Texas challenge: If Boeing adds production, could it be in Spokane?
We should have noted, when posting earlier ( Washington and Idaho both fall short.. .) that area economic development folks know full well that Washington has to compete hard for new businesses.
As the earlier post notes, Texas is the state to beat, and its busy recruiters have managed to convince many companies that they offer a plethora of advantages compared to other states, including tax breaks, land incentives, plus other benefits.
In Tuesday’s paper, John Craig’s story about the effort to land new business in Spokane County quoted Robin Toth, of Greater Spokane Inc., as saying the challenge of getting Boeing to base airliner production in Spokane will have to go through Texas:
“Spokane’s competition would include Washington cities that already have Boeing plants or possibly Grant County, which has a large runway and cheap electricity. So far, though, Project Pegasus members are focused on beating back other states, such as South Carolina or Texas.Unencumbered by Washington’s constitutional prohibition on using public money for private gain, ‘Texas will write a $50 million check to Boeing,’ Toth said.”
* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "Office Hours." Read all stories from this blog