While claiming to be poor, unable to afford to staff services for the general public, the City of Dayton is giving a $100,000 housewarming gift to a law firm to move across the street:
The Dayton office of Taft, Stettinius and Hollister LLP is the new tenant planned for the Kettering Tower….
The Cincinnati-based law firm is currently in the former Fifth Third Centre, at 110 N. Main St. …
Miller-Valentine Commercial Construction started renovation work on the law firm’s space today. According to documents from the city of Dayton, the renovations and furniture and fixture purchases for Taft’s new space will total $1.5 million.
The city approved $100,000 from its development fund to help pay for Taft’s renovations.
By staying in the central business district, Dayton is retaining 49 full-time positions. Part of the agreement to receive funds from the city includes job creation. Taft will add a minimum of three full-time jobs per year for the next three years. The average salary for positions at Taft is $106,000.
via Taft law firm to relocate Dayton office – Dayton Business Journal [1].
Tax dollars that don’t go for direct public services should be returned to the taxpayer. Our hard-earned income isn’t there for politicians to hand out to their friends- like Miller Valentine Commercial Construction (one of the prime movers at Austin Road as well).
Of course the argument is- if Dayton doesn’t play the palm-greasing game, someone else will and the lawyers will take their jobs and leave.
The only jobs that should be leaving are all the bureaucrats involved in this kind of theft from the taxpayer. Do we have to subsidize every lawyer who wants to move downtown now? How about just giving them your money to redecorate?
As your Congressman, I’ll fight like hell to make it a nationwide law- that no government dollars get used for “job creation” or “relocation”- because invariably, these tilt the playing field in someone’s favor (and it’s usually in favor of the big campaign donors to politicians).
Why there hasn’t been a revolt over this kind of corporate welfare, I’m not sure, but I’m mad as hell- and I’m not going to sit here and watch us cut services while helping continue this farcical use of your tax dollars.
Also in today’s handouts was 20,000 to Spaghetti Warehouse for a 70,000 renovation. Attention all business owners, Dayton is giving handouts; threaten to leave or pretend to create jobs to get you some!
In all honesty, I say let them go if they’re going to go. Might as well hit capitulation and start over with whatever’s left. It’ll be the people who really want to be here. Take the “economic development” money and invest it in new technologies that save money in Operations. (of fire, police, public works)
I’ve always heard that if you have to pay for what should be a reciprocal relationship (1) it’s probably not going to be as good as or last as long as you imagined (2) either you don’t have social skills conductive to cultivating a lasting relationship or you’re hopelessly damaged goods, and (3) I’ll forgo the disease and ick factors…
Instead of just handing out economic development money, use the money to buy services from that company. It’ll have the same effect and in the end, you’ll actually get something from it (plus maybe a few jobs created). It’s not where we want to be, but it’s a middleground to quitting cold turkey.
@ Steve- great suggestion- although at Taft’s rates- $100K doesn’t get you much :-)
@Steve – I forgot- I’ve been meaning to write about what’s been going on in Cleveland- the Mayor tried to lure an Chinese LED manufacturer to the city- by promising to sole source all the cities light bulbs from them for 10 years. Total trainwreck in trying a new approach. GE- which at one time had it’s lighting division HQ and R&D in Cleveland was at the front of the line screaming about anti-competitive practices (instead of hiring back Americans to make light bulbs again).
It probably wouldn’t fly as a stop gap- and again- it’s just a drop in the ocean of problems corporate welfare creates.