(BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala.) A deal between Airbus and the City of Mobile could have a huge trickle-down effect for the surrounding communities. Baldwin County officials say it would help promote the state's reputation as an industrial hotspot.
"We've gotten Thyssen Krupp in lower Alabama, now if we can get Airbus it shows that we are definitely a good location to locate your industry," says Baldwin County Commissioner Bob James.
James says the county is continuing its efforts to market the Lower Alabama Megasite to a new developer. The 2400 acre site in Bay Minette could house a huge new industrial employer.
Commissioner Tucker Dorsey proposed a trip to the European Air Show in London this summer to promote the site to potential developers, but the commission voted against funding that trip. Now Dorsey is hoping to finance it on his own.
"In my opinion we should be working just as hard to get somebody as we did to get (the Megasite) done and get it paid for," Dorsey told Local 15 after the commission's vote.
James says he believes those marketing efforts are better left up to the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance because it is able to conduct private meetings with investors more easily than commissioners.
"They're our marketing arm of all our industrial development in Baldwin County," James says. "That's the proper place for it to be done."
