That’s the missing puzzle piece in this new effort from Orange County’s Economic Development Commission to gain community input on a possible “value-added food processing center” for Orange, Alamance, Chatham and Durham counties.
This Herald-Sun story quotes the survey organization representative as saying the facilities typically cost “well over $1 million.” But you’ll find no mention of the cost, or who will foot the bill for it, in the county’s informational letter or the survey that residents are being urged to complete to “measure the existing level of community demand.” Instead, there only pie-in-the-sky questions about how much someone might use the facility.
Also left off the survey is another key question that would require survey respondents to think beyond their own desire for something “free.” I would add this:
Please rank in order of importance the following taxpayer funded services provided by local government:
Fire
Police
Schools
Parks
Food processing facility
Problem is, adding a question like the one above would imply there will be a serious discussion of local priorities when this facility is considered. That, sadly, is unlikely. What we will hear about are survey results that say the community is demanding the facility.
