Jeff Kohut, an independent candidate for mayor, is urging General Electric to make Bridgeport home for its plan to build a mega solar-panel plant. Grab a cup of joe and check out Kohut’s pitch:
It was with great satisfaction that I read the report by Jonathan Fahey of the Associated Press, in the Friday, April 8, 2011, Business section of the Connecticut Post, titled “GE to build nation’s largest solar-panel plant,” which described the plans by Fairfield-based General Electric (GE) to construct the largest solar-panel manufacturing facility in the US–in an as-yet-to-be-chosen location.
Having stated in various op-ed pieces published by the Connecticut Post et al. over the past several years, that the alternative-energy-equipment manufacturing sector would help define the “new industrial revolution”–as geopolitical and environmental reality determined that the United States, and most other nations, become energy self-sufficient through the use of green, alternative-energy sources–I have been holding my breath in anticipation of the embracing of this undeniable fact of life by the US Government and business community, through the adoption of relevant and pragmatic policies, and the initiation of relevant and pragmatic actions. So far, there has been only lip service, tentative steps and retreat, in this regard, on the part of both government and the private sector … While the other established and emerging industrial powers of the world have been busy putting US alternative-energy technology to practical use–including the creation of new manufacturing/export sectors based on such goods (of which the US, although a minor user, is a net importer), the US has been persevering in its reliance on the use/importation of traditional, problematic energy sources …
Indeed, the aforementioned op-ed pieces were written in terms of the indications for the re-industrialization of Bridgeport by way of the burgeoning global demand for alternative-energy products. It was stated in those pieces that with Bridgeport’s huge available workforce/workforce-housing stock, hundreds of acres of fallow/underutilized industrial space (well-served by sanitary, transportation, and energy/power infrastructure), world-class regional educational/technological/training assets, and extant relationships with industrial-technological giants involved with various aspects of the alternative-energy sector (e.g., GE, DuPont), Bridgeport would be an ideal location to serve as a center of green alternative-energy technology and manufacturing.
GE has been approached by this Bridgeporter (as well as by several high-ranking politicians, at this Bridgeporter’s behest) during the aforementioned period, in regard to reprising its role as a major Bridgeport manufacturer on its 77-acre Boston Avenue site … Various excuses were offered in dismissing the proposition out of hand (by GE and the politicians), including the condition of the property and the unavailability of a suitable workforce. The first excuse was deconstructed during the public hearings on the deconstruction-permit for the GE plant on the aforementioned site. During those hearings, it was admitted by GE that only cursory remediation was needed to make the Boston Avenue land safe and reusable for virtually any use. The second excuse–that a workforce suitably educated for modern manufacturing wasn’t available in Bridgeport–was rendered absurd during a recent town meeting held by Congressman Jim Himes, during which the workforce conundrum was raised as an impediment to the resumption of (modern) manufacturing in Bridgeport; a local resident cited the region’s technical-school system and several world-class university engineering programs in response …
GE, more than any other company, should want to embrace the great opportunity presented by Bridgeport and “come home” to its former premier manufacturing center and world headquarters. With its large tract of land on Boston Avenue (a usable piece of land that neither needs to be purchased nor re-zoned), the huge available Bridgeport workforce (with an abundance of skilled and trainable laborers living within walking/biking-distance of the property), its world headquarters virtually five minutes away from the property, and its long relationship with Bridgeport and the State of Connecticut, it would seem that, given the ready access to a very large potential (North East) regional market, the company would want to return “home” to further develop its alternative-energy-products technology and huge, potential domestic market … [The present uncertainty, danger and turmoil in much of the rest of the world, in addition to the relatively inexpensive labor, land and taxes in (the US) Bridgeport–versus the other developed/safe/stable countries of the world–actually makes Bridgeport a “great buy” …]
