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So much for the Republican contention that high state fees have caused trucking companies to flee Illinois.
North America’s largest trucking freight carrier will create a hub operation here that will eventually create 400 new jobs.Company officials from Schneider National Inc. of Green Bay, Wis., will join state and federal officials at a news conference this morning to make the announcement.
The new 25,000-square-foot repair and service center will be located at the Gateway Commerce Center in Edwardsville.
Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Director Jack Lavin is scheduled to speak at the grand opening in regards to the job creation resulting from Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s regional economic development program, Opportunity Returns.
A company spokesman declined to comment until after the news conference.
If it wasn’t for all the scandals, the governor’s race wouldn’t even be a contest.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 8:58 am
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It’s not a contest for Rod, now.
Comment by B Hicks Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 9:07 am
For every company that comes back. There are 10 that will not. Considering the population and unemployment in Illinois 600 jobs is nothing to brag about. What was it the state taxpayer had to give in an election year to get Rod a little good news.
Comment by MAGGIE Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 9:17 am
It wasn’t AROD so put the credit where the credit is due.The community leaders and a package of incentives that out weighted ARODS increases.Sorry it is still a race that you will see get closer and closer as time goes on if his people can keep him out of jail.
Comment by DOWNSTATE Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 9:17 am
Sorry, my mistake it wasn’t even 600.
Comment by MAGGIE Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 9:20 am
I suppose this could be a coup for the guv, but in reality, I can’t imagine this terminal wouldn’t have moved to the Gateway Center regardless of who was sitting in the Governor’s Mansion (or in Rod’s case, in the JRT Center).
The Gateway Center is a great park, as evidenced by the presence of P&G, Unilever and Hershey at the location. It only makes sense for Schneider to build a freight terminal in the Metro-East…with access to major highways and the air freight terminal just over 20 minutes away at Lambert, Schneider would have been silly to have built the terminal anywhere else. Some may argue that Missouri would have worked as well, which is true…but for traffic and strategic planning purposes…Gateway Commerce is a no-brainer.
Comment by IndeThinker Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 9:22 am
Don’t forget the legislature unanimously voted to reverse a good chunk of Blago’s truck fees. Arod had no choice but to approve the rollback. I’d love to know how many of those trucks that will use that facility used to have Illinois plates.
Comment by Fiscally Responsible Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 9:24 am
Once again the Republican propaganda that we are all forced to listen to and the media readily reports without even questioning it is proven WRONG. This is the second large company to move to Illinois from another state to the metro east in the last three weeks. The Republicans want everyone to believe that Blagojevich chased out businesses with increased fees, but what they fail to mention is that the increased fees just brought Illinois in line with our neighboring states. The truckers fees that they so loudly complain about were rolled back a year after they were instituted just as the Governor promised. Even one of their own, President Bush, says that Illinois’ economy is back on track.
How much longer are people going to blindly listen to this republican propaganda. The facts just don’t agree with what they are saying.
Blagojevich is going to win despite this republican rhetoric that comes from the old school, corrupt politicians like Judy Topinka.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 9:34 am
Anonymous ? Lon Monk is that you ?
Comment by MAGGIE Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 9:41 am
I like how these Blago workers get on here as ANONS.Hey I am for JBT and my name is DOWNSTATE.
Comment by DOWNSTATE Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 9:54 am
I am probably voting for Rod, definately not JBT, and my name is Southern Illinois Democrat.
Comment by Southern Illinois Democrat Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 10:07 am
HA! The republican spin machine is out in full force on this one!!! Wonder how many Topinka staffers crazy ol’ Judy has posting!
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 10:10 am
It’s over? Rod wins? Do you people forget that he is the center of federal investigation? A measly 400 jobs in Southern Illinois!!! What about the 1500 jobs that went to Indiana…oh yea. Economic Oppurtunity Returns!
Comment by scoot Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 10:28 am
“So much for the Republican contention…” Rich that is a bit preemptive on your part. The fact of the matter is that Illinois is probably still down some 10,000k plus truck licenses over the course of the Blago. admin. Notice what company is relocating Schneider. Schneider is one of the largest if not the largest trucking company in the state meaning they can afford to locate anywhere. However it is unlikely that many of those trucks will be licensed in Illinois as well. In all reality most of the jobs will be maintence workers that could be hired through a temp agency. The only skilled “new” jobs are likely to be diesel mechanics. Which is only probably about 50 or so.
