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Southwest Alabama is on the move
That's how you say "welcome" in German. I wanted to say "Welcome y'all" but no one could tell me the German word for "y'all"- if there is one! Southwest Alabama has sat back for years now and watched the rest of the state grow and develop, attracting business and industry. The automotive industry blossomed in places like Vance, Lincoln and just south of Montgomery- far, far away from this end of the state. But we finally had our day Friday and, boy, was it a biggie! German manufacturer ThyssenKrupp (it took me a while to learn to spell it and to pronounce it but it is cemented in my memory now) announced that it would build a $3.7 billion steel mill in Calvert, just 35 miles south of Jackson. We may have envied the automobile plants upstate but did you realize that this $3.7 billion investment is about the same as what Mercedes-Benze, Honda and Hyundai together have put into their Alabama plants? And yes, we did spend a bundle on the 2,700 plant jobs that the mill will bring. The state's incentive package for ThyssenKrupp is a mind-boggling $810 million. By contrast, Mercedes' package in 1993 was $253 million. But look what it did for the state. Neal Wade, director of the Alabama Development Office, has speculated that the ThyssenKrupp plant will eventually employ 7,000. Even if it doesn't, the spin-off jobs and growth the steel mill will bring with it will more than take care of the incentives. Thirty thousand to 50,000 or more jobs are expected to be created as a result of the mill over the next 20 years. Jackson, Clarke and Washington counties won't get all of them, certainly, but we should get our share. But we can't sit back and simply expect it to come because of our proximity to the plant site. Everyone else in this neck of the woods will be vying for business and industry, residents and more. Mayor Richard Long and the city council are working with others in Clarke and Washington counties and in the region. It is important that a solid coalition be put together that will work together on this project. Some areas may be more suitable for the business and industry that will come. Others may be better residential areas. There should be niches for all of our communities. We talk a lot about strategic planning but it is going to take some serious strategic planning now to do what needs to be done. Gov. Bob Riley correctly observed, "There's going to be as much development in this area over the next two years as there has been in the last 40 years." The table has been set for southwest Alabama. It is up to all of us now- our elected officials, economic development folks, business and industry leaders and all who are interested in our communities- to work to make sure that we benefit from the boom that is surely coming. All in all, it is going to be great for Jackson and the entire region.
Make sure you see the special pages in today's paper congratulating ThyssenKrupp on coming to Alabama as well as the page from the company thanking Alabama for its support.
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