Matheny Tries To Take Credit For JetZero Jobs

First, we must understand that the 14,000 jobs being discussed may not come to fruition. We have had other instances when employers have been recruited and showered with incentives; and things did not materialize.

But last week, councilman Zack Matheny said the following:

“The Council’s investments in community, quality of life, infrastructure have set the stage to where this is Greensboro’s time, the Triad’s time,” Matheny said. “We are leading the jobs announcements for the first time in probably 60 years in the state of North Carolina. It is our time, and I can’t wait to see what the next 10 years look like.”

Matheny is a tax-and-spend Republican who is trying to rationalize his tax-and-spend voting record. His comments are typical of the hubristic cluelessness we have seen over three decades among Greensboro’s political class.

His statement is balderdash. Why did JetZero come? The airport authority had the foresight to buy up adjacent land and build a particular bridge on the airport property that was needed. We have fairly strong community colleges able to train up the workforce that will be needed. The state provided huge amounts of economic incentives; and the Republican leadership in the General Assembly over the last 15 years has otherwise created a business-friendly environment for new employers. And the Triad, having been left in the dust over a period of many decades by Charlotte and the Triangle, has a large, underutilized workforce that yearns for better opportunities.

A Rhino Times article gives credit to the Guilford County Economic Development Alliance formed by the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce and the High Point Economic Development Corporation.

Matheny’s investments in “community, quality of life, infrastructure” have little, if nothing, to do with JetZero’s announcement. JetZero came in spite of the Greensboro City Council– not because of it. But Matheny’s artful claim was a nice try.