Comment by SouthernILRepub Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 10:29 am
rod acts more like clinton every day, and may even exceed clinton in spin. I’ll give him his due, I’ll vote for JBT but love to listen to Blago,
this is like saying yea but the cubs beat the cardinals . in the big sceam of things it doesnt change the stats much at the end of the year
Comment by pike Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 10:35 am
I’m thinking the majority of the trucking companies that felt forced out of Illinois by Rod’s fees and creeping gas costs were much smaller operations than Schnieder, and thus less able to withstand the extra, unanticipated hits on their small margins.
I would say that this is more a demonstration that the way our present economy runs, only a large outfit with a large cash cushion can survive, and small buisnesses like the mom and pop trucking companies are all going to get swallowed up or run out of business until trucking is all concentrated into a few large national trucking companies. Anyone see any parallels to the airline industry here? Or the old railroad monopolies? That’s not a perfect analogy, but it’s close enough to be a source of concern. Arguments can be made that consolidation brings economies, but we should look at the downside of too much concentration as well. I got nothing against this company; from what I know of them, they run a very efficient and modern operation. I just wonder what’s down the road ahead. And we should see about keeping multimodal transport options open, and that includes trains.
Comment by Gregor Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 10:39 am
So 400 jobs come to Edwardsville. Good for them. They hussled to develop the commerce area with good cross transportation options and it seems to be paying off for them. At a state-wide level, hard to claim the same success with the thousands of positions lost due to the number of large manufacturers who closed or decided to build in another state.
Comment by zatoichi Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 10:53 am
Way to go, Illinois. We need those jobs!
Jack Lavin is doing a great job for the Governor, but he should have run for State Treasurer.
Comment by values matter Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 11:02 am
Illinois is 45th in the nation at job growth, republicans do not need to spin that. Great we scored one run, but we’re still down 44 points.
Comment by moderate - half way between crazy and crazy. Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 11:37 am
What always gets me about this discussion is that the quality of roads and infrastructure somehow don’t seem to matter to trucking companies.
Seriously, which state is ready to go forward with a new Mississippi River Bridge? Not the “business friendly” state. Illinois’ roads are in far better shape than most of the surrounding states and that represents real cost in maintenance and time.
Beyond that, what mom and pop companies aren’t having hard times? That’s the free market—shouldn’t Republicans like that?
More in a bit
Comment by ArchPundit Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 11:48 am
At this point, I would assume that trucking companies would be more worried about diesel coming in at $3+ a gallon than fees and an anti-job attitude. Fees and a non-employer friendly state laws can be revoked; high gas prices cannot. Paying $3 a gallon for diesel, reimbursing drivers for mileage, meals and lodging, covering the cost of repairs and maintenance and paying increased fees are all reasons why trucking companies would be discouraged from relocating or starting up a business in a state. And the Metro East, with its growing population, four interstates and proximity to St. Louis is a logical choice.
Comment by Team Sleep Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 12:21 pm
Arch and Team allude to something that will be in IL’s favor no matter who is piloting the ship. IL is strategically located with a good network of roads and 2 major population centers to serve. There will always be a residual spin-off from the inherent commerce to be done here, as well as IL’s strategical importance as a national pinch-point around Lake Michigan at Chicago as well as St. Louis’ “gateway to the west”.
But this infrastructure needs to be maintained and expanded to feed the living and breathing organism that is the state. Look for that capital bill in Nov. or next spring at the latest, no matter who gets in.
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 1:12 pm
I love the way the crazy Blago supporters try to spin this. Wow! Four hundred new jobs. Illinois is the mecca for trucking and job growth. Pleeease. The fact is Illinois has lost more jobs than it has gained and has lagged in job growth over the last few years, becuase of the failed policies of this administration and the legislature.
Comment by Lee Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 1:27 pm
All the recent arguments about economic development seem to be missing the point IMO. Both sides talk a good game about heavy industry coming back to Illinois and bringing high-paying jobs like what auto workers in Detroit used to get. I am not an expert but my observation is that the state and nation have to a high degree aged out of those kinds of production and it is being taken over by the third world countries and China. We’re no longer willing to pollute our land and water and sky like China is, or use unskilled wage slave labor like the third world does. I don’t think big steel is ever going to come back to the South Side of Chicago, and I would not necessarily hope for lots of automobile factories in the state either.
