[PRCo] Re: Merry Christmas Westmoreland County

[Schneider Fred]

I could reply directly to Ed but perhaps someone else can add to this  
thread ...  Chrysler built the plant in the first place but never  
occupied it for whatever reason.   It sat empty for a while until VW  
moved in.

Does some one know when an industrial development authority became  
involved?   Did they build it for Chyrsler or did they buy it and  
lease it to VW?   Maybe Dennis knows because he does not
live that far away....

On Dec 10, 2008, at 8:38 PM, Edward H. Lybarger wrote:

> I doubt if VW or Sony ever had any ownership in this facility.   
> I'll bet it
> belongs to an industrial development authority.  The story is going  
> around
> that there are two tenants wanting to take space in the place...but  
> they
> were going to sublet from Sony anyway, not replace Sony.
>
> Yes, I coined the name of the railroad.
>
> I'll bet gas is $1.39 or $1.49 in Carlisle, because it's $1.79 at  
> the end of
> my street.  There has typically been a 30-40-cent differential.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of
> Schneider Fred
> Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 4:43 PM
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Subject: [PRCo] Merry Christmas Westmoreland County
>
> For those that did not see it....
>
> Back in the 1980s Volkswagen was touted as the economic savior of  
> southern
> Westmoreland County when the opened a brand new factory to
> build the Golf automobile; the American version was called a Rabbit.
> I nicknamed mine Thumper.   After a few years of the union beating
> them to death including pouring things like sugar into the gas  
> tanks of
> brand new cars, VW of America threw in the towel and closed the
> plant.   The United Auto Workers won.   They didn't have to work any
> more.
>
> Eventually VW sold the plant to Sony.   The announcement that made
> today's papers is that SONY is laying off 8,000 people worldwide.
> Closing the New Stanton plant in February is included.   A total of
> 560 people in Westmoreland County will be idled.   Note the word
> worldwide.   Underscore it.   Don't for one minute think we are in
> this by ourselves.
>
> Will we tear up the Milton Shapp Memorial Railroad or will someone
> else buy the empty factory?   (I think it was Ed Lybarger who coined
> that name after Governor Shapp spent millions to build a branch  
> north from
> Mount Pleasant to the factory for Volkswagen.)
>
> If you want to tie this to trolleys, the factory was probably half way
> between the Hunker and Hecla Junction mainline routes of West Penn  
> Railways
> south of Greensburg.
>
> Back to worldwide.   If you have not picked up on it, General Motors
> has factories in something like eight countries.   If we bail them
> out, we are bailing out the economies of seven other countries.   If
> we don't bail out GM, Ford and Chrysler, we also let the other
> suppliers collapse.   They are also building parts for BMW, Honda,
> Nissan, Toyota, Mercedes Benz who also have factories in this  
> country.  If
> the guy making seat fabric and wiring harnesses and tires goes  
> down, so do
> those other cars and their factories close and
> layoff people.   Goes back to I see the problem but I don't see the
> answers.
>
> Lowest gas price I saw today was $1.69 9/10s at a Sheetz station.
>
>
>
>
>