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Site Selection magazine named North Carolina as having the nation's best business climate for the 10th time in 12 years.
Arend said North Carolina regained the top ranking from Texas based on the combination of work-force availability and skill sets of interest to employers, proactive business-development agencies, logistics assets and higher education infrastructure.
“We commend the governor Perdue and her economic development team for their focus on making and keeping their state business friendly,” Arend said.
Great news. As much as people like to trash Bev Purdue, she has managed to keep NC among the leaders in economic development. Of course, often the people who trash her are simply parroting what the right-wingnuts are spewing, which usually has little basis in truth. While I'm no cheerleader for her, I also think she has been much more effective than many people realize.
Great news. As much as people like to trash Bev Purdue, she has managed to keep NC among the leaders in economic development. Of course, often the people who trash her are simply parroting what the right-wingnuts are spewing, which usually has little basis in truth. While I'm no cheerleader for her, I also think she has been much more effective than many people realize.
It's more like she has been much more effective than many people care to admit. This state has been big on higher education as well as decent public education for the last 60 years. Bev promised that she was the "pro-education" governor. Due to a bad economy, Bev was forced to lay off SEVERAL teachers and close underperforming schools. This was seen as a major turn-off to her core followers from 2008. As a result, her efforts to bring jobs into NC was ignored for the most part because many folks within the education community wanted her fired (or voted out). Keep in mind that local public school systems are some of the largest employers in almost all of NC's 100 counties. A governor that loses the support of the schools and teachers is a governor that won't last long in this state.
^ urban, you might want to check your facts a bit. The governor doesn't fund education; the General Assembly does. They're the ones who cut education funds, not Bev. In fact, she has requested additional funding in the form of a very modest sales tax increase (which was rejected by the GA), and she issued an executive order to expand the pre-K program after the GA cut funding by 20%. She is very much a friend of education, and I have no idea what you're talking about when you say the education community wanted her fired.
Also, Bev did not lay off any teachers or close public schools. She has no power to do this--it just doesn't work that way. The local school boards make these decisions, and they did so because of funding cuts made by the GA.
^ urban, you might want to check your facts a bit. The governor doesn't fund education; the General Assembly does. They're the ones who cut education funds, not Bev. In fact, she has requested additional funding in the form of a very modest sales tax increase (which was rejected by the GA), and she issued an executive order to expand the pre-K program after the GA cut funding by 20%. She is very much a friend of education, and I have no idea what you're talking about when you say the education community wanted her fired.
Also, Bev did not lay off any teachers or close public schools. She has no power to do this--it just doesn't work that way. The local school boards make these decisions, and they did so because of funding cuts made by the GA.
In the same way the president cathces flak from decisions made by congress, the Gov does for decisions made by GA. Your average laymen thinks the executive branch is the end-all/be-all and doesn't really understand how gov't works. Executive branch is the face of gov't.
In the same way the president cathces flak from decisions made by congress, the Gov does for decisions made by GA. Your average laymen thinks the executive branch is the end-all/be-all and doesn't really understand how gov't works. Executive branch is the face of gov't.
If the team is winning the coach gets the credit, if the team is losing the coach gets the blame. Many view the government as a dictatorship, believing the one person is and can be responsible for knowing everything that goes on and all decisions are made by that one.
Now if employers will take note of that ranking we might get somewhere.
^ urban, you might want to check your facts a bit. The governor doesn't fund education; the General Assembly does. They're the ones who cut education funds, not Bev. In fact, she has requested additional funding in the form of a very modest sales tax increase (which was rejected by the GA), and she issued an executive order to expand the pre-K program after the GA cut funding by 20%. She is very much a friend of education, and I have no idea what you're talking about when you say the education community wanted her fired.
Also, Bev did not lay off any teachers or close public schools. She has no power to do this--it just doesn't work that way. The local school boards make these decisions, and they did so because of funding cuts made by the GA.
In addition to this, you owe great regard and thanks to UNC president Thomas Ross. Under Ross's leadership UNC has become a star of the country.
Under Ross, UNC jumped from 12th to 4th in Washington Monthly's ranking(I like their methodology better than US News or other sources)
UNC has made great strides. As a Georgia resident, I'm jealous about how pro-education North Carolina is. I wish Georgia would soon follow a similar trend.
Great news. As much as people like to trash Bev Purdue, she has managed to keep NC among the leaders in economic development. Of course, often the people who trash her are simply parroting what the right-wingnuts are spewing, which usually has little basis in truth. While I'm no cheerleader for her, I also think she has been much more effective than many people realize.
I agree with you "Arbyunc", I think Governor Perdue has done a great job in steering the state out of the worst economic calamity that the country and the state has suffered since the Great Depression. She has been very instrumental in accelerating important road projects, especially in the metro areas of the state and also very involved in new businesses coming to the state and cultivating existing businesses. I didn't vote for her in 2008, but I give credit to where credit is due.
I do hope that McCrory (who I have already voted for) brings his Charlotte ideas to Raleigh and not succumb to the social agenda of the rightwingers in the Republican party. This group has controlled the state legislature for 2 years and the only thing we've got out of it was an unneccesary referendum on "who can marry who"!!
^ urban, you might want to check your facts a bit. The governor doesn't fund education; the General Assembly does. They're the ones who cut education funds, not Bev. In fact, she has requested additional funding in the form of a very modest sales tax increase (which was rejected by the GA), and she issued an executive order to expand the pre-K program after the GA cut funding by 20%.
This is no different than the old argument of the mayor vs the city manager. The latter does 95% of the real work from day to day while the mayor is mostly a public figure. However, when things go bad, it is the public figure who must answer to the voting public. In the case of Perdue, she started making teachers angry as early as 2009. If my memory is correct, the republican-majority GA did not exist yet in 2009. The quote from the following link sums up why (and when) Perdue started to lose popularity.
Quote: "I watched the evening news tonight as you and Erskine Bowles [University of North Carolina System president] and a bevy of other education gurus bemoaned the state of education in North Carolina. I watched with pain in my heart," he wrote. "Mr. Bowles' contention that 'North Carolina has to hire more and better teachers' was a slap in my face. I was a teacher. I was a good teacher. And I lost my job anyway," the letter continued. "I voted for you as 'the education governor,' and lost my job as an educator that same year." Teacher of the Year tells Perdue about 'gut-wrenching' layoff :: WRAL.com
I totally understand that there were factors beyond Perdue's control that led to teachers being fired. Still though, many folks within education firmly believe that Perdue and the state Dems turned their backs on the educators of NC. This fact alone seems to overshadow the good news coming from the business sector.
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