plumber2 Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Here's another blow to the island economy. ANICO's Galveston headquarters will move another 400 jobs to it's League City office building in South Shore Harbour. The jobs are said to be public related, according to the announcement. CEO, G. R. Ferdinanstan says the job transfers are to keep certain company functions from being interrupted during the next hurricane. ANICO currently employees 1,100 people at it's downtown office tower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Not good for the city, but at least they're not going too far. It would be worse if they relocated to Denver or something.Still, Galveston's leaders have to do what they can to attract more jobs to the island before things get too bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Galveston's leaders have to do what they can to attract more jobs to the island before things get too bad. How? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 How? Any way they can. With the economy as crappy as it is, there are a lot of companies across the country that are "on the edge" and looking for a cheaper place to relocate. If Galveston can make itself significantly cheaper and actively seek out medium-sized businesses, it could work. Imagine a dot-com teetering in say... Portland, Oregon. Someone from Galveston approaches the company and offers a tax and utilities incentive package. Plus the fact that there's no income tax. Plus it's warm weather. Plus it's on the beach. Galveston could make itself into a kind of corporate tax haven for mid-sized companies. There's not enough room on the island and there's too much competition to lure a huge company down. But maybe something the size of EcoLab, or Lawson, or any number of cold-weather companies that might find a low-tax island attractive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 Any way they can. With the economy as crappy as it is, there are a lot of companies across the country that are "on the edge" and looking for a cheaper place to relocate. If Galveston can make itself significantly cheaper and actively seek out medium-sized businesses, it could work. Imagine a dot-com teetering in say... Portland, Oregon. Someone from Galveston approaches the company and offers a tax and utilities incentive package. Plus the fact that there's no income tax. Plus it's warm weather. Plus it's on the beach. Galveston could make itself into a kind of corporate tax haven for mid-sized companies. There's not enough room on the island and there's too much competition to lure a huge company down. But maybe something the size of EcoLab, or Lawson, or any number of cold-weather companies that might find a low-tax island attractive.I appreciate your constructive approach, but I can tear it all down in two words: insurance premiums.I'm genuinely sorry to say this, but Galveston's competitive stance is pitiful right now as it would pertain to just about any kind of corporation. I was down there on Thursday and I couldn't imagine any decent-sized corporation coming down and looking at Galveston the way it is now and wanting to relocate a headquarters there. Not when League City has waterfront office parks with lots of marinas and amenities nearby, better school districts for relocating employees, lower insurance premiums, less business interruption risk, and better proximity to a major airport and to a major American city...and on top of all that is also willing to duke it out for corporate relocations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bachanon Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 .......waterfront office parks that flooded during ike. we were next door to american national on south shore harbor and moved to the woodlands just in time. galveston to league city is the lesser of two evils. league city has sorry restaurants, horrible rush hour traffic and a mediocre school district. with the national perception of galveston, clouded by the media videos of bolivar pen.....what company from portland would move to galveston? north carolina maybe or austin. not the gulf coast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 with the national perception of galveston, clouded by the media videos of bolivar pen.....what company from portland would move to galveston? north carolina maybe or austin. not the gulf coast.To be honest, there is no national perception of Galveston, either before or after Ike. Those who know Galveston outside of Texas only know it for that country song from half a century ago.And virtually no one outside Texas saw video of Bolivar or anything else because it was only covered nationally for one day because Ike ran into the election cycle. Every non-Texan I've mentioned the hurricane to didn't even know there was another hurricane in the Gulf after Katrina. Sounds like a lot of people around here don't have any ideas at all for bringing Galveston back. If we apply all their doomsaying arguments, then we might as well just give up and move everyone off the island and let nature take it back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 .......waterfront office parks that flooded during ike. we were next door to american national on south shore harbor and moved to the woodlands just in time. galveston to league city is the lesser of two evils. league city has sorry restaurants, horrible rush hour traffic and a mediocre school district. with the national perception