225 more pink slips at Vestas in Colorado
Portland's supposed savior in the "green economy" can't seem to save itself.
| Posted at 5:45 AM | Permalink |
|
About
This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on October 12, 2012 5:45 AM.
The previous post in this blog was Mob busts numerous bank windows on Portland's east side.
The next post in this blog is Gatsby Wyden's Republican cred bolstered in VP debate.
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.
E-mail, Feeds, 'n' Stuff
« Mob busts numerous bank windows on Portland's east side |
Main
| Gatsby Wyden's Republican cred bolstered in VP debate »
Comments (5)
Let me save the Mayor's speechwriter some valuable thought time:
"When the City of Portland entered into our Partnership with Vestas, there was no way of anticipating the loss of Federal subsidies for wind power farms would decimate the industry. Vestas remains a leader in clean energy, and the City of Portland has been elevated by our association with them."
Posted by Mister Tee | October 12, 2012 6:38 AM
I'm not sure I get the obsession with Vestas. It certainly appears to be a company in trouble. But, so what. A lot of companies fail. Why the focus on this one?
Posted by Justin Morton | October 12, 2012 9:48 AM
"Why the focus on this one?"
Because CoP wants green energy stuff so bad they made Vestas an interest free loan of about $10.5M so they could give it to the owner of their building in the Pearl District to rehab for them.
With each layoff so diminishes the chances of the taxpayers ever being paid back.
Posted by Steve | October 12, 2012 11:50 AM
Ok. That makes sense. Thats why Jack is rooting for them to fail.
Posted by Justin Morton | October 12, 2012 1:27 PM
Wrong Justin.
Jack isn't rooting for Vestas to fail.
Jack has reported on the failure of the City of Portland to complete the due dilligence necessary to take public tax dollars to fund private (for profit) entities. This failure is made more tangible when the funding of the private entity is soon followed by the spectacular (and predictable) failure of the private entity despite their rosy projection of job creation and loan repayment when submitting their requests for subsidy.
Jack also revealed the incongruity of marketing these public guarantees as if they were directed to Vestas, when, in fact, they're going to a developer who has donated to many City Commissioners campaign coffers.
In other cities, these kinds of deals are called "conflicts of interest" because they create the appearance that campaign contributions bought "most favored developer" status that wasn't available to their competitors via the normal public bidding process.
Political graft, corruption, and looting of the public treasury for private gain don't happen in a vacuum. They require the complicity of internal and external auditors, prosecutors, and the local media (like PBJ, the Oregonian, and Willy Week), enabled by a lazy electorate that fails to hold their elected representatives accountable.
That is to say, people like you, Justin Morton.
Posted by Mister Tee | October 12, 2012 9:35 PM