Calexico project could create 2,000 jobs By SILVIO J. PANTA, Staff Writer
Thursday, September 4, 2008 11:14 PM PDT
TODD KRAININ PHOTO
Matthew Crow of the U.S. Department of Commerce praises Calexico’s political leadership during a ceremony Thursday at City Hall. Crow promoted the city’s potential for economic growth.
TODD KRAININ PHOTO
A $3 million Economic Development Administration grant will help build infrastructure needed to develop the Town Center Plaza at this site in Calexico.
CALEXICO — City officials pledged Thursday to usher in more than 2,000 jobs geared toward improving industrial sites with a $3 million federal grant that would partly fund the project.
The funds represent the federal government’s share of a $6.1 million improvement effort Mayor Louis Fuentes and other city officials hope will attract more businesses to Calexico’s commercial and industrial sites.
The investment is expected to spur $400 million in private investment along with the anticipated job creation in refurbishing the Town Center Plaza and the Portico/Kloke sites. The project is expected to start in a few months.
Fuentes said in the past Calexico didn’t have the sites to accommodate industrial growth. The improvement project would help change that and provide the kind of job creation the city needs, especially in light of an unemployment rate that has fluctuated from 18 to 24 percent, he said.
“This was a team effort,” Fuentes said. “These are the tasks that people elect us to do so that there are more job opportunities for their children and future generations.”
Matthew Crow, the U.S. deputy assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, attended the event and said the project would help foster the kind of growth a rural community like Calexico needs.
Crow also mentioned that the competition for acquiring federally funded projects is heavy.
“It’s often overlooked what Calexico has and that is leadership,” Crow said. “I want Calexico — the Imperial Valley — to be an engine of commercial growth.”
Specifically, said Rosalind Guerrero, director of the city’s redevelopment and economic development, the site improvements would be aimed at fixing street lighting, sewer lines and water ways.
The Town Center Plaza is roughly two miles from Mexicali, in between Highway 111 and Clark Road on Cole Road.
The site’s improvement plan would consist of having 48 lots on 131 acres with the lots being from 1 to 8 acres, and include commercial, industrial and retail development.
" Can't we all get along? Mexicali residents, white wannabe people,real white people, blacks etc. we all are humans! Calexico and the Imperial Valley needs the Mexicali's economy, is part of ours; in fact they can survive without us easier than we could without them... "
jao wrote on Sep 5, 2008 10:08 PM:
" All this sounds nice but honestly, if they bring 2,000 jobs to the Valley, I'd bet that only 30% of those jobs will go to actual Valley residents; the rest will go to the folks in Mexicali who just use a friend's or relative's address to 'establish' their residency and until Congress steps up to the plate, nothing is going to change. The US Department of Commerce is blind if they don't see the facts for what they are. The same thing that happens at the Calexico Unified School District (with students from Mexicali being enrolled) will happen with this project and again, our beloved Imperial Valley will remain in the bottom economic rankings. "
Bulldogged wrote on Sep 5, 2008 3:54 PM:
" Why the hell would Calexico care if these were residents or illegal workers? They get the tax revenue all the same - and an economic boost to boot. I think this is a sham, though. What kind of jobs? What kind of businesses will you attract? Don't you think this is like of putting the "cart before the horse"? Jobs in warehousing, distribution, manufacturing and logistics are fleeing California in droves to places like Texas. Louisiana, Arkansas and New Mexico - places with a cheap labor force and not NEARLY the tax liabilities nor the Labor and Environmental issues we face in California. Hell - they'll go across the border before they open shop in California. Think before Calexico sinks all this dough into a White Elephant". "
mojave wrote on Sep 5, 2008 7:57 AM:
" Not a chance, they're looking for cheap labor. "
sterig wrote on Sep 5, 2008 7:43 AM:
" This would be a good time for Calexico to step up and show they are still part of Imperial County and the USA. They need to force anyone dipping into this pot of money to hire only US residents before any green cards are hired. 2000 jobs is about 2% of the county workforce and they need to be hired first if we want to push our unemployment down. "
asterisk wrote on Sep 5, 2008 6:55 AM:
" Skippy, is that you? "
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supremebeing wrote on Sep 5, 2008 11:34 PM: