300 new jobs for downtown Lawrence + new development project (Topeka: apartment, hotel)

[MOKAN]

New 300-employee call center to open soon / LJWorld.com

I'm aware that this progress may be mocked as mere low-paying, call-center jobs (God forbid!), but I'm glad 300 jobs will be provided for those who need the prosperity the most - the working class!

Unrelated, but it looks like there are going to be two new multi-story buildings built in downtown Lawrence at 9th and New Hampshire - a hotel/retail building on the southeast corner and an apartment/office building on the northeast corner.

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2012/ju...inth-new-hamp/

Progress.

[soanchorless]

Woohoo! That is good news. When I lived in Lawrence, I had to drive to Topeka to work in a call center because I couldn't find a full time job in Lawrence. I knew people with bachelor's degrees working at Sonic...even a call center is better than that!

[lifelongMOgal]

It's too bad residents keep falling for these TIF scams. Businesses should be willing to locate without adding a burden to taxpayers. Glad that Lawrence is getting the jobs but sad that politicians are all to eager to give away freebies to attract businesses. Not progress, just mediocrity.

[GraniteStater]

Lawrence is getting new jobs which is a good thing, but those are barely above minimum wage jobs. Most people would need two of those jobs to make ends meet. Lawrence has to make a better effort to land companies that offer better paying jobs.

[MOKAN]

Originally Posted by lifelongMOgal

It's too bad residents keep falling for these TIF scams. Businesses should be willing to locate without adding a burden to taxpayers. Glad that Lawrence is getting the jobs but sad that politicians are all to eager to give away freebies to attract businesses. Not progress, just mediocrity.

I didn't know TIF was involved with the call center jobs. The article I posted provided no indication of such. Where did you learn that?

As for the other projects - the apartment/office and hotel/retail mixed use multistory buildings - I'm all for urban development, so I'm not against the incentives, especially since they involve building underground parking!

[empires228]

Originally Posted by lifelongMOgal

It's too bad residents keep falling for these TIF scams. Businesses should be willing to locate without adding a burden to taxpayers. Glad that Lawrence is getting the jobs but sad that politicians are all to eager to give away freebies to attract businesses. Not progress, just mediocrity.

Sadly this is Kansas where businesses seemingly only relocate to based on how many handouts they get. the Johnson County/Missouri job war is the strongest example of this, but retail won't even move into most Kansas communities without huge incentives.

[soanchorless]

Hmm...remember when Lawrence had an anarchist dude name Boog for mayor? And before that they had some dude who worked at the merc and was a caller for contra/barn dances. Oh, the good ol days.