In article >,
blake murphy > wrote:


> > I'm sure that many communitys take this corporate screwing.
> >
> > in Pennsylvania,
> > communitys would "build the industrial park", put in access roads,
> > finance the building, and offer a ten-year tax holiday as incentive.
> >
> > So who pays for this ?
> > It's taxed from the residents and workers in the community.
> >
> > And, as is the case so often,
> > nearing the ten-year mark, the company would "up and move"...
> > often to another sucker community offering a sweetheart deal.
>
> ...and like three-card monte players, the communities never seem to catch
> on to what's being done.

Depends on who "the communities" are, doesn't it? In my city, there are
two types of people in city government (greatly simplified, of course),
the real estate people and the "greenies". I can't help but notice that
these expensive developed properties are owned and sold by people who
were formerly on the City Council. I can't really complain. It's all
honest and above board. Still, the small business owners who are hurt
by these invasions by WalMart simply don't have the time and energy to
enter local politics, they are busy running their businesses. On the
other hand, I'm sure WalMart has whole teams of people whose sole jobs
are to do this screwing. They are experts in their field.

In my local city, City Council members are paid US$5 per regularly
scheduled meeting, the mayor gets US$10. They have many other meetings,
and attend many other events. They don't get paid for those. Three
times while I've lived here, the City Council has put something on the
ballot to raise their pay to US$400 a month (US$800 a month for the
mayor). Three times the voters have turned it down! These people make
decisions that involve millions of dollars. US$400 a month is still a
pittance.

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA