tl;dr My thoughts on the poultry processing plant that is being proposed in Fremont, NE

Project Rawhide, on paper, is a huge win for Fremont. I don’t think anyone can refute those facts. It’s going to bring jobs to the city, increase tax revenue and bring lots more economic activity to the area. There is no denying that.

With that being said, I have three major issues with Project Rawhide that are, by my own admission, more idealistic, abstract, and possibly naive. These issues are how they were presented to the public, the type of economic activity the project will bring, and the lack of economic planning & vision.

It’s easy to see how the revealing of Project Rawhide to the public could be an issue. The strict secrecy of the potential tenant, even after news had broken about the project, went deep into eroding the public’s trust of the entire project. It’s hard for people to get behind a project, especially one as divisive as this one, when one side was purposely kept in the dark well beyond when they believed they should have known. I realize that keeping the potential suitor secret has been claimed to be ‘business as usual’. If that is the case, then ‘business as usual’ needs to change. You can’t expect to keep the public in the dark about a project of this significance for that long, especially in a time of such distrust of government as a whole.

If you can get over how the project was revealed to the public, then you have to face what economic impact the project will have on our city. Yes it will bring jobs, but are they the right kind of jobs? I have a 3 year old daughter and I wish, more than anything, for her to live a better life than I did (and I assume that is every parent’s wish). I do not want my daughter to grow up to become a poultry processor. I want her to be President, an astronaut, or at least a dentist. Please do not hear me wrong- I have absolutely no issue with those types of jobs at all. I understand that they are a needed part of our society. But Fremont has so many things going for it’s youth: an innovative welding program for high schoolers, two institutions of higher education where you can explore the arts and sciences, a great economic atmosphere where you could start your own business doing what you’re passionate about. Shouldn’t we be surrounding those educational opportunities with jobs to match?

It is the lack of matching job opportunity with education that I think is the most important qualm I have with Project Rawhide. In 2012 the Nebraska state government created the Talent and Innovation Initiative which aimed to keep high energy, passionate, education youth in the state of Nebraska by giving them places to make an impact by offering grants, tax credits and funding to businesses that create those opportunities. Fremont has the youth but we do not have the jobs. And because of this, the hundreds of student we have graduating in our city every year from Midland University and Metro Community College and going to where the jobs are. Project Rawhide is not outside of the box enough. It is no progressive. It’s more of the same. I understand that thinking outside the box is not always the popular option. It’s much easier to stay in our comfort zone. Why try and create artistic or technology jobs when we know how to create manufacturing and agricultural jobs? Because the discomfort we will experience by broadening our economic horizons is how Fremont will stay relevant in the future. Project Rawhide is a good initiative for today, but is it a great initiative for the next decade?

I love Fremont with all my heart. My wife has lived here her whole life and I plan to retire here in my old age. I want to see Fremont not just survive, but prosper. Being an information worker, I can see the economic landscape shift around the world at an unprecedented pace and I fear that Fremont will be left behind if we don’t take steps now to secure our future. Nothing I say will change the path of Project Rawhide and I am not sure I want it to. The project will be a net positive for Fremont. My hope is that these words help others realize that Project Rawhide is not the holy grail and that we need to keep working to keep Fremont’s future bright.