OgieOgilthorpe
-
Posts
1,379 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Posts posted by OgieOgilthorpe
-
-
On 7/22/2019 at 5:04 PM, Cratter said:
Not all have store fronts or actually physically expand.
Off the top of my head currently under construction are a new church, ironhide equipment, simplot expansion, new plant by CHS on 42nd, New strip mall on South Washington. Im sure theres more than that this year in GF.
Lots of industrial businesses that aren't on main thoroughfares or get articles in the newspaper.
Everything you listed is great for the business infrastructure of Grand Forks, but nearly every example provides no new jobs. Ironhide is getting a new facility that's actually in a much less convenient location but gives them the much needed space they require (no new job creation). Simplot expansion is just a larger 100% mechanically crane operated freezer to eliminate the costs of sending frozen product across town to Hennison CS, which will now probably put Hennison out of business and will actually probably cause people to lose their jobs. Is the new CHS plant a completely new business in the area, or is it just an upgraded building? I hope it is a new business in the area because that would actually create some new jobs...if it's just an upgrade then I'm assuming employee numbers will stay flat. The tiny strip mall way way south on South Washington? I suppose that could add a few new businesses and in turn some new jobs, but with the other strip mall on the East side of Washinton where the Crary building already struggling, I'm wondering what the thought process was behind that? Bully Brew shut down, Snap fitness is probably hanging by a thread, I've heard Helix and that Jewelry store are both also on their last legs, and probably the only other shop in that mall is the powerplate meals which I've also heard isn't doing so hot. Judging by the failure of that strip mall, I'm assuming this new smaller strip mall will just be a new HQ for some small insurance agencies and businesses similar to that.
It is great to hear about that new facility moving in on N 39th street though, because that should be a larger facility, and is brand new to the area so it should be creating some good jobs. Anyone have any idea about how many jobs it could create?
With the amazing automation engineering advances we're seeing, the Grand Forks economy is going to change from a slow downward lean to a nose dive if they continue to lean on Industrial businesses to drive their economy. There really needs to be some major tax intensives offered out for newer or expanding tech companies, energy companies and I hate to say it but maybe even cannabis companies looking to put down some roots or relocate. GF should be seeking these businesses out, because naturally none of them are even going to be considering cities in ND to HQ in, and if they do we all know it will be Fargo or Bismarck over GF.
-
17 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:
A big fraction of Minot is oil traffic also.
Absolutely. But in my head, I always pictured GF as a city with many more business folk who would tend to fly more often. On top of that I always picture the in-stream of flyers coming down from the city of 750,000 people only 2 hours north. So between those two thoughts, and GF being larger than Minot, I was surprised to see that the MOT airport had more passengers.
-
Having a mayor for that long of a period seems risky. With the current state of the Grand Forks economy compared to other local sister cities, I think it's time for him to go. Grand Forks needs some new blood with some fresh ideas. Time to mix it up a little.
-
4
-
-
17 hours ago, KEH said:
Very true, flew out of GFK on Sunday. Gate agent called for “Sky Priority” and 30 out of the 50 people boarded.
I think it’s also worth noting that Allegiant will not be flying Mesa -> GFK in September. I relied on that service to come home for a couple of football games.
Adding insult to injury with new Fargo flights, Swoop (WestJet subsidiary) is going to fly to Mesa and Orlando from Winnipeg this winter.
The GFK leadership has momentous task this winter to prevent further leakage.
Yikes...the future is looking very bleak for GFK.
-
I wasn't too surprised by this list, other than MOT out gunning GFK slightly and Williston being so much higher than Dickinson. I understand the oil traffic, but wow.
-
3 hours ago, Kab said:
Salt lake and Denver are 2 musts for gfk
Williston has several Denver flights a day
lack of airport leadership in my view
Even Devils Lake and Jamestown have the Denver flight. Dirt cheap to boot
-
Not to beat a dead horse on the Alerus Center, but I just read today that it lost 3.7 Million last year? I thought things had turned around with it when Spectra took over? As I dug into it, nearly all publicly owned event centers lose money...with of course the exception of the mighty Fargo Dome that bleeds money.
-
9 hours ago, geaux_sioux said:
If Grand Forks was more business-friendly it would grow much faster. The way the city is run is a joke sometimes.
Brownville?
-
1 hour ago, andtheHomeoftheSIOUX!! said:
It will be interesting to see the census results coming up.
