Suffolk mayor's speech trumpets business expansion

By Hattie Brown Garrow
The Virginian-Pilot
© April 24, 2009

SUFFOLK

In the past year, 13 companies announced major expansions and 24 new businesses opened in the city, Mayor Linda Johnson said Thursday during her annual State of the City address.

Business and city officials, plus some residents, attended the event, held at the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts and organized by the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.

In March, Sparta Composite Products, a manufacturer of composite parts for the aerospace and defense industries, revealed plans for a $13.2 million facility in Suffolk. The plant is expected to create 198 new jobs over five years.

Johnson emphasized the importance of warehouse and distribution space - less than three weeks after an Economic Development Authority board member resigned because he was frustrated with the city's focus on warehouses.

"They pay taxes, they employ a wide range of people with diverse skill sets, work with our local suppliers and, most importantly, spawn other industries and support services to come with them," she said.

This year's speech was written by the city's Media and Community Relations Department, in conjunction with Johnson. The city paid a marketing firm in past years but "could not justify those expenses" this time, spokeswoman Debbie George said.

Hattie Brown Garrow, (757) 222-5562, hattie.brown@pilotonline.com

COMMENTS ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here; comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its websites. Users must follow agreed-upon rules: Be civil, be clean, be on topic; don't attack private individuals, other users or classes of people. Read the full rules here.
- Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the report violation link below it.

Congratulations

Submitted by Mike Barrett on Fri, 04/24/2009 at 9:48 am.

I have to agree with and trumpet the Mayor's call for economic development and for the inclusion of a wide range of prospects from retail and professional to manufacturing and logistics. After all, we in Hampton Roads need to be supportive of the major economic drivers, and that includes logistics, transportation, and the Port of Virginia. To turn the city's back on this valuable and growing industry sector would be a serious mistake. Our region can offer significant value to companies from other parts of the country and internationally because of our land, our transportation network, but most of all, our trained and disciplined workforce, many of whom yearly graduate and depart from our educational institutions and the military, ready to go to work. Sparta for example put this as the number one reason that they have chosen to establish a presence here. Congratulations to the Mayor and to her economic development department for their initiative and follow through.

State of Suffolk

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 04/23/2009 at 10:26 pm.

What?! No video presentation accompanied Mayor Johnson's speech.
I'm shocked! The City staffers whom wrote her speech could have used some segments of past City Council meetings for "Show and Tell!"
Was Councilmember Charles Brown mentioned in her speech on all of city related business developments he was involved in?
I'll just check the Pilot in the morning for more comments about the "State of Suffolk!"
"Oh, yea!" "It's NOT a good time to be in Suffolk!"

Suffolk Mayor

Submitted by Wane on Thu, 04/23/2009 at 8:29 pm.

If Suffolk is doing so good and all this money is coming to Suffolk, why were tax assessment not lowered to the real valvue of Suffolk homes 25% lower than appraised. Home valves have droped in the last 2 years but assessments are still the same unless you are the Fired last year tax assessor. Will someone from Suffolk explain that assessement. Its not a good time to be in Suffolk.