Industrial tax bases can leave host towns with visible poverty.
Evidence
To attract new businesses the city cleared and developed many acres of land in northeastern Woburn for industrial parks. Scandal arose when several city officials were discovered to have an undisclosed financial interest in the land, but development proceeded nonetheless. Up on Commerce Way, near Interstate 93, several small manufacturing and trucking firms moved in. Robert Eaton’s old chemical factory on the banks of the Aberjona River was taken over by Monsanto. W. R. Grace, another chemical giant, built a small plant on land that had once been an orchard. Woburn didn’t lack for industry, but somehow there was never enough money to fix all the cracked sidewalks or the potholes in the street. — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 28
Categorization
- XREF: Echoes the ‘Base Nation’ pattern of self-contained installations that leak little value into the local economy — here, chemical plants that never pay for the sidewalks. — connects to: Bases bring fewer economic benefits than expected and can inhibit local growth.