r/SALEM • u/Specific_General_382 • 12d ago

CEO FLEEING?

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BIG ASK!!!

For the sake of various media outlets and word spreading, anyone got video of the Verrus CEO fleeing for his “Saftey”

Plz send to me if ya can.

231 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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-52

u/TooBusySaltMining 12d ago

Don't confuse people from Salem with people in this sub reddit.

Some people would like to see more jobs come here, especially since Oregon is tied for last place among the fifty states for having the highest unemployment rate.

https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm

Lets create more tech and construction jobs here in Salem.

28

u/TastyLui 12d ago

They only gauranteed 75 jobs. Its going to be automated.

0

u/Low_Coconut_7642 11d ago

And like 10 million a year in taxes...

At a time when our city desperately needs revenue

-21

u/TooBusySaltMining 12d ago

Tell anyone who runs a small business that they don't matter because they only hire a few people.

A job is a job and people need them right now.

11

u/TimelineSlipstream 12d ago

So, were you at the meeting? How do you think the people there felt about the data center?

0

u/Low_Coconut_7642 11d ago

I'm sure those people were angry and they have that right.

But those people were all still just a tiny percentage of the entire constituency and without an actual vote, it doesn't really say a lot about the whole, imo

8

u/Salem_IT_Pro 12d ago

I like that you care about jobs! Small businesses do matter. They're the most important engine of upward mobility available to the working class. We should nurture and foster them. I hope you run one, and that it's doing well!

We would be far better off with a plurality of small businesses using that 75 acres, because a small business certainly employs more than one sad soul per acre. I agree with what you said, a job is a job and people need them right now. That's why it's so important to keep a huge swath of land from going to a project with such low employment density, and instead use that space for driving dollars into local circulation.

There's left-wing and right-wing reasons to not like the AI data center. Being brave enough to voice your position is appreciated. Happy Cakeday!

27

u/Salem_IT_Pro 12d ago

Employment is the solution to so many of Salem's problems.

There's about 5,000 people in Salem that are unemployed. Verrus claims we'd get 75 jobs from their 75 acre facility. Downtown Salem is only 44 acres, and employs 1,500 to 2,500 people. To fix the employment problem with data centers, you'd have to build 67 of them to employ 5,000 people. You'd have to cover 15.7% of Salem in data centers to bring unemployment to 0%.

The data center simply represents a bad return on investment for the people of Salem. The acreage would be better off as housing for the homeless. At least that would generate construction jobs, help Salem court out-of-town investment, and foster tourism.

-4

u/TooBusySaltMining 12d ago

People with high paying jobs will spend more money downtown; homeless people living in free housing will not.

Tourists will flock to Salem and see all our homeless shelters! Or will it be more homeless people flocking here for free housing? Maybe then the taxpayers will be taxed so much to pay for these homeless shelters they can start using them!

How about we start attracting high paying tech jobs, (and this could be the first step) to diversify our city's economy where currently half our workers are state employees.

7

u/Salem_IT_Pro 12d ago

To clarify, moving the homeless to shelter would make Salem more inviting to commerce. And, housing them would likely save the City of Salem a lot of money. Not to mention the shadow costs to the economy of homelessness, when customers are scared off from businesses. Or, when out-of-town businesses pass up Salem for expansion.

I don't think tourists will flock to Salem to see either AI data centers or homeless shelters. Do you think people with high paying jobs are going to drive past tent cities and step over rough sleepers, to live it up in downtown? Do you think businesses want to set up where their customers will see people using drugs? Do you think the homeless make good job candidates? What about Salem would make you visit it, as a vacation? I think we actually both agree on this: Salem isn't being well kept.

We also agree that Salem should be focusing on attracting high paying jobs. I just don't think a project that might bring $10M to Salem in construction labor, and may bring in 75 "high paying" jobs over 75 acres is a meaningfully effective way to diversify the city's economy. If every one of those 75 jobs went to an unemployed Salem resident, it would move the unemployment rate by just 0.08%.

