From Plano future

Plano Announces Big New Win?A marketer's dreamJust in time for the election, Plano announces a big new win - Boeing Global Services Division is leasing space in Legacy West.  It was blasted over all the news outlets in Dallas and even nationally.
 
This is big news?  NOT really.  The business will occupy 1 floor of an office building.  Maybe 40 or 50 people in the office.  Many of them already located in the Dallas area, currently working with the primary businesses that make up this division of Boeing - e.g., the long time Dallas operations of Aviall and Jeppeson that Boeing acquired years ago. If you look closely at the caption to the picture in the story it says, "A few dozen professionals are expected to be working there by year end"   Our city PR folks are really great at making it sound like its a big deal, the press release only says that the division has 20,000 employees globally.   Did you know Plano spends millions of tax dollars for a large marketing staff and on outside agencies to create buzz stories like this?

The City Council is going to give Boeing an economic development grant to lure all these jobs to Plano.  Next, my neighbor is applying for an economic development grant.  She's getting a new dog.  She'll be buying lots of food and supplies, keeping the veterinarian and his staff employed and hiring a dog sitter when she goes out of town. 

We are glad to have Boeing here, but are we really going to give them big incentives to have 40 or 50-person office here?  Why?  Their employees will be driving from their houses in Dallas, Frisco and Prosper, adding to our traffic. But we should give poor Boeing a cash economic development grant from the property taxes we all pay so that we can say a few people from Boeing are working in Plano?  Our mayor will brag, however, that it's a big win only he could bring home. 

And because they are leasing an office here, we need another 2,000 high density apartments on Plano Parkway to accommodate them.  This is the justification we get?