People have been calling me.

Saturday, October 06, 2001

People have been calling me. &uot;I’ve been talking to a lot of people,&uot; they say, &uot;and they all think this Farmland thing is a bad idea.&uot;

I think of telling them that this may be because everyone likes to hang around with people they agree with, but I don’t bother.

Surely, judging from the letters I’ve been receiving, there are pockets of resistance to the idea of getting a new Farmland plant built here. Some have a problem with the city helping Farmland in any way; others simply think we’d be better off without the big pork processor.

One person anonymously sent me a little 3-by-5 card in the mail. On it, they wrote their vote for the Tribune’s online poll this week, which asks for opinions on the attempt to bring Farmland back to Albert Lea. The person’s vote was for &uot;C&uot; – &uot;We don’t need Farmland at all.&uot;

She elaborated: &uot;The elimination of Farmland Co. is the best thing that has ever happened to Albert Lea.&uot;

From my perspective, this swirl of negativity seems stronger than it probably is. After all, people are more likely to contact me if they think something stinks than if they think it’s a great idea.

Surely, part of the objection is the assistance. Some people don’t like the idea of giving Farmland anything. Under the plan drafted by the city, it would assume some financial obligations to make the new plant happen, and it would practically give Farmland a new site.

These objections are not hard for me to overcome. Think of the city as a business owner: When you’re starting a business, you need to invest some capital to get it started. Once it’s up and running, you begin to make money. People don’t consider it foolish to invest $100,000 to start a business that will net you $40,000 per year in profits once it’s going. After a few years, you can pay back your loans and start making money hand over fist.

This may not be a realistic business scenario, and it’s not proportionate to the Farmland situation, but the point is the same: Invest some money now, get a lot more back later. And it’s really not even that big of an investment, considering that creative use of tax-increment financing and some hoped-for grants and federal help will make this a minimal expense.

Some seem to want to dicker about what wages will be paid. $10 an hour is apparently seen as hardly worth the bother. But that works out to $400 a week; maybe about $300 after taxes, to be very conservative. That’s $1200, after taxes, per month. Considering you can get a decent apartment in this town for $400, that leaves $800 for other expenses. If a married couple both work there, that’s $1600 a month – $400 per week – for other bills, groceries, gas and the like. Plus, think of all those groceries, gas and the like being bought here. And people conveniently ignore the fact that many of the jobs would pay more than $10.

A third group seems to have a different objection. These are the people who would just as soon not have any outsiders in this area, particularly if they don’t speak the language.

This talk has me wondering: If this fire had been at a different factory – say, Streater – would people be so adamantly opposed to doing what it takes to get a new plant built? After all, at Streater, they speak English, right?

Yes, it can be a pain to deal with an incoming population who does not speak English. But if you look at the results of the last census, you’ll see that this is the only portion of the population that is growing. At the same time, our established population is aging and we’ve got a severe shortage of workers to staff nursing homes and other institutions. Does anybody else see the connection? We will need a workforce to support the necessary services in this town, and the immigrant population is the only way we seem able to get it.

In short, we are in no position to pick and choose who decides to live here. But if we make the best of those who do, we can adapt a good portion of the newcomers and, it is hoped, get them to put down some roots. A generation from now, they’ll have kids of their own, and don’t worry, they’ll speak English.

– – –

Because so much is being said about Farmland, I’m going to extend our online poll on the subject by one more week. You can vote by logging on to www.albertleatribune.com. The question: What do you think of the city’s plans to get a new Farmland plant built? A) Great idea; B) Would be good, but we’re offering too much; C) Don’t need Farmland at all. This is not a scientific, randomly sampled poll, so the results are not going to be perfect, but people are eager for any kind of measure of public opinion.

Dylan Belden is the Tribune’s managing editor. His column appears Sundays.