Surely GE’s planned creation of the largest solar-panel manufacturing plant in the US and the employment/tax base needs of Bridgeport are a match made in heaven. It is incumbent upon the city, state, and Bridgeport’s Congressional delegation to broker a GE-Bridgeport marriage in this regard …
Inasmuch as this mayoral candidate believes the central theme of Bridgeport’s renaissance must be re-industrialization and a leading role in the new industrial revolution (with employment for all working-age Bridgeport residents at Bridgeport-based, living-wage jobs), it should also be said that a Kohut mayoralty will pursue green energy independence for Bridgeport, such that Bridgeport will manufacture and use the alternative energy equipment that will free our country from dependence on dangerous, polluting, geopolitically charged energy sources. Bridgeport will become the energy-independent “prototype city” that creates the map for the US and the world to use in attaining green energy independence, as we drive toward full-employment prosperity and rebirth … (Also see “Right time for Bridgeport to emerge as a manufacturing, technology leader,” Jeff Kohut, Connecticut Post, 2/21/10)
During this campaign season and as a major piece of my agenda after becoming mayor, I will tirelessly lobby GE to locate their new solar-panel manufacturing operation in Bridgeport, as well as for the location/relocation to Bridgeport of manufacturing operations for the gamut of high-tech/green energy equipment manufacturing that will characterize the “new industrial revolution” and position Bridgeport for long-term peacetime prosperity. GE can help to lead the way for us, once again, in this regard …
Now it is time for Governor Dannel Malloy, Congressman Jim Himes, and Senators Lieberman and Blumenthal, to convince GE Chairman Jeffrey Immelt that it’s “time to come home”–to Bridgeport …
That would be turning this site from a environmental minefield into an Urban Mind Field!
There is much interest in the Boston Avenue GE site. Sikorsky is planning a major expansion of the CH53 transport Helicopter. The components could be built at the GE site and assembled in Stratford. WIN WIN WIN. Now we have a reasonable proposal GE consider that site for their solar venture. Both make sense IF:
1. It weren’t in Bridgeport
2. It weren’t in Connecticut
Why?
1. Municipal leadership in Bridgeport has been run by self-interested “pay to play” morons for the past 40 years. We can’t even get a bakery to move to Bridgeport without the owners running for the hills followed by up-turned palms.
2. Corporate property taxation is badly needed to ease the homeowner burden. But the tax basis is too frightening for any reasonable executive to come into this town. Plus the State has placed outrageous demands on business. CT is not a business-friendly state. Malloy has made it worse.
3. The success of the industrial might Bridgeport once knew was totally dependent on a steadily available skilled work force. The disgrace of the Bridgeport BOE does not provide the community with that vital component of economic growth. A manufacturer will look at the availability of skilled workers first before continuing with due diligence. We will fail that look miserably. I blame Testa and the Calamarians in the BOE.
yahooy blames Testa for the Japan quake and tsunami.
Joel, you dumb shit. Kiss my (_!_) !!!
Does anybody know where Mario was during the tsunami?
The greed and kleptocracy that has been infecting Bridgeport’s political culture has been seeping into the streets. Shit runs downhill, don’cha know. The Democratic primary on September 13th will be a turning point for the city. Finch, Testa, Stafstrom and the lot can jump into the Housatonic River. Shit also floats.
I’m on friendly terms with several teachers working in Bridgeport public schools. None of them has anything GOOD to say about Ramos or the BOE. All of them note that the Bridgeport Board of Education is used as a stepping stone to higher office (stand up, Ms. Grogins), rather than the welfare of the students, beyond feeding them a reasonably healthy lunch Monday through Friday. There are more than a few students who struggle against the adversities of negative peer pressure, poverty, criminality and lawlessness in their neighborhoods. Once these students graduate they’ll move on to greener pastures. There are no greener pastures in Bridgeport, just brown fields and class B commercial real estate, thanks to the corruption and ineptitude of successive administrations.
Bridgeport is not on the ropes. We are moving ahead collectively, as a community. The people are willing but our leadership is weak. Power is in the hands of a select group of individuals with their own agenda that does not reflect the greater needs and concerns of the people.
