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Post by abbd on Aug 7, 2006 16:02:34 GMT -6
Interesting, we(the taxpayers of Louisiana) just gave a foreign company(not even an evil out of state company but Heaven forbid a foreign(to the United States) company) (NuComm) $1,000,000.00 of our hard earned tax dollars and and I repeat and a super dooper tax break(watch out for this because I'm sure durel will be needing to raise our property tax for this government giveaway)(remember he already raised our property tax to pay the "light bill" for his LITE Center)to locate a call center here in Lafayette. Whoop de dooo. The average number of employees per NuComm call center is about 300, so to employ about 300 employees at about $9.00 an hour(that's the hourly wage paid at a Kansas NuComm call center)(could be less here not sure yet) we give this comapny a $1,000,000.00 of our money? Hmmmm I ain't too sure about this deal. I though joey was after all the high paying real techie jobs. Oh that's right, joey doesn't know the definition or meaning of words huh?
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Post by abbd on Aug 8, 2006 7:07:13 GMT -6
Man oh man, was I wrong. We (the taxpayers) didn't just give this "evil foreign corporation" (joey and terry's favorite term for Cox and Bell South, just substitute "out of state" for foreign) $1,000,000.00, we doubled that and gave (physically gave in check form ,real dollars) them $2,000,000.00! Plus a big tax break(I'm sure to be made up by taxing us more). Ole greg sure is loose and easy when spending our money ain't he. Wow he must feel like a king using taxpayer dollars like that. Free meals(ever wonder just who gets fed before every duncil meeting? I sure do. Too bad claire didn't provide us with a list huh?), a few million here and there, heck I want in on this. No wonder the administration said.... no matter how much we tax the citizens, it's never enough.
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Post by Quest on Aug 9, 2006 5:20:34 GMT -6
"Thank you for recognizing Lafayette has a skilled workforce and a marvelous economic development team," Blanco told Bergevin. If Lafayette has such a 'skilled workforce' why does the state and LEDA need to put 2 million for training? ?? according to all of the articles about the call center.
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Post by coolboy on Aug 9, 2006 12:29:16 GMT -6
Quest, my guess would have to be that by offering $2 million, NuComm was enticed by Lafayette (and Louisiana). I'm sure the fact that the northgate mall is such a cheap location and the accompanying tax breaks didn't hurt either.
Call me a Kool-Aid drinker, but I'm glad that NuComm is opening up in the Northgate Mall. It certainly will bring in some much needed dollars into the area. This also gives a lot of people above minimum wage jobs. A full-time employee can make only $7 an hour but that comes out to over $13 million a year for the employees. Blankstare will make the state's $1 million in income tax revenue in no time!
For over a decade the old Service Merchandise store has been abandoned. With NuComm, someone will be paying a lease and will definitely attract more stores to the Northgate Mall since 1,000 people will need somewhere to go for lunch every day, thus creating more jobs at eateries.
I wish it wouldn't have cost us $2 million to get the company here, but that's how big business operates these days. I once watched a Wal-Mart documentary that touched on how cities would actually give the Wal-Mart corporation everything under the sun to build a store in their area.
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Post by abbd on Aug 9, 2006 13:13:09 GMT -6
In my opinuion the claim of a thousand jobs is probably inflated. NuComm has been in business about six or seven years and has a total of fourteen call centers, eleven call centers in Canada, two (including Lafayette) in the United States and one overseas. The other U.S. location is in Kansas and has just opened up in the last month(employing around 350 people). NuComm currently has an employee base of four thousand employees(an average of 350 people per center) which means if NuComm hires 1,000 people in Lafayette they will be increasing their total employee base by 25%. Now that is an enormous increase in employees. Just think about it. Something sounds not quite right to me, but we will find out for sure soon. Won't we?
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Post by TBEAR on Aug 10, 2006 6:23:23 GMT -6
I'll bet you Huval is licking his lips to provide fiber to the northgate mall for all those phones.
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Post by coolboy on Aug 12, 2006 6:04:00 GMT -6
Don't be surprised if northgate mall is the first location to get fiber. A sort of test run, which will of course come at no cost to NuComm.
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Post by Johnny on Aug 13, 2006 12:22:42 GMT -6
1000 jobs at 9.05 an hour is a new annual payroll of $18,000,000 to Lafayette (that's if every employee was a call rep - some employees will make more). I'm not sure how putting up a million bucks locally and a million from the state could be a bad idea. That's a pretty good return on your money if you ask me.
I know the real estate people on the deal, and I've heard some of the details. If NuComm doesn't create 1000 jobs at those wages, they owe money back to Lafayette and Louisiana. They're also going to put 3 or 4 million of their own money into renovating the Service Merchandise building. This is going to completely revitalize the Northgate Mall, and that part of town in general.
