Yo, Mayor Joines, just who is the local community?

The Winston-Salem Journal’s Richard Craver stays on the “fight” to lure Caterpillar to Forsyth County. Here’s the passage that jumped out at me:

Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines said the proposed contract for Caterpillar — with strict incentives clawback clauses for not meeting work force, capital-investment and production criteria — shows that the local community is a wiser incentives negotiator.

OK, I don’t know if those were Mayor Joines’ exact words, but nevertheless I wonder exactly who the ‘local community’ is. Certainly not city residents, who aren’t seeing a penny of property tax relief as a result of the Dell repayment.

BTW, Commander Hood makes an appearance, saying too many state and local officials are “are ignoring the empirical evidence of poor results with incentives….”All they hear is corporations and site selectors whispering in their ear that ‘You’re off the list if you don’t pony up,’ and they become too anxious to say no.”