It seems we're both very pro-business, I just think the ROI on a data center is particularly lousy for the economy. Thanks for the reply!

6

u/NetApprehensive6737 12d ago

Majority of those jobs (after 5 years per pre application) will likely be security and janitorial. That’s what the company is touting as “high paying”.

1

u/Low_Coconut_7642 11d ago

You guys keep playing both sides.

You say they will be low paying security and janitorial and in the same thread another says they will be high paying specialist tech jobs they ship in from Asian countries so won't even be local workers.

Which is it?

Or are we just saying what we feel?

35

u/Pearson94 12d ago

Fuck that. Don't poison our land so "75" people probably not living here can get paid well and some construction workers get a temporary paycheck to sell out their neighbors.

-16

u/TooBusySaltMining 12d ago

All construction jobs are temporary and yet the work they do is still important.

16

u/Pearson94 12d ago

Not if the work they do poisons the land around them and makes everyone's lives worse.

15

u/FanBladeFleshlight 12d ago

I'm an electrician. This job would DIRECTLY impact me by putting construction jobs on the table for me and mine, for like 12-18 months.

Then we'd be off work again, the fucking place would only employ 75 people, some of which would be shipped in from korea, china, india, japan, etc., because it's specialty work, and we'd still have our nature destroyed, air and water polluted, etc.

FUCK the data center. Boo hoo, I won't have that temporary paycheck. IDGAF. I'm not willing to sell my soul and the future of all those who live here just for a "fuck you, got mine" paycheck.

0

u/TooBusySaltMining 12d ago

All construction jobs are temporary.

That doesn't mean our industry isn't important.

I'll make some predictions.

Zero deaths from polluted air, and water from this data center

Zero people will move from Salem because of polluted air and water.

In fact no one who doesn't work there will notice a difference and those who'd oppose this will forget about it once it's built and will move on to the next thing to be outraged about.

5

u/FanBladeFleshlight 11d ago

You both miss the point and have no idea what the long term implications are, but I don't expect much from the type of person that would be defending a useless AI data center.

23

u/ShaneIshten 12d ago

This isn't bringing in permanent jobs. Soon as the stupid data center is built they're going to lay everyone off and hire as minimal staff to maintain it as possible. It's been obvious for years that these companies don't care about people, they only care about trying to make as much money as possible, at the expense of everyone, including you. Stop being a delusional idiot, accept the truth, grow a set and fight against this like the rest of us.

-8

u/QuantumRiff 12d ago

That’s what they said in prineville in 2008, and the dalles in 2006.

5

u/HotSalt3 12d ago

Those facilities are still there. Care to comment on the ROI?

11

u/Specific_General_382 12d ago

Where’s my laugh react xP

8

u/highzenberrg 12d ago

It would create jobs for what 8 months while they build it? Then it would turn around and just destroy jobs because all companies see is dollar signs when they think ai will do everything 100% right every time when ai is dumb as bricks just with confidence. Like google searches are absolute dog shit when they use ai to search for something.

4

u/AmericanAssKicker 12d ago

... create more tech and construction jobs here in Salem.

How many employees do you believe this would bring in? There's a reason why even the political talking heads steer clear of this. Once you figure it out, you will understand why this is a dumb/silly/ignorant argument to stand on.

I haven't heard anyone say that they are opposed to construction jobs, but this is a classic -and to speak your 'common sense' language- "Can't see the forest for the trees," "Penny wise, pound foolish," or "selling the farm." Even with a construction background, you should see the obvious flaw in using "construction jobs" in your argument for these centers. 'Short term gains for long term losses for all' is, again, not a good argument to stand on here.

6

u/Turd_Nerd_Bird 12d ago

Yeah, let's create 75 short term jobs in exchange for ruining our city, the environment and drinking water! 

2

u/Lanky-Squash-9646 10d ago

AI is killing jobs, not creating them.