Plus, you're taking lots of people living in poverty working dead-end retail or restaurant jobs making 6 bucks an hour with no benefits, and giving them 9+ an hour, health insurance, and an opportunity for career advancement.
Sounds like a pretty good return for a million bucks from the city and the state. Criticize government all you like, but this time it's a good move for Lafayette.
Johnny
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Post by TBEAR on Aug 13, 2006 16:58:47 GMT -6
Well dont you think the million dollars would have been spent better for roads that we need there Johnny. And all these people you call living in poverty want to live in poverty and collect checks from us who work for a living. You heard of the word lazy. And as many call centers do, they rotate their employees so that after two years or so, they get rid of the elder employees and bring in fresh meat that they can again pay lower salaries too. Cingular call center in North Park, for example.
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Post by Johnny on Aug 18, 2006 14:28:07 GMT -6
First off, a million dollars won't buy much road these days. A thousand jobs with those wages and benefits will improve our community alot more than a million dollars worth of road would.
Secondly, if you had read my email, you would have noticed that I was talking about those people who are working but still living under the poverty level. If you make minimum wage, you're at or under the poverty level - but you are working. I was not at all talking about the people who won't work and just live off of government assistance. No amount of new jobs will help them.
Thirdly, how do you know how NuComm handles their employees? Have you worked for them? If they must pay a minimum of 9.00 an hour, and they must have a thousand employees or they give the money back, it's a payroll of around $15 million or more every year, no matter how you look at it. Besides, I've never heard of anyone at Cingular being fired if they were doing a good job. They may be really strict and rigid, and follow the Dilbert principle, but any company would be stupid to let go good employees just to save money on wages.
This is a good deal for Lafayette in many different ways.
Johnny
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Post by TBEAR on Aug 19, 2006 5:45:42 GMT -6
First I did not say it would buy alot of road but it would be better spent on roads, and how is it going to improve the community?
Second Its a post not an email. Some of those minimum wage earners also have what they call assisted living, with four or five children, usually one or two aint theirs, and they collect money for them. And I'll agree no new jobs will help the ones that dont want to work.
Third I had a friend and a relative that worked at Cingular and thats how they run the business of call centers. They rotate out senior employees to bring in new lower salaried employees that they can pay less for, its a fact, and believe me my friend and relative were not fired for anything other than that, one after two years the other after three. They saw people coming and going within that time. See Johnny when was the last time you were able to speak to someone on the phone about anything and they knew what the hell they were doing. Its been along time because of companies like this. The main company you want to deal with uses these "call centers" and everytime you talk to one person you get a different answer than the last time you talked to someone. Thats because of these call centers rotate their employees, Im telling you, dont you think if they had people working for them for several years they would know what they are talking about. Think about it, I dont know how much time you spend on the phone with call centers but I do from various things in my life. They either give you a different answer than the last idiot or they put you on hold to ask someone else the answer because they are new.
My main gripe was giving money to a foreign company, no less from Canada, where all the crooks live, and giving a tax break to this company just to move here.
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Post by Johnny on Aug 25, 2006 16:16:44 GMT -6
Congrats on letting me know this is a post, not an email. I'm glad that was important enough an issue for you to take the time to address.
First off, for you to ask how a thousand new jobs at almost $20,000 a year plus full benefits is going to help the community - it's laughable.
Secondly, I have four good friends who have worked at the Cingular call center since it opened in 2001, who have worked their way up into management and training positions. Tell them that Cingular fires every employee after a year or two.
Thirdly, you sure make a lot of stereotypical assumptions. To say that "all call centers do this" or "all people in poverty do that" is assinine. Take McDonald's, for example. It's a restaurant. So do all restaurants cook their food ahead of time? Do all restaurants have drive-thru windows? Does the food of every restaurant taste the same? For you to say that all call centers operate in the same fashion is to show a complete lack of understanding of the business world.
Fourthly, I think it's appropriate to incent any company who wants to bring good-paying jobs with benefits here. And last time I checked, Edwin Edwards, Ken Lay, OJ Simpson and many other criminals live right here in the ole U.S.A. Another pretty silly argument, if that's what that was.
Fact is these jobs will revitalize a part of town that needs it, will provide higher-paying jobs with benefits that many of the new hires did not have before, and will bring with them the money of a company from outside the area that goes into the bank accounts of businesses and people in Lafayette. And those dollars are huge compared to what the state and city put into it - a very good return on the money invested.
That's a good thing, no matter how you try to spin it.
