We would wholeheartedly welcome 100 new employees to any company or any group of companies that could move into the former Northern Power building in the Mad River Park north of Waitsfield which has been vacant for two years. These employees need a place to work, and we have one and it is great that they are coming here. Welcome.
And they are absolutely welcome here, for as long as needed, and we encourage them to shop and recreate and get to know us. But we join our neighbors in calling for the state to honor its commitment to Waterbury.
Waterbury lost 1,500 vital members of its community when flooding damaged and destroyed the state office buildings. Those 1,500 state employees are being temporarily deployed to various locations around the state while the state decides whether or not to repair the offices.
Waterbury lost $9.7 million in property valuation due to the flooding and had over 200 homes, buildings and businesses damaged—in addition to losing 1,500 people buying lunch, flowers, groceries, gas, etc. five days a week.
With permission, we reprint this excerpt from The Waterbury Record’s editorial of October 13 entitled “State has an obligation to Waterbury” which pretty much hit the nail on the head.
“If Waterbury’s biggest employer were, say, General Motors or Microsoft, Shumlin and other state leaders would demand that the company show its commitment to Waterbury. It’s a moral obligation, they would argue; the community had made a huge commitment to the company and its employees.”
This is absolutely accurate. If it were Green Mountain Coffee Roasters or General Motors contemplating pulling up stakes in Waterbury, the administration would be moving heaven and earth to get the company to stay.
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