What I See

I'll admit, when the Committee of 100 launched its "Kinston! We're On the Way" campaign last year, I was a little skeptical that it would be anything meaningful.

I've seen this kind of thing happen in other communities before. A group of people come up with a catchy slogan that makes people feel a little better about themselves for awhile before the whole thing dies down.

Recent developments here, however, show there may be more to the slogan than a couple of bumper stickers and signs.

The Kinston area, more specifically the North Carolina Global TransPark, got a huge shot in the arm last week when Spirit AeroSystems announced it was setting up shop here. The near-$600 million investment means 500 new jobs to start, with that number possibly growing to more than 1,000 over the next five years or so.

A few weeks back, Sanderson Farms announced it would build its 10^th plant in Kinston, eventually creating 1,600 jobs.

If all goes to plan, Kinston and Lenoir County won't have to wait that long to feel the effects of those announcements. Sanderson hopes to be in full operation by August 2009, and Spirit plans to have its plant fully operational by 2010.

Does this mean Kinston is really "on the way?" Maybe.

Sanderson fills an immediate need as it will likely employ low-skilled workers. Kinston and Lenoir County have plenty of those. Hopefully, these potential employees will be able to pass the whiz-quiz and get to work.

Spirit's plant will need higher skilled workers, something not in abundance here, but Lenoir Community College and other available programs could train enough workers to be able to work for that company.

There are also residual effects to these types of announcements. For starters, now that Spirit has placed its stamp of approval on the GTP, there's a chance other companies will look this way when they're trying to site a facility.

In fact, Lenoir County Economic Developer Mark Pope told me Friday there are several projects in the works right now, and he hopes similar announcements will be made in the near future.

Other sectors of the local business community stand to benefit as well. More people working could mean more people spending money at various retail outfits. If business is good enough, perhaps more retailers will look at setting up shop here.

More people working also means there's a potential of more people buying homes, which will expand the local tax base. Spirit's talking about offering an average salary of $48,000. People making less than that are able to afford to buy homes.

Kinston may want to reconsider its attitude towards rental complexes like the ill-fated Poyner Place project off Carey Road. It seems to me the type of housing that project would have offered would be perfect for a person who lands a job at Sanderson.

On the surface, it really does look like Kinston and Lenoir County are ready to turn the corner economically. Things really are looking up, which is saying something considering the state of the economy nationwide.

"Kinston! We're On the Way?"

Let's hope so.

Charlie Kraebel can be reached at (252) 559-1074 or ckraebel@freedomenc.com. Check out Charlie's blog at http://ckraebel.encblogs.com.