From the GV’s story fragment (idiots for not posting the full story, but I digress)<\/p>\n
According to IDA Executive Director Mike Sexton, \u201cI think it\u2019s important for people to know that we were never really cut from that project. We were a finalist in that project, and I think that people should understand we worked real hard on a large project like that. We spent a lot of time, and when you lose, you get nothing.\u201d Out of six sites selected in the state, Halifax and Mecklenburg counties made the final cuts, and we were the two finalists in Virginia.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Sounds good, doesn’t it? Well, it’s horsecrap because Halifax and Mecklenburg counties didn’t have the state legislature behind them throwing $300,000,000 in incentives at Apple. Face it, Halifax and Mecklenburg had zero chance at all in the final selection process.<\/p>\n
You have to give Mike Sexton credit for trying to spin this into a “Hey, we tried hard” news release, and I’m sure that lots of people will actually believe what he’s saying. If you take a step back and look at the lack of incentives, you have to see that’s the reason it never came to be. By the way, what’s all of this about a “closed-door meeting”? You’d think that transparency would be welcomed in a “what went wrong” meeting. That way, the public could see what really happened and make their own determinations on who dropped the ball yet again.<\/p>\n
Wonder what documents are available from that meeting? Hmmm… more to come?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
And by “almost”, they mean not anywhere close at all. There’s a giant reason that they didn’t really come close…<\/p>\n
[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[63,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-halifax-county","category-opinioncentral","odd"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pwqFk-18n","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4862,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2009\/07\/28\/joel-cunningham-to-be-sworn-in-wednesday\/","url_meta":{"origin":4363,"position":0},"title":"Joel Cunningham to be “sworn in” Wednesday.","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"July 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Technically, he's already been sworn into his new position, but this is his time to shine. Make your way to the Halifax County Courthouse on Wednesday at 3:00 PM. New Circuit Court Judge Joel Cunningham will take the oath of office for the 10th Circuit. Appomattox, Buckingham, Charlotte, Cumberland, Halifax,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "EventsCentral"","block_context":{"text":"EventsCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/eventscentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8558,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2014\/04\/29\/jeff-reed-110-halifax-county-0\/","url_meta":{"origin":4363,"position":1},"title":"Jeff Reed 110 – Halifax County 0","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"April 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"After looking at that scoreboard, I wonder if the Halifax County IDA is having second thoughts... Jeff Reed used to be project manager at the Halifax County Industrial Development Authority before being unceremoniously dumped. A good economic developer won't be unemployed for long and he quickly found his new spot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "BusinessCentral"","block_context":{"text":"BusinessCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/businesscentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5327,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2009\/09\/15\/breaking-news-murder-arrest-in-caswell-county-nc\/","url_meta":{"origin":4363,"position":2},"title":"BREAKING NEWS: Murder arrest in Caswell County (NC)","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"September 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This case spreads over Caswell County, Person County, Mecklenburg County and it ends with a surprising Halifax County twist! From our friends at the Caswell County Sheriff's Office... Collaborative efforts with the Mecklenburg County Sheriff\u2018s Office (VA), Caswell County Sheriff\u2019s Office and the Person County Sheriff\u2019s Office. On Monday September,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Breaking News"","block_context":{"text":"Breaking News","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/newscentral\/breaking-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5907,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2009\/12\/03\/the-modeling-simulation-center-of-mystery\/","url_meta":{"origin":4363,"position":3},"title":"UPDATED: The Modeling & Simulation Center of Mystery!","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"December 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"What's the difference between Victoria's Secret and the \"Modeling & Simulation Center\" located in Halifax County's Riverstone Technology Park? Victoria's Secret has models that work. Seriously, what's going on with that project? Rumors are flying around that the Modeling & Simulation Center project has completely imploded. Carole Inge, the director,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "BusinessCentral"","block_context":{"text":"BusinessCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/businesscentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5251,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2009\/09\/08\/happy-trails-halifax-county-ida-marketing-director\/","url_meta":{"origin":4363,"position":4},"title":"Happy Trails, Halifax County IDA Marketing Director!","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"September 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"How'd we miss this piece of news? In August, the Halifax County Industrial Development Authority eliminated the Marketing director position to cut expenses, which means that Nancy Smith is gone. The marketing functions of the IDA are now being outsourced. Irony alert: The agency that's trying to counteract the effects\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "BusinessCentral"","block_context":{"text":"BusinessCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/businesscentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29131,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2016\/05\/31\/quickhits-53116\/","url_meta":{"origin":4363,"position":5},"title":"QuickHits! (5\/31\/16)","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"May 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Let's wrap up the month with a special Tuesday edition of QuickHits. We'll take a look at stories around the region that have caught my eye over the past week. If the QuickHits are coming, we've got to have a Big Board! Goodbye, Earl! Hello, Earl! Former Halifax County resident\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "QuickHits!"","block_context":{"text":"QuickHits!","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/featurescentral\/quickhits\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/HdKuMCl.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4363\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}