of galveston, clouded by the media videos of bolivar pen.....what company from portland would move to galveston? north carolina maybe or austin. not the gulf coast.I haven't driven FM 518 through League City since the storm but I did drive NASA Road One earlier this week and there were plenty of restaurants open. That compares to one restaurant left in downtown Galveston, and it is only selling vastly overpriced sandwiches. There's good food still on the seawall, but that is far from where Galveston's office space is.The traffic is bad in League City, but that can be improved with ongoing road projects; Galveston is further and that can't be changed.As for Clear Creek ISD, the declining reputation is mostly on the Harris County side, where numerous aging apartments in Clear Lake City are poisoning the well. It's still better than anywhere else on the southeast side except Friendswood ISD, and as compared to Galveston, La Marque, or Texas City, they're ahead by a long shot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bachanon Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 To be honest, there is no national perception of Galveston, either before or after Ike. Those who know Galveston outside of Texas only know it for that country song from half a century ago.And virtually no one outside Texas saw video of Bolivar or anything else because it was only covered nationally for one day because Ike ran into the election cycle. Every non-Texan I've mentioned the hurricane to didn't even know there was another hurricane in the Gulf after Katrina. Sounds like a lot of people around here don't have any ideas at all for bringing Galveston back. If we apply all their doomsaying arguments, then we might as well just give up and move everyone off the island and let nature take it back. if there is no national perception of galveston, then the concept of a company moving there from the west coast is less likely than i thought. gambling. when they approve gambling for galveston it will be a free for all. i'm amazed that nationally ike was not a big deal. guess sleeping under the stairs with no electricity with a dog and nephew while trees were cracking and slamming to the ground was too visceral for me. i can't imagine it not being on someone's radar. once again, the world does not revolve around me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.S.O.N. Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Any way they can. With the economy as crappy as it is, there are a lot of companies across the country that are "on the edge" and looking for a cheaper place to relocate. If Galveston can make itself significantly cheaper and actively seek out medium-sized businesses, it could work. Imagine a dot-com teetering in say... Portland, Oregon. Someone from Galveston approaches the company and offers a tax and utilities incentive package. Plus the fact that there's no income tax. Plus it's warm weather. Plus it's on the beach. Galveston could make itself into a kind of corporate tax haven for mid-sized companies. There's not enough room on the island and there's too much competition to lure a huge company down. But maybe something the size of EcoLab, or Lawson, or any number of cold-weather companies that might find a low-tax island attractive.The national bio lab could create some opportunity for mid sized research companies you speak of. THERE ARE ONLY TWO IN THE NATION. Let's capitalize on this people! Lure some of those refining company managerial office spaces from not even five minutes across the bay in Texas City. Its close enough to keep an eye on things, while far enough away to not be blown up in an (God forbid) accident. They are scattered all over Texas City currently in rag tag low rise buildings. Why not consolidate in downtown Galveston? Sweeten the deal with high rise condo options for corporate execs (I don't know if that is possible or legal lol) How about approaching island natives George Mitchell (Mitchell Energy & Development) Fertitta (Landry's), or Lloyd Hill (former Applebee's CEO) on future considerations of subsidiary or satellite offices. IDK, hell lets put something out there... ANYTHING! The problem (as I see it) is that most of the best ideas I've heard have come from this message board and none of those "economic committees" they've formed since Ike. Forget the pie in the sky notion of gaming on the island, and lets get to work!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strickn Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 John Stilgoe at Harvard says that the writing is on the wall even for New Orleans if/once Havana opens for gambling. All of the good anti-gambling arguments aside, by the time casinos would actually be opening in our island I don't believe Tilman Fertitta would really do as well on Galveston as people seem to think. if there is no national perception of galveston, then the concept of a company moving there from the west coast is less likely than i thought.gambling. when they approve gambling for galveston it will be a free for all. i'm amazed that nationally ike was not a big deal. guess sleeping under the stairs with no electricity with a dog and nephew while trees were cracking and slamming to the ground was too visceral for me. i can't imagine it not being on someone's radar. once again, the world does not revolve around me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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