But this group of self-interested men, self-styled “masters of the universe,” do not wield all of the power. The truth is a source of power, more powerful than a nuclear weapon.
We do not need assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, missiles, no need for combat weaponry. We have the ballot box.
The Bridgeport Kid // Apr 9, 2011 at 4:48 pm
to your posting
BKid,
And that’s it … that’s all we have left … that’s the only tool we have to reject the abuses heaped upon this City by the current administration and it is the only peaceful means we have to replace the abusers with elected individuals you have vetted.
Elected individuals from beyond the unhealthy control of the DTC Chair. Elected leadership from people who come directly to office as a result of a group of voters sick and tired of the damage brought upon this city by the DTC politicizing of every aspect of City government.
I’m not a solar engineer but I would think GE already had a site picked out before the announcement was made. Ideally, it would make sense to locate a solar plant in a place with a lot of sunshine … hence the sunbelt. Besides, Bridgeport has the darkest cloud of doom and gloom hanging over it. Maybe we can get some rays of sunshine in November???
independent soul; please connect to this link to the 2007 Washington Post article concerning the use of solar power in (overcast Germany)–one of the world’s leading users and manufacturers of solar panels (as well as wind turbines/wind power and the array of other alternative-energy technologies, which GE rival Siemans is into in a very big way …)
www .washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050402466.html
Jeff, I truly laud your effort to get GE to do something constructive on property they own in their own backyard. I also enjoyed reading the article in the Washington Post. Reading the last paragraph, though, Germany only produces 1/4 to 1/2 of their ability on cloudy rainy days. I think the math still favors the sunbelt where there are more sunny days with 100% ability than in B’port. I would still support the effort to get GE to do something, maybe a combo of solar and fuel-cell technology on the property.
Jeff Kohut and independent soul:
If it is too overcast in Bridgeport to generate solar power perhaps GE should consider a manufacturing plant here. They own property here and it would create many jobs in the renewable energy sector. Now that gasoline is approaching $4.00 a gallon more consumers might be considering alternatives to fossil fuels.
GE will not build the solar panel plant in Bpt. We probably do not have a large enough parcel for the plant. I’d think they’d go for a place that already had semiconductor mfg plants. Say Phoenix Ariz.
Do you know GE keeps their fleet of fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft at Stewart Airport in Newburgh, NY because of the runway requirements and the decertification of Sikorsky Airport by the FAA? That’s over 40 aircraft that would be paying revenue to Bridgeport only 15 minutes from GE’s world headquarters in Fairfield. This came from the airport’s manager, John Ricci.
If Stratford is finally forced to allow the airport to be upgraded you will have the return of commercial aviation as well as GE relocating their fleet of aircraft. The economic result would be a domino effect bonanza for Bridgeport and Stratford.
independent soul, LowLevel and Bridgeport Kid; I thought the main idea of my article (above) was clear–I want GE to locate its proposed solar-panel MANUFACTURING PLANT (not a solar-panel-array electric-generation facility!) on their 77-acre parcel on Boston Avenue … 77 acres is a lot of land that can be used to locate a lot of manufacturing–as, indeed, it did for several decades …
However there is more than adequate sunlight for the practical use of solar panels in Connecticut and the rest of the Northeast … And yes, independent soul, we would need a mix of alternative-energy sources–as well as the storage capacity of batteries and fuel cells (which could be charged during peak sun/wind periods) =–to make green alternative energy a practical way to go … (I discussed these things in a previous op-ed piece that appeared in the Connecticut Post on 2/21/10 … I would be glad to discuss these ideas with any interested party–203-394-7678; JPKOHUT1@aol.com).
Well, I’m in agreement with you on GE building a solar panel manufacturing plant in Bridgeport. That would create a lot of jobs. Some tax incentives involved too. Unfortunately for GE and the people of the city of Bridgeport any savings will be pissed away, paid out to play.