Economic Development the Team Santiago Way


The City of Millville has relied on Don Ayres for economic development for many years.  Just look around town to judge his work.

A recent article was posted on NJ.com regarding a decision made by Mr. Ayres and the city commission which, at the time, included Mr. Parent.

Copy and paste the link to read complete article:  https://www.nj.com/cumberland/2019/04/if-a-space-elevator-was-ever-going-to-happen-it-could-have-gotten-its-start-in-nj-heres-how-it-went-wrong.html  

The article discusses how the city of Millville gave Liftport  $50,000 to develop an elevator to the moon, yes to the moon! The Cumberland County Empowerment Zone also gave Liftport $50,000. Of course the company never came to Millville and never developed the elevator to the moon and never gave the money back. Of course, the owner of Liftport would love to do business with Millville again.

Below is an excerpt from the article.

            “Don Ayers, who served as the director of economic development in Millville from 2001 to 2011, said he met with Laine and professors at the New Jersey Institute of Technology to see the machine that would help develop the nanotubes. Everyone was optimistic, he said.
            “We had a downturn in some of our businesses (in Millville) but we were moving back up at the time,” Ayers said. “We thought getting into a new material such as carbon nanotubes would be a move that was worthwhile, even though we knew how much of a risk it was because of how new it was.”
            “We always knew it was going to be risky,” Ayers said. “But, given the prospects for the future and having spent a full day talking to the people at NJIT about the prospects for it, we figured it was worth it.”
            However, the plant never moved forward.”
What a shock the elevator to the moon didn’t get built!
Laine still goes out every once in a while and does lectures on space elevators, as well as some consulting. He still believes there is a chance there could be a lunar elevator. And do not rule out Millville for future production and manufacturing sites.
            
           “The people in Millville were great,” Laine, the LiftPort co-founder stated. “From city council to economic development, it was good. I would still set something up in Millville if I had an operation to set up.”

 Why wouldn’t Laine like to do business with Millville again? He got $100,000 before for nothing why not try for another $100,000! Think about what $100,000 could do for the citizens in Millville. Think of who Team Santiago is trusting with the economic future of Millville. Maybe somebody will try to sell Team Santiago a bridge.


Note: This is Part 1 of a series of future blogs relating to economic development in Millville. Stay tuned.






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