DISQUS

The District Weekly: JUST GOT LUCKY?

  • The Toad · 8 months ago
    Is this the same Jack O'Halloran that was praising Bob Foster not long ago for singlehandedly getting this property re-zoned for him in less than one week? (a legal impossibility) Anybody else see any parallels between that and the Dean/Hitchcock debacle? Tesla Motors sure sounds like an excellent fit for the old 717 assembly building. Or maybe, just maybe, Tesla could end up in the C17 facility; the timeline fits there better. The big question is whether Tesla can buy enough political influence to be welcome in Long Beach at all.
  • Mike Ruehle · 8 months ago
    Expect big campaign contributions for Mayor Foster and the candidate Mayor Foster has arranged to run against Councilwoman Schipske. Similar to Tom Dean’s wetlands deal with the city, I suspect every employee, partner, family member, and friend of Jack O'Halloran and Tesla Motors will be donating to Mayor Foster and his new gang of five (six) Councilmember’s election campaign. They should be able to put together enough money for Mayor Foster to get what they want.
  • lbresident · 8 months ago
    come on guys. let's not try to turn every single story into a negative one. It would be really great for Long Beach to have the studio or the tesla deal. Would be even better if somehow both could go through. It's a big site so maybe we can have a movie studio and an electric car plant.
  • Dave Wielenga · 8 months ago
    Would be cool, very cool, but that doesn't mean we should let an excellent idea distract us from whatever the realities of the deal are. Here's hoping there's room in Long Beach for good jobs and good government.
  • The Toad · 8 months ago
    I guess in your world the ends justify the means. Not in mine!
  • Dave in Alamitos Beach · 8 months ago
    I agree. I hope that we're able to have BOTH the movie studio and Tesla in Long Beach, and heck I'd even throw in the solar & wind company. Long Beach can use these kinds of jobs, and this is the appropriate place to put those kind of developments, as opposed to, oh I don't know, the Wetlands or the Queen Mary, etc.
  • SoccerFan · 8 months ago
    That site is big enough to host a couple soccer fields as well.
  • Laurence Goodhue · 8 months ago
    This truly is great news.

    A for the soccer fields.There is no reason the fields can not be sited at
    the very end of a runway-which could be grassed over!!!If a security issue
    arises simply call LBPD.

    It is the same approach and mindset Phil Hester and De Long used in taking
    down the security fencing and gates at Marine Stadium.
  • Theo Douglas · 8 months ago
    Nothing against soccer fields--or former airplane factories--but I wonder if that land is clean enough for a soccer field (without calling in Superfund). I also suspect that this might be an either movie studios/or electric cars scenario; I'm not sure there's enough space for both enterprises.
  • The Toad · 8 months ago
    Have you seen the size of the space devoted to C17 production? Barring some miracle, that space should become available on Tesla's (announced) timeline. If you don't know where to find it, go east on Wardlow Road from Cherry Avenue; you can't miss it. The worst thing to happen to said facility recently was the removal of the rail spur that used to serve it; that rail spur would surely have been "handy" to a manufacturing company--especially one engaged in automobile production. I hope both LB Studios AND Tesla can be accomodated, But with some 90% of movie production having fled California because of high taxes (and getting higher) and a markedly anti-business climate, Tesla just might be the "winner" if only one entity can be accomadated.