Big Spring (also known as Lake Louisa) in Middelway circa 1908.. Image courtesy Jefferson County Museum.
It’s getting harder to find an empty seat in the audience at many local government meetings in Jefferson County. On one hand, it’s a positive sign that so many residents are getting involved with our local government. On the other hand, it’s evident from public comments that many residents are frustrated with the decisions of our local governments and how our elected officials conduct business.
We’re encouraged to be charitable to all, especially during the holiday season. But it’s hard to infer good motives to companies — be they multinational corporations or private equity investors hiding behind a nest of LLCs — who come to Jefferson County to exploit and extract our resources, offering few jobs and even fewer benefits to our local community. Projects like the Blake industrial solar complex in Kabletown are a constant reminder of how little a foreign company can care for the local ecology and community.
The residents of Middleway, many of whom still work the farms that were established generations ago, are getting a quick lesson in the “over promise and under-deliver” pattern that seems to play out over and over again in West Virginia. A proposal for a massive bottling plant project [link] came up short in its first pass with the Planning Commission, but the investment company behind the project has already teed up another proposal for a second round. Like the first plan, the second leaves many questions unanswered — and challenges county residents to make their voices heard even louder.
By Steve Pearson