One reads that Foxconn [is] planning to buy land for innovation centers later this year. Read a bit closer, however, and one learns that ‘later this year’ is about as undependable as ‘the check is in the mail’ or ‘I gave at the office’:
A question regarding innovation centers was one of many from Democratic Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz and Rep. Dana Wachs at a news conference yesterday regarding what they characterize as Foxconn’s “changing” investments.
“Why is Gov. Walker announcing innovation centers in Green Bay and Eau Claire, yet nobody there has heard anything about purchase price, economic justification, or when there will be a closing other than it will happen after the election?” Hintz asked.
Foxconn spokesman Evan Zeppos is declining to disclose purchase prices for the properties in Eau Claire and Green Bay, and isn’t giving a concrete hiring timeline, except to say the company will announce hiring plans after its human resources plan is finalized.
Later this year looks more like let’s see how the election pans out.
Here in Whitewater, the local business lobby brought in a state operative this winter to flack shamelessly discuss the Foxconn project. See A Sham News Story on Foxconn.
Perhaps the leaders of Greater Whitewater Committee can get to the bottom of these innovation center timelines. Gentlemen so connected should have no trouble ringing up Foxconn’s Taiwanese headquarters and getting to the bottom of all this. (Friendly tip: a collect call’s probably not the way to go.)
No doubt the residents of Eau Claire and Green Bay would be grateful for any information received.
Previously: 10 Key Articles About Foxconn, Foxconn as Alchemy: Magic Multipliers, Foxconn Destroys Single-Family Homes, Foxconn Devours Tens of Millions from State’s Road Repair Budget, The Man Behind the Foxconn Project, A Sham News Story on Foxconn, Another Pig at the Trough, Even Foxconn’s Projections Show a Vulnerable (Replaceable) Workforce, Foxconn in Wisconsin: Not So High Tech After All, Foxconn’s Ambition is Automation, While Appeasing the Politically Ambitious, Foxconn’s Shabby Workplace Conditions, Foxconn’s Bait & Switch, Foxconn’s (Overwhelmingly) Low-Paying Jobs, The Next Guest Speaker, Trump, Ryan, and Walker Want to Seize Wisconsin Homes to Build Foxconn Plant, and Foxconn Deal Melts Away.