Keeping up with Sam Jones:
mayor likes steel plant prospects
By Chip Drago
Mobile Bay Times
Mobile Mayor Sam Jones said this morning he "would not trade hands" with Louisiana in the high stakes game to rake in the biggest pot in the history of economic development in Alabama -- the proposed $2.9 billion ThyssenKrupp steel plant in north Mobile County.
The German company is expected to announce its decision Friday.
Speaking to a local civic club Wednesday morning, Jones roamed over a number of municipal concerns, including in addition to ThyssenKrupp:
- The proposed new I-10 bridge over Mobile River;
- The status of a Water Street condo project on the old CSX site;
- The city's future as a cruise port;
- Annexation of the airport;
Introducing the speaker, real estate executive Jamie Praytor lauded his quarter century of vision, integrity, leadership and service to the community, during which former Mayor Mike Dow, who was sitting next to Jones at a table near the podium, leaned over and whispered to Jones that apparently he, not Jones, was expected to speak to the club.
But it was Jones, a longtime Mobile County commissioner before his election to the mayor's office in 2005, who was invited to the rostrum after all.
With transportation experts thought to be down to just three possible routes from 14 for a new I-10 bridge over Mobile River, the remaining three all crossing at mid-river, Jones said officials have now expressed a willingness to reconsider a northern route that would employ the Cochrane-AfricaTown Bridge.
Diverse interests, including maritime, cruise, downtown redevelopment and historic preservation, have expressed alarm at the potential harm to the city of a large downtown bridge.
The bridge has been 12 years in the planning, said Jones. When the community comes together in partnership to communicate, the chances to resolve issues are greatly enhanced and such will the case with the bridge, said Jones.
The Water Street Landing condo project is "on track," said Jones, although "air rights" issues with CSX Railroad are yet to be resolved.
Jones said local officials and developers were scheduled to meet with the CEO of CSX within the next two weeks. The mayor was optimistic that the meeting would be more fruitful than previous efforts to reach an accord with the railroad.
"It has been very difficult to get a response (from railroad executives)," said Jones. "We've been told to talk to someone in Jacksonville and he says 'no, the guy you need is in Atlanta,' and that guy says 'no, no, the man you need is right there in Mobile.'"
The city will strive to accommodate CSX's needs, said Jones. However, the city will not allow the railroad to control development of the Mobile waterfront, Jones said.
"We should bring it to a head sometime this month," the mayor said.
The announcement of a larger cruise ship sailing from the Alabama Cruise Terminal here should come "in the near future," Jones said.
It is "very, very close," he said.
Carnival Cruise Lines' Holiday cruise ship has been a huge success here, not once sailing with less than 100 percent capacity.
Jones suggested a larger ship would be homeported here first and then a second ship would be assigned to Mobile.
"The Holiday will not be here next year, we believe," Jones said.
According to the mayor, a 2,500 passenger ship would likely be homeported in Mobile. An expansion of the terminal's parking garage was planned, he said, adding that valet parking could be arranged using the site of the proposed maritime museum temporarily.
The cruise industry in New Orleans has not bounced back as robustly from Katrina as expected, said Jones.
On downtown redevelopment, Jones said, "It's a good situation when I have more (interested) developers than (available) property."
Condo's and loft apartments are hot, he said. In a recent survey of downtown buildings by fire marshals and urban development workers, the city learned that most of the structures are "under option." The interest in downtown Mobile suggests buildings will be brought up to standard, he said.
Downtown wasn't the only area of the city catching the eye of investors, said Jones who pointed to the Spring Hill area at McGregor Avenue and Old Shell Road as a location of high interest.
On the economic development front, "From today until Monday should be very, very important" to the future of Mobile, said Jones.
The $2.9 billion ThyssenKrupp steel mill has overshadowed all other economic development talk in recent weeks though. Jones pointed out that the steel plant is not only a bigger deal than any of the state's recent projects including Mercedes, Hyundai, Honda, Boeing, but it is actually larger than any three of them combined.
EADS/CASA and its plans for Mobile are in the near offing as well.
"That's only two of the projects we're working on," he said. "We have several others."
On Alabama's position in the ThyssenKrupp competition, "I would not change hands with Louisiana," said Jones, 60, who recently spent a week in Baton Rouge.
Alabama, various governmental bodies and industry leaders have put together "an amazing proposal" that will leave him with no regrets win, lose or draw because a better package could not have been fashioned. If Louisiana wins, said Jones, it will be because of some factor beyond the control of Alabama's economic development team.
According to Jones, Mobile is served by a regional work force which will be a big winner if ThyssenKrupp picks the Mobile site. With the possible good news though, comes the challenge of better preparing Mobile County's youth to enter the work force, he said.
History will tell whether the incentives provided by either Louisiana or Alabama were warranted, but Jones pointed to the Mercedes' project of almost 15 years ago as an instructive example.
"Everybody thought it was a bad deal then," he said. "Now it's the envy of the economic development world."
Opposition to the proposed annexation of the Mobile Regional Airport baffles him, said Jones.
The city's agenda is on the table for all to see, said Jones -- 1) economic development and 2) public safety.
All the growth in Mobile is occurring in the western sector, said Jones. Response times to fire and medical emergencies are becoming increasingly worrisome, according to the mayor. The city needs to be able to respond from the outer west to the inner east and relieve the burden on stations within the city that struggle to serve that rapidly growing western area.
"We're growing extremely uncomfortable with response times in the western service areas," he said.
A six-minute response time is the goal, Jones said, adding that the response time is double that in some western locales.
Because the annexation would involve no people, Jones said the existing opposition was hard to comprehend.
"I wouldn't be telling you the truth if I said I understood it," he said.
A lack of competition has hurt Mobile's ability to reduce air fares to the levels of those obtainable in Pensacola and Gulfport/Biloxi. Because Delta for so long has had a stranglehold on market share in Mobile, other airlines are reluctant to enter the market. When the city has been able to inject competition into the marketplace, such as with AirTran, Delta simply met the lower prices, retained market share and awaited the competition's surrender which it got because Mobile air travelers continued to fly Delta. And Delta always and promptly rewarded them with a return to higher fares.
A Mobile native, Jones spoke of some Mobilians' references to "the good old days."
"I've been around (Mobile, having been born here and always lived here except for 10 years in the U.S. Navy)," Jones said. "We're doing better than I've ever seen us do. They talk about the good old days. I was here and I didn't see them. We're living in the good days right now. It is the best it's ever been here. But we must take advantage of this opportunity. We will not see another opportunity like ThyssenKrupp in our lifetime."
Jones said he was glad to see at long last the passing of a community wide 'can't do' attitude. For the longest time, Mobile was defeated at the starting gate because of a 'why try, we won't get it anyway' outlook. If that negativity still exists, it is in a dark and out-of-way corner that he rarely visits, Jones said.
