Via Meck Deck, a skeptical look at billionaire David Murdock’s North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis. It’s insightful reading for Triad residents since we now have our own Gateway University Research Park.
For all the money Murdock and taxpayers are spending on the project, you really have to wonder if it will deliver as promised:
Murdock, 84, preaches the value of good nutrition at every opportunity. He plans to spend more than $1 billion to transform the former mill town into an international magnet for nutrition research. The state has promised almost $30 million a year, mostly to hire research teams. Local governments could spend more than $150 million to improve things such as roads and sewers.
Seven of the state’s universities will send research teams. A separate development company owned by Murdock is also recruiting private businesses. The campus will be a small town in its own right with housing, retail shopping, a municipal center and other amenities. Thousands of spinoff jobs are predicted.
Surprise, citizens are skeptical, at least those enough who are smart enough to be skeptical. Seems they’re having a little trouble grasping the concept of biotech down there in Kannapolis. That’s not only the tone of the article, it’s also what Murdock thinks:
Murdock knows it will take time for people to adjust. This is a town where pay is by the hour and billionaires never swoop in to create good jobs.
“When you go from being a lint head in a cotton mill to a community college student where you study things you never dreamed of, it gets confusing for people,” he said at a spring ceremony marking construction progress. “But it will sink in.”
That’s a little harsh, isn’t it?