Johnny
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Post by Taureau on Aug 25, 2006 17:35:17 GMT -6
Mais, Pense donc. Johnny peut pas danser! Laisse-moi expliquer, gros chien, "allon danser et laissez les bon temps rouler". Johnny, je canaille se tout. Merci
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Post by TBEAR on Aug 26, 2006 4:46:16 GMT -6
Ditto Taureau Johnny, 1) Explain how it will help the community. 2) So everyone there is a manager or in training? Why are your friends in training positions, and why do they need trainers if they dont rotate employees? 3) Dont all the McDonalds Big Macs taste the same. 4) Check the crime rate in Canada as far as for identity theft, canadian lotteries, etc, read this: www.boardoftrade.com/vbot_page.asp?pageID=1977And whats the deal with this www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?s=5324101, nucomm couldn't find an empty building? And I'll say it once again, they should not have given them a tax break no matter what.
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Post by abbd on Aug 26, 2006 7:09:26 GMT -6
It's extremely difficult to argue with dedicated leftists or folks who believe that nothing is possible without government help. In fact what passes for conservative values around Lafayette truly amazes me. Every person here in Lafayette should be yelling from the rooftops about how our local government spends our tax dollars, but alas someone comes on here and extolls the virtue of giving real dollars, two million of them,taxpayer dollars plus very good tax breaks(that we the taxpaying citizens will have to make up), to a foreign company to hire 350 employees at $9.00 an hour(where's the big high paying jobs that was promised by durel and gotrow?) Gimme a break.
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Post by zoe10850 on Aug 27, 2006 15:36:11 GMT -6
I am hardly an economic expert, but I have a few comments regarding the NuComm center. I agree with Johnny that jobs, any jobs, are good for a community. I have observed in my life, that Louisiana doles out many tax incentives to out of state enterprises, and yet we are near the bottom of the totem pole economically speaking. But then, Taureau & abbd are correct, socialism does not work, we all know that. So, what do we do ? Provide economic incentive via government cash advance, or sit back and see what develops economically?
I would favor some sort of graduated tax break over cash up front. I think the state should give income tax breaks, not property tax breaks because the property tax affects local govt, income tax the state govt. I do not think the state should be able to give away our tax base, but require us to provide services.
It is hard to argue that the river parishes have not benefitted from the plants that were placed there, but the fact is, those companies need the Mississippi River and the ports. Where else would they go ? And the state gave away millions of local tax dollars to those plants while benefitting from sales and income taxes. Truth is, Louisiana is a mess when it comes to economics.
We need to ask ourselves, what happened in the last 150 years to fall from the top of the economic scale, to the bottom? This state has developed a socialistic mentality second to none. We need far less government, not more. Look at Texas; no one there even knows who the governor is, or even cares. Who is the mayor of Houston ? Dallas ? Their legislature is not so intrusive. There is NO income tax on people or companies. sales tax is same as ours. Oil revenue is dedicated to infrastructure and schools. We should be among the richest states, not the poorest. Our congressional delegations have sold us out over the years. How many senators and congressmen have retired poor or moved back here ? Are the Blanco's poor or even middle class ? They have worked for government all their lives, so what does that say ?
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Post by abbd on Aug 27, 2006 18:17:00 GMT -6
Ya know Z, I read an article a few years ago about Louisiana business compared to Texas businesses. The article basically stated that when you read newspapers or local magazines in Texas, most of the articles and pictures were highlighting business and community leaders. Whereas in Louisiana all the stories and pictures were centered around politics and politicians. Basically to me, it boils down to a fact that we worship politicians and louisianaians believe that everything has to be provided by government. I once read that no matter what business you looked at, the results achieved in Louisiana were far below the results achieved anywhere else. I suppose we just expect and accept mediocre results.
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Post by ronnief on Aug 28, 2006 19:43:37 GMT -6
Ignorance is bliss. How else do you explain Kat Blanco. Joey Durel. People are too busy surviving to worry about politics. 7% turnout !! Overwhelming support. Sort of like the FTTH proposition. I would hardly say that is an overwhelming support for a public project. What I want from government is minimal; public safety and streets, and possibly education although not in it's present form. We should look to places that work better and try to utilize that method. Texas is not perfect. Neither is any other state, but I would rather compete with Ohio than Arkansas for achievment level.
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Post by abbd on Aug 31, 2006 8:22:52 GMT -6
Got a question here, if joey and gotrow are running around town bragging about $9.00 an hour jobs, about $20,000.00 yearly,how does this stack up with St. Landry being the poorest parish or county in the country and St.Landry's average income is $22,000.00 a year? We gave $2,000,000.00 plus major tax breaks to a corporation that pays lower wages than the poorest parish or county in the country citizens' make now? See this..."St. Landry: Poorest in Nation...The report shows the median household income in the parish is $22,460 per year. Parish government officials say they're working to bring better jobs to the area."... This was shown on KATC's website yesterday. Maybe I'm just a dumb arse but something ain't quite right with this whole deal.
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Post by TBEAR on Sept 1, 2006 3:10:49 GMT -6
good point abbd
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