FALLING FAR FROM THE TREE
Everyone needs to calm down and take a deep breath after the news from Sandow Lakes Ranch (SLR) two weeks ago. Everything is going to be fine.
Anything that goes on at SLR (the former Alcoa property) has absolutely nothing to do with the City of Rockdale. None of that property is incorporated by the city. No tax money. No anything. The county will get tax money but not the City of Rockdale.
The first project, which we reported in the July 27 issue, is an advanced manufacturing and logistics campus. What does that mean? Think of it as similar to an Amazon fulfillment center in that companies have products they need to sell and ship. The products will be shipped to this campus to be distributed elsewhere by both rail and highway traffic. And we were told that is it part of the Samsung effect. Samsung will need things when they open and some of their supplies could be stored and shipped to them from the SLR property.
The good thing for Rockdale about all of this is there will be thousands of jobs created. Those thousands of people have to live somewhere, and work has already started on the new Cornerstone Subdivision. Those thousands of people will need somewhere to eat so Rockdale’s restaurants are going to be in high cotton, as the old saying goes.
They’ll need to shop for groceries, they’ll need somewhere to bank, work out, get insurance, go to church, buy a car, use a Realtor, their kids will need schools to go to. We have all of that right here. So lots of Rockdale businesses will benefit. The only way the City of Rockdale benefits is through sales tax and HOT funds.
And how did a hospital get into this conversation? It makes no sense. Do we need a hospital and emergency care? You bet we do. Are we going to get it? Nope. It’ll be a while before that happens because we need more people in Rockdale to get one. Even Whataburger came to see if Rockdale was a good fit for them. Guess what? They aren’t coming yet. And neither is a hospital.
The same week that the news of the manufacturing campus came out, SLR (or someone) released their master plans for the former Alcoa property, and it looked amazing. But that is decades down the road. I may not live to see it because I turn 60 in a few short weeks. The website is no longer available to see the master plan. I don’t know if we all crashed it by sharing the news so many times or if they disabled it.
All of the people who constantly complain about everything that is happening around town are never going to change. It’s in their DNA. Their ancestors were probably complaining in the 1950s when the news that Alcoa was coming to Rockdale was announced. Don’t worry about those people. You can go to The Reporter’s Facebook page and see their names.
As for the rest of us, be hopeful. We have every reason to be.
Will there be growing pains? Yes, but it’ll be worth it. Because with growth come things like hospitals. And Whataburger.
There are people in this town right now who, instead of complaining, are actually doing things to protect the parts of Rockdale we want to keep and are planning for our future. Growth is coming out of Austin and it’s coming to Rockdale whether you like it or not. Austin has expanded north, south and west. East, toward Rockdale, is Austin’s only path left.
So complain if you must. We’re all used to you and expect it from you because you are nothing if not predictable. Just stay out of the way of the people doing the actual work to make things happen around here.
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