeah we should all give a big thanks to Memphis and it's total lack of support for this plant. I think this could have had an impact on Memphis even though this was across the river. I hope everyone in Arkansas remembers this when Memphis wants some extra support for something.

[Mith242]

It's Memphis' air pollution problems that apparently cost Marion the site. There's an EPA lawsuit over it and Toyota didn't want to get involved. That was apparently THE reason Tupelo was chosen.

[Clobber]

Oh yeah we should all give a big thanks to Memphis and it's total lack of support for this plant. I think this could have had an impact on Memphis even though this was across the river. I hope everyone in Arkansas remembers this when Memphis wants some extra support for something.

[mcheiss]

Why would Tennessee help Arkansas over their own city? I'm sure Tennessee would reap benefits from either a Marion or a Tupelo site. But that's idiotic to get up in arms over a state deciding to help its own city over another state. What's the logic behind that emotion?

[Clobber]

Don't ask me, as Mark Pryor.

[mcheiss]

And that's another thing, what's a Chicago Cub pitcher have to do with all of this?

j/k

[itk]

It's Memphis' air pollution problems that apparently cost Marion the site. There's an EPA lawsuit over it and Toyota didn't want to get involved. That was apparently THE reason Tupelo was chosen.

[Memphis Love]

How big do you guys think that Marion could get? Do you think that maybe Jericho or other cities surrounding this boom town will also get the huge amount of growth that Marion has?

[Rardy]

West Memphis has unveiled a slick new website, www.westmemphis.com along with a new tagline "Turn to West Memphis," according to this article from the Memphis Daily News.

I like this quote from John Moore, executive director of the Memphis Regional Chamber: "Selling the whole logistics aspect of what our region has to offer is essential to attracting new businesses," Moore said. "I think it's terrific and I absolutely support their efforts in marketing our area."

[Memphis Love]

I'm glad that West Memphis seems to be trying to change their image, great article!

[skirby]

Marion has joined in with two other Mid-South towns to see who becomes the new host for the Mid-South Fair. The state should get behind this one to bring the fair across the river. Maybe even develop some sort of Delta Agri Center to go along with it.

[Rardy]

Marion has joined in with two other Mid-South towns to see who becomes the new host for the Mid-South Fair. The state should get behind this one to bring the fair across the river. Maybe even develop some sort of Delta Agri Center to go along with it.

[Memphis Love]

where do you think it will go?