I would look toward the most likely future industries and see where the state can make investments that leverage off the next 100 years rather than the last 100.
Illinois is strong in biotech, and can become stronger. From Ethanol to pharmaceuticals to engineered food products, this is a good place. That kind of work does not need lots of unskilled labor though. It requires highly educated people with technical skill. That leads us back to education as a needed investment. Especially higher ed.
We are a computing center. NCSA is here, Fermilab and Argon are here. Electronic communications and computing infrastructure and projects and companies that attract computer scientists need to be nurtured.
We are a big agriculture state. But sprawl nibbles away at productive land, we need to keep it in check and support smarter land development, not just quick-buck tracts. The pollution from industrial beef, pork and poultry operations is a significant problem. There are means to dispose of the waste by cooking it in thermal conversion plants that turn things like poultry waste and old tires into petroleum and raw feedstocks for industry. The exhaust is water vapor. These plants can turn waste into clean resellable products and save our air and water. But they need water and lots of electricity to do so. Here is a potential market for our own coal, if we can use the best clean coal technology to generate it. Or we get it from revamped nuclear generator plants.
We’re already a big nuclear power state. Our power needs grow yearly. But the existing reactors are all very old and at some point will have to be retired. The plans to replace them are not advancing well. New technologies like “pebble-bed” reactors can replace old, decrepit Rickover-type PWR’s with a reactor technology that literally is impossible to make “melt down”, that can survive earthquakes and operator errors and defy abuse by terrorists. pebble bed reactors keep their fuel in tiny self-contained ceramic pellets that make storage and transport safe and easy. It’s a technology already been proven in France and South Africa, and China is already gearing up for a dozen plants. We could retrofit the old sites with this new, cleaner, safer technology, and add more plants so the state is a net exporter of energy.
Every day I read about some new miracle of science and technology in medicine, electronics or engineering made possible by carbon nanotubes. One of these miracles about to leave the lab is a super-capacitor “battery” that will finally make electric cars and trucks viable and as cheap to build as gas powered cars, and that will replace every chemical based battery you now own. This technology will leapfrog fuelcells and even ethanol to create cars with 200-mile range that take only a couple minutes to recharge, with batteries that last a decade or more and don’t pollute landfills and water tables because they don’t contain toxic metals. By replacing basements full of lead acid truck batteries it will make solar and wind powered home energy systems finally practical and affordable. Our city busses will run cheaply and pollution-free, our cities will have the best air in 200 years. Illinois needs to get a lead in production of this kind material and in it’s application. We can sell it to the world! We can leverage it off of wise investments in our university research and applied science departments. We’re not a raw steel state anymore: we need to become an engineered and applied materials science state. A carbon nanotube state. We need to be working on these things now, because our future is getting closer every day.
Illinois can lead and benefit from the early investment, or we can sit on our hands and let other states pass us by in these areas, becoming more irrelevant to the nation and world trade all the time.
So, Judy, Whitney, show me where YOU want to take us, what your vision is for our state’s future.
Comment by Mad Scientist Futurist Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 2:47 pm
I like the cut of that man’s gibberish!
400 jobs is nice, but he has a point: what’s the long term strategy?
Comment by Gregor Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 2:53 pm
About Those Trucking Taxes Causing Truckers to Flee
Rich makes a point over at Capitol Fax about the meme from Republicans that the tax on big trucks is causing the industry to flee to Missouri. I don’t have time to check relative growth in border states, but a…
Trackback by ArchPundit Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 3:02 pm
What exactly is the state giving in relation to this facility?
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 3:39 pm
Are they Bladgo contributors ?? Edwardsville that’s still Illinois right …barely ! Probably needed a “write-off”. From a business sense it makes good sense locating in Edwardsville in proximity to greater St. Louis & I-55, I-70, I-64, I-44 ect. In reality it was probably the “locals” that made the case for the location & made it possible & happen. Hell Bladgo didn’t even work at getting Honda what makes anyone think he tried for this terminal. Can’t imagine Bladgo would even know where Edwardsville “”way on down in southern Illinois”" Glad for the jobs though!!!… Lord knows we need them to offset those that have fled {{& still are !!!}}. Got to wonder though how many of those trucks will be licensed in Illinois?? I bet they’re not paying any more than is humanly possible here !! Anyway hoping it works out & for the folks in that area !!
Comment by annon. in central illinois Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 4:25 pm
Oh my God, how does this sound:
Hey look, seriously, you’re right. I spoke too soon.
This is another good development for Judy’s campaign. The whole trucking thing is going to backfire on Rod. All of those big trucks congesting the Edwardsville area are going to be terrible. And 400 jobs… big deal.
Topinka’s on a roll this week. First Big Jim not putting his name on her, and now this trucking company mess. It’s all good, Reggie. How can she lose?
Comment by B Hicks Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 4:50 pm
Well here we go again 500 jobs at 8 this morning and now that ESTIMATE has dropped to 440 and by Monday it will probably be 200.Antway if you think that’s so great go to Herrin and tell those Maytag boys.Let’s see there is what 7 or 8 hundred that are losing their jobs.The coalmine and factories that have closed south of Springfield.Yea the only job our Gov. is doing is running people to the state line.
Comment by DOWNSTATE Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 5:56 pm
Edwardsville, isn’t that Sam Flood’s area? And Downstate, I was just about to post about today’s article of the 800 or so from Maytag losing their job’s and getting told today their severance package…
Comment by Link Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 7:33 pm
Raising taxes to created a bloated government and chase out everyone…but the ball players who in effect, get a tax rebate. Economic Opportunity, DCCA or whatever you call it serves the State poorly…just look at the cost for the employees who administer it and you find they are the greatest beneficiary…especially when you take into account the unreported future insurance benefits of the retirees. It is just a trick for governors to hire campaign workers and steal our money in the name of good to give out to the ‘players’.
Comment by Alan Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 7:38 pm
Why do all of those Schneider trucks have Indiana and Wisconsin plates? Because they moved most of them out of Illinois. Amazing what $7 million will do! Too bad they didn’t offer that money to home grown Illinois companies that have been cursed by Blago and his boys….
Comment by mother trucker Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 9:39 pm
Most excellent post from “mad scientist futurist.” That is exactly the kind of “thinking” that is needed to suceed now and in the future. The future is here today!
Comment by SilverBackDemocrat Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 10:17 pm
I remember this letter in the IT clearly. The guy makes his case. I wonder if he followed thru and moved:
“…Furthermore, I wonder if the governor and his accomplices realize just how much this hurts my ability and others like me to provide for our families? I don’t believe they do, so I will enlighten them. The new rate increase accounts for 25 percent of my net profit last year. I wish the governor and his accomplices would have asked one of us struggling to earn a living in the trucking industry what these increases would mean to us.
I’m moving my business to Alabama, Georgia, or Florida, where I can register my truck for less than $850 and purchase property for less than $3,000 an acre. So in less then two years, I will already be ahead of the governor and his accomplices and their new rates while also gaining equity on my new real estate. Furthermore, I will be taking the $99,695.41 in expenses I spent last year at places like Pontiac Auto Parts, Fogarty’s Garage, Eufaula Trucking, and Sapp Bros. Three of these four are also small businesses that the governor and his accomplices have now affected with their rate increase. This, Mr. Governor and Accomplices in the Illinois State Legislature, is not the way to aid our struggling economy or to encourage new businesses to locate in Illinois. Joel Baker, Pontiac”
http://www.illinoistimes.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A2416
Comment by TaxEater1818 Wednesday, Jul 19, 06 @ 12:42 am
Paying 7 million dollars for 440 jobs doesn’t sound that great to me. Remember Motorola? What happens when they decide to leave next year, or the year after that. That’s your tax dollars they’ll be walking to the next state with. When will the state learn that its just a short term bonus for companies who shop around from state to state for who’s giving out cash? They ought to include a repayment clause with a requirement to keep those jobs in Illinois for a specific period of time. Then we’ll know if the company is serious about the deal.
Comment by NoGiftsPlease Saturday, Jul 22, 06 @ 10:55 am