Monday April 16, 2001
City Hall & Public Plunder
Groundbreaking For Vacant Lots!
By Amy Williams, Clovis Free Press, Saff Writer
CLOVIS -- The City of Clovis recently
held a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction of
what they are calling a "Central Valley Research and Technology Business
Park."
The funds for this most recent expansion
of local government have come from local taxpayers, the federal Economic
Development Agency, and the Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District.
It's 168 acres is located at Sierra Freeway
168 and Temperance Avenue. Three years ago former Mayor,
Harry Armstrong, pushed the Clovis City Council into adopting a pie-in-the-sky
city mission which promoted the idea that Clovis should concentrate
on private enterprise that was based on high tech & communication
industries. However, none of the documentary research conducted by
the City in support of this the brainy idea contained any supporting
data from official Labor Market Resarch Studies on where Clovis will
obtain the necessary IT and related computer scientific workers for
the jobs to be created
In spite of this lack of supporting research,
a government grant in the amount of $2.8 million was approved that
was supposed to assist in the construction of the so-called "Park"
in 1999.
Since then, Armstrong has been divested of
his mayoral robes and still sits on the Council but the project
is probably so far down the road that pulling back may not be possible
for the newly elected City Council members, even if they
had the determination to do so.
Letter to the
Editor
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