Corporate Infrastructure Versus Public Infrastructure

Is This What Trump Meant When He Said China Was “Raping” The US?

Did China approve the local zoning and State permits?

 Public infrastructure money invested to promote corporate interests, not public interest

Scene of the crime – new Grainger distribution facility, Bordentown Township, NJ (11/14/16). Is this what they call “pedestrian friendly, compact, walkable development to local downtown markets”?

Who’s zoomin’ who?  ~~~ Aretha Franklin

[Update below]

Sometimes, a dead elephant lies right in your backyard rotting in the sun, un-noticed.

I found one this weekend while looking for Burlington County’s Crystal Lake Park, just a few miles from my house (a photo post forthcoming on the Park).

They certainly didn’t keep it a secret – guess I just wasn’t paying attention:

BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP — Grainger, a leading distributor of industrial supplies, equipment, tools and materials, announced plans today to build a 1.3 million-square-foot distribution center — the largest commercial warehouse in the state — on 96 acres in the township.

I guess you have to see it to believe it – wedged between the NJ Turnpike and I-295, is a massive transportation infrastructure on former farm fields.

The most recent addition is the Grainger distribution facility pictured above.

As I drove past the humongous Grainger facility, I noticed that the local road was closed (Axe Factory Road). Unable to get to the park, I had to turn around and find an alternative route:

The juxtaposition of crumbling and closed public infrastructure so close to massive new investments in corporate infrastructure made my head explode.

I thought maybe this is what Trump meant when he said China’s trade policies were raping the US?

The Grainger facility is fully automated – not so good for all those working class jobs he promised.

The facility will distribute cheap imported Chinese products and undercut US manufacturing – again, not so good for all those manufacturing plants and working class jobs Trump promised.

I haven’t done any research, but I assume that Grainger got all kinds of taxpayer backed public subsidies and “incentives” (corporate welfare). Again, not so good for Trump’s promises of relief for the working class.

Bottom line: Local residents get higher taxes, traffic, noise, a visual scar on the landscape, more greenhouse gas emissions, toxic diesel truck air pollution, water pollution from stormwater runoff from the massive 1.3 mill square foot complex, and longer drives to avoid the road closure (and there is no solar on the flat roof).

Meanwhile their local public infrastructure continues to crumble and public money is invested to promote corporate interests, not public interests – potholes, flood risks, and bridges closed:

However, it certainly would be fair to say that the Grainger facility “raped” the former agricultural rural landscape – so Trump’s campaign rhetoric was not all lies and hyperbole:

 BTW, this is what public infrastructure looks like:

[Update – 11/16/16 – We told you exactly this was coming – and it sure didn’t take very long (NY Times story):

WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats, divided and struggling for a path from the electoral wilderness, are constructing an agenda to align with many proposals of President-elect Donald J. Trump that put him at odds with his own party.

On infrastructure spending, child tax credits, paid maternity leave and dismantling trade agreements, Democrats are looking for ways they can work with Mr. Trump and force Republican leaders to choose between their new president and their small-government, free-market principles. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, elected Wednesday as the new Democratic minority leader, has spoken with Mr. Trump several times, and Democrats in coming weeks plan to announce populist economic and ethics initiatives they think Mr. Trump might like. ~~~ end update]