Which Guilford County Prison Farm are we talking about? For those who might not know, Guilford County isn't only the only county in the state with a county prison farm-- we've got two. Only, one of them is currently closed. And it appears that the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance (a non entity) is trying to give one or both of them away.
In today's News & Record they promise 400 new jobs at the expense of 740 acres of prime farming and hunting lands, 120,000 gallons of water a day, 80,000 gallons for sewage a day and 700 to 800 tractor-trailers a day running into the quiet little towns of Gibsonville and Elon.
Would someone please remind me why we needed to give Roy Carroll $Millions of Dollars in water and sewer services when the County was sitting on 740 empty acres almost next freaking door? No, the two projects aren't related as the Town of Gibsonville will supply water and sewer to the mystery manufacturer brought to us by the mystery Greensboro Economic Development Alliance in a mysterious location that borders Alamance County and the Burlington and Elon City Limits. Maybe they should rename themselves the Burlington Economic Development Alliance.
Poor Roy, now he has to compete with free. I guess the Greensboro City Council will just have to buy his land from him after the taxpayers finish paying to install water and sewer. You know, so Roy doesn't face a loss. With a tidy profit, of course. After all, Roy did "improve" the property.
Judging from those water and sewer figures I can only speculate the company being lured there is a chemical company. Companies often want their land purchases kept secret to keep rural land owners from jacking up prices but if we're giving away the land then why keep the name of the company a secret unless it's someone who might not be considered a good neighbor to the folks in Gibsonville, Elon and Burlington?
Look, I was born in Gibsonville in a house with a back yard that bordered the Prison Farm's chain link fense. I have friends and family living next door to that prison farm today. I have lots of family and friends in Gibsonville, Elon, Burlington and Alamance County that I don't usually drag into Greensboro political issues. And while I wish all of them prosperity and wellness I believe this is one Greensboro issue the Alamance County part of the Jones clan just might want to know about.
And just so you know, while we might not have the money they have, in Guilford County alone we outnumber the Cones and several other well known families combined. And that's not counting the inlaws. I'm calling up the family!
