Over time, relationships can go sour. When it happens in one’s private life, the breakup can be agonizing; so much of two people’s lives can be intertwined in a short time. When it’s a public or business relationship, the breakup can be painful and even more complicated. Most likely, there are legal contracts or properties linking the two parties.
Take the relationship between Wisconsin and Foxconn, for example.
Yesterday Wisconsin Public Radio released a report that the Foxconn Innovation Centers throughout the state are on hold, as Foxconn concentrates on their facilities in southeastern Wisconsin. Certainly this comes as no great surprise to anyone who has been following the development of the promised centers in Eau Claire.
A bubbling sense of uncertainty enveloping Foxconn's plans for its manufacturing and research operations in Wisconsin has sparked considerable speculation around the state in the opening months of 2019. Industry analysts and other observers are wondering to what extent the company's promises would, or even could, come to fruition as its public commitments evolve at a fast clip.
In a report from Reuters this morning, Louis Woo, special assistant to Foxconn Chief Executive Terry Gou suggested that plans for Foxconn manufacturing in Wisconsin may be scaled back again, and may in fact not include any manufacturing at all.
“Hard to wrap my head around,” the woman shared as she considered Foxconn. Just what do big budget decisions mean to us?
Work has begun on crafting the next state budget. Over the next few months, this work will continue in earnest. One hefty unbudgeted expense added to upcoming budget math is a large taxpayer funded payment to a foreign corporation.
Concerned citizens in Mount Pleasant have been documenting the spill of silt from the Foxconn development into the Pike River. The water has breached the containment barrier at the building site and is flowing through the "Lamparek Ditch" and then into the Pike. The attached video was shot yesterday. This was exactly the sort of thing that citizens in the area (and in Illinois) have been concerned would happen despite the money spent to mitigate damage from runoff.
The visit by the president to a fundraiser and the Foxconn ribbon cutting will cause a serious traffic snarl in Milwaukee, since it falls on the first day of Summerfest and a major fireworks display on the lakefront. A great number of people will be heading toward the lakeftont while there is a large security presence around the Pfister Hotel, and several closed streets. The city is asking people to go to the lakefront by public transportation, bicycle, or on foot.
