Family income in Mendocino County ranks in the bottom 4% of all counties in the United States. We are the second poorest in the state of California with unemployment at 7%. We have lost 24% of our industrial jobs in the past five years. We need to put together a plan to attract small enterprises responsive to local needs such as food processing, manufacture of building materials, and agricultural supplies.
Many of us hope that the looming economic recession will finish off DDR's grand plans for a shopping mall at the former Masonite site. Why don't we get busy now planning an industrial park and talking with potential investors? We can produce many of our necessities right here and stop paying 15% and more to truck in our food and other necessities from the Bay Area and even as far away as China.
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