Yes I'm very interested to see the census. Hopefully it shows a little better results than we're thinking
-
Misery Loves Company
As the finer folks of Minot flock to Bismarck and Fargo, I have a hunch the bleeding of population from Grand Forks to Fargo has only been worse and will undoubtedly keep getting worse with each one of these new developments in the F/M.
Is Fargo in the works to start passing Grand Forks in the only competitive (downright dominant) sport they have left? We've been seeing the creep with Davies, and unfortunately I think it's only a matter of time before one of the WF schools starts to pull away as well.
In ten years will class A only consist of state titles won by Bis or Fargo schools? It's pretty dang close to that as it is.
Crazy to think that 15 years ago(or less) Minot, GF, Bis and Fargo were all relatively similar in size and HS talent.
Final note- It's almost disappointing that Minot and GF are building new health care facilities, because that pretty much crushes any hopes of a Sanford buyout. It would be nice to have a reliable and solidified health care system to set a stronghold pillar of the community unlike Altru and Trinity. I think Rydell and Simplot have probably actually done a better job than Altru in Grand Forks. Minot doesn't really have much else to fall back on other than some of the oil companies who chip in here and there.
-
On 6/26/2019 at 7:05 PM, Sioux>Bison said:
Real order should be:
Fargo>Bismarck>Grand Forks>Minot>Jamestown>Dickinson> Williston> All other cities in ND
small towns are ok for people who stay inside all day....
That's a gross placement for Jamestown...Wow. I'd put Dickinson, Williston, Devils Lake, and a few others before Jamestown
-
4 hours ago, enmanueljeffren said:
On the bright side, after week 1 I feel better about our o-line and Rudy than I ever would have expected.
Pretty surprising how well the O-Line played. Hopefully they can control the line of scrimmage like that again against Moo U.
-
Any updates on Harris?
-
New thread title please!
Sioux Volley vs Sioux>Bison
-
1
-
-
I'm sure everyone already saw this shared all over social media. It's pretty anecdotal information to base city "likeability" or "liveability" off of, but not surprisingly KVLY was all over it.
-
21 hours ago, Dustin said:
I predict our score with NDSU will be much closer than 40-7. I think our chances of winning that game are a lot higher than 1%. I see a lot of potential next season.
I'd put it around 15% at most, but we'll have a much better idea after the 1st week
-
19 hours ago, geaux_sioux said:
How many screen passes did you count in their career? We’ve covered this topic pretty well on this board. John may have been drafted with Freund as OC. Instead he was asked to pound the A gap when the other team knew exactly what was coming. So, yea, squandered.
To be honest he likely would've been drafted with any other FCS OC other than Rudy.
-
1
-
-
25 minutes ago, Hammersmith said:
It's easy and feels good to blame the flood because it was a natural disaster and thus no one's fault, but I don't think it is the true cause of the situation. I would suggest it was far more about the reduction of the GF AFB than the flood. If the jobs were there, everything else would have quickly followed.
When it comes right down to it, GF will never be able to compete directly against Fargo for one simple reason: I-94. A city with two interstate highways will always have a huge advantage over a city with only one. Same thing with rail lines. Without the development of oil out west, Fargo would likely be the only ND city with double digit growth. And any growth in GF, BisMan or Minot would have been just rural to urban cannibalization. It is what it is.
Since it's unlikely that we'll find a major new resource under NE ND, to change things, GF would have to bring in a new, major industry that needs a large workforce. And that's a hard sell. If the industry is something that uses local materials, why not chose Fargo which has easier shipping access? If it doesn't use local materials, why choose an area where a workforce is hard to find? Go somewhere where unemployment is higher. If GF tries to leverage its available assets like the AFB or UND's aviation department, why should most aviation companies chose a location with bad weather and difficult access over a location like TX, NV, CA or others? And the industries that do choose to build in GF are likely going to be highly automated and not bring in that many new jobs.
I grew up in Wahp during the glory years of 3M, WCCO and NDSCS at it's height. Since then, 3M shut down, WCCO shrank and automated, and NDSCS scaled way back due to funding changes in Bismarck. The city lost around a quarter of it's jobs and population. In the decade that followed, a couple new plants were built, including a corn processing plant. People thought it could be the start of bringing things back. But the corn plant and the other new ventures were so highly automated that it didn't mean much to the community. What's the addition of 100 jobs when you're trying to recover from losing 2,000?
Stark reality: A single new project in Fargo(Aldevron) is likely to bring in more new jobs to Fargo(>800) than every current new project in GF combined that's beyond the drawing board stage. I just don't know how you compete with that. But you probably should look to UND(Aldevron was started by two NDSU students and was an early tenant of the NDSU R&D Park).
Very great points all around. I'd only argue the point that Bis/Man and Minot growth is solely due to rural to urban cannibalization though. I'd agree that's a good chunk of it, but the majority of Minot's growth has clearly been from the oil field expansions. Minot has been able to sustain more people after the slowdown than Williston, Dickinson and Watford City have been able to just due to the infrastructure and other job opportunities available. Bis/Man has a very surprising mix of large successful companies in several different types of industries that have been growing at a fast pace which has been attracting a lot of out of staters. Power, tech, construction, government, agriculture and higher education. Look at BCS 10 years ago vs today, it's unbelievable what a small trade school like that has been able to transform into. On top of that, having a fortune 500 HQ and several other companies going through expansion after expansion has led to bringing in a lot of new citizens.
With that said, I do actually think the vast majority of the slow but steady growth that GF is seeing is probably exactly that. But not Bis or Minot
-
5 minutes ago, UNDBIZ said:
I've heard FiveSouth is dead in Bismarck. Other than permanently 3 laning Main, what else is planned?
Oh really? I believe that was the revival project that I was referring to. That's too bad
It must've got voted down or something?
-
14 minutes ago, geaux_sioux said:
To 3, I think it’s a mix of circumstance and attitude. GF isn’t business friendly or growth minded. GOBC don’t want any outsiders growing the pie and taking slices. And if you look at a population growth graph it’s pretty clear that it took a very long time to fully recover from the flood. I wonder how Minot would be doing if it wasn’t for the current oil climate out west.
I don't even want to think about it because it would be unbelievably bad.
-
1 minute ago, forksandspoons said:
Another building on the two doors down from the condos you referred to above, on the corner of Demers and 4th. Also a six story building near the Herald with commercial space and a couple hundred apartments. I think the St Johns building (across from town square) is getting a complete overhaul. Another apartment building near the Townhouse Hotel. And a complete revamp of the street and town square. I think there's more i am missing.
I know Bismarck is doing an unbelievable over-haul to their downtown area over a 4-5 year span. It sounds like Grand Forks is making the effort and is doing something similar but maybe on a smaller scale.
-
8 minutes ago, geaux_sioux said:
To 3, I think it’s a mix of circumstance and attitude. GF isn’t business friendly or growth minded. GOBC don’t want any outsiders growing the pie and taking slices. And if you look at a population growth graph it’s pretty clear that it took a very long time to fully recover from the flood. I wonder how Minot would be doing if it wasn’t for the current oil climate out west.
What is GOBC?
-
9 minutes ago, geaux_sioux said:
To 3, I think it’s a mix of circumstance and attitude. GF isn’t business friendly or growth minded. GOBC don’t want any outsiders growing the pie and taking slices. And if you look at a population growth graph it’s pretty clear that it took a very long time to fully recover from the flood. I wonder how Minot would be doing if it wasn’t for the current oil climate out west.
Yes Grand Forks lost out on some exponential growth by losing 5,000+ citizens from 97 to 99. That chink in the chain, and several steps back has had a very long term effect on the growth for sure.
The silver lining to some of these catastrophic floods/events is that some of the much needed updates are forced to be done, and forces a lot of new construction and face lifts. I think Grand Forks did 4x the job that Minot has done with recovery and rebound in terms of aesthetics.
-
3 minutes ago, tnt said:
With a part time mayor that has only increased cost of living in the city while the wages haven’t kept pace, is it any wonder why Grand Forks is stagnant right now. Like you say we need to get aggressive, but I don’t see that with a mayor that has no concept of economic development.
How long has the current mayor held that position, and when was the last vote? It appears like some new blood with some new ideas is much needed there. Probably not as much as the mess Minot has going on but oil will always bring in bodies no matter how badly things are planned out and set up.
I think the potential for some pretty substantial growth is still possible in GF in the near future. It's unfortunate that it appears it's already missed out on quite a bit of it however.
One positive "city" project that I know of is that high rise apartment complex going up downtown that I saw. Also a new grocery store DT? I think that's a great idea for keeping foot traffic up and keeping people in rentals DT. Anything else like that happening?
New GFK Terminal
in Community
Posted
That’s interesting. They could, and they should. They need to start making some moves, fast.