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EDITORIAL: Danville's good news
(Roanoke Times, The (Roanoke, VA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Oct. 14--The announcement that IKEA plans to build an $85 million manufacturing plant in Danville is welcome news.
The 750 furniture-making jobs are of the same "old-world economy" jobs that were lost to the Southside when textile and furniture makers abandoned a well-trained workforce for cheaper foreign markets.
But IKEA wouldn't have found Danville's old economy as attractive as the new one that the community is working so hard to rebuild. Credit the new jobs to the tenacity of local, regional and state leaders who haven't shirked the challenging task of rebuilding an economy crippled by outsourcing.
The thought had been, and still is, to position Danville for a breakout in today's high-tech marketplace. Programs to boost the workplace skills and education attainment for those living in an area of high unemployment, combined with investments in the Cane Creek Centre industrial park and supporting roads and rail, are working finally to bring much welcome news to the area.
The IKEA jobs won't replace all of Danville's job losses, but they bring hope that other companies will follow and create a more diverse Southside economy. In landing IKEA, Virginia, through various funds, continued its investment by offering $7 million in incentives for additional infrastructure and training.
Gov. Tim Kaine lately has been emphasizing the strong relationship between public investment and private job growth.
Virginia is well-placed to be a strong competitor in the global market with a world-class port and airport. With improved rails and interstates, the other regions of Virginia will be just as attractive to investors as Northern Virginia and Tidewater.
As Danville will attest, with public investment, it is possible to import jobs in a region devastated by outsourcing.
Copyright (c) 2006, The Roanoke